5 Essential Tips For Writing Hooks For Essays

Wouldn’t you like people getting excited about your essay? Well, for that you need a superpower of coming up with catchy hooks. Essay hooks are attractive statements written at the beginning to grab the attention of the readers and incite them to read further. This might seem exciting but it is not an easy task. Good essay hooks have to be intriguing, relevant to the topic and should produce the reaction expected from the reader. Whether your essay will be opened and read depends on your hook and so it is vital to learn the art of generating striking hooks. The Assignment Ninjas have brought you the superpower of hook writing in this blog. Explore 5 types of great hooks that you can use to make it interesting from the word ‘go’.

What is a hook in an essay and why is it needed?

Imagine you are scrolling through your Google feed. Your eyes fall on the line “How to increase your battery life by 24 hours?” At once your thumb will stop and it will click on that line. You will go on to read that blog. In other words you will get “hooked”. That statement which catches your attention is a hook and is especially created to pique your curiosity and make you read on. The reasons for writing hooks for essays are manifold:

• It spikes interest of the audience
• It gives incentive to reader to continue reading
• It helps your essay to reach more people
• It arouses the right emotion in the reader from the start

Now the question arises: How to write a good hook?

Writing good hooks requires creativity, knowledge of the audience and of course lots of handy ideas so we have come up with some of the ways in which you can create captivating hooks. There are also several hooks for essays examples to better your understand and polish your skills:

1. Question hook:

Humans are inquisitive by nature so arouse the curiosity of your audience and they will come looking for answers. The best way to do this is by posing a question in the beginning of your essay which will at once nudge your readers to think and find out information. The question hook should be such that the audience can connect with it and it should be able to bring them in your essay to get an answer. This however requires the question to be novel and alluring and should not be ordinary and unrelatable. Few examples of questions hooks are:

• Why is it important for your business to use analytics?
• Can we expect to see India repeating the 2011 world-cup victory?
• What is the major reason for increasing foreign imports in India?
• Have you ever been to a restaurant in a pool?
• How much fat do you consume everyday?

2. Statement/Declaration hook:

Another technique of hooking your audience is by making a strong statement or declaration at the beginning of the essay. By strong we mean that it should create an impact and entice him/her to know more about it and a  powerful statement will activate the thinking cells and lure the reader to explore more. The reader may agree or disagree with your claim but he/she will surely want to know how you make your point: Here are some examples to guide you:

• Instagram will take over all the social sites by the end of 2023.
• Women are found to be more productive than men according to a recent report.
• Your evening habits are spoiling your sleep.
• Aristotle’s poetics is the most influential drama guide ever produced.
• Tea is the most consumed beverage after water.

3. Statistics hook:

Figures reflect authenticity and enhance believability. Presenting a shocking fact will attract your audience and excite them to uncover further facts. Be sure to put the figures that are legitimate and unexpected. Below are the examples of hooks that are especially suitable for academic essays. Have a look at these examples:

• Children’s screen time increased from 2 hours to 4 hours per day during the pandemic.
• One in ten people with diabetes in the world are from India.
• By 2050 the world’s waste generation is expected to rise by 70%.
• 70% of US families own a pet.
• India will have 500 million online shoppers by 2030, says a study.

4. Anecdote hook:

An anecdote is a short story, usually a personal experience and since stories are all-time-favourites of people of all ages it is essential to write a story or incident that is relatable and engaging. For this you can add visual or other sensory elements to make it appealing to the reader. Be careful to keep it short and to-the-point. Here are a couple of anecdote hook in an essay examples:

• I took a seat in the PMT bus to return home yesterday. I heard some vague murmur coming from the old lady sitting next to me. I saw her holding an open book with bold alphabets. Giving a closer attention, I was astonished to discover that she was trying to learn alphabets and read words.
• Emily was a teenage girl with dark skin and a plum body. She was often seen alone with her dog. She rarely got upset or dejected but one of the instances when she did was when she opened instagram. The feed always flooded with merry moments of friends and couples and Emily longed for one such moment.

5. Quote Hook:

Here’s a secret tip!! When you can’t find anything that is gripping enough, turn to seek help from eminent personalities. The final trick is to search for quotes related to your topic and attach them at the opening of your essay. This will attract the attention of readers since great minds throughout history have pronounced statements that are still applicable and worth giving a thought. You can use literary quotes or relevant film dialogues as quote hook. Besides, modern figures like Elon Musk, Ankur Warikoo, Mark Zuckersberg, etc. are popular for their witty words and impactful thoughts. You can pick statements from their speeches and posts too. Let’s see a few examples:

• “Only when you go against the flow, you will find your own flow.”-Ankur Warikoo
• “Content is not the king. It is the kingdom” -Lee Odden
• “To be or not to be, That is the question.” -Shakespeare in Hamlet (Literary quote)
• “With great power comes great responsibility.” -Dialogue from Spiderman
• “The youth need to be enabled to become job generators from job seekers.” Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam

One of the lesser known hook techniques is using similes and metaphors. Make a comparison between two unrelated things and watch your readers coming to find similarities. (Remember Shakespeare’s poem ’All the world’s a stage’?) Just ensure that your comparison is sensible and convincing. For e.g. a business organisation is like a honeycomb. This kind of hook is apt for blogs and less suitable for an academic essay. When it comes to generating hooks the only limit is your creativity.

Hooks are necessary to arouse the interest of your reader. Good hooks for essays are relevant, intriguing and trigger the right emotion in the audience. There are several strategies to write compelling hooks but care should be taken to not overdo it just for the purpose of gaining attention. The purpose of the hook should be clear and upcoming content should take that statement/s further. After devising a good hook, it is equally vital to sustain your reader’s attention throughout the essay. So, structure your essay in an appropriate way.

For learning how to write a good introduction see our blog on ‘How to write an introduction for an essay.’ So hook your reader, impress your instructor and boost your chances of securing a higher grade.