Top 10 Tips for Writing a Good Hook Sentence for an Essay

Have you ever seen an utterly boring piece of writing that you still have to read? Then you know how tough this task is. You probably read the first passages several times before you realized that your thoughts were going in a different direction. Writing a boring text can happen to anyone even to those who ask someone to write my essay. Sometimes, it takes a lot of practice to create catchy stories by instinct. While you are still learning the art of writing, we can give you some strategies that will help you catch the attention of readers with your academic essay.

What is a hook sentence and how can it help?

As you want to make your text interesting, you do not have to fill every sentence with sensational details. Of course, you can ask a reliable essay writing service to do that for you. However, you can manage to write a good hook sentence yourself. It is enough to make a few strong points that will grab your readers’ attention and make them read your essay until the end. So, your hook is a sentence that will most likely catch the eye of your audience.

5 ways to make a catchy hook

The choice of a hook sentence depends on your type of essay and the topic you are going to cover. In this section, we give you the most commonly used strategies to catch your reader’s attention.

Find an exciting fact on your topic

That’s easy, you may think. However, it is important to differentiate between any fact available on your topic and one that will make your readers curious. Probably, everyone knows that William Shakespeare invented many words in the English language. Still, few of us know that he never managed to spell his own name properly. He just signed his plays as “Willm Shakp” for that reason. The web is full of facts on any topic. So, try to use only facts that will look new or incredible to your reader when making a hook sentence.

Place a well-known literary quote

Another thing that may be interesting to the average reader is a quote. As you google any possible essay subject, you find what plenty of famous people have said on that account. Again, we recommend looking critically at the quote you choose. Is it relevant to other people? Does it touch upon their problems?

Lisa See once said, “Read a thousand books, and your words will flow like a river.” Though obviously true, the quote does not sound motivating to someone who struggles with his or her writing. On the other hand, “A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit” by Richard Bach can be much more useful to a beginner who is afraid to make his or her first steps in writing.

Quote an expert in your field

Speaking of quotes, it is important to cite people who made a generous contribution to your field. Let’s take the two previous quotations as an example. While people may wonder who Lisa See is, everyone knows Richard Bach and his literary heritage. Pay attention to who you are citing. Is this figure powerful enough to motivate people and change their minds? If it is, you can surely quote that person in your hook sentence.

Break a common misconception

Common knowledge is full of false beliefs. Whatever topic you choose, it probably has some misconceptions related to it. Even if you know something is not true, other people may still believe it is. Take Napoleon Bonapart, for example. Many people believe the corporal was a short man. In fact, his height was five French feet and two inches, which is five English feet and seven inches. It means that Napoleon was slightly taller than the average French man of that time. Using facts like this will certainly catch the attention of your audience.

Ask a question, give an answer

As you may have guessed, readers are a lazy community. For many, comprehending your essay is a time to passively process information. Let your readers be a bit lazy. Ask a question, but give an answer to it at the same time. Is it ethical to get an abortion if a woman cannot afford to have children? No one but a pregnant woman herself can decide.

5 more points on hooks you should consider

Do not fabricate facts. You need exciting things to hook the reader. Nevertheless, do not make up a story if you want to present it as a fact. Your imagination will be very useful in fiction writing, but fabricated facts should not occur in an academic essay.
Use figures of speech that your reader can understand. Adding lively metaphors and bright epithets can add flavor to every story. Still, make sure your reader can understand what you are referring to using words with a figurative meaning.
Ask rhetorical questions. This is another thing that helps people not to think. You do not need to answer a rhetorical question, nor do your readers. Give them the pleasure of not thinking hard if you are discussing a philosophical matter.
Give statistics that readers do not know. Though we do not recommend boring readers with plain facts that anyone can google, you can add some figures that may surprise your audience. Does anyone know how much plastic people waste buying just one bottle of water each day?
Tell a story. Everyone likes stories. Even in an academic essay, you can insert a couple of fiction-like sentences—a super short story that will astonish your readers.

In the end, we do not suggest that you should use all of these strategies in a single essay. But, we hope you have found an idea of a perfect hook for your academic paper.

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