Essay writing involves a lot of technicalities but many students are ignorant of this. Besides your ability to outline your points, one of the other things that make up an appealing essay is good hooks. If you learn to write a good hook, you are not only going to get your instructor’s attention but will also position yourself to get a good grade.
Before writing your hooks, there are a few things you need to learn. Because you must learn how to write the best hook if you are going to write an effective one. Here is a brief guide that will help you achieve that.
What is a Hook in Essay?
A hook can be defined as a literary technique used to capture readers’ attention. It involves writing a captivating and enticing essay opening. Professionals have further argued that hooks are not necessarily meant for the opening paragraph alone. It is established that a hook can also serve the purpose of retaining your reader at different points of the write-up, especially if it is a long one.
Essay writing to many students is just writing that seeks to argue, convince, and demonstrate. Although that is true, however, essay writing may not serve its purpose if it is not appropriately written. One of the techniques professional writers employ to write an outstanding essay is the use of hooks.
The Need for a Good Hook Sentences
As it has been mentioned earlier, a hook is an important part of your essay writing. There are a few things you need to know about a good hook sentence, they are as follows;
- It Helps Arouse your Reader
Some readers will not read your essay if they have not found something captivating at the beginning of the essay. Even a bad essay with the right hook can have more readers than a good essay with no hook. Hook in writing serves as a first impression created by the writer to make a reader want to explore more.
- It Helps Retain your Reader
Even though you have an enticing open sentence, your reader might get bored in between your essay. This is always the case when you are writing a technical essay or an essay relating to science. However, you can strategically employ hooks to keep your reader glued to the pages of your essay until it is exhausted.
- It Projects you as a Professional Writer
Hook writing is considered a professional act. As such, when you write good hooks in your essay, your reader or instructor can consider you a professional who understands the act of essay writing.
How Long Should a Hook be in an Essay
Your hook should not be more than 2 sentences. When it is going beyond this, you are likely to deviate from the purpose of the essay. The purpose of essay hooks is to catch readers’ attention. It does not need to include many details except if you want to shoot yourself in the leg.
Sometimes, the problem may not be your inability to write a hook. It may just be that you have not been writing the best. Identifying how long your hook should be is very important.
What are the Tips for Writing Essay Hook?
Writing hook for essay requires you to employ some strategies. These strategies are known to be effective in keeping your readers glued till the end of your essay. The following are tips on how to write a good hook for an essay;
- Create a Suspense
Learning to drop your reader in the middle of your essay using the first few lines is a tactic that works. If your topic permits it, create a suspense that will make your reader ask questions that can only be answered after reading your test. Sometimes, this involves concealing your position on a certain controversial topic.
- Make a Surprising Statement
One of the common hooks to start an essay is to make a surprising statement. Such a statement can be a controversial statement relating to the topic of your essays. An unexpected statement that your reader may not expect from your position can also work out perfectly. For instance, when you support the motion in a debate, making contradicting statements may keep your reader wondering if you know what you have just said.
- Ask a Rhetorical Question
Asking questions at the beginning of the essay is a beautiful way to keep your reader hooked on your essay. You can ask a question relating to the essay that cannot be answered until the entire essay is read. If you can create much curiosity, you will be able to make your reader read through the entire essay.
- Create an Emotional Connection
Emotional connection is a way to keep your reader hooked to your essay. Find out what will be the opinion of the majority of your audience on the particular topic. Switch your emotion to favor such an opinion at the beginning of the writing even if you are still going to oppose it. If your readers can fall for it, they will end up reading up the entire essay before realizing what you have done.
How to Write a Good Hook for an Essay
It is not enough to know the tips. After learning the best tips on how to start off a hook, you will need to know what exactly to write as your hook. Here are simple things to do while writing your hooks;
- Employ Literary Quotes
Literary quotes are a proven method of writing a good hook, especially a hook for a college essay. You can quote a part of a literary piece that is related to the end goal of your essay as an opening statement. Such a quote will keep your reader wondering what purpose it is serving as they will not get the relationship at the beginning. Besides, it shows you read a lot which is just a characteristic of a good writer.
- Quote from Prominent People
Quoting prominent people who have a track record of high intellectual capacity is a great method of writing hooks. The quote must be relevant to the thesis or the topic of the essay so that your readers can relate. If the quote is the right one, it is enough to keep your reader glued to the essay till the last sentence. However, this is a common method of writing hook and might be considered overused by your teacher.
- Start with a Common Misconception
There is always a misconception about every topic of an essay. Practically, the rate of misconception is always higher than the truth behind such a topic. Commenting about the misconception at the beginning of your essay is a very good hook strategy. If your reader has this misconception, he will want to know the truth. If it is the other way round, he will want to see how right he is.
- Make Use of Statistics
Quoting unpopular statistics about a topic is another way of creating a hook. Such statistics can result in an unimaginable thought within the reader. Consequently, it will compel them to read more to have a better understanding of the topic.
Common Hook Sentence Examples
Learning about how to create a hook for an essay is not enough without a valid example. Here are hook examples for essays employed in different situations;
- “When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.” Agree or not, these words from The Alchemist describe….
- John Kennedy said in one of his favorite speeches, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”.
- Most coffee addicts believe coffee comes from beans. Meanwhile, coffee is a seed that is popularly called a bean.
- Statistics have proven that 50% of marriages always end up in divorce.
Conclusion
Hooks are an interesting technique to use if you want to write like a pro. It is also a good way to get your instructor’s attention. In summary, you will write a better essay and get good grades. You can learn more about how to use hooks in your essay from our essay experts.
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