what is a good opening line for an essay

36 Engaging opening sentences for an essay

Last Updated on July 20, 2022 by Dr Sharon Baisil MD

An essay’s opening sentence has a tremendous impact on the reader. It doesn’t matter if you’re writing an argumentative essay, a personal narrative, or a research paper; how your text begins will affect its tone and topic. You can write about anything as long as it is relevant to your thesis—starting with an engaging opening sentence may be the difference between a successful and unsuccessful essay.

An introduction is the first section of any paper that allows you to introduce your thesis and provide an overview of your argument or discussion. A good introduction should grab your audience’s attention and entice them to read on, summarising what you’re trying to say concisely. It’s a good idea to think of your introduction as a hook, writing an opening sentence that will leave your reader wanting more.

Writing a thesis statement is the first thing you need to do when planning your paper. Although there are multiple strategies for creating a thesis statement, you must express yourself clearly and answer three simple questions: What is the main idea of my essay? Why is it important? How do I plan to prove it in a paper?

There are countless ways to begin an essay or a thesis effectively. As a start, here are 36 introductory strategies accompanied by examples from a wide range of professional writers.

1. “Is it possible to be truly anonymous online?”

This is an engaging opening sentence because it immediately poses a problem that the reader will likely want answered. It’s also interesting that this question applies directly to internet usage, something everybody has experience with. The subject of the opening sentence is “online anonymity,” which allows the writer to discuss two related concepts.

2. “I was shocked to awake one morning to find I had turned into a snail.”

The opening sentence immediately grabs the reader’s attention with its play on words, leaving them unsure if it’s meant as a joke. It continues to entertain by combining an unlikely image (a person turning into a snail) with waking up more common. The sentence also establishes the essay’s tone, which is humorous and personal.

3. “I didn’t want to study abroad.”

This opening sentence immediately intrigues the reader because it presents an opinion that contradicts what would be expected in this type of assignment. The writer then follows with a statement about their decision to study abroad, discussing the reasons for this choice and explaining their position on the matter.

4. “The three dogs had been barking for over an hour before my neighbor finally came out to investigate.”

This opening sentence introduces a narrative about something that happened in the past, starting with dogs barking at night. The next sentence provides background information by revealing that the neighbor came out after an hour and then reasons for this delay. The fact that the writer does not reveal why this is significant until later on makes the opening sentence even more effective because it keeps the reader engaged with what will happen next.

5. “I have always been interested in fashion.”

This opening sentence immediately sets the topic for the entire paper by discussing interest in fashion. It also establishes the tone, clearly portraying the writer’s voice while informing the audience about their personal experience with the subject matter.

6. “I remember when I first realized I didn’t have a home.”

This opening sentence begins a personal narrative about a time before moving out of their family home when the writer realized they didn’t live there anymore. It uses flashbacks to set up the rest of the essay by showing what happened before they moved out and how this made them feel.

7. “When I was in middle school, my dad told me not to get into fights.”

This opening sentence establishes a relationship between the writer and the subject of their essay, creating a more personal tone. It also establishes an expectation for what will be discussed by telling something that happened in the past. The sentence ends with a twist, so it’s more interesting than just stating something that was told to them, making this opening sentence effective.

8. “When I first sat down to write this essay, I was absolutely certain of the thesis.”

This opening sentence immediately introduces conflict because it tells about something that didn’t occur as expected. It also implies that there will be an alternate solution or angle for this paper that will be explored in the following paragraphs. The vocabulary (like “absolutely”) suggests more certainty in this opening paragraph than presented, making it interesting to read.

9. “I remember the first time I killed a man.”

This opening sentence offers an unexpected statement that intrigues the reader and immediately draws them into the essay, wanting to know more about what happened. This type of sentence is called a gripping opener because it does just that. The sentence is also effective because it creates suspense and anticipation in the reader’s mind about what will happen next in this story .

10. “There are two sides to every story: my side and your side.”

This opening sentence introduces a topic that will be revisited multiple times throughout the essay, making it effective for an introduction. It also creates a sense of mystery about the two sides and how they relate to each other, which will be resolved later on once it becomes clear that there are three sides.

11. “I should start this essay by introducing myself.”

This opening sentence includes an explanation for why this paragraph is being written (to introduce oneself) before it ends with a question (“who am I?”). This is effective because it gets the reader to think critically about who the writer is and what they want to say. It also permits them to stop reading after this sentence if they don’t feel like it, making it one of the less intimidating opening sentences.

12. “At the age of seven, I knew my life was going to be amazing.”

This opening sentence establishes a confident, optimistic tone by mentioning something that happened in the past. It also implies that the writer had this positive outlook before anything particularly special happened to them yet, which will likely be mentioned later on, making it more interesting to read.

13. “I don’t know when I lost my sense of excitement for learning.”

This opening sentence presents a conflict that the writer will likely try to resolve in this essay, which gives the reader something to look forward to. It also establishes voice by expressing how they feel about their education so far and suggesting what could be done about it.

14. “Coming home after a long day of school and work is like walking into a warzone.”

This opening sentence creates a sense of conflict that will likely be discussed later on and establishes voice because it shows the writer’s attitude towards their environment. It provides an example of why this subject has been brought up by describing what happens during this “warzone” of a day.

15. “I’ve always loved school.”

This opening sentence is effective because it provides an example of how their life used to be before the issue was introduced (in the next few sentences), making it more interesting to read. It also creates a sense of nostalgia about how good things used to be, making it more engaging.

16. “I feel like I’m losing my mind.”

This opening sentence is effective because it creates a voice by describing the writer’s experience and establishes conflict, so the reader knows what to expect in this essay. It provokes an emotional response in the reader, making them more interested.

17. “On day two of our honeymoon, my wife passed out.”

This opening sentence creates suspense by mentioning what happens before revealing why this is significant. It also establishes conflict because it implies that the writer’s wife’s health will be an issue throughout the essay. This leads to a likely discussion about whether or not they should continue their honeymoon, making it engaging for the reader.

18. “I’m a college student, and I hate it.”

This opening sentence establishes conflict for the rest of the essay because it implies that something negatively affects their education. It also establishes voice by showing what they think about being a student and how they feel about college so far, which makes it more interesting to read.

19. “The first time I heard the word ‘stan’ was when Eminem released his song in 2000 by the same name.”

This opening sentence establishes conflict for what will likely be discussed later on and also creates a sense of nostalgia because it takes the reader back to a significant point in recent history that they might remember (rare for essays). It also establishes voice because it shows the writer’s knowledge about rap music.

20. “I used to hate when people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up because I never knew how to answer them.”

This opening sentence helps the reader understand why this essay was written to tie into their own experiences. It also establishes conflict by revealing something that the writer used to be troubled by. It also makes them seem relatable because everyone has problems with their future at one point or another.

21. “All my life, I’ve been told I was destined for greatness.”

This opening sentence establishes that the writer had difficulties in their life despite being seen as destined for greatness so far. It also creates a sense of conflict because it implies that they will have to convince the reader otherwise, making it more interesting to read.

22. “My friend once told me that I should never say ‘I’m just being honest when discussing our differences, but I always do.”

This opening sentence creates conflict by showing the reader that there is always tension between the writer and their friend because of this issue. It also establishes voice because it shows how honest they are about their differences, which makes them more relatable. This makes it engaging for the reader to read on.

23. “I’ve never been one to keep my emotions bottled up, and now that I’m pregnant, that’s been amplified.”

This opening sentence establishes emotion from the writer because it shows that they are uncomfortable keeping their emotions to themselves and continue to do so even when they become pregnant. It also creates a sense of conflict because the reader will probably wonder how this lack of emotional inhibition might affect them later on.

24. “The first time I read ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ it changed my life.”

This opening sentence grabs the reader’s attention and shows what impact this book has had on the writer so far. It also establishes how passionate the writer is towards literature and makes them more relatable because many people have been affected by great works of literature in some way. This is engaging for the reader to read on.

25. “As I walked out of class one day, my professor asked me what I wanted to do with my future.”

This opening sentence establishes conflict by showing that there was a time when the writer did not have an answer to this question despite being capable of doing anything in their mind. It also establishes voice by showing that the writer can stand up for themselves when pushed and makes them seem more relatable because everyone struggles with thinking about their future at some point or another. This is engaging for the reader to continue reading.

26. “I’ve always been taught that it’s impolite to talk about money, but I want to share my experience with you.”

This opening sentence establishes voice by showing that the writer does not abide by this code of conduct because they believe it’s more important to be open and honest. It also creates a sense of conflict so that the reader might have their own contrasting opinions, which will create tension while reading. This is engaging for the reader to continue reading.

27. “Growing up, I never liked math, and it wasn’t until college that I realized why.”

This opening sentence establishes voice because it shows how passionate the writer was about their dislike of math despite not knowing why. It also creates conflict because they will have to explain their reasoning to the reader, which makes it more interesting to read, and it is engaging for the reader to read on.

28. “There are so many factors that go into determining how much someone should be paid, but I believe that everyone deserves equal pay.”

This opening sentence establishes conflict because the writer believes in something that not many people support, and they will have to explain their reasoning. It also establishes voice because it shows that the writer is passionate about this belief and makes them more relatable for other people who share the same opinion. This is engaging for the reader to read on.

