Supervisor comment: 'A short and focused introduction outlining the theme of the essay'

A good introduction should secure the attention of your reader, include a concise introduction to the topic/question and outline the argument you intend to take. You might include some of the wording of the question in hand in order to ensure that a relevant focus is established immediately.

Activity

Read the following three introductions to the question Discuss the role of chance in evolution and then consider:

• Are they concise? Do they secure your attention?
• To what extent is each focused on the question? 
• Are you clear on what position the writer intends to argue?

Introduction 1

Chance is essential for evolution. Without it, there would be not be as much diversity as exists in organisms today; indeed, we would not exist to see it. While it is agreed that chance is a requirement in the evolution of living organisms, it is difficult to determine its exact role. In this essay I will explore chance and its relative importance in relation to other processes that direct evolution. Chance can be described in many ways, but a general description that I will adhere to is that chance is when something occurs with zero predictability and without any systematic pattern.

Introduction 2

The term chance can be defined as “A force assumed to cause events that cannot be foreseen or controlled”. So in essence, anything that is fundamentally random. Evolution is a gradual change, which is brought about by natural selection. The process of natural selection follows a logical path isn’t down to chance. The two main areas in evolution where chance plays a role are mutation and genetic drift.

Introduction 3

Evolution is changes in the frequency of alleles in the population. Increases in the frequency of alleles are due to random, chance mutation.Changes in allele frequency can change from generation to generation by random processes during fertilization. Genetic drift can also cause chance changes in the frequency of alleles both in the short term and long term. The other major force governing evolution is natural selection.This works on variation created by random mutation, however natural selection is directional and non-random. Nevertheless it can still be affected by chance events and genetic drift. Sexual selection is an example of how a chance initial distribution of alleles can have a large affect on the final gene frequency.

Now click here to access supervisor's feedback on each of the three introductions above.