Writing a literature essay introduction

This page has a worked example from our teachers.

What an introduction is for

A literature essay introduction has one job. It answers the question straight away and sets the line of argument for the whole essay. It is not a warm-up, a plot summary or a place to show that you know the author’s life.

An examiner reading your first paragraph should already know what you think and roughly how you will show it. This earns credit, because it shows you understood the question and formed a view.

Introductions matter across the Literature route, in essays on prose, poetry and drama. The same habit helps with longer reading answers in First Language English. Task wording and marks differ by board and syllabus year, so we teach from each board’s official syllabus.

See our qualification pages. The principle stays the same: a strong opening argues, and a weak one delays.

What a strong introduction does

It does three things quickly.

• It answers the exact question. Use the key words from the question.
• It takes a position. This is an argument you will defend, not a neutral comment anyone could make.
• It hints at the shape of your argument. The reader senses where the essay is going.

It does not retell the plot, explain words the examiner already knows, make a huge claim about life, or begin with the author’s biography. Each of these delays your argument.

A five-step method

1. Underline the key words in the question. Look for the character, theme or aspect, and the verb that tells you what to do.
2. Write your answer in one sentence. What is your position?
3. Open with that position. Word it so it clearly answers the question.
4. Add one sentence on the shape of your argument. Name the main strands, but do not list every point.
5. Stop. The evidence belongs in the body.

A worked example

The question, text and answers here are our own, invented for teaching.

Question: How does the writer present the character of the schoolmaster, Mr Osei?

Weak opening: Mr Osei is a character in the novel. He is the schoolmaster and he appears many times. In this essay I will talk about how the writer presents him.

This announces and retells, but it argues nothing.

Strong opening: The writer presents Mr Osei as a man whose strictness hides a fear of losing control and of being seen to fail. From his rigid classroom rituals to the moments when his calm cracks, the writer first invites us to resent him and then, quietly, to pity him.

This answers the question at once and takes a clear position. It also shows the shape of the argument: strictness as a mask, and a move from resentment to pity. The body can now prove it.

Common mistakes

• A plot-summary opening. The first paragraph retells a story the examiner knows.
• The announcement. “In this essay I will discuss…” describes the essay instead of starting it.
• A grand generalisation. The opening makes a huge claim about life or literature that the question never asked for.
• No position. The paragraph mentions the text and the question but takes no side.
• Over-writing. A long, decorative opening uses time better spent on analysis.

The cure for all five is the same: answer the question in the first sentence.

How to practise

Write only introductions. Take several questions on a text you know and write the opening paragraph for each.

Because you do not write the whole essay, you can do many in one sitting. A clear opening then becomes a habit, and you stop reusing one memorised opening that never fits.

Try the first-sentence check. Cover everything except your first sentence.

Can a reader tell your position from that sentence alone? If not, the introduction has not started arguing.

You can also rewrite weak openings. Take a plot-summary or announcement opening and turn it into a position. You will feel how much stronger the essay becomes.

Where students usually get stuck

Students often know the text well but start with a summary, because they do not yet know their answer. In 1-to-1 lessons, our teachers ask for your answer in one spoken sentence before you write anything.

Then we build the paragraph around it. This is a regular part of Literature in English tuition.

If you want a teacher to check your openings, book a paid one-hour trial and bring an essay you have written.

What to read or try next

Compare your work with the annotated model responses, then try the practice tasks. Next, read how to write about a character and how to write about a theme.

Next, visit our original practice tasks to try the skill on a task of your own. Our Literature in English tuition page explains how lessons run. When you are ready, the paid one-hour trial is the first step.