Read the writing prompt or question carefully and determine the purpose of your writing. Ask what you know about the topic and what research is necessary. Compare your knowledge to the audience's. Ask what the audience needs to read to understand the topic. Also, choose whether informing, persuading or entertaining is the primary purpose. This will determine your approach to the introduction of the essay.
Practice the process of prewriting. Several techniques include drawing a circle with the topic in the center and lines coming out from the center that attach to several circles or clusters with sub-topics or examples to support the main topic. This technique is also called webbing. Writers may also talk about the topic with a classmate (as appropriate) as part of the prewriting process.
Organize the introduction in a logical pattern such as time, compare/contrast, spatial, and order of importance. Time or sequential order is mostly used in narrative or process writing. Compare and contrast essay show the similarities and differences between two items or ideas. Spatial order is used as the writer describes a person, place, thing or idea in relation to each other. Finally, order of importance introduces the items that will be introduced from least to most important.
Write the first draft that has a "hook" to get the reader's attention in the first sentence. Writers hook the audience with a startling statistic or fact, question, or anecdote that will transition to the thesis. The thesis contains the topic with the writer's opinion on that topic.
Carefully edit and revise what has been written aloud, ideally a day or two after the first draft, and circle and correct any grammar or spelling mistakes. Use a style guide to correct sentence fragments, run-ons and other mistakes that can cause confusion to the reader. Also use a dictionary to make certain all words are used correctly.