Opening paragraphs feel trickier than they are. There is a formula for them which, if you grasp and stick to, will not let you down. The most important thing to remember is to read the title not once, but twice or three times, then write it down exactly, word for word. Even if the essay title is long and incorporates statements before getting to the actual question (which often happens in computing science), do not shorten the title. Nor can you rephrase it in your own terms or alter it in any way. Answering the precise question you have been set is key to a good mark.

In a computing science argumentative essay, i.e. an essay that asks you to take a stand and come down on one side or the other, your opening paragraph should perform three functions: define the terms of the essay, reveal the essay plan and state the writer’s thesis.

In a computing science discursive essay, i.e. an essay that asks you to discuss or assess, the structure of your opening paragraph is much more a matter of your own style. However, you must still define your terms and reveal the essay plan.

Defining terms simply means you should outline the key characteristics of key terms. An essay plan reveals the topics you intend to discuss or the angles from which your argument will be approached. Stating your thesis (for the argumentative essay) means declaring which side of the argument your essay is taking.

Let’s look at these three functions in connection with the following argumentative essay title:

It is often said that technology makes us free. However, now that there is no aspect of our lives in which technology does not play a part, are we not more constricted than ever before, or has the whole concept of freedom changed?

The key terms here are technology, free/freedom and constricted. In your opening paragraph, you need to define these terms with regard to your essay. This does not mean either a dictionary definition or a history of technology, freedom and constriction. It means a few sentences that frame how you understand these terms, i.e. their key characteristics, and how your essay is going to use them.

With this in mind, here’s a possible opening paragraph for this essay title:

Of all the claims that have been made on technology’s behalf, freedom, or ‘the capacity of a human to act independently and without constriction’ [Grant, Freedom is a Moral Choice, London, 2030, p134] is the most dubious. It may be unarguable that technology in the shape of the washing machine, for example, frees up time. However, this essay will strongly argue that freeing up time and making us free are not the same thing, and that technology has brought with it constrictions undreamed of by previous generations. Many types of technology could be invoked to make this argument, but this essay intends to concentrate on three: the dishwasher, the digital alarm clock and the mobile telephone. Through them, the essay hopes to show that if the claim to freedom is to be upheld, we must indeed accept that the whole concept of freedom has changed.

This has taken up 146 words of an 1100 word essay.

It has defined the terms in the following way: freedom and constriction with a quote,and technology by giving examples.

It has revealed the essay plan by citing the three types of technology that will be used to illustrate the writer’s thesis.

It has stated the writer’s thesis in the line ‘this essay will strongly argue etc.’