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persuasive essay hook

Writing a good hook would grab the reader’s attention from the beginning of the essay. The persuasive essay hooks engrosses the reader in the first paragraph itself. This can be achieved in a variety of ways for instance using some famous quotations, telling an anecdote, giving a definition of some topic, stating an interesting fact or statistic and many others. The more attractive your hook, the more likely a reader would continue to go through your work as well as be open to the writer’s perspective.

Almost every successful “hook” included in the work is put into the following categories:

  • Anecdote
  • Analogy
  • Quote from famous literature/other source
  • Rhetorical question
  • Interesting statistics
  • Humorous or philosophical musing
  • Attention-Grabbing statement

While writing a persuasive essay, it is always better to be concise as well as take an objective or a third person viewpoint. A good hook for persuasive essay would either be a statistic that is cited properly, any relevant quote, some musing as a consequence of the essay’s topic, any shocking statement that the writer can back up later in the writing or make the conclusion interesting enough leaving some impact on the reader’s mind.

For a persuasive essay hook, anecdotes, analogies and rhetorical questions are not the appropriate hooks as these might end up breaking the overall structure of the third-person of the essay as well as make the introduction of the essay too long. While writing a persuasive essay, the writer should consider the following points:

  • Before you begin to write, determine the people you are trying to persuade and design the persuasive essay hooks accordingly. The audience could be your peers, someone in the society, any specific group or individual in the community etc. it is the writer’s job to choose and decide who he wants to persuade and select the hook as well.
  • The persuasive essay hook should convince the readers with the writer’s perspective. Divide the arguments under two headings: factual and emotional.
  • The writer should find out whether his reader’s would be more convinced by emotional or factual appeals. The persuasive essay hooks should be a combination of the both appeals; however, the writer must select any one type of hook in order to engage the readers.

Factual Appeal

You can also choose a fact, definition, statistic or non-fictional hooks for persuasive essay. Make sure that you do a good research on the topic you are writing as well as the information you use is accurate.

A good hook for a persuasive essay would have a great and deep impact on the reader’s mind. In the first few sentences use some facts, statistics, definition or an anecdote so that the writing seems interesting to the reader and he is compelled to continue reading your article. In the rest of the article add supporting details as well as outline the arguments for the remaining part of the essay.

Emotional Appeal

If you choose an emotional appeal for your essay, select a question, fictional scenario or quotation to write the hook for your persuasive essay. The writer must be sure of the emotions he wants his readers to feel while they read the opening paragraph. Do you want your reader to be happy or angry over a situation, or feel sympathy and compassion for someone and always make sure that thesis is nicely tied at the end of your introduction.

girl is reading an essay

Writing a good hook is the key to a fine essay. The introduction to any nice and strong essay helps in two ways as it gives an idea to the reader on what the article is all about as well as peaks interest. Writing a hook is just like an enticing trailer for the latest movie which “hooks” the audience and compels them to watch the movie. All the writers have their opinion regarding what will make a good hook; the main point, however, is that a good hook generates interest the essay and force them to continue reading.

Writing a hook for an essay is actually much easier than it sounds. You don’t have to condense the entire book in one sentence. However, it is important to give adequate information about the topic so that the reader, editor or curious acquaintance gets the idea of the essay and gets interested and engrossed enough to read ahead.

While writing a hook there are certain elements that have to be taken care of while you write any essay. The first element is the character of the topic, it is important to introduce the main characters and their main goal in the story. Another element would be the distinctive feature of the essay that is the unique thing that makes your story unique and different from the rest. The description must be precise and specific and at the same time should pull the reader towards your work.

Many writers finish the essay writing before working on essay’s introduction and the hook. Sometimes you would spend a lot of time on the hook and later on feel that the entire focus of the article has changes and the introduction is not appropriate. So, be sure of the essay topic and then think of a good hook for essay by putting interesting information into it.

However, the important thing to understand is how to write a good hook. Transform the interesting piece of information into some image and describe the subject in unique and attractive way while you introduce the topic to the reader. This could be done by simply telling a story or narrating a scene. You can make your work more interesting by relaying a dramatic incident or even relate amazing comparisons or statistics that lures the reader and does not sound boring.

You can write a hook by introducing a person. Sometimes this option hooks a reader in a similar way that an intriguing character would hook the reader when he begins with a romantic novel. The hook can be some quote said by the character or any action he performed. You might even find a captivating hook to describe the appearance of the person. However, all depends on the topic of the essay.

You should write a hook to make your work interesting. If it doesn’t appeal you, the reader would surely find it boring. If the essay does not entice you, you must dig deeper and find a suitable subject. If you write about yourself or any other topic and don’t find the matter you are saying interesting enough, then maybe you are not writing honestly and doing justice to your work. Whatever is the topic, a writer must make sure that the introduction and the hook is best suited to the essay.