How to start? Hmm, how do I start this article? I could begin with a question. Or start with a startling statement. I could talk about that time I got locked in the basement. No, that makes no sense. Maybe I'll use an interesting anecdote, or an engaging quote. Why don't I just discuss a deranged goat eating Cajun food with an estranged, middle-aged Asian dude in the corner of an oddly arranged living room? No, I don't want to say "dude" in an education article. It doesn't seem very professional. I really should have organized my thoughts before I started writing. Oh well, I'm hungry. I'll go make a sandwich and then come back and write an article on good introductions for graduate school admissions essays...

A good introductory paragraph needs to strike a proper balance between being attention grabbing while remaining structurally sound and properly written. The main goal of a graduate admissions essay is not to sell copies of your manuscript; it is to inform a school about who you are and why you should be accepted to their program. Thus, you need to tell an interesting story that draws the reader in, but you also want to show the reader that you can write a superior, structurally sound essay.

Yes, I know, you've done this before. You already know everything I just told you. But graduate school essays are different from college essays. Graduate school admissions essay are a new breed of college essay. A new evolution. You are now facing tougher competition. You need to step up your game.

First, organize your thoughts and create an outline. Next, decide the format of your essay. You have a few routes you could take:

* Academic Style - Take the typical academic route by beginning with an introduction stating your main thesis. Follow that with the body of the essay, listing at least three supporting arguments. Then conclude the essay by bringing it back to the beginning and transcending your original statement. This style allows you to present several small points in support of one large claim, making it useful for persuasive papers and short essays, but it may prove tedious for longer and more personal essays.

* Narrative Structure - This structure is best used when your essay is telling a story about a particular moment in your life. But don't just tell it, use concrete details to illustrate it. An effective use of this style may be to start the essay out with a story and then take the typical academic route.

* Compare and Contrast - The compare and contrast route is easy, direct, and varied. It is the tried and true formula. You have written countless essays in this format, like explaining the differences between a particular book and its movie counterpart, or comparing and contrasting two stories from one author, so this type of formula should come easy. Of course, with tried and true comes trite and clichd, so make sure your essay is unique and memorable.

For your next step, you may want to write your essay sans an introduction. That's right, many people find it easier to write their essay, and then come back and write an intro. This way you already know the path you are taking.

Once you are ready to write your introduction, keep a few simple points in mind. Be brief and to the point. Have at least three sentences but no more than six. You want your introduction to be just that, an introduction. It should start your essay off with a bang. Grab their attention, explain what your essay will be about, and then get into the essay. Don't make them check their watches before they've hit the second paragraph.

You may want to try to come up with an interesting and exciting first sentence to immediately grab the reader's attention. You can use a shocking quote like, "Billy was only four years old when he committed his first murder," or an unbelievable statistic like, "The average life expectancy of a generic bad guy in a Chuck Norris movie is four seconds," but quickly get to the point, making sure not to ramble like the first paragraph of this article did. Don't write unnecessary words and sentences. For example: In the third paragraph I wrote, "Graduate school admissions essay are a new breed of college essay. A new evolution. You are now facing tougher competition. You need to step up your game." That is four sentences that say the same thing. I should have simply written, "A greater level of competition and expectation on the school's part requires a greater level of effort on yours."

That being said, you don't have to write the introduction of this essay like you did for your term papers in college. If you want to be more creative, your introduction can tell a story, and then the later paragraphs can demonstrate how this story relates. You may want to write something emotional, or suspenseful, or comical:

"Don't stand too close," my mother shouted in a worried tone. "Oh please," I thought to myself. "What does she know?" Apparently she knew a lot, because only six seconds later, the big blue cow exploded.

I won't waste your time by continuing this story, but the next paragraph would then explain how the traumatic explosion of the big blue cow somehow impacted your life in a way that relates to you wanting to go to graduate school. The rest of your essay would follow from that.

Don't summarize. Your intro should be a teaser for a movie that gets the audience excited. It should not be an extended trailer that gives the major plot points away. You want the reader to actually read the essay; so don't tell them everything in the intro.

This article is on introductions, not conclusions, so I'll keep this conclusion short. Make sure your introduction is attention grabbing yet well written and well structured. Don't use unnecessary words or give too much of your essay away. Wow the reader from the start, and don't let up until the very last word, kind of like this article. It was exhilarating from word one, wasn't it? I'd accept me into graduate school, wouldn't you?

I will leave you with one vital thought: When you write your essay, take the advice of this article, but do not use it as an example of good writing. Your essay should wow them because the information is so interesting, not because Cajun food sort of rhymes with Asian dude. You are mature and intellectual. Make sure your essay portrays that.

Applying to graduate school is a process and we at GradSchools.com can help you along the way. E-mail us with any questions you have and we'll provide articles in future issues of the Express. If you have friends who are also applying, forward them this newsletter. Let us know what we can do to help you!