By Importance Of A Strong Opening:
Nowadays, an essay is the most commonly used mode for conveying information about a particular topic or subject in a logical and structured manner. It provides everything the reader needs to know in an easy-to-understand format. And, the most important part of an essay that keeps a reader engaged is the opening.
A strong essay opening:
- Introduces a topic without providing irrelevant information.
- Provides an overview about the subject to the reader.
- Is concise and to the point.
- Hooks the reader and captivates him to keep reading.
A critical part of an essay introduction is a hook. Hooks are important for:
- Setting the tone of an essay
- Captivating the reader to follow through.
- Inciting curiosity among the readers.
This article will explore the best way of writing a strong essay introduction along with a captivating hook.
Techniques For Crafting Effective Hooks:
A hook is the first two sentences of an essay designed to grab a reader’s attention and captivate them to follow through. There are many techniques for writing effective essay hooks that grab the reader’s attention. Essay writers generally:
- Start with a question.
- Include a fact, statistics, or a quote.
- Use a declarative or a bold statement.
- Write a compelling anecdote.
There are so many other techniques for writing hooks for essays. Let’s explore these strategies for writing persuasive essay introductions.
A Question:
Starting an essay introduction with a question should:
- Hook the reader
- Provide relevant and necessary context
- Not provide irrelevant information and/ or context.
Many professional essay writing services use question to introduce their essay.
Example:
Suppose we are given a topic about cigarettes causing cancer. We can introduce it by asking:
Did you know that every 6 out of 10 chain smokers suffer from respiratory diseases like cancer? Cancer is the most dangerous disease where red blood cells stop forming. And, the fact that it is incurable should be enough to make you quit smoking.
The question asked in this introduction links the reader to the essay’s topic which talks about the relation between smoking and cancer. The question in this essay introduction directly provides the necessary context that chain smoking has a specific cancer rate and prompts the reader to go ahead.
An Argument:
Another writing technique for essays’ introductions include a fact, statistic or a quote. This is what an argument means in this context. Any fact, statistic or a quote is an argument used by the writers to link back to their original topic.
Example:
Let’s suppose the topic we are working with is about children being addicted to video games. We can introduce it with a stat.
According to World Health Organization, 60 out of 80 million children worldwide are addicted to video games inducing several health issues. Addiction to anything especially video games cause children to become stubborn. Moreover, continuous screen time can cause eyesight issues.
This introduction directly states a statistical figure given by WHO about video game addiction among children and then provides additional context around the stat by adding induced health issues.
We can also start with a fact.
Video games have been shown to be highly addictive especially among children as they cause dopamine release and even trigger rage inducing anger issues at a very young age.
This fact directly tells the reader about how are video games addictive and links it to the health issues induced by it.
Furthermore, we can start with a quote as well.
“Excess of everything is bad”
We have seen in history that consuming anything in excess like video games have done more harm than good. Ideally, everything needs to be consumed in moderation.
This directly states a quote which prompts curiosity among the reader to follow through.
Recommendation: If you want to captivate your readers and instantly grab their attention, it is recommended to start with a relevant quote as they immediately motivate or inspires a reader. Quotes are one of the most powerful writing techniques for essays.
A Statement:
Instead of directly including the above techniques, you can also start with a declaration or bold statement if your essay is related to a topic in literature or issues not yet present.
Example:
Water will become even more valuable than petro-dollar given its scarcity. Increasing global population and Earth’s limited resources like water is leading to us to an unpredictable future. Water might become a commodity even more valuable than petro-dollar if this persists.
The first line in this introduction is not a definitive fact, but, rather a critical analysis made by the writer about dwindling water supply across the globe and how it could exceed the value of petro-dollar given its scarcity. The example of petro-dollar is given to define the gravity of the situation.
Compelling Anecdote:
Anecdotes are another commonly used literary device in essays. Anecdotes are basically short stories used by writers to make a larger point. Anecdotes are of many types. They can be:
- Personal (true or fictional story related to you)
- Cautionary (a story warning how something went wrong)
- Reminiscent (a story that reflects back at an incident of the past related or unrelated to you)
- Inspirational (story about someone overcoming a big challenge)
- Characterizing (revealing a person’s true character)
- Humorous (a funny incident happened with you or someone)
Anecdotes are also one of the most effective essay introduction strategies. They add a personal touch to the essay and directly connects with the readers giving them a sense of realism and motivation for a specific action.
