INTRODUCTION Up until this stage, our discussion around introductory paragraphs has mostly been on how to write a quality thesis statement, since it is the central point around which the rest of your essay is built. It is now time to consider the sentences leading up to the thesis statement; the sentences that will actually form the majority of your introduction. These provide background statements that tell the reader why the thesis statement is important; in other words, why the essay is worth reading in the first place. While the thesis statement provides an essay with purpose , the sentences before it explain why that purpose matters . METHODS OF DEMONSTRATING IMPORTANCE There are many different ways of demonstrating importance; for instance: Quoting a statistic that shows some sort of significance about the topic (e.g., many people are affected by something, a large amount of money has been spent, there is a high uptake o...