What Is A Good Hook For Essays | Essay Hooks Writing Tips

To keep your audience interested in your article, you need to write a powerful hook. Read on to find tips on how to write a hook for an essay.

There are so many essays, and some include narrative, argumentative, persuasive, or descriptive. However, all these essay types have one thing in common that could make or mar them. The introduction has to grab the attention of the reader. Such introductory parts are known as hooks. What is a hook in writing? To pick the best hook for your paper, think about the essay type, the audience, and the needs of your audience.

This article will highlight how to write a good hook, how to start an essay as well as some hook examples to consider.

Essay Hook Examples – How To Start An Essay

There are several hooks for essays to grab the attention of your readers. Some of them include:

1. Literary quotes

This approach is ideal for essays on literature, writers, or books. It involves using quotes from books to start your essay.

Example:

• Writer Marty Snow once said, “two people can only gain true friendship when silence between them is comfortable.”

2. Common misconception

Your introduction can also start with a common misconception. That could intrigue the audience and keep them hooked to the essay.

Examples:

• “Most people believe eggs are unhealthy because of their cholesterol content.”
• “many people believe that toilet seats are full of germs and can transmit infections.”

3. Quotes from famous individuals

One great way to create interesting hook sentences for your essay is to use quotes from famous people. However, you must ensure that the quote is relevant to the topic.

Examples:

• Hilary Clinton said, “democracy can only be true when women’s voices are heard.”
• Martin Luther King once said, “I have a dream…”

4. Anecdotes

Anecdotes are stories designed to support a point. This type of hook may be ideal if you are writing a descriptive or narrative essay. You can also choose to be humorous in the beginning if you want to. That is not a requirement, though. Some humor may keep the readers interested in the essay as they read along.

This anecdote has to be concise and direct. Ensure that it relates to the idea of the essay. Also, avoid using the first-person narrative for your anecdote as most essays do not allow it.

Example:

• “His fingers pranced through the computer keyboard as he attempted to distract himself from the task. For a brief moment, he pretended it was a piano…”

5. Personal stories

When it comes to college application essays and personal narratives, this hook is the best option. They aren’t recommended for argumentative or formal persuasive papers. If you are unsure about its usage, ask your professor which personal pronouns can be used. You can also ask if the story must be personal.

If a story of your relative, friend, or classmate is ideal, then you can use it as a hook.

Examples:

• “As a young lad, my father was a miner. For more than 20 years, the man clawed and scraped the earth in search of fuel. A few years ago…”
• “I was born in 1987 in a refugee camp. For a few years, I only knew conflict, and I was vulnerable. My family survived by…”

6. Statistics

Statistical data can be used to hook readers. Sometimes, it could be fun facts or new facts that were not widely known. If you choose to use this as a hook, be sure to include only facts and include the source.

Examples:

• More than 11% of individuals in the world are left-handed
• According to Allison Komet from Psychology Today Magazine, 1 out of 5 people lies in conversations lasting over 10 minutes.
• An average iceberg weighs more than 100,000 metric tons

7. Ask questions

Questions can arouse the interest of your readers and get them to keep reading. Just like the statistics, ensure that your selected question is relevant to the topic. Don’t be too general with the question.

For instance, if your essay is about laptops, you can ask, “How long does your laptop battery last? Is your laptop portable?” and the likes. The question will grab the attention of the readers and get them to think. It isn’t advisable to ask questions that have simple answers like yes or no.

Examples:

• If you could be God for one day, what would you do?
• What is the one thing that keeps marriages happy? Love, money, or something else?
• Would the country have been different if Hilary Clinton won the election?8. Definition and fact

     8. Interesting facts

Using a fact or definition is a great hook for your essay because it surprises the reader. That is why you need to find something unique and interesting to intrigue the readers and keep them interested. Also, an outrageous statement or bold pronouncement can be effective. Also, try to avoid copying a definition from a dictionary. It won’t be ideal to start an essay with a dictionary definition.

Examples:

• Cigarette smoking puts you at risk of cancer
• The country could collapse if the education budget gets cut.
• Spain is known for its massive book translation and has translated more books than many other countries.
• The three active volcanoes in Europe, namely Stromboli, Etna, and Vesuvius, are located in Italy.
• The Mediterranean Sea is home to a sunken bronze statue of Jesus Christ.

      9. Paint scenes

You can paint a beautiful picture in the heads of your readers. However, this depends mainly on the length and type of essay. Do this by creating a scene in the hook to assist the readers in seeing a clear picture in their mind’s eye.

Pick a scene that appeals to the senses while also setting the mood for the essay.

Examples:

• The wind rustles quietly behind the creaky old house as the little girl walked in.
• The man sat on a reclining chair in front of his fireplace to get warmed up as the winter storms intensified.

10. Thesis statement

You can also choose to go straight to the point by starting with your thesis statement. Start the argument and then follow it through in the body of the essay. If your argument is interesting, the readers will want to read up to see where the idea ends.

Examples:

• Finally, it is time for the big reveal about thanksgiving, the American holiday, and the truth is that it isn’t such a great holiday.
• At this rate, the human race needs to invest more in space exploration because the earth may not survive for another 50 years.

There are so many hooks to use in your assignment. These suggestions would give you an idea of how to start an essay. Now that you know how to make a hook, how can you choose one that is best suited for your essay?

Picking Good Attention Grabbers For Essays

There are so many essay starters, as shown above, so it may be difficult to pick the best one for your paper. Here’s an idea of what you should consider before choosing a hook for an essay or any other academic paper:

• The audience
• The essay type

Before picking good introduction sentences, you need to think about the audience. Consider the message you hope to pass across to the audience.

Be smart about it. You cannot use the same hook for both a college girl and a college admission counselor. So, there are a couple of questions you need to ask yourself:

• Who is the audience?
• Who is the main target of the essay?

Next, you would need to find out what matters to the readers as well as what they want to get from the essay.

Ask yourself:

• Do they hope to solve a problem by reading it?
• Do they plan to learn some facts about you?
• Do they want unique information on the topic?
• Do they want you to understand the subject thoroughly?

After getting this done, it will be easier to choose the right hook for your essay. Follow the hook sentence examples above to get a clearer picture.

Hire Our Helpers To Make A Great Hook Statement

Your hook must be tailored to the essay because it must reflect the bigger picture you’re trying to paint. Outrageous statements and common misconceptions often encourage the audience to learn new facts. Catchy questions, on the other hand, push the audience to think critically or motivates them. Therefore, if you’re aiming to have a great impact on the readers, let our writing service create a compelling essay hook for you.

Note that hooks are important in your essay, but they cannot singlehandedly fix a bad essay. Ensure that you state your thesis, outline the essay, research, and then pick a grabber for it. The opening lines will help make your paper worth reading.