29. “Many things have been said about Millennials, but no one has asked us what we think.”

This opening sentence creates a sense of conflict because the reader might be wondering what this person thinks as a Millennial. It also establishes voice by using “us” to show that they are not alone in their beliefs and makes them seem more relatable. This is engaging for the reader to read on.

30. “I finally found a job that I love, and as it turns out, it’s located in a city that has been my dream destination since I was little.”

This opening sentence establishes voice because it shows how the writer feels about their new job and makes them sound passionate about their work which makes the reader want to read on. This is engaging for the reader to continue.

31. “It was the summer of 2001 when I first came across an anime dubbed in French.”

This opening sentence establishes voice through personal experience and makes it relatable because many people have watched their favorite movies or shows in another language. It also creates a sense of conflict by making the reader wonder why they continued watching even though they didn’t understand much of what was being said. This is engaging for the reader to read on.

32. “For years, I thought my life was perfect, until one day when I realized that there’s nothing more important than your mental health.”

This opening sentence establishes voice by showing that the writer used to have this belief but then had a heart change, making them more relatable because everyone’s beliefs change over time. It also creates a sense of conflict by questioning what the reader believes about their mental health, which will make them want to continue reading. This is engaging for the reader to read on.

33. “As children, it’s easy to dream about becoming an astronaut or a firefighter, but I never imagined that my greatest passion would be writing.”

This opening sentence establishes voice by showing how the writer is passionate about what they are currently doing. It also creates a sense of conflict because the reader may have different interests, making it more interesting to read. This is engaging for the reader to continue reading on.

34. “If you would’ve asked me a few months ago, I wouldn’t have said that my life was perfect. However, after some time and perspective, I’m grateful for the twists and turns.”

This opening sentence establishes voice by showing how this person’s perspective has changed over time. It also creates a sense of conflict because it questions what the reader thinks and makes them want to read on. This is engaging for the reader to read on.

35. “Everyone has goals in life, whether it’s saving up enough money to buy a house or finally writing that book.”

This opening sentence establishes conflict because it questions the reader’s goals and shows how they may be different from the writer’s. It also creates a sense of connection because many people share the same goals and make them want to keep reading. This is engaging for the reader to read on.

36. “I’m not sure if I’ve ever told you this, but my favorite show as a child was A Little Princess.”

This opening sentence establishes voice by showing that the writer shares a secret and makes them sound like they’re talking directly to someone. It also creates a sense of conflict because it’s difficult to imagine that the reader doesn’t know this information and makes them want to read on. This is engaging for the reader to read on.

Final Words

To conclude, there are countless ways to begin an essay or a thesis effectively. These 36 opening sentences for an essay are just a few examples of how to do so. There is no “right way” to start, but it will become easier to find your voice and style as you continue writing and practicing. Good luck!

Harvard University

Purdue University

Royal Literary Fund- Essay Writing Guide

University of Melbourne

Amherst College

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How to write a character analysis essay, hooked from the start: the most creative, weird, and catchy opening lines in student essays.

Writer’s block is no joke! Especially when you’re thinking about engaging your reader as much as possible, if you’re writing an admission essay or any other important paper. Some students decide to take an unusual approach and come up with the most bizarre (though eye-catching) intros for their essays.

Key Takeaways:

A strong opening line is crucial for engaging readers and setting the tone for an essay.
Students can use creative, weird, or catchy lines to make their essays stand out and draw readers into the topic.
Quirky beginnings add personality and memorability to essays, making them more enjoyable to read.

A strong opening line in an essay is like a good first impression—it sets the tone and engages the reader right from the start. It’s crucial because it can determine whether the reader will be interested in continuing to read or not. A compelling opening line grabs the reader’s attention and makes them curious about what comes next.

Students use various approaches to create effective opening lines. Some opt for creative and original sentences that showcase their unique perspective. Others prefer weird or unexpected lines that surprise the reader and make the essay stand out. Then there are those who choose catchy and compelling lines that immediately hook the reader with their relevance or intrigue. One of the users on Reddit decided to engage with the community and gather all sorts of unusual intros from school and college essays.

drop it like dartmouth in rankings 😍😍😍 by u/Acceptable_Young_133 in ApplyingToCollege

Each approach has its own way of drawing the reader into the essay’s topic or argument. The key is to find the right balance between being engaging and staying true to the essay’s content. By experimenting with different styles, students can discover what works best for their writing and ensure that their essays make a strong and lasting impression. However, let’s look at what people submitted under the dedicated Reddit thread.

Should You Use Quirky Beginnings in Essays?

Quirky beginnings in essays have a unique way of engaging readers. They stand out because they are different from the usual opening lines, and this unexpectedness can immediately capture the reader’s attention. When an essay starts with something unusual or humorous, it sets a memorable tone for the rest of the piece.

“He is dressed as Santa Claus on the outside, but inside he is already dead”

“I want to let you in on a little secret: I used to be a spy.”

“The answer, of course, was found where all the brilliant solutions are. In a cartoon. “

These unconventional starts can also make the essay more enjoyable to read. They add a touch of personality and creativity, showing that the writer is willing to take risks and think outside the box. As a result, the reader is more likely to remember the essay and the points it makes.

“Unlike other bookshelves, the contents of my car are not color-coded or alphabetized.”

“Me and Henry Cavill are basically the same person”

“…bags of potato chips taught me the value of diligence.”

Overall, quirky beginnings can be a powerful tool for making an essay memorable. By starting with something unexpected, writers can create a strong and lasting impression on their readers.

The Effectiveness of Catchy and Compelling Openers

Catchy and compelling openers are crucial in drawing readers into an essay’s topic or argument . These opening lines are designed to be both attention-grabbing and relevant to the essay’s content. By starting with a strong statement, a thought-provoking question, or an intriguing fact, these openers create a sense of curiosity in the reader.

“ SOME SUPPLEMENTAL I WROTE STARTED WITH LIKE “What the mouth won’t say, your face always will.” wrote about how micro expressions helped me win a poker game “

““The <high school name> prides itself as the most academically challenging school in <hoem country>,” states my school’s homepage. Though “most academically challenging” is impossible to ascertain, one thing is certain: back pain is endemic.”

This curiosity encourages readers to continue reading to find out more about the topic or to understand the argument being presented. A well-crafted opener can also set the tone for the entire essay, indicating whether it will be serious, humorous, or informative.

“‘I want to be a dinosaur’, I responded” Lol this was for Brown’s open curriculum supp. This was my childhood response to the “what do u wanna be when u grow up” question, and I thought I could use this as an intro to showcase how I have been fascinated about the most random shit since i was literally 4.”

“?????? ??????? ?????” I started with special characters not allowed on CommonApp, used my essay to explain why these kinds of restraints are bad, and slowly decoded the message. “

In essence, catchy and compelling openers act as a hook that pulls the reader into the essay. They make the reader eager to explore the ideas that follow and engage with the writer’s perspective . This initial engagement is crucial for keeping the reader interested throughout the essay and ensuring that the message is effectively communicated.

Crafting an Engaging Opening Line for Essays

Creating an engaging opening line for your essay is essential to draw in your readers from the start. Here are some tips to help you craft a compelling opener:

Firstly, ensure your opening line is relevant to your essay’s topic. It should provide a hint of what the essay is about without giving away too much. This relevance creates a connection between the opener and the rest of the essay, making it easier for readers to follow your argument.

For example, if your essay is about the impact of social media on society, you could start with, “In today’s digital age, social media has transformed the way we connect and communicate.”

Clarity is also crucial. Your opening line should be easy to understand, setting a clear direction for the essay. Avoid using complex language or overly complicated ideas in the first sentence. Instead, aim for a simple yet powerful statement that grabs attention.

A clear opener could be, “Water scarcity is one of the most pressing environmental issues facing the world today.”

Lastly, don’t be afraid to get creative. Use your imagination to come up with an opener that stands out. This could be a surprising fact, a rhetorical question, or a vivid image. Creativity in your opening line can make your essay memorable and engaging.

For instance, you might begin with a rhetorical question like, “What if you could relive one day of your life?”

By focusing on relevance, clarity, and creativity, you can craft an opening line that effectively draws readers into your essay and sets the stage for a compelling argument.

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Table of Contents

How to Write a Great Opening Sentence

Examples of great first sentences (and how they did it), how to write a strong opening sentence & engage readers (with examples).

“I’ve never met you, but I’m gonna read your mind.”

That’s the opening line to The Scribe Method . It does what great opening sentences should: it immediately captures the reader’s attention. It makes them want to read more.

The purpose of a good opening line is to engage the reader and get them to start reading the book. That’s it.

It’s a fairly simple idea, and it works very well—but there are still a lot of misconceptions about book openings .

Many first-time Authors think they have to shock the reader to make them take note.

That’s not true. There are many ways to hook a reader that don’t require shocking them.

I also see Authors who think the purpose of the first paragraph is to explain what they’ll talk about in the book .

Not only is that wrong, it’s boring.

Readers can sense bullshit a mile away, so don’t try to beat them over the head with shock. Don’t give them a tedious summary. Don’t tell your life story. Don’t go into too much detail.

Use your first sentence to connect to the reader and make them want to keep reading.

This guide will help you write a great opening line so you can establish that authenticity and connection quickly.

Everyone knows some of the great opening lines from fiction novels:

“Call me Ishmael.” – Herman Melville, Moby Dick
“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” – Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.” – Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.” – Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

The common thread between these opening lines is that they create a vivid first impression. They make the reader want to know more.

They’re punchy, intriguing, and unexpected.

The first words of a nonfiction book work the same way. You want to create an emotional connection with the reader so they can’t put the book down.

In some ways, nonfiction Authors even have an advantage. They’re writing about themselves and their knowledge while having a conversation with the reader.

They can establish the connection even more immediately because they don’t have to set a fictional scene. They can jump right in and use the first person “I.”

Let’s go back to The Scribe Method ‘s opening paragraph:

I’ve never met you, but I’m gonna read your mind. Not literally, of course. I’m going to make an educated guess about why you want to write a book.

When you read that, at a minimum, you’re going to think, “All right, dude, let’s see if you really know why I want to write a book .” And you’re going to keep reading.

At best, you’re going to think, “Wow. He’s inside my head right now.” And you’re going to keep reading.

In both cases, I’ve managed to create an emotional connection with the reader. Even if that emotion is skepticism, it’s enough to hook someone.

So where do you start when you’re writing your book ? How do you form that connection?

The best hooks usually start in the middle of the highest intensity.

In other words, lead with the most emotional part of the story.

If you’re starting your book with a story about how you got chased by the police, don’t begin with what you had for breakfast that day. Start with the chase.

A good hook might also be a question or a claim—anything that will elicit an emotional response from a reader.

Think about it this way: a good opening sentence is the thing you don’t think you can say, but you still want to say.

Like, “This book will change your life.”

Or, “I’ve come up with the most brilliant way anyone’s ever found for handling this problem.”

Your opening sentence isn’t the time for modesty (as long as you can back it up!).

You want to publish a book for a reason . Now’s your chance to show a reader why they should want to read it.

That doesn’t mean you have to be cocky. You just have to be honest and engaging.

When you’re trying to come up with a great opening line, ask yourself these 3 things:

What will the audience care about, be interested in, or be surprised by?
What is the most interesting story or inflammatory statement in your book?
What do you have to say that breaks the rules?

The best opening lines are gut punches.

They summarize the book, at least in an oblique way. But they’re not dry facts. They’re genuine, behind-the-scenes glimpses into a human life. They establish who you are and what you’re about, right from the beginning.

Human beings respond to genuine connection. That means being vulnerable. You have to break down any barriers that you might usually keep around you.

That’s one of the hardest things to do as an Author, but it makes for a great book.

Reading about perfection is boring, especially because we all know there’s no such thing.

In the next section, I’ll go through examples of great first sentences and explain why they work.

Every one of these strategies helps create an instant, authentic connection with readers. You just have to pick the one that makes the most sense for your book.

1. Revealing Personal Information

When most people think about comedian Tiffany Haddish, they think of a glamorous celebrity.

They don’t think about a kid who had trouble in school because she had an unstable home life, reeked of onions, and struggled with bullying.

From the first line of her book, Tiffany reveals that you’re going to learn things about her that you don’t know—personal things.

I mean, really personal.

The book’s opening story concludes with her trying to cut a wart off her face because she was teased so much about it (that’s where the “unicorn” nickname came from).

That level of personal connection immediately invites the reader in. It promises that the Author is going to be honest and vulnerable, no holds barred.

This isn’t going to be some picture-perfect memoir. It’s going to be real, and it’s going to teach you something.

And that’s what forms a connection.

2. Mirroring the Reader’s Pain

Geoffrey and I chose this opening sentence because it let readers know right away that we know their pain.

Not only that, we knew how to fix it .

If a reader picked up the book and didn’t connect to that opening line, they probably weren’t our target audience.

But if someone picked it up and said, “This is exactly what I want to know!” we already had them hooked.

They would trust us immediately because we proved in the first sentence that we understood them.

In this sentence, Geoffrey and I are positioned as the experts. People are coming to us for help.

But you can also mirror your reader’s pain more directly. Check out this example from Jennifer Luzzato’s book, Inheriting Chaos with Compassion :

That’s a gut punch for anyone. But it’s an even bigger one for Jennifer’s target audience: people who unexpectedly lose a loved one and are left dealing with financial chaos.

Jennifer isn’t just giving the reader advice.

She’s showing that she’s been through the pain. She understands it. And she’s the right person to help the reader solve it.

3. Asking the Reader a Question

Readers come to nonfiction books because they want help solving a problem.

If you picked up a book about team-building, culture, and leadership, you likely want answers to some questions.

Daniel Coyle’s book shows the reader, right off the bat, that he’s going to give you answers.

His question also isn’t a boring, how-do-organizations-work type of question.

It’s compelling enough to make you keep reading, at least for a few more sentences. And then ideally, a few sentences, pages, and chapters after that.

Starting with a question is often a variation on tactic number 2.

If the reader picked up your book hoping to solve a certain problem or learn how to do something, asking them that compelling question can immediately show them that you understand their pain.

It can set the stage for the whole book.

You can also pique the reader’s interest by asking them a question they’ve never thought about.

Nicholas Kusmich ‘s book Give starts with the question,

It’s a unique question that hooks a reader.

But the answer still cuts straight to the heart of his book: “Both entrepreneurs and superheroes want to use their skills to serve people and make the world a better place.”

The unexpected framing gives readers a fresh perspective on a topic they’ve probably already thought a lot about.

4. Shock the Reader

I said in the intro to this post that you don’t have to shock the reader to get their attention.

I never said you couldn’t .

If you’re going to do it, though, you have to do it well.

This is the best opening to a book I’ve ever read. I’m actually a dog person, so this shocked the hell out of me. It was gripping.

As you read, the sentence starts making more sense, but it stays just as shocking. And you can’t help but finish the page and the chapter to understand why. But my God, what a way to hook a reader (in case you are wondering, the dogs were licking up blood from dead bodies and giving away the soldiers’ positions to insurgents. They had to kill the dogs or risk being discovered).

I read this opening sentence as part of an excerpt from the book on Business Insider .

I plowed through the excerpt, bought the book on Kindle, canceled two meetings, and read the whole book.

5. Intrigue the Reader

If you don’t read that and immediately want to know what the realization was, you’re a force to be reckoned with.

People love reading about drama, screw-ups, and revelations. By leading with one, Will immediately intrigues his readers.

what is a good opening line for an essay

They’ll want to keep reading so they can solve the mystery. What was the big deal?

I’m not going to tell you and spoil the fun. You’ll have to check out Will’s book to find out.

There are other ways to be intriguing, too. For example, see the opening line to Lorenzo Gomez’ Cilantro Diaries :

Again, the Author is setting up a mystery.

He wants the reader to rack his brain and say, “Well, if it’s not the famous stuff, what is it?”

And then, when Lorenzo gets to the unexpected answer—the H-E-B grocery store—they’re even more intrigued.

Why would a grocery store make someone’s top-ten list, much less be the thing they’d miss most?

That kind of unexpected storytelling is perfect for keeping readers engaged.

The more intrigue you can create, the more they’ll keep turning the pages.

6. Lead with a Bold Claim

There are thousands of books about marketing. So, how does an Author cut through the noise?

If you’re David Allison, you cut right to the chase and lead with a bold claim.

You tell people you’re going to change the world. And then you tell them you have the data to back it up.

If your reader is sympathetic, they’re going to jump on board. If they’re skeptical, they’re still going to want to see if David’s claim holds up.

Here’s the thing, though: only start bold if you can back it up.

Don’t tell someone you’re going to transform their whole life and only offer a minor life hack. They’ll feel cheated.

But if you’re really changing the way that people think about something, do something, or feel about something, then lead with it.

Start big. And then prove it.

7. Be Empathetic and Honest

One Last Talk is one of the best books we’ve ever done at Scribe. And it shows right from the first sentence.

Philip starts with a bold claim: “If you let it, this book will change your life.”

But then he gives a caveat: it’s not going to be fun.

That’s the moment when he forms an immediate connection with the reader.

Many Authors will tell their readers, “This book will change your life. It’s going to be incredible! Just follow these steps and be on your way!”

Not many Authors will lead with, “It’s going to be worth it, but it’s going to be miserable.”

By being this upfront about the emotional work the book involves, Philip immediately proves to his readers that he’s honest and empathetic.

He understands what they’re going to go through. And he can see them through it, even if it sucks.

One piece of advice we give at Scribe is to talk to your reader like you’re talking to a friend.

Philip does that. And it shows the reader they’re dealing with someone authentic.

8. Invite the Reader In

Joey starts the book by speaking directly to the reader.

He immediately creates a connection and invites the reader in. This makes the book feel more like a conversation between two people than something written by a nameless, faceless Author.

The reason this tactic works so well is because Joey’s whole book is about never losing a customer.

He immediately puts the book’s principles into action.

From the first sentence, Joey’s demonstrating exactly what the reader is there to learn.

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Calculate for all schools

Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, what are some great opening lines for a college essay.

Hey, I'm starting my college essays and getting stuck on my introduction. I've heard the opening lines are really important to catch the reader's attention. Can anyone share some tips or examples for crafting engaging first lines for my essays?

Absolutely, having a strong opening line can indeed make a difference because it sets the tone and immediately engages the reader. Here are some tips and examples to help you create an effective opening line for your college essays:

1. Start with a vivid image or description: Paint a vivid picture in the reader's mind using sensory language and intriguing details. This will draw the reader into your world and make them want to read more.

Example: "The sun blazed a fiery orange as it dipped below the horizon, casting eerie shadows on the ancient cobblestone streets."

2. Use an unexpected anecdote or story: Share a unique, personal experience or memory that highlights your character and is relevant to the essay's overall theme. This approach can create a sense of suspense and wonder.

Example: "Five years ago, I found myself face-to-face with a six-foot-long Burmese python during a family vacation to Thailand."

3. Begin with a question or statement: Pose a thought-provoking question or make a bold claim that prompts the reader to consider your perspective and learn more about your story.

Example: "Is it possible to redefine success in a world obsessed with material wealth and social status?"

4. Implement a metaphor or simile: A creative comparison offers a fresh perspective and can capture your reader's attention by illustrating a point in a thought-provoking manner.

Example: "I learned that friendships, like delicate spiderwebs, can appear fragile yet possess the strength to weather life's storms."

5. Incorporate humor or wit: Humor can be an effective method of engaging your reader, as long as it is authentic and true to your personality. Be careful not to overdo it, and ensure that it won't be perceived as offensive or inappropriate.

Example: "Navigating the complexities of high school was much like learning to parallel park: numerous attempts, the occasional fender bender, and plenty of frustration."

Remember to stay true to your authentic voice and avoid clichés or overused phrases. Your opening line must be compelling but also reflective of your overall essay's theme. Experiment with different approaches, but ultimately, choose the one that feels most genuine and fitting for your story. Good luck with your college essays!

About CollegeVine’s Expert FAQ

CollegeVine’s Q&A seeks to offer informed perspectives on commonly asked admissions questions. Every answer is refined and validated by our team of admissions experts to ensure it resonates with trusted knowledge in the field.

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Great Opening Lines: How to Grab Readers and Never Let Them Go

March 23, 2011 By Barbara Santos, Strategic Partnerships Director 2 Comments

Many thanks to author and writing teacher Laura Davis for this outstanding post on how to write great opening lines.

Lots of people ask me about the ideal first line for a book, story, essay or memoir. There is no single answer to this question, although it’s essential to understand that the first line exists for one reason and one reason only: to compel the reader to read the second line. You want to hook the reader and keep him reading.

A great opening line does one or more of the following:

Begins right in the middle of the story, putting the reader immediately into the dramatic action
Takes us immediately into another world that we feel we must know more about
Immediately gives us the opportunity to escape from our own thoughts, obsessions and concerns
Let’s us know instantly that we’re in the hands of a master storyteller
Presents us with something unusual, quirky, amazing, shocking or emotionally gripping
Introduces us to a fascinating, funny or idiosyncratic character
Introduces us to an adventure, dilemma or person we simply must know more about
Establishes a mystery that we want to solve
Sets a compelling emotional mood or tone
Builds suspense and tension that makes us want to know more

I’ve been collecting great first lines for years and I often have my writing students do the same. Here are some of my all time favorites. See if you can identify which of the qualities I just mentioned are achieved by each of the following lines:

“I was sitting in a taxi, wondering if I had overdressed for the evening, when I looked out the window and saw Mom rooting through a Dumpster.” — The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls

“I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day in January of 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of 1974.”

– -Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides”When all is said and done, killing my mother came easily.” – -The Almost Moon by Alice Sebold

“I was five years old the first time I ever set foot in prison.” –A Place to Stand by Jimmy Santiago Baca

“When they write my obituary. Tomorrow. Or the next day. It will say, LEO GURSKY IS SURVIVED BY AN APARTMENT FULL OF SHIT.” –The History of Love by Nicole Kraus

“I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a frigid overcast day in the winter of 1975.” — The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

“The little red light had been flashing for five minutes before Bhangoo paid it any attention. ‘The fuel gauges on these old aircraft are notoriously unreliable.” –Three Cups of Te a by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

“It took me a long time and most of the world to learn what I know about love and fate and the choices we make, but the heart of it came to me in an instant, while I was chained to a wall and being tortured.” –Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts

“Women on their own run in Alice’s family.” –Pigs in Heaven by Barbara Kingsolver

“Cannery Row in Monterey in California is a poem, a stink, a grating noise, a quality of light, a tone, a habit, a nostalgia, a dream. Cannery Row is the gathered and scattered, tin and iron and rust and splintered wood, chipped pavement and weedy lots and junk heaps, sardine canneries of corrugated iron, honky tonks, restaurants and whore houses, and little crowded groceries, and laboratories and flophouses.” –Cannery Row by John Steinbeck

“Every year I bury a couple hundred of my townspeople.” –Undertaking: Life studies from the dismal trade by Thomas Lynch

“Mavis McPherson is locked in the bathroom and will not come out.” –Ordinary Life by Elizabeth Berg

“On the afternoon of October 12, 1990, my twin brother Thomas entered the Three Rivers, Connecticut Public Library, retreated to one of the rear study carrels, and prayed to God the sacrifice he was about to commit would be deemed acceptable.” –I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.” –Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger

“The first accident wasn’t my fault.” –“Wheels of Fortune,” Peter Hessler, The New Yorker

“It was a bright cold day in April and the clocks were striking thirteen.” –Nineteen Eight Four by George Orwell

“It was a pleasure to burn. It was a special pleasure to see things eaten, to see things blackened and charred.” –Farhenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

“Do you want a big rat or a small rat?” the waitress asked. –“A Rat in My Soup,” Peter Hessler, The New Yorker

“On a Sunday morning in the June of my thirty-first year I open the front door of our house looking for the newspaper and find a man standing out there: stoop-shouldered, bent, blotch-skinned, his hair and beard tangled, staring with the big, wet eyes of an animal.” –Blue River, by Ethan Canin

“It is a relatively little-known fact that, over the course of a single year, about 20 million letters are delivered to the dead. ” –Girl with No Shadow by J. Harris

“Mum starved herself for suffrage, Grandmother claiming it was just like Mum to take a cause too far.” — A Short History of Women by Kate Walbert

“They shot the white girl first.” –Paradise by Toni Morrison

“In the moments before, she laid a hand on his arm. ‘No matter what,’ he said, giving him a look, ‘you cannot stop.'” –Mercy by Jodi Picoult

Now see if you can find–and write–some of your own!

Laura Davis is the author of seven non-fiction books, including The Courage to Heal , Becoming the Parent You Want to Be and I Thought We’d Never Speak Again . Laura’s groundbreaking books have sold more than 1.8 million copies around the world. Laura leads weekly writing groups and writing retreats in Santa Cruz, CA, as well as internationally. The Writing Retreat of Your Dreams , held in July on the cliffs of Bolinas on the wild northern California coast, is open for registration now, http://www.lauradavis.net/retreat . Each week, Laura sends out The Writer’s Journey Roadmap –a free inspirational quote and writing prompt, direct to your inbox, http://www.lauradavis.net/prompts .

The 9 th San Francisco Writers Conference / A Celebration of Craft, Commerce & Community / February 16-20, 2012 / Keynoters: bestselling novelist Lolly Winston and editor Alan Rinzler on his fifty years in publishing / www.sfwriters.org / blog: http: //sfwriters.info/blog / To receive free MKP3s, visit www.sfwriters.info / Twitter: @SFWC / San Francisco Writers University: Where Writers Meet and You Learn, a project of the SFWC / Join its more than 500 members for free feedback on your work / Laurie McLean, Dean / www.sfwritersu.com

Reader Interactions

[…] Here’s a link to a wonderful blog post by my colleague Michael Larsen that not only talks about great first lines, he gives lots of examples. It’s very inspirational: http://sfwriters.org/blog/great-opening-lines-how-to-grab-readers-and-never-let-them-go/ […]

[…] Make it as visceral and compelling as possible. Here is a great blog post from writing teacher Laura Davis and agent Michael Larsen who tells you how to craft a great first line and gives amazing examples. […]

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What Makes a Great Opening Line?

Allegra hyde considers love at first sentence.

Maybe it has happened to you: a stranger catches your eye while you peruse the plant identification section of the library, or wander a mossy hillock speckled with Amanita bisporigera, or shuffle along in the funeral procession for your wealthy Aunt Tabitha. The look squeezes a secret place inside you, sets your heart racing—in fear or excitement, you can’t quite tell. Call this kismet. Call it chemistry. Despite all that remains unknown (and that could go wrong), you feel compelled to see where the connection might lead. You know it could change the course of your life.

I say this as a romantic—and as a human who reads and writes fiction. Because the spark of connection can happen on the page in the same way it can in the real world. A great first line can spur intense readerly attraction—provoke a compulsion to know more. Let’s call this: love at first sentence .

Such a reading experience is also a rare one, however. Just as it is easy to encounter most strangers and remain unmoved—so is it easy to not read most works of literature. The world is full of people we will never know and fiction we will never read. It takes something special for a first line to capture the heart of a reader—to propel a text out of a slush pile or off a bookshop shelf—for a work of literature to transform from stranger to intimate.

What is that something, exactly? I started pondering this question in earnest last summer, after signing on to teach a class about fiction’s first lines. To “research” in preparation for the class, I decided to ask around—to ask strangers, specifically, in the spirit of love at first sentence. And so, to the people of Twitter, I posed: “What are your favorite first lines in literature?”

The people of Twitter had plenty to say. From my initial post, a long thread of first lines unfurled, as readers and writers of fiction shared first sentences that had lodged in their brains and stuck. The openers came from a breadth of genres and in all syntactical varieties. There were first lines from odd realist novels, such as:

I was looking at the map when Stephen swerved, hit the rock, and occasioned the miscarriage. – The Wallcreeper by Nell Zink

And there were openings from speculative short stories:

Seven corporations control the afterlife now, and many people spend their lives amassing the money to upload into the best. –Louise Erdrich, “Domain”

There were long opening sentences, such as:

Back when my parents and I lived in Bushwick in a building sandwiched between a drug house and another drug house, the only difference being that the dealers in the one drug house were also the users and so more unpredictable, and in the other the dealers were never the users and so more shrewd—back in those days, we lived in a one-bedroom apartment so subpar that we woke up with flattened cockroaches in our bedsheets, sometimes three or four stuck on our elbows, and once I found fourteen of them pressed to my calves, and there was no beauty in shaking them off, though we strove for grace, swinging our arms in the air as if we were ballerinas. –Jenny Zhang, “We Love You Crispina”

There were short, punchy openers like:

Mother died today. –Albert Camus, The Stranger

As well as:

They shoot the white girl first. –Toni Morrison, Paradise

Several of Morrison’s opening lines were highlighted again and again. Other frequent repeats included:

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. –Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude

No live organism can continue for long to exist sanely under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream.

–Shirley Jackson, Haunting of Hill House

Then there was fan favorite:

The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation. –Donna Tartt, The Secret History

The responses to my Twitter inquiry crystallized a nascent theory I’d been formulating about what made certain first lines memorable and propulsive—because, although the sentences came in all varieties, a pattern emerged. Nearly all the favorite first lines gave readers an elegantly balanced dose of clarity and curiosity . Or to put this another way: seductive first sentences ground a reader in a situation, while also prompting a question in the reader’s mind that propels them forward in the text.

This might seem simple from the outset, but clarity and curiosity can be at odds with one another if not calibrated carefully; too much of one attribute can overwhelm the other, diminishing the overall power of the first sentence.

But let’s define these terms more thoroughly before going any further. By “clarity,” I mean the ability of a first sentence to give readers an initial hand-hold for place and/or time and/or character and/or plot. Clarity is essential for a first sentence because, at the start of a story or novel—barring whatever information a reader might have encountered on the jacket copy or in reviews—the reader’s mental theater is a void. An unlit stage. A nothingness. Every word in that first sentence is an opportunity to shine a light on what is to come—to give a reader enough information to stabilize them in some degree of who and where and what the story is about. Returning to Nell Zink’s opener for Wallcreeper , we see a beautiful example of clarity in action:

I was looking at the map when Stephen swerved, hit the rock, and occasioned the miscarriage.

This sentence tells readers that the novel features a first-person narrator who has some kind of relationship with person named Stephen, and that the pair is traveling, and that the accident of the miscarriage has occurred because of Stephen’s driving. This is an astonishing amount of context to be delivered in the space of a short sentence. Few readers would get entangled in Zink’s syntax, moreover, despite the unexpected place the sentence ends up. Though there are unknowns in the opener, there are not abstractions—which would have been the case if the sentence wasn’t diligently specific.

Is it possible for a sentence to be overly clear—too contextualized? Absolutely. We’ve all read sentences so freighted with detail that narrative momentum comes to a standstill. Just as the thrill love at first sight necessitates a degree of mystique, so does a compelling first sentence require certain gaps in information. Something has to remain unanswered, unexplained, unresolved—because therein lies the special chemistry between clarity and curiosity. We need to know enough to wonder more.

What invokes curiosity in a reader, and thereby keeps them reading? In my opinion: weirdness, conflict, tragedy, mystery, the supernatural, any whiff of struggle, or something being slightly off . Reading Zink’s first sentence for Wallcreeper , I found myself wondering big questions like: Why did Stephen swerve? What happened next? Where were these people going and why? But I also found the narrator’s tone to be a little odd. The word “occasioned” is an unusual verb, suggesting a distinctive attitude. This diction made me willing—no, eager—to read more.

Reviewing Twitter’s favorite first lines, I was struck by another commonality, housed under the umbrella of clarity and curiosity. Maybe you have already noticed from the examples given in this essay—but it seems that many iconic first sentences mention death. Though at first I found the ubiquity of death in people’s favorite fiction openers a touch disturbing, upon reflection this commonality made perfect sense. In all these sentences, death is presented alongside some mention of time; time and death, one could argue, are clarity and curiosity pushed toward a logical end point. Information about time offers readers a sense of clarity by indicating the temporal architecture of a story. And the mention of death—the greatest unknown—makes us curious, which generates narrative momentum. Just look at Toni Morrison’s first line from Paradise :

They shoot the white girl first.

Someone is shot (death) and we are offered an order of events (time).

These two components can be observed once again in One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez :

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.

There is a firing squad (death), which makes Colonel Aureliano remember what happened in the past (time).

Death and time also appear in Louise Erdrich’s “Domain”:

Seven corporations control the afterlife now, and many people spend their lives amassing the money to upload into the best.

Erdrich opens with a speculative technology relating to the afterlife (death) and there is a reference to how people spend their lives (time).

Finally, death and time are fused into an irresistible package in Donna Tartt’s opener from The Secret History :

The snow in the mountains was melting and Bunny had been dead for several weeks before we came to understand the gravity of our situation.

In this first line, Bunny has died (death) and weeks have passed before anyone realizes (time). The sentence is at once straightforward and provocative. Readers are given a sense of setting, of conflict, and of the parties involved, yet they are also left with questions like: How did Bunny die? Why is the situation grave? Who is telling this story? Who is we?

In case you don’t quite believe that death and (at least a whiff of) time make frequent appearances in many seductive first lines, here are a few more from my Twitter inquiry and beyond:

Nobody died that year. –Renata Adler, Speedboat

I was not sorry when my brother died. –Tsitsi Dangarembga, Nervous Conditions

The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel. –William Gibson, Neuromancer

A dead man twists around one of my Doric columns. –Diane Cook, “Bounty”

I like to think I know what death is. –Jesmyn Ward, Sing, Unburied, Sing

They were married on the Day of the Dead, el Día de los Muertos, which no one gave much thought to in all the months of planning, until the bride’s deceased father-in-law showed up in the car following the ceremony. –Natalie Sylvester, Ev eryone Knows You Go Home

On the evening Margio killed Anwar Sadat, Kyai Jahro was blissfully busy with his fishpond. –Eka Kurniawan, Man Tiger

I saw my mother raise a man from the dead. –Kaitlyn Greenidge, Libertie

Of course, death and time are not absolutely imperative for every memorable first line. Many would call Jane Austen’s aphoristic opener to Pride and Prejudice the most famous first line in the English-language, and it contains no explicit mention of death:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

Though I could make the case that being “in possession of a good fortune” implies that someone has died so that the single man could inherit a fortune, what is more important here is that the clarity/curiosity principle holds true. Austen gives readers a seemingly straightforward truism that grounds readers in the themes of the novel to come, while also adding a provocative tinge of irony with the phrase “universally acknowledged.” Her calibration of clarity and curiosity is impeccable and indelible.

Slightly ironic truisms are one approach to first sentences, but there are many other ways of engaging readers while still balancing the aforementioned attributes. Take these openers, which are all in the form of a direct address:

Open the cabinet. –Nina MacLaughlin, Wake, Siren

See the child. –Cormac McCarthy, Blood Meridian

Call me Ishmael. –Herman Melville, Moby Dick

In these sentences, readers are given the hint of a situation and the intriguing zing of an instruction. As readers, we visualize a piece of furniture, a child, or a person named Ishmael—while also wondering why we’re being told what we are. There is a flirty confidence to these lines and the way they demand engagement, hustling us into the narrative ahead.

Then there works of fiction that coax readers forward with a question:

Why is the measure of love loss? –Jeanette Winterson, Written on the Body

“What’s it going to be then, eh?” –Anthony Burgess, A Clockwork Orange

Curiosity is made explicit in these examples, since a question begs an answer. Meanwhile clarity, in Winterson’s opener, comes via the expression of theme—just like in Austen’s first line to Pride and Prejudice . Burgess’s opener is admittedly abstract—especially given the ambiguity of “it”—but one could argue that the colloquial tone of the question, the vaguely intimidating nudge-nudge vibe, offers contextual orientation that makes sense for A Clockwork Orange . Readers get a sense of what they’re in for.

The first line of A Clockwork Orange is also an example of starting with dialogue, which is one of the most challenging ways to begin a story or novel. This is because, in the informational void that is the beginning of any work of fiction, dialogue can be difficult to place—it’s a sound vibrating through the ether—thereby making clarity more difficult to achieve. I am certainly not the first writer to raise this point; Ann Hood cautions against starting with dialogue in her wonderful essay “Beginnings,” which appears in The Writer’s Notebook II from Tin House . To pull off such an opener, according to Hood: “The dialogue must be compelling enough to draw the reader in before he or she knows anything about the character(s) speaking or the context in which the dialogue is taking place.” I would add that having a dialogue tag spill into scene can help ground a reader in place, time, character, and other contextual essentials. Here are two examples of approaching dialogue this way:

“Pink is the color for girls,” Kiera says, so she and Ava cut their palms and let their blood drip into a shallow bowl filled with milk, watching the color spread slowly on the surface, small red flowers blooming. –Dantiel W. Moniz, “Milk Blood Heat”

“Where’s Papa going with that axe?” said Fern to her mother as they were setting the table for breakfast. –E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

Both Moniz’s and White’s openers give readers the contextual handholds necessary to stabilize readers in a scene, and throw open the door to intrigue. These sentences show, once again, that the form or style of a first line is less important than how the author generates an alchemic blend of clarity and curiosity. After all, though Moniz’s and White’s lines both gesture towards physical violence and the specter of suffering, a first line can also dazzle simply for being funny. Take these examples, which ground a reader in a situation, while zooming forward on comedic momentum:

Dad thought himself a good-looking man. –Souvankham Thammavongsa, “Good-Looking”

My classroom was on the first floor, next to the nuns’ lounge. –Ottessa Moshfegh, “Bettering Myself”

Unlike the typical bluesy earthy folksy denim-overalls noble-in-the-face-of-cracker-racism aw shucks Pulitzer-Prize-winning protagonist mojo magic black man, I am not the seventh son of the seventh son of the seventh son. –Paul Beatty, The White Boy Shuffle

Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuy. –Ha Jin, Waiting

Other well-loved first sentences use oddness as a springboard for curiosity—giving readers just enough clarity to keep them engaged. Sentences like:

A screaming comes across the sky. –Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow

I lost an arm on my last trip home. –Octavia Butler, Kindred

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. –George Orwell, 1984

I n a labor camp, somewhere in the Persian Gulf, a laborer swallowed his passport and turned into a passport. –Deepack Unnikrishnan, “Gulf Return”

My mother had two placentas and I was living off both of them. –Gabe Habash, Stephen Florida

Nothing moved except the mirage. –Adania Shibli, Minor Detail

In an ideal world we would have been orphans. –Miranda July, “Something That Needs Nothing”

Then there are first sentences that are simply disarmingly congenial:

When the phone rang I was in the kitchen, boiling a potful of spaghetti and whistling along with an FM broadcast of the overture to Rossini’s ‘The Thieving Magpie,’ which has to be the perfect music for cooking pasta. –Haruki Murakami, Wind-Up Bird Chronicle

What I am getting at here, at the end of this essay, is that love at first sentence is a wide open field. There are many kinds of sentences—just like there are many kinds of people—that might beguile you if they present the right blend of clarity and curiosity, perceptibility and mystery. There may be certain sentences that catch more eyes—sentences featuring death and time, in particular—but ultimately (and apologies for the cliché) beauty is the eye of the beholder. What is important, in the end, is that the right first sentence finds the right reader. Because what is a sentence if not one step in an ongoing series of steps? And what is a relationship except one moment of connection followed by another, and then another—as long as the connection lasts? In the case of fiction, this is a relationship that hopefully extends all the way from cover to cover.

_________________________________________________

Allegra Hyde’s novel Eleutheria is available now via Vintage.

Allegra Hyde

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Great Opening Lines and Why They Work So Darn Well

It is a truth universally acknowledged that an article on great opening lines must be in want of a spoofed Jane Austen quote.

Actually, that approach might be a little played out, making it a less-than-stellar opener. But that’s okay, because today we’re here to learn. It takes a lot of writing and rewriting to find the perfect first sentence.

So how do you know when you’ve landed on a gem?

You’re about to find out. Using several examples of exceptional novel openers, we’re going to explore:

What makes an opening line great
Four types of first lines
How to craft your own unforgettable story starter

First, let’s establish why we care about any of this.

Why Great Opening Lines Matter

A female-presenting person in a bright yellow turtleneck and blue jeans sits on a couch reading the opening line of a book.

The answer to this is delightfully straightforward:

Your opening line matters because it’s your first opportunity to draw the reader in.

Great opening lines entice the reader to keep going—to immerse themselves in your story’s world . A disappointing first sentence, on the other hand, might inspire them to set the book back on the shelf.

So how do you make sure your opener is super engaging?

First you need to understand this:

What Makes an Opening Line Great?

A writer holds a notebook and touches a pen to their chin as they think.

According to Stephen King, “An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.”

But how exactly do you achieve that effect?

Here are a few things a stellar opening line tends to do.

Establishes a Distinctive Voice

A solid opener immediately introduces the reader to their narrator… or at least to their narrator’s voice . Consider this classic story starter from David Copperfield :

“Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.”

Right away, you have a sense of the narrator’s personality and attitude. That tells you a lot about how you’re going to experience the story. Give your reader an engaging voice that sucks them in.

Sets the Tone

While voice is more about personality, tone is a reflection of mood and attitude. A novel’s tone can be defined with words like “chilling,” “romantic,” and “relaxed.”

A clear sense of tone helps the reader anticipate all the fun that lies ahead. Like this:

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” – Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Dry and snarky. We’re in for a good time.

Creates a Sense of Time or Place

You can use your opening line to suck the reader into the world. This is an especially good idea if your novel’s setting is either interesting or crucial to the plot. Like this:

“When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon.” – The Last Good Kiss by James Crumley

How could you not read on?

Sparks Curiosity

“It was a wrong number that started it, the telephone ringing three times in the dead of night, and the voice on the other end asking for someone he was not.” – City of Glass by Paul Auster

I have so many questions, don’t you? What exactly did this wrong number start? Who was the voice on the other end, who were they asking for, and who actually picked up the phone?

A curiosity-inducing opening line will almost always force your reader to keep going.

Introduces an Intriguing Character, Conflict, or Perspective

Seems like a tall order for just one li’l opening line, I know. But it is possible to give the reader a glimpse of the person, problem, or perspective that will be driving the story. Felipe Alfau does it in eight words:

“The moment one learns English, complications set in.” – Chromos

That’s a viewpoint that’s almost guaranteed to catch the reader of an English language novel off-guard. It also plunges the reader into the experience of the book’s characters: Spanish immigrants trying to stay connected to home while building lives in New York City.

Types of Opening Lines That Work Every Time

Now you know how good opening lines welcome the reader into the story. How can you make sure that first sentence also grabs their attention?

Here are a few types of openers that, when done well, rarely fail.

Shocking Opening Lines

A female-presenting person looks at a phone screen with a shocked expression.

A shocking opener doesn’t have to be violent or offensive. It’s enough to surprise the reader with an unusual situation, a surprising turn of phrase, or the suggestion that a horrifying secret is about to be revealed.

Here are some great examples of alarming first lines.

“They shoot the white girl first.” – Paradise by Toni Morrison

“All children, except one, grow up.” – Peter and Wendy by James M. Barrie

“Every summer Lin Kong returned to Goose Village to divorce his wife, Shuyu.” – Waiting by Ha Jin

“You better not ever tell nobody but God.” – The Color Purple by Alice Walker

Humorous Opening Lines

An older, female-presenting person kicks their leg up in amusement while reading a book.

Humor sparks delight, and delight makes folks want to stick around. So putting a dash of comedy in your novel’s first sentence can be a good move as long as it fits your story’s tone.

If your book is a comedy, a humorous opening line is practically mandatory.

“Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.” – Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling

“The story so far: In the beginning the Universe was created. That has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move.” – The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

“If you are interested in stories with happy endings, you would be better off reading some other book.” – The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket

“There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it.” – The Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis

Thought-Provoking Opening Lines

A female-presenting person in a bookstore stares off into space while holding a book open.

Does your novel have a profound theme ? Does one of your characters have a thought-provoking perspective? Try working it into your novel’s first words.

Craft this story starter to inspire reflection or curiosity. Avoid anything that’s preachy or teachy or reachy. Keep it sincere and interesting, like these folks do:

“Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” – Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

“No live organism can continue for long to exist under conditions of absolute reality; even larks and katydids are supposed, by some, to dream.” – The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

“A story has no beginning or end; arbitrarily one chooses that moment of experience from which to look back or from which to look ahead.” – The End of the Affair by Graham Greene

“It was the happiest moment of my life, though I didn’t know it. Had I known, had I cherished this gift, would everything have turned out differently?” – The Museum of Innocence by Orhan Pamuk

Scene-Setting Opening Lines

A male-presenting person leans against a tree in the dark, holding a glowing book open.

Another option is to plunge your reader into the circumstances of your story immediately. Where are they? What’s going on? How does it feel to be in this world?

The trick is to focus on what’s fascinating, remarkable, or establishes the tone. “Emma lived in a house with a white fence and a two car garage” is… well, probably the worst opening line I’ve ever written.

Here are better ones:

Examples

“It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.” – The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.” – The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

“The Santa Anas blew in hot from the desert, shriveling the last of the spring grass into whiskers of pale straw.” – White Oleander by Janet Fitch

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.” – Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell

How to Write Great Opening Lines

Feeling inspired to get creative and craft your own brilliant opening line? Here are some tips to help you crush it.

Tips and Tricks for Crafting Your First Sentence

Zero in on your novel’s best feature. What will readers love most about your novel? The wonder-inducing fantasy setting ? The unconventional philosophies of your outrageous protagonist? The world-shattering themes? Introduce the grabbiest element of your story right away.

Raise questions. Share information that immediately sparks a question in the reader’s mind. Where are those gunshots coming from? Why is Michigan all dystopian now? Who is this single man in possession of a good fortune?

Evoke emotion. Make the reader laugh, inspire awe, freak them out… whatever’s right for your story. Use the opening line to set emotional expectations for your novel.

Show, don’t tell. In other words, use vivid sensory language to help your reader feel like they’ve entered the world of your story instead of just reporting on events.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Beginning at the beginning. Start your story when your protagonist is already doing something that matters. Don’t begin with them preparing to do something or waking up in the morning. It’s boring.

Purple prose. This term refers to ornate, flowery prose that draws attention to itself instead of the story. It’s an easy trap to fall into when you’re trying to stun readers with a masterful first line. Resist.

Mismatched voice or tone. Don’t let your narrator be hilarious or profound in your opener if they’ll never be hilarious or profound again. Your reader will feel misled.

Lying lies. On that note, skip the trickery. Don’t introduce a riveting conflict only to reveal that it was all just a dream or false alarm.

Handy-Dandy Exercises

Authors rarely go with their first opening line idea. You’ll probably try many versions before you find one you love. Here are some creative exercises to help you experiment:

Try each of the four types of story openers we talked about above.
If you’ve already written your opening scene, scan through to see if you spot one stellar, engaging sentence. What would happen if that was your opener—if you started the story right there?
Try several openers, each introducing a different aspect of your protagonist’s personality . Maybe one reveals their unique perspective, another focuses on a nervous habit, and another highlights their greatest ambition.
Do the same exercise, but with different aspects of your novel’s setting.
Name the central conflict immediately in your opening line. What does that do for your story?

And What Happens After the Opening Line?

Once you knock out that exceptional opening line, you’re gonna need to back it up with a stellar story.

We’ve got a free ebook that can help you do exactly that. This thing is positively packed with great advice from plotting to revising . Download it here.

Need a hand keeping your head together throughout the noveling process? Check out Dabble!

With Dabble, it’s easy to plot your novel, store ideas, draft, and revise. Even better: you can try all of Dabble’s features for free for 14 days. Just click this li’l link and dive in—no credit card required.

Abi Wurdeman is the author of Cross-Section of a Human Heart: A Memoir of Early Adulthood, as well as the novella, Holiday Gifts for Insufferable People. She also writes for film and television with her brother and writing partner, Phil Wurdeman. On occasion, Abi pretends to be a poet. One of her poems is (legally) stamped into a sidewalk in Santa Clarita, California. When she’s not writing, Abi is most likely hiking, reading, or texting her mother pictures of her houseplants to ask why they look like that.

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Essay Editor

How to Write a Hook: Powerful Openers for Your Essay

Have you ever thought about how to grab your readers' attention right from the start of your essay? A good hook can really make a difference. It can pull your readers in and set the stage for an interesting piece of writing. This guide will help you understand what is a hook in an essay and give you ways to create strong openings that will keep your readers interested until the end.

What Is a Hook in an Essay?

A hook is the opening sentence or group of sentences that serves as an attention-grabbing introduction to your essay. Its primary purpose is to pique the reader's interest and create a specific tone for your writing. Good hooks are essential for academic papers, as they set the stage for your argument and encourage readers to continue exploring your ideas.

Some hook examples for essays are:

Anecdotes or personal stories
Thought-provoking questions
Surprising statistics or facts
Relevant quotations
Vivid descriptions or imagery
Bold statements or declarations

These hook examples can be tailored to suit various essay types and subjects, making them versatile tools for writers.

Placing Hooks in Your Essay Introductions and Conclusions

While hooks are typically associated with introductions, they can also be effectively used in conclusions to bring your essay full circle and leave a lasting impression on your readers.

Introduction Hooks

In the introduction, your hook should:

Grab attention immediately
Provide context for your topic
Lead smoothly into your thesis statement

Hook sentence examples for introductions:

"In the time it takes you to read this sentence, about 100 stars will have died in our universe."

"What if I told you that the most dangerous animal in the world isn't a shark, a lion, or even a human—but something so tiny, you can't even see it?"

Conclusion Hook

Hook ideas for conclusions:

Revisit the opening hook with new insight
Pose a challenge or call to action
End with a provocative question or statement

Hook sentence examples for conclusions:

"As we close this chapter on climate change, the question remains: will our grandchildren inherit a planet of possibilities or a world of what-ifs?"

"As we stand on the brink of AI-powered breakthroughs, one can't help but wonder: will machines dream of electric sheep, or will they dream of us?"

Loving these hooks? Aithor can write many more just like them for your next essay.

Tips to Write Good Hooks for Essays

Writing good hooks for essays needs creativity and an understanding of who will read your work. Here are some tips to help you write strong openings:

Make your hook appeal to the specific people who will read your essay.
Make sure your hook fits with the overall feel of your essay, whether it's formal, funny, or serious.
A hook should be short and clear, usually no more than one or two sentences.
Using an active voice in your hook makes your writing more engaging and direct.
Stay away from common sayings or ideas that might bore your readers.
Your hook should connect directly to your essay's main topic or main idea.
Don't be afraid to rewrite your hook several times to make it better.

Remember, the goal is to create an opening that naturally leads into your essay's main content while piquing the reader's curiosity.

Step-by-Step Hook Creation Process

Follow these steps to come up with hook ideas that work:

Different kinds of essays (like argumentative, narrative, and descriptive) might benefit from different types of hooks.
Come up with several hook ideas based on your topic and essay type.
Definitions
Metaphors or similes
Write a few versions of your chosen hook type.
Look over your drafts, thinking about how well they fit with your essay's purpose and tone.
Share your hook with others to see how effective it is.
Make sure your hook flows naturally into the rest of your introduction.

Remember, the key to how to write a good hook is practice and improvement. Don't be afraid to change and make your hook better as you write your essay.

Types of Hooks

There are several types of hooks you can use to begin your essay. Here are some popular options:

Question Hook

"Ever wondered why your dog tilts its head when you speak? The answer might surprise you – and reveal more about human-canine communication than you'd expect."

Anecdotal Hook

"The first time I tasted durian, I thought I'd accidentally eaten something that had gone bad in the tropical heat. Little did I know, this pungent fruit would become my obsession and lead me on a culinary adventure across Southeast Asia."

Statistic Hook

"In the time it takes you to read this sentence, over 700 hours of video will have been uploaded to YouTube. The digital content explosion is reshaping how we consume information, and it's happening faster than you might think."

Quotation Hook

"'The cure for boredom is curiosity. There is no cure for curiosity.' Dorothy Parker's words ring truer than ever in our age of endless information — but is our curiosity leading us to knowledge, or just more distraction?"

Description Hook

"The air shimmers like a mirage, heat radiating from the cracked earth. In the distance, a lone tree stands defiant against the barren landscape. This is the face of climate change — stark, unforgiving, and impossible to ignore."

Metaphor or Simile Hook

"Learning a new language is like trying to navigate a foreign city without a map. At first, every street corner looks the same, every sign is indecipherable. But slowly, patterns emerge, landmarks become familiar, and suddenly you're no longer lost — you're on an adventure."

Each of these hook examples for essays can be effective when used appropriately. The key is to choose a hook that aligns with your essay's tone and purpose.

Wrapping Up: The Impact of a Strong Essay Hook

A well-written hook can make the difference between an essay that keeps readers interested and one that doesn't. By understanding what a hook in an essay is and how to create one effectively, you can improve your writing and leave a lasting impression on your readers.

Remember, the best hooks not only grab attention but also fit well with your essay's main ideas. They should give a taste of what's to come, encouraging readers to keep reading your work.

For those looking to further enhance their essay-writing skills, try writing tools like Aithor . Aithor can give extra insights and suggestions to help you write even more engaging hooks and essays. By combining your own creativity with advanced writing help, you can make your essays even better and really connect with your readers.

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Examples of Great Introductory Paragraphs

How to Grab Your Reader's Attention With a Few Words

Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
B.A., English, State University of New York

An introductory paragraph, as the opening of a conventional essay, composition , or report , is designed to grab people's attention. It informs readers about the topic and why they should care about it but also adds enough intrigue to get them to continue to read. In short, the opening paragraph is your chance to make a great first impression.

Below, we'll dive into a couple of key elements that make a good introductory paragraph, like clearly outlining the topic and purpose, and examine some dynamic strategies for engaging your audience, such as posing a question or using a brief anecdote.

Writing a Good Introductory Paragraph

The primary purpose of an introductory paragraph is to pique the interest of your reader and identify the topic and purpose of the essay . It often ends with a thesis statement .

You can engage your readers right from the start through several tried-and-true ways. Posing a question, defining the key term, giving a brief anecdote , using a playful joke or emotional appeal, or pulling out an interesting fact are just a few approaches you can take. Use imagery, details, and sensory information to connect with the reader if you can. The key is to add intrigue along with just enough information so your readers want to find out more.

One way to do this is to come up with a brilliant opening line . Even the most mundane topics have aspects interesting enough to write about; otherwise, you wouldn't be writing about them, right?

When you begin writing a new piece, think about what your readers want or need to know. Use your knowledge of the topic to craft an opening line that will satisfy that need. You don't want to fall into the trap of what writers call " chasers ," or boring and cliche introductions (such as "The dictionary defines...."). The introduction should make sense and hook the reader right from the start.

Make your introductory paragraph brief. Typically, just three or four sentences are enough to set the stage for both long and short essays. You can go into supporting information in the body of your essay, so don't tell the audience everything all at once.

Should You Write the Intro First?

You can always adjust your introductory paragraph later. Sometimes you just have to start writing. You can start at the beginning or dive right into the heart of your essay.

Your first draft may not have the best opening, but as you continue to write, new ideas will come to you, and your thoughts will develop a clearer focus. Take note of these and, as you work through revisions , refine and edit your opening.

If you're struggling with the opening, follow the lead of other writers and skip it for the moment. Many writers begin with the body and conclusion and come back to the introduction later. It's a useful, time-efficient approach if you find yourself stuck in those first few words, especially if you have an outline completed or a general framework informally mapped out. If you don't have an outline, even just starting to sketch one can help organize your thoughts and "prime the pump," as it were.

Examples of Successful Introductory Paragraphs

You can read all the advice you want about writing a compelling opening, but it's often easier to learn by example. Take a look at how some writers approached their essays and analyze why they work so well.

Tell a Joke and Spark Curiosity

Mary Zeigler, " How to Catch River Crabs "

"As a lifelong crabber (that is, one who catches crabs, not a chronic complainer), I can tell you that anyone who has patience and a great love for the river is qualified to join the ranks of crabbers. However, if you want your first crabbing experience to be a successful one, you must come prepared."

What did Zeigler do in her introduction? First, she wrote a little joke, but it serves a dual purpose. Not only does it set the stage for her slightly more humorous approach to crabbing, but it also clarifies what type of "crabber" she's writing about. This is important if your subject has more than one meaning.

The other thing that makes this a successful introduction is the fact that Zeigler leaves us wondering. What do we have to be prepared for? Will the crabs jump up and latch onto you? Is it a messy job? What tools and gear do I need? She leaves us with questions, and that draws us in because now we want answers.

Use Vivid Imagery

"Shopping at the Pig"

"Working part-time as a cashier at the Piggly Wiggly has given me a great opportunity to observe human behavior. Sometimes I think of the shoppers as white rats in a lab experiment, and the aisles as a maze designed by a psychologist. Most of the rats—customers, I mean—follow a routine pattern, strolling up and down the aisles, checking through my chute, and then escaping through the exit hatch. But not everyone is so dependable. My research has revealed three distinct types of abnormal customer: the amnesiac, the super shopper, and the dawdler."

This revised classification essay begins by painting a picture of an ordinary scenario: the grocery store. But when used as an opportunity to observe human nature, as this writer does, it turns from ordinary to fascinating.

Who is the amnesiac? Would I be classified as the dawdler by this cashier? The descriptive language and the analogy to rats in a maze add to the intrigue, and readers are left wanting more. For this reason, even though it's lengthy, this is an effective opening.

Invoke Emotion and the Element of Surprise

Roz Savage, " My Transoceanic Midlife Crisis "

"In March 2006, I found myself, at 38, divorced, no kids, no home, and alone in a tiny rowing boat in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. I hadn’t eaten a hot meal in two months. I’d had no human contact for weeks because my satellite phone had stopped working. All four of my oars were broken, patched up with duct tape and splints. I had tendinitis in my shoulders and saltwater sores on my backside. I couldn’t have been happier...."

Here is an example of reversing expectations. The introductory paragraph is filled with doom and gloom. We feel sorry for the writer but are left wondering whether the article will be a classic sob story. It is in the second paragraph that we find out that it's quite the opposite.

Those first few words of the second paragraph, which we cannot help but skim, surprise us and thus draw us in. How can the narrator be happy after all that sorrow? This reversal compels us to find out what happened.

Most people have had streaks where nothing seems to go right. Yet, it is the possibility of a turn of fortunes that compels us to keep going. This writer appealed to our emotions and a sense of shared experience to craft an effective read.

Key Takeaways

An effective introductory paragraph grabs readers' attention and outlines the topic while adding intrigue to encourage further reading.
Dynamic strategies like posing questions or using anecdotes can engage readers from the start and set the stage for the essay's content.
Starting with the body and conclusion first and then revisiting the introduction can be a time-efficient approach if you're struggling with the opening lines.
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Knowledge Base

The Beginner's Guide to Writing an Essay | Steps & Examples

An academic essay is a focused piece of writing that develops an idea or argument using evidence, analysis, and interpretation.

There are many types of essays you might write as a student. The content and length of an essay depends on your level, subject of study, and course requirements. However, most essays at university level are argumentative — they aim to persuade the reader of a particular position or perspective on a topic.

The essay writing process consists of three main stages:

Preparation: Decide on your topic, do your research, and create an essay outline.
Writing : Set out your argument in the introduction, develop it with evidence in the main body, and wrap it up with a conclusion.
Revision: Check your essay on the content, organization, grammar, spelling, and formatting of your essay.

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Essay writing process, preparation for writing an essay, writing the introduction, writing the main body, writing the conclusion, essay checklist, lecture slides, frequently asked questions about writing an essay.

The writing process of preparation, writing, and revisions applies to every essay or paper, but the time and effort spent on each stage depends on the type of essay .

For example, if you’ve been assigned a five-paragraph expository essay for a high school class, you’ll probably spend the most time on the writing stage; for a college-level argumentative essay , on the other hand, you’ll need to spend more time researching your topic and developing an original argument before you start writing.

1. Preparation	2. Writing	3. Revision
	, organized into Write the	or use a for language errors

Prevent plagiarism. Run a free check.

Before you start writing, you should make sure you have a clear idea of what you want to say and how you’re going to say it. There are a few key steps you can follow to make sure you’re prepared:

Understand your assignment: What is the goal of this essay? What is the length and deadline of the assignment? Is there anything you need to clarify with your teacher or professor?
Define a topic: If you’re allowed to choose your own topic , try to pick something that you already know a bit about and that will hold your interest.
Do your research: Read primary and secondary sources and take notes to help you work out your position and angle on the topic. You’ll use these as evidence for your points.
Come up with a thesis: The thesis is the central point or argument that you want to make. A clear thesis is essential for a focused essay—you should keep referring back to it as you write.
Create an outline: Map out the rough structure of your essay in an outline . This makes it easier to start writing and keeps you on track as you go.

Once you’ve got a clear idea of what you want to discuss, in what order, and what evidence you’ll use, you’re ready to start writing.

The introduction sets the tone for your essay. It should grab the reader’s interest and inform them of what to expect. The introduction generally comprises 10–20% of the text.

1. Hook your reader

The first sentence of the introduction should pique your reader’s interest and curiosity. This sentence is sometimes called the hook. It might be an intriguing question, a surprising fact, or a bold statement emphasizing the relevance of the topic.

Let’s say we’re writing an essay about the development of Braille (the raised-dot reading and writing system used by visually impaired people). Our hook can make a strong statement about the topic:

The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability.

2. Provide background on your topic

Next, it’s important to give context that will help your reader understand your argument. This might involve providing background information, giving an overview of important academic work or debates on the topic, and explaining difficult terms. Don’t provide too much detail in the introduction—you can elaborate in the body of your essay.

3. Present the thesis statement

Next, you should formulate your thesis statement— the central argument you’re going to make. The thesis statement provides focus and signals your position on the topic. It is usually one or two sentences long. The thesis statement for our essay on Braille could look like this:

As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness.

4. Map the structure

In longer essays, you can end the introduction by briefly describing what will be covered in each part of the essay. This guides the reader through your structure and gives a preview of how your argument will develop.

The invention of Braille marked a major turning point in the history of disability. The writing system of raised dots used by blind and visually impaired people was developed by Louis Braille in nineteenth-century France. In a society that did not value disabled people in general, blindness was particularly stigmatized, and lack of access to reading and writing was a significant barrier to social participation. The idea of tactile reading was not entirely new, but existing methods based on sighted systems were difficult to learn and use. As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness. This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on blind people’s social and cultural lives.

Write your essay introduction

The body of your essay is where you make arguments supporting your thesis, provide evidence, and develop your ideas. Its purpose is to present, interpret, and analyze the information and sources you have gathered to support your argument.

Length of the body text

The length of the body depends on the type of essay. On average, the body comprises 60–80% of your essay. For a high school essay, this could be just three paragraphs, but for a graduate school essay of 6,000 words, the body could take up 8–10 pages.

Paragraph structure

To give your essay a clear structure , it is important to organize it into paragraphs . Each paragraph should be centered around one main point or idea.

That idea is introduced in a topic sentence . The topic sentence should generally lead on from the previous paragraph and introduce the point to be made in this paragraph. Transition words can be used to create clear connections between sentences.

After the topic sentence, present evidence such as data, examples, or quotes from relevant sources. Be sure to interpret and explain the evidence, and show how it helps develop your overall argument.

Lack of access to reading and writing put blind people at a serious disadvantage in nineteenth-century society. