4 Best Hooks for Academic Papers
Even experienced writers are familiar with the fear of a blank slate, but for students, the introduction to an essay can become an even more serious problem.
When writing an introduction in an essay, you can be guided by an example of construction logic familiar from the abstract and start with the relevance of the topic.
Before writing an introduction to an essay, it is useful to familiarize yourself with the types of hooks that are possible for an essay. Check out the examples of the most popular varieties (in fact, there are many more):
#1 — Historical Hook
To make it clear what we are talking about, we give the text of the introduction from “Star Wars”: “A long time ago, in a distant, distant galaxy …”.
Fairy tales begin in the same way. It is also applicable for essays — you can compare the past and the present: “A few centuries ago, money was made of precious metals, and humanity did not know what inflation is.”
#2 — Biographical Hook
It is appropriate if the essay is about a person (or their work). Considering the achievement of the Nobel laureate, one can start with the fact from their biography, which influenced the formation as a scientist: “It is not known whether Leonid Hurwicz, who was born in Moscow, could have made his discovery if he had stayed in the Soviet Union — but fate decided so…”.
#3 — Analytical Hook
You can start the essay by defining key terms (appearing in the title or significant for presentation): “At the everyday level, every adult knows what money is, but economics has not yet formulated a clear definition of this concept.”
#4 — Quoted Hook
As the first sentence of the essay, you can use a quote from one of the greats (scientists, writers, politicians) that is appropriate for the meaning. In this case, the main part of the essay can both confirm and refute the content of the quotation.
At the same time, we must not forget that an essay is characterized by a journalistic rather than a scientific style of speech. Therefore, templates like “the relevance of the topic of the work is due to …” have no place in it.
On the other hand, rhetorical questions and appeals to the reader are permissible: “Have you ever thought about …” — or, as an option: “Few people think that …”.
The introduction to the essay may include the following aspects:
- Relevance of the topic.
- Historical review, the degree of study of the problem, scientific interest in it.
- Characteristics of the research object (problem area), its state, and key terminology.
The introduction to the essay is not highlighted as a separate block (no heading like “Introduction” is made). It is not placed on a separate page.
After the introduction, no blank lines are needed — the subsequent text begins immediately.
When using one of these hooks, remember to provide a logical transition between the introductory part and the main text.
