In your essay, you should:

• describe the debate over globalization and inequality
• summarize the main arguments of each side in the debate
• state your position in the debate
• support your position

An essay has an introduction, body and conclusion.

Usually your introduction will draw the reader’s attention to your topic, reveal your intention in writing the essay, and state your conclusion.

Examples

1. In this brief introductory paragraph, the author uses recent events--"The war on terrorism -- and the rupture in the Western alliance produced by the Iraqi war"-- to introduce the ongoing debate between advocates of globalization and “extreme critics of globalization”:

The war on terrorism -- and the rupture in the Western alliance produced by the Iraqi war -- might sharply slow down the international movement of capital and people for an extended period. This will please the more extreme critics of globalization and immigration, but it will greatly reduce the opportunities for poor nations to grow out of poverty.

Her thesis is that globalization provides “opportunities for poor nations to grow out of poverty.”

In her essay, she will:

• give examples of countries that grew out of poverty thanks to globalization
• explain how globalization helps poor countries reduce poverty
• argue that the “more extreme critics of globalization and immigration” are wrong
  

2. This next author argues that development experts are ignoring the “global distribution of income.” She finds this strange, because evidence of growing income equality would support the pro-globalization position and would settle a “long-standing disagreement in economic theory.” Some experts assume that inequality is decreasing, while others do not care about inequality, as long as poverty is decreasing.

Anybody interested in the wealth and poverty of nations must be interested in what is happening to the global distribution of income, one would suppose. A lot turns on the question. If the world's income distribution has become more equal in the past few decades, this would be powerful evidence that globalisation works to the benefit of all. It would give developing countries good reason to integrate their economies closely into the world economy, as the IMF and the World Bank--and their mostly rich-country shareholders--urge them to do. It would answer some of the fears of the anti-globalisation protesters. And it would help to settle a crucial and long-standing disagreement in economic theory, between the orthodox view that economic growth naturally delivers "convergence" of rich and poor countries, and alternative theories which, for one reason or another, say the opposite.

Despite its importance, this issue has received rather little attention within the fields of development studies, international relations and (until very recently) international economics. Neither the World Bank nor the IMF has devoted significant resources to studying it. Many analysts apparently take it for granted that global inequality is falling. Others think it sufficient to focus on poverty, and ignore inequality as such. Both these views need to be challenged. New evidence suggests that global inequality is worsening rapidly. There are good reasons to worry about that trend, quite apart from what it implies about the extent of world poverty.

Her thesis is that inequality is growing and that its growth is worrisome, even if poverty is decreasing.

3. In the following introduction, the author refers to the debate between the “anti-globalists”and the “globalists." The “anti-globalists,” he says, fail to distinguish between the benign and the dangerous aspects of globalization. They blame free trade for problems caused by such things as “short-term capital flows.” His thesis is that “the freeing of trade is largely benign.”

“Globalization" has become today's buzz word. It has also become a battle ground for two radically opposed groups. There are the "anti-globalists" who fear globalization and stress only its downside, seeking therefore powerful interventions aimed at taming, if not (unwittingly) crippling it. Then there are the "globalists" (a class to which I belong) who celebrate globalization instead, emphasize its upside, while seeking only to ensure that its few rough edges be handled through appropriate policies that serve to make globalization yet more attractive.

Many anti-globalists consider the central problem of globalization to be its amorality, or even its immorality. But these critics have too blanket an approach to globalization. The word covers a variety of phenomena that characterize an integrating world economy: trade, short-term capital flows, direct foreign investment, immigration, cultural convergence et al. The sins of one of the above cannot be visited upon the virtues of another. Some are benign even when largely unregulated whereas others can be fatal if left wholly to the marketplace.

In particular, the freeing of trade is largely benign: if I exchange some of my toothpaste for some of your toothbrushes, we will both be better off than if we did not trade at all.

4. Student essay

In this introduction, he gives a good summary of each side in the debate and takes a stand on the issue. In his essay, he provides more details about their arguments, and then explains his position, citing information from his sources.

Read the "Handout on Introductions."

Read the "Handout on Thesis Statements."

Exercise: According to the handout, a thesis statement "makes a claim that others might dispute." Which of the following could be a thesis statement?


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