If a reader can’t go past the introduction of your essay, it’s not a good sign. Many professors judge the quality of students’ writing by the first few lines of their papers. Therefore, it is necessary that you make that first paragraph count. When it’s too long, it could dilute the essence of writing the paper.
So, how long should an introduction paragraph be?
An essay introduction is about 10% of the total length of the paper. If the word count for the entire essay is 1000 words, the introduction should be 100 words long. A longer essay means a lengthy introduction to include all the most important points.
You can notice that an introduction doesn’t need to be long.
What counts is how sharp and interesting it is. Why keep the introduction short?
- Long introductions will lose the reader.
- You’re likely to make a mistake in a lengthy introduction.
- Few sentences tend to be clear and concise.
- Leaves you with enough word count for the body.
- You write faster when you don’t spend hours on the first paragraph.
Related Article: Use These 5 Steps to Write an Introduction Paragraph
Length of a Short Essay Introduction
Most short essays require only 10% of the body length. However, there might be slight variations depending on how the paper is arranged. A few more words above and below this range are usually acceptable.
Think of an introduction paragraph as a signpost to what the reader should expect in the essay.
So, it is even better to write the introduction last after finishing the entire paper. You will be okay if you’re writing a 3,000+ word essay and your introduction is only 5%.
We can say that the common number of words you will see in a short essay is between 100 and 200 words.
How long should an introduction be for a 1500-word essay?
The length of an introduction paragraph for a 1500-word essay should be 150 words, which is equivalent to 10% of the paper length. Being a short essay, going beyond this length would be a bad idea.
However, students can get away with only 100 words in the introduction.
How long should an introduction be for a 2000-word essay?
The recommended number of words for a 2000-word essay introduction should be 200 words but we consider this a little too much. Still, you will rarely get punished for using as fewer as 100 words in the first paragraph.
Do not go beyond 200 words in this case.
How long should an introduction be for a 3000-word essay?
Considering that 10% of a 3000-word essay equals 300 words, this needs creativity to keep the reader hooked. For papers that are this long, we usually recommend splitting the introduction paragraphs into two paragraphs.
The length of a good paragraph is 150 words. When your essay introduction is 300 words, it fits into two good paragraphs. Therefore, it is important to use the first paragraph of these two as the hook while the second one as the background and thesis.