Do Introductions for L.A vary?

[MsBanks]

Hey Guys,
So Exams are near and we are recapping L.A in English class, my question is do introductions for L.A vary?
I mean, when you are given two texts to analyse, is the introduction supposed to include "general" information before moving into introducing and giving an overview of the 2 pieces?
I'm really confused because reading others' L.A pieces I don't see anything that I'm taught in English and I fear that I might stuff up in the Exam :/ HELP!!

[literally lauren]

Hey Guys,
So Exams are near and we are recapping L.A in English class, my question is do introductions for L.A vary?
I mean, when you are given two texts to analyse, is the introduction supposed to include "general" information before moving into introducing and giving an overview of the 2 pieces?
I'm really confused because reading others' L.A pieces I don't see anything that I'm taught in English and I fear that I might stuff up in the Exam :/ HELP!!

Hi there!

Introductions for Language Analysis are fairly unimportant, and teachers rarely give them much weight in the overall marking scheme. However, they do give you a chance to make a good first impression, so it pays to make sure you're not doing anything totally outlandish and setting yourself up for a mediocre result.

It's tough to know what to advise against seeing as I'm not sure what things your school has taught you (though there's a general guide here that might help!)

Very broadly speaking, you want your introductions to cover:
- the author's (/authors') contention(s) <-- MOST IMPORTANT!
- some general background information (no more than a sentence or two)
- publication details (i.e. when and where the piece appeared; was it a newsletter sent to local small businesses, was it a speech given at the Department of Transport and Planning, was it an article in a school magazine, etc.)
- audience (if provided, which it usually will be in the background information)
- tone (if applicable; you can comment on a dominant tone, or a key tonal shift. Imo this is best left for the body paragraphs, but typically many essays will mention it here, briefly)
- sub-arguments (also optional, and can also bog down your essay if you have multiple articles to unpack, so I'd advise sticking with the main contention and leaving later explication for the body paras)
- images (i.e. just briefly summarise them, if you want to. Or leave them for... you guessed it... the body paragraphs)

Aside from that, just keep it short and sweet. You don't have to spend much time on "general information" because it means you're wasting time that could be better spent analysing the material and gaining marks.

If you're still unsure, perhaps let me know what kinds of things you see others' essays doing that are totally unfamiliar to you. Or, tell me what your teacher has been instructing you to do thus far, and I can hopefully help you work out whether you're on the right track