Catchy Hooks for Essays
REMEMBER: With whatever hook you use, follow it up with a transition before you state your claim.
START WITH AN INTERESTING FACT
Example:
"Archaeologists believe, based on marks they've seen on mummies, that human beings had tattoos
between 4000 and 2000 B.C. in Egypt."
STATE A THESIS (Inverted Pyramid)
Example:
"Few aspects of the American mythos really explain what the cowboy was to early America’s frontier."(Pamela
Swanigan, Much the Same on the Other Side: The Boondocks and the Symbolic Frontier)
If you have a great idea and you want to be straightforward and introduce it immediately because it is
unique, do what you want. Why is this particular sentence so hooking? It intrigues the readers because
using such a structure the author 'promises' she will tell us about something special. We are interested in
the concept of frontier now.
USE A GREAT STORY AS AN OPENING
Example:
"In late 1979, a twenty-four-year-old entrepreneur paid a visit to a research center in Silicon Valley called Xerox
PARC. He was the co-founder of a small computer startup down the road, in Cupertino. His name was Steve
Jobs."(Malcolm Gladwell, Creation Myth)
Do you need anything else to get hooked? It is a brilliant essay starter. Stories are always effective, but
stories about famous people are on top. Do the research, read great people's biographies and find
correlations with the theme of your writing. Give readers a nice story, and they will enjoy it.
SET A SCENE ANOTHER TIME
Example:
"The dark blue glitter was penetrating, leaving no space for creativity. In just one stare, Mary's eyes defined a lot
about her true passion, her devotion and her commitment to her cause. Most of the employees that day left the
corporation once launched by Mike Myers without saying a word, but feeling completely different people." (Unknown
writer)
This category of good hooks is almost the same as the previously discussed attention-grabber. The goal of
the writer is to describe a certain scene taken from the fiction story or real life. No matter what the topic is,
it is the effective method used to make the readers not only think but feel the emotions of heroes.
