The Basics of an Introduction

You are working at your desk when the phone rings. You pick it up and your colleague says,

“No, I really don’t think it will work. I can explain why, if you need to know all the reasons.”

Most likely you are confused. If you are like most other World Bank staff, you are in daily communication with many people on many different subjects. Even limiting the conversation to topics of common interest, your colleague could be talking about several things: an ongoing project, a new idea for a program, or a decision that was made at a recent meeting.

Now what if he had begun the conversation this way:

In this example, your colleague has given you a basic introduction. And like any introduction, it has certain components that make it effective. Click on the buttons in the box above to see where the components appear in the text and read a description of the main components in this example.

In a more complicated situation—especially in written reports—an introduction might need more than these three basic components; in fact, later in this module you’ll see other examples. But nearly every introduction has context; many have an explicit statement of purpose; and all introductions must have a main message. (In Module 2, you already composed a purpose statement and main message for your report.)