how to introduce yourself in a scholarship essay

how to introduce yourself in a scholarship essay

Strategies for a Compelling Scholarship Essay Introduction

1. The Power of a Strong Introduction

It should come as no surprise that most applicants do not enjoy drafting their graduate admissions essay. Writing a statement that tells a graduate admissions committee all about you and can potentially make or break your application is stressful. Despite this goal, there are many paths to writing a great introduction. In the next sections, I will share with you some… Ideally, your introduction will make your readers want to read your paper. The opening paragraph of your paper will provide your readers with their initial impressions of your argument, your writing style, and the overall quality of your work. A vague, disorganized, error-filled, off-the-wall, or boring introduction will probably create a negative impression. On the other hand, a concise, engaging, and well-written introduction will start your readers off thinking highly of you, your analytical skills, your writing, and your paper. Your introduction is an important road map for the rest of your paper. Your introduction conveys a lot of information to your readers. You can let them know what your topic is, why it is important, and how you plan to proceed with your discussion. In many academic disciplines, your introduction should contain a thesis that will assert your main argument. Your introduction should also give the reader a sense of the kinds of information you will use to make that argument and the general organization of the paragraphs and pages that will follow. After reading your introduction, your readers should not have any major surprises in store when they read the main body of your paper.

2. Crafting an Engaging Opening Statement

For example, if we are self-taught students who are working, we can begin the essay with the sentence “Working on the backs of less than $100 per month for almost 7 years, this scholarship offers a great opportunity for money and my future.” This sentence will represent our background, and it is in line with the purpose of this scholarship.

Concretely, the opening sentence in an essay must represent the relevance of the purpose of study with the scholarship obtained. We must provide information on what and why we learn and also explain the benefits of getting a scholarship for our objectives. We must show the reader that we really need a scholarship.

In making an essay, the opening sentence is of high value. If we make a parable, it is similar to the door of our house. An attractive door will arouse longing for people who want to get into our house. Vice versa, if the door looks bad, people will think many times before getting into our house. Therefore, it all starts from the opening sentence. A compelling opening sentence will give an impression to the reader, and it means we, as the writer, have succeeded in inviting their attention to read the rest of the essay. Therefore, it is important to create a persuasive opening in the introduction essay.

In today’s scholarship competition, many students wish to apply for scholarships. They will do it by following several steps that must be done very seriously, like the students will try to learn about the grants and specifications of the committee. One of the important steps in acquiring a scholarship is to make an essay. In this part, the student will demonstrate their adherence to the committee and explain why they need to get a scholarship.

3. Highlighting Relevant Achievements and Goals

Using the proper situation setup, the admissions committee will feel that they have come to know the potential student and place a better judgment on the importance of the accomplishment. Remember, an introduction is the first impression; aim to make it memorable. In the case of a student with little accomplishment or one who has faced a hardship in acquiring an education, it is better not to dwell on the past, as it can be more effective to use accomplishment stories as the meat of the essay and create an introduction that points towards a brighter future. This can be accomplished by simply referencing the past with a brief story and using it as a segue to a statement that the past has been accomplished and the future will hold greater promise, action, and change. This reflective introduction will lead into the next strategy and can utilize achievement stories in any future essay.

The “Highlighting relevant achievements and goals” section is particularly an attractive strategy to utilize in your introduction. Since the most will be written about this topic, it is easy to jump ahead and begin creative writing, recalling the account. But with a purpose of creating an impression on readers, we must focus on creating an introduction that immediately grabs their attention and holds it. One way to achieve this is by setting the background of the story – and try doing this for a 4.0 GPA student, an outstanding member of the National Honors Society, who regularly volunteers on weekends. This is not nearly as effective as jumping to the completion of the story and using pieces of the accomplishment to illustrate how a climax point was reached. The climax or turning point of an event that led to the accomplishing an award can be a very interesting story, and just telling this story with a lead in can draft a very effective introduction. If a student has little to tell about a turning point in an event, which has led to an accomplishment or award, this student may defer this strategy. Remember that it is still important not to jump ahead and write the climax event here since the remainder of the story is still untold, and this story can likely be written as the essay body. Another effective means to creating an introduction for this strategy is to use relative information. A series of events involving an award or accomplishment can be prefaced with discussing the award itself, and thus several essays can be progressed naturally into the story. This type of introduction is effective because the stories themselves are usually quite memorable, so by creating an introduction that prefaces the story, the writer can lead the reader to understanding his story, and how it was related to the award or accomplishment. This can be an effective and creative way to set up a story, which was meant to portray a strong achievement of the writer. Finally, trying simply to make clear your accomplishment and the events that led to it. This can be done in just a few sentences. This simple clarity can set a professional tone for the essay and can be effective if this is the only writing about this event. Overall, this strategy seems limitless, and how a student introduces their story will likely be based on personal preference, the importance of the story, and the impact that the story had. But we must remember to keep the story untold, and use the telling of the story as the accomplishment of the story itself. At the end of the day, an essay should keep the reader wanting more, and telling only part of a story is a strong way to accomplish this.

4. Conveying Passion and Purpose

First of all, passion and purpose epitomize memorable, effective writing. At its core, a scholarship essay is a quest for money. For that reason, it is shameful to have a lackadaisical approach. Remember that in many cases the difference between acquiring a scholarship and being overlooked is the first impression made by the applicant through the essay, and the best way to achieve that is to incite the interest of the reader with a clear sense of passion and purpose for your pursuits. Demonstrating your passion will help to make the reader feel that it is worth their while to find out more about you. Passion is contagious, displaying your passion will encourage the reader to want to learn more about you. Purpose empowers passion. By outlining your purpose, you not only solidify your position to yourself, but you also give the reader a clearer understanding of what you hope to accomplish if given the opportunity. So then how do we go about conveying the right sense of passion and purpose in our writing? One of the most direct methods is to simply state it within the introduction. There is nothing wrong with being outright about your goals or indicating to the reader the precise nature of your actions. Be warned that an essay laden with statements of pure determination or arrogance may come across to the reader as an odyssey of excuses for actions or lost causes. Statements of pure resolve, whilst admirable, can often be perceived as the voice of one attempting to justify their actions, mostly to themselves. This is a fine line to walk and anybody intending to just state their purpose should be careful to consider how these statements will appear to the reader.

5. Captivating the Reader’s Attention with a Personal Story

Personal experience or a moment that can serve as an interesting and captivating story that can catch the limelight and grab the attention of the reader should be under the guidance of your choice. The story is expected to come from your own personal experiences. Relevance to your career choice and course of study should be focused upon. The need of the story to be genuine and honest cannot be overemphasized. Fabrication of personality or the story could lead to disqualification. The importance of the story to portray you in a positive light is another point to be noted. The story should emphasize on the fact that you have learned something and depict the change in a positive manner. This change should be relevant to the point at which you realized you wanted to pursue your chosen career. The description of the situation and the requirements is followed by the need for the story to show a resolution to the situation described any lessons learned and better still a positive outcome. This is essential to a scholarship essay as it reflects understanding of the situation by the student, an ability to learn and an application of new found knowledge. The story is said to be interesting only if it fits in a small specified frame. To say the least, the story should be able to initiate interest in the reader to find out what happened next. A set of intriguing events would work even better. But all said and done it is essential to keep the story limited to one or two paragraphs. A great deal of persistence may be required to not go on elaborating and explaining. A focused approach to filling the above given requirements would result in a great captivating story. This can be verified if after reading the essay, you divert your friend for five minutes and explain to him just the story. If his curiosity is aroused you have been a success.