How to Start Off an Essay: Title, Hook & Other Helpful Ideas

Writing the introduction is perhaps the most challenging part of writing an academic paper. Besides a vast mastery of your argument, you are also required to hook your reader into reading your paper within the first few paragraphs.

A testament to the challenge of writing a good essay is mastering the hooks for your paper and the approach to creating a good title. Are you wondering how to start off an essay? For top-notch medical essays, rely on the expertise of https://en.ibuyessay.com/medical.html. Read this article to determine the good ways to start an essay and gain some good essay starters. 

How to come up with a good title for an essay

A good essay title should sum up your essay in a manner that attracts your reader to peruse through the rest of your article.

When writing your essay, it is best to write your essay after completing your paper as you are well versed with the topic, your claims, and key arguments. Some of the tips for creating an eye-catching title include:

  • Select the keywords that define your argument and determine how your thesis can be summed up in 5-12 words.
  • Keep your heading simple and free of jargon that may limit your readers from understanding the topic.
  • Change the words in your title to reflect the tone of your paper 
  • Use questions to determine the answers provided by your paper and the question that your paper answers. 
  • Select a sentence from your main argument and determine how it can be converted to form a title
  • Describe the mental image that is created by the topic
  • Analyze the key idea or goal you wish to achieve in writing your paper and summarize the idea in five to ten words

With these tips, you can brainstorm various topics that are suitable for your paper, thus grabbing your reader’s attention from the get-go. 

How to start a good essay

A hook is a crucial part that informs and motivates your reader to go through your paper. The hook should touch on the part that irks your reader most, setting a stage from which you can introduce your argument.

Some of the approaches for writing an essay hook include:

Posing a question that’s relevant to your subject

Here, you may start with a series of rhetorical questions which promote your reader to your perspective of the argument. For instance:

Do you think that a world without video games would be a world with fewer crime rates? Should games be limited to reduce the level of violence younger audiences are exposed to or are games an outlet to relieve stress by experiencing heightened adrenaline levels without exposing yourself to harm?

This string of questions will make the reader curious about what you have to say and introduce the key theme for your paper. 

Stating an interesting fact about your subject

Another way to whet a reader’s appetite is to state a fact that both relate to the topic and surprises your reader. For instance:

Did you know that the species of flowers separated by a water body for 100 years developed polymorphisms that limited them from pollinating? The flowers were studied and indicated a polyploidy state that limited the species in area X from pollinating with those in area Y. This is a testament to allopatric speciation and its impact on species. 

This introduction sets a base for your argument while making your reader wonder about the factors that would’ve caused such changes. 

Showing the problem that your essay has solved

This is a straightforward method that sells your paper from the get-go, helping the learner to determine if your essay is capable of addressing their needs. For instance:

A few years back, managers believed that the way to boost productivity was to increase the workload and maximize the working hours at the expense of employees. Our studies indicate that allowing your workers free time and offering fewer loads with milestones is the way to achieve all-time high productivity within your workspace.

This hook makes your reader ask themselves how the former could be true over the latter assumption. As such, it drives your reader to search for an analysis of the topic and answers to this quandary. 

Reveal a secret relating to your topic

Sometimes a great way to start your paper is by provoking an emotion by exposing a side of the argument the reader may disagree with. Then, you can show your argument to support this action, and transition to your topic. Example:

I denied him supper. Had him sleep on an empty belly for being a nagging nuisance that could not be counseled. Why do people believe that punishment should be limited to a sit-down and some minutes facing a wall? In my experience, some punishment goes a long way to ensure positive behavior. 

Final take

Coming up with a good hook for an essay is vital for catching your reader’s attention. We hope these tips will come in handy to help you manage your essay introduction. Feel free to consult our experts for custom essay assistance with various elements that you struggle with when writing your thesis.