Last updated
Last updated
Pull at your reader's heartstrings. Especially with personal or political essays, use your hook to draw the reader emotionally to the subject of your story. You can do this by describing relatable hardships or tragedies. For example, if you're writing an essay proposing a change in drunk driving laws, you might start with a story about how a victim's life changed forever after they were hit by a drunk driver.Suggest an appropriate example or anecdote. In reading and researching your essay, you may have come across an amusing or interesting anecdote that, while related, doesn't really fit into the body of your essay. Such an anecdote can work great as a hook. For example, if you are writing an essay about a public figure, you might include an anecdote about a strange personal habit that is cleverly related to your thesis statement. Especially with less formal papers or personal essays, humorous anecdotes can be particularly effective hooks. Ask a thought-provoking question. If you are writing a persuasive essay, consider using an appropriate question to draw your reader in and get them actively thinking about your essay topic. For example, "What would you do if you could play God for a day? That's what the leaders of the small island nation of Guam tried to answer." If your essay prompt was a question, don't just repeat it in your paper. Be sure to come up with an intriguing question of your own. Avoid clichés and generalizations. Generalizations and clichés, even if presented in contrast to your point of view, will not help your essay. In most cases, they will actually hurt by making you look like an unoriginal or lazy writer. Broad, sweeping generalizations can ring false with some readers and alienate them from the start. For example, "everyone wants someone to love" would alienate someone who identifies as aromantic or asexual. Connect your hook to a larger theme. The next part of your introduction explains to your reader how this hook connects to the rest of your essay. Start with a broader and more encompassing point to explain the importance of your hook. Use an appropriate transition word or phrase, such as "yet" or "similarly" to transition from your specific anecdote back to a broader scope. For example, if you've linked a story about one individual, but your essay isn't about them, you can link the hook back to the larger topic with a sentence like "Tommy wasn't alone, though. There were more than 200,000 dockworkers affected by this union strike. "