How to write an Introduction

Your introduction is the first impression your readers will have of your writing. A good introduction will show them that you know what you're talking about and that you're going to complete the task in question. It will also make them want to carry on reading and feel well disposed to what is to come. A bad introduction will have the opposite effect and might even prejudice the reader against the rest of the writing, even if it does improve.

The most common mistakes made by students are:
not to include an introduction at allto include an introduction, but one which is unrecognizable as suchto include too much background/historical information in the introductionto make the introduction too long
A good introduction will:
show that you are going to answer the question or complete the taskshow that you understand the issues and their implicationsshow how you are going to do this by indicating the structure of your answer and making clear the main areas that you are going to write about (your plan).show evidence that you have carried out some research by making a reference to one of your sourcesbe totally relevantbe concise: 8-9% of the total number of words is usually recommended (eg 120 words in a 1500 word assignment)