Research Report Introductions

The purpose of the introductory paragraph is to grab the reader’s attention and to define your topic.

The introduction consists of three parts:1. The grabber, or lead statement2. Background information and a brief

description of your animal3. Thesis Statement

All elements must be present for a good introduction

Grabbers

You can begin your introductory paragraphs a number of different ways. (Remember, you are trying to grab the reader’s attention.)

Techniques (choose one):1. An amazing or unusual fact2. A quote, proverb, or saying3. A bold opinion4. A statistic5. An anecdote or description

Example Grabbers

Bold Opinion– “An albatross is the grandest living flying machine on Earth.”

Statistic— “Almost 75% of all UFO reports turn out to be a weather balloon, meteors, or the reflection of the sun.”

Description— “On this night, the final night, a fog swirled across the desert, as thick and impenetrable as a sandstorm.”

Amazing fact— “At up to 8,800 pounds, male elephant seals can be up to ten times larger than females.”

Proverb- “They say the early bird gets the worm, but this isn’t the case with the blue whale.”

Now write a grabber of your own. Practice with a couple different techniques. Remember, this is the first sentence of your report, so make it memorable.

Introductions—background information

After the grabber, include a bit of information that isn’t in the report, but that the reader may need to know about your animal.

Start with a basic description of your animal, including type of animal, size, and habitat.

Thesis statement

The thesis statement is the most important part of your introduction. It clues the reader in to what will be coming in the rest of the report.

The thesis statement is the last sentence in your introduction. If it is somewhere else in the introduction, you’ve written it wrong.

Sample Thesis statements: Guanacos are unusual animals that are useful to

humans but threatened by hunting.

Mountain gorillas are peaceful animals that live, reproduce and thrive in the mountains of southern Africa.

Generic thesis:

The _(your animal) is a very

_(adjective)_ _(type of animal)_

that lives, reproduces, and thrives in

a(n) _(adjective)_ environment.

The Paragraph

Now put your introduction together.

Start with the grabber, follow with the background information, and finally write the thesis statement.

Remember: the thesis statement must be the last sentence of your introduction.

Conclusions

Conclusions are written like an introduction, only backwards.

Start with a transition like “In conclusion” or “In summary”.

First, restate (write in a different way)your thesisNext, summarize the main ideas that you’ve already

covered. Again, restate these.Finally, finish with a snappy line that leaves the

reader thinking about something. A call to action is a good approach for an animal report. Example: “If something is not done soon, the

African hissing whale will soon become extinct. It would be hard to imagine the world without these marvelous, gentle creatures.”