How to Write a Good Lead Paragraph

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Laura Turner, and today I'm going to talk with you about how to write a good lead paragraph. When ever you're writing an essay, your lead paragraph and your conclusion paragraph are going to be the most important paragraphs, even though, of course, you've got all of your information in the body of your paragraph, and all of your good citation stuff there. But really, the beginning and then end of your essay are going to define your paper. So start it off by having a really good first paragraph. The easy way to do this is to sort of construct it in a way that you have usually been told, to have a thesis sentence, or an introductory sentence that introduces the rest of the paragraph. So your first, much like the essay, your first and last sentence of your lead paragraph are going to be the most important sentences to tie it together and make it in to a good one. So get your introductory sentence nailed down, like I do have in this example here. The introductory sentence will lead in to the rest of the ideas of the paragraph. Blake's illustration, Lear and Cordelia in prison, is the depiction of something neither divine nor fantastical. It is a representation of purely human characters. And this is the thesis for the entire paper, and then through out the paper, I'm going to be proving this. Then, when ever you're in the body of your introductory paragraph, treat it like a mini essay. You know, make your three points you're going to make in your paper in this intro paragraph. And finally, give that paragraph a conclusion. And my conclusion here is; so, the illustration is not a break from Blake's usual work, but rather simply a more human side to his art. So I already have in this paragraph alone, everything I'm going to say in the rest of the paper, so that you have, this is sort of your template for constructing your whole paper. If you start to write like this, it's going to become easier and easier for you to construct a good essay in less time. And that's how to write a good lead paragraph."