Examples of Beginning Paragraph of Research Paper

The hook catches the reader's attention.

The background information gives a reason why you are writing the essay and more specifically how the hook is connected to the thesis statement.  It's the glue that sticks the hook and the thesis together in a way that is smooth and makes sense to the reader.

The thesis statement...well, you know that by now, right?

Here is a sample beginning paragraph with the hook underlined, the background information italicized, and the thesis statement bolded.

Often when I am showing my students an engaging video clip about the polar ice caps or quizzing them on the elements of fiction using a Disney cartoon short, I hover my little arrow of navigation over the "x" in the corner. Why do I do this? What causes the fear in my heart and the shaking in my hands as I use the internet in front of the class? Simply put, although the internet offers many great opportunities and much value to our education, it has very pronounced and blatant negative influences as well, which include pictures, words and topics which are inappropriate and immoral for all audiences, the major drain on our time which keeps us from other more valuable activities, and the temptation to accept anything we read or see on the internet as truth.

Here is a second sample:

Dear students,

I realize that over that last few days it has felt as though I am chaining your wrists to the laptops and whipping you with wet fettuccine.  Some of you may be getting the feeling that I sit next to my little wood stove, after the nocturnal animals have turned in for the night, creating impossible questions upon which you must pontificate.  This was not my intention, although I do have to admit that my thoughts have been framed in either/or questions lately and that when I fed the cat this morning I actually asked her to give three reasons whether canned tuna fish or bagged cat food was better.  Yesterday, when someone finally broke my natural light spell and I saw your faces as Mrs. Meyers wheeled in the computer cart, I saw a look that reminded me of a video I once saw of the Rosenbergs in the electric chair.  It was kind of like Dr. Jekyll being involuntarily turned into Mr. Hyde with eyes begging to avoid the whole ordeal.  So it is with heavy heart and great responsibility that I turn to this latest essay.  I wish to propose that even on the days when your mother has discarded last month’s leftovers into the garbage can, writing persuasive essays is not as bad as taking out the trash.  I know you are violently shaking your heads right now, but I ask you to hear me out.  Despite the fact that writing persuasive essays is somewhat mundane after the third week straight, it is better than taking out the trash because it makes your brain more powerful, it develops marketable skills, and it can get you into college.