Teaching Students how to start an essay with a rhetorical question
How much space you need for background depends on your topic and the scope of your essay. In our Braille example, we take a few sentences to introduce the topic and sketch the social context that the essay will address:
For example, let’s say that you are writing on the topic of solving homelessness in America. One very evocative way of beginning your essay would be to write, “America currently has more than 17 million vacant homes, yet somehow, homelessness has never been a bigger problem.”
For example, some writers confuse the hook with the lead-in transition to the thesis itself. To avoid this confusion, it’s important to learn how these different intro components play very different roles in your writing.
She was annoyed because she feared it would lead to unhappiness.
This document provides guidance on writing effective lead sentences, thesis statements, and introductions. It discusses different techniques for crafting strong lead sentences, such as using facts, quotes, questions, opinions, or statistics. Examples of potential lead sentences are given for different thesis statements. The document also covers how to write clear thesis statements that establish the main argument or focus of an essay. Students are provided examples of thesis statements and prompted to write their own for given topics. Finally, extra activities are suggested for writing persuasive essays on selected topics.
In practice, a good hook makes a difference when it comes to whether or not someone willingly continues to read what you have written. Think of it like this: a great title makes somebody curious enough to check out your writing in the first place. If they think the essay is boring or otherwise mundane, they stop reading. But if they think you have something surprising, insightful, or just plain funny to say based on your first sentence, they’ll probably keep going.
A hook is always at the beginning of your essay. However, as a general rule, it’s best to have your thesis at the end of your introductory paragraph or section. Because of this, your lead-in transition to the thesis occurs right before the thesis itself.
Correspondingly, another one of my strengths in writing would be in lead-ins, as seen in the Crucible paper. In this paper, I used strong lead-ins to connect to the quote. To show that Mary wanted to accuse Proctor, I used the lead-in,” Mary, not wanting to hang, turns on Proctor, inaccurately repeating what he said to her during the night”. This shows good lead-ins because it shows how the quote relates to the topic. Moreover, I also used lead-ins to show who was talking, what they were doing, and where the quote was taking place. With this in mind, at the beginning of the play I use the lead it,”While in the house talking to Elizabeth, they have a conversation about what John has done and how she cannot forgive him, he must forgive himself”. In this lead-in I show that Proctor is talking to
The whole business with Annie Quincy leads up to a similar suicide.
Quotes are probably the most overused type of hook in any form of writing. What's even worse is rinsing and repeating the same old quotes from Abraham Lincoln or Nelson Mandela in your essays.Â
Incessant questioning leads to answers.
Here's the thing: definitions put people to sleep. Readers don't want to see a formal, jargon-heavy definition of a topic as the very first line of an essay. Your opening statement should have some personality in it to show readers they're in for an exciting read.Â
[PDF] TYPES OF LEADS FOR ESSAYS (with examples)
When adding a quote or quotes to an essay, it is important to surround them with material that will help them make sense in the context of the paper, such as lead-ins and commentary. If a quotation is simply plunked into the format of an expository paragraph, it will detract from a smooth flow.
How to Use Lead Sentences to Improve Your Essay Writing
Avoid using a dictionary definition as your hook, especially if it’s an obvious term that everyone knows. The improved example here is still broad, but it gives us a much clearer sense of what the essay will be about.
What They Are and How to Use Them to Improve Your Essay Writing
Opening your essay with "Imagine this" used to be an interesting way to put your readers in a scenario and set the context for your essay. But now, it's far too cliched and just another lazy attempt to write an essay hook.Â
A good lead is everything — heres how to write one
When you get right down to it, writing the intro first is very difficult for most writers. After all, you are introducing us to an essay you haven’t written yet. Once you write out more of the essay, you should have an easier time developing every aspect of the thesis, including crafting a killer hook.