• establish the context, background and/or importance of the topic
  
• indicate a problem, controversy or a gap in the field of study
• define the topic or key terms
• state of the purpose of the essay/writing
  
• provide an overview of the coverage and/or structure of the writing

One of the most significant current discussions in legal and moral philosophy is ......
It is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore the .....
X is the leading cause of death in western industrialised countries.
X is a common disorder characterised by ......
X is an important component in the climate system, and plays a key role in Y.
In the new global economy, X has become a central issue for ......
In the history of development economics, X has been thought of as a key factor in ....... 
Xs are one of the most widely used groups of antibacterial agents and ......
Xs are the most potent anti-inflammatory agents known.
X is a major public health problem, and the cause of about 4% of the global burden of disease.
X is an increasingly important area in applied linguistics. 
Central to the entire discipline of X is the concept of ....... 
X is at the heart of our understanding of ......

Recent developments in X have heightened the need for ......
In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in ......
Recent developments in the field of X have led to a renewed interest in ......
Recently, researchers have shown an increased interest in ......
The past decade has seen the rapid development of X in many .......
The past thirty years have seen increasingly rapid advances in the field of......
Over the past century there has been a dramatic increase in ......
One of the most important events of the 1970s was ......
Traditionally, Xs have subscribed to the belief that ......
X proved an important literary genre in the early Y community.
The changes experienced by Xs over the past decade remain unprecedented.
Xs are one of the most widely used groups of antibacterial agents and have been extensively used for decades to ....... 

However, these rapid changes are having a serious effect ......
However, a major problem with this kind of application is ......
Lack of X has existed as a health problem for many years.
Despite its safety and efficacy, X suffers from several major drawbacks:
However, research has consistently shown that first year students have not attained an adequate understanding of ......
There is increasing concern that some Xs are being disadvantaged ...... 
Despite its long clinical success, X has a number of problems in use.
Questions have been raised about the safety of prolonged use of ......

So far, however, there has been little discussion about ......
However, far too little attention has been paid to ......
Most studies in X have only been carried out in a small number of areas.
The research to date has tended to focus on X rather than Y.
In addition, no research has been found that surveyed .......
So far this method has only been applied to ......
Several studies have produced estimates of X (Smith, 2002; Jones, 2003), but there is still insufficient data for .....
However, there have been no controlled studies which compare differences in ......
The experimental data are rather controversial, and there is no general agreement about ......
However, there is no reliable evidence that ...... 
X's analysis does not take account of ..... nor does he examine ...... 

This paper will focus on/examine/give an account of ......
This essay seeks to remedy these problems by analyisng the literature of ...... 
The objectives of this research are to determine whether ......
This paper seeks to address the following questions: 
This essay critically examines/discusses/traces ......
The purpose of this paper is to review recent research into the ......
This paper will review the research conducted on ......
This chapter reviews the literature concerning the usefulness of using ......
The aim of this paper is to determine/examine ......
The aim of this study was to evaluate and validate .....

In this paper I argue that ..... 
In the pages that follow, it will be argued that ……
This paper attempts to show that ......
In this essay, I attempt to defend the view that ......

The main questions/issues addressed in this paper are: a), b and c).
This paper has been divided into four parts. The first part deals with ......
The essay has been organised in the following way.
This paper first gives a brief overview of the recent history of X.
This paper reviews the evidence for .....
This paper begins by ...... It will then go on to ......
The first section of this paper will examine ...... 
Finally, .......

Chapter 2 begins by laying out the theoretical dimensions of the research, and looks at how ......
Chapter 3 describes the design, synthesis, characterization and evaluation of ......
The last chapter assesses the ......

While a variety of definitions of the term X have been suggested, this paper will use the definition first suggested by Smith (1968) who saw it as .......
Throughout this paper the term X will refer to/will be used to refer to .......