A system and method for automatically generating a commodity introductory document that encompasses personalized subject matter as well as related information acquired from external information sources. A predetermined template comprising user-authored sections and automated sections is used to select and organize the information. The GUIs corresponding to the user-authored sections allow an introductory document author to provide personalized input. The automated sections are linked to information sources through embedded hyperlinks, from which relevant information can be identified and derived to populate the automated sections. The introductory document author may be provided with a few options regarding the layout and the presentation of the indicatory document as well as individual sections thereof.