Strong and compelling anecdotes are generally written by:
- Setting up a scene and story (start with a location and the characters).
- Not dragging the story, a lot and coming right to the incident.
- Ensuring incident’s relevance with the larger point yet to be made.
Example:
Since anecdotes are of many types, I will just pick one type, say inspirational.
Back when I was in 10th grade, I was a foodie. I was addicted to junk food and fast food. One day, I read a news that said, “Eating french fries twice a week can shorten your lifespan”. This news inspired me to pay attention to my health and motivated me to cut down significantly on junk food and ensure the right eating habits.
This inspirational anecdote doesn’t introduce irrelevant context and gets straight to the point about what motivated the writer to cut back on junk food and ensure the right eating habits.
Strategies For Persuasive Essay Introductions:
Framing Your Thesis Effectively:
After your hook, the second most important part about your essay introduction is a thesis statement. In short, a thesis basically:
- Is concise, relevant and to the point.
- Discusses all the points about your essay one-by-one in a logical manner.
Hook is necessary for grabbing a reader’s attention in an essay. Likewise, a strong thesis statement in short describes everything you are going to discuss in your essay in a short and easy-to-follow manner.
A strong thesis statement should ensure all the important points being listed and not include any irrelevant or extra information.
Engaging Emotion Through Storytelling:
Storytelling is one of the many things that captivates readers. As we discussed in the anecdote section about why and how a story is important for essay writing. It typically engages readers emotionally. An introduction written with techniques other than anecdotes will simply provide information to the readers. But, a well-written story not only relates to the reader, but, also keeps them immersed in essay connecting them personally on a specific subject.
Writing Tips To Enhance Engagement:
The Power Of Vivid Imagery:
Descriptive writing is another powerful essay writing tip for adding a personal touch and a sense of realism to the essay. A technique used in descriptive writing is vivid imagery. Vivid imagery enhances a story by adding minute details like:
- Describing a specific location in detail (dense trees or dense palm forests for extra detail)
- Describes a character
Vivid imagery is an important writing technique as it opens the door to imagination for readers. Readers not just read the story, but, they experience it with the help of these minute details. Essay introductions can also be written using descriptive writing and vivid imagery to enhance engagement.
Balancing Tone & Content:
Tone and content are the two thing that demand balance in an essay in order to make it more powerful. Essay tones can be:
- Informational
- Friendly
- Inspirational
- Opinionated
- Persuasive
These are some of the most common tones used in essays. Tone can be balanced with the content by:
- Identifying your audience (who are you writing for)
- Purpose of writing (for information or opinion based purpose or what)
- Then choosing a tone that fits both your content and audience
For example, if you are writing on a science topic, that appeals mostly to students. It suggests that you need to use informational tone since you are writing to students on a science topic. You are writing to lay-man, so, you might use opinionated or persuasive tone given the topic.
This is how content can be balanced with the tone.
Common Mistakes To Avoid In Essay Openings:
Clichés & Overused Phrases
A common mistake made when writing an essay introduction is overusing a specific phrase in the same paragraph which becomes repetitive and annoying to the readers. Even if you are required to use that phrase, it is recommended to either rephrase it or use a different phrase with a similar meaning.
Being Too Vague Or General:
Sometimes, introductions can be too vague or general. For example, rather than linking your topic to a relevant example, you make a statement which generalizes a specific issue or assumes commonality among a broader population.
Example:
Women are weak at chess. Generally, chess is a male-dominated sport where women mostly lag behind.
While, the statement is partially true that chess is a male-dominated sport, but, it lacks definitive context as to why that is the case. And, the writer in this case just builds an assumption that because chess is male-dominated, women are weaker at chess. The reason for that is simply because chess is not very common among women which is why men dominate the sport.
This intro highlights that you need to narrow down specific and factual reasons rather than assuming or generalizing.
Conclusion:
This article has covered everything from different techniques of writing of an essay introduction to enhancing engagement with the reader. Academic writing is all about following a logical order and structure. No matter your writing style, you just need to stick to the recommended guidelines and your essay introduction will become compelling for the readers.
Share any thoughts or questions if you have!