The Fundamentals of An Essay:

Before I attempt this quick statement of the proper way to script an essay, I would like to add that I particularly enjoy and respect the design of which my English teacher-Mr. Keating-has chosen for my fellow students and me.

An essay is a vessel. Any well-kept vessel must be designed, constantly looked-over, and include all the parts necessary. If any of these elements are lost or forgotten the vessel will sink and shall be thought of no longer. In the past week of my education I have learned how to tune my own vessels to near perfection, and it appears that all you need is an  excellent introduction paragraph. Although it is not always an easy procedure, and may at times see to be a little extraneous. . Mr. Keating was kind enough to explain the rules to this construction of the perfect introduction in a way I could turn into second-nature.

The first key element to a perfect essay is the hook sentence. The "hook" is always the first sentence for any essay; no matter the topic. The hook sentence is made to bring the reader in and create an interesting environment for the essay. The average hook sentence contains: the title of the book (or novel), the author's name, a very appealing first sentence, and usually has one to three sentences. If you were to go without this first sentence your essay would seem flat and insipid, which would cause the reader to lose interest quickly.
The second key to an excellent essay is the story background. Now, before you make the story background, Mr. Keating suggests you find certain pieces of evidence to "kind of" center this section around. The story background typically gives a brief summary of what's going-on in the story and this section usually takes up a majority of the introduction. You should always be quite thorough in this section of your essay because if you only give a light background to the story, it won't aid your readers in understanding your topic, or what's going on at all! This section may appear to be somewhat difficult for most students, but Mr. Keating explains the story background's format in a very clear and intriguing way.

"Cohesion" is probably one of the most valuable lessons that more English teachers should divulge. Cohesion describes the flow and harmony that each of the sentences should have. To successfully write a paragraph, each of the sentences should relate to each other in the subject matter they are describing. Mr. Keating lectured the class on how Cohesion is set up as a staircase. Each sentence follows the other and helps relate to each other. But you have to make sure to not take too big or too short of steps or else you will throw your reader for a loop and it will make the introduction sound a lot less professional. Therefore, making the final introduction paragraph much easier to understand.
The final element of an exemplary essay is the Thesis Statement. You may have learned in various classes that you should start your introduction paragraphs with your thesis statement. But at times that can be a dogmatic tendency of your lecturer. The position of the thesis statement changes with the genre of literature you are attempting to create. But as far as an average English essay's technique goes: the thesis statement is always last in the introduction paragraph. The thesis statement should always conclude your introduction. It should have a nice transition from the previous sentence, and end your introduction paragraph with a BANG!

As long as you stick close to these guidelines an introduction paragraph's format will become second-nature to you and your writing. Thank you  for your helpful insight Mr. Keating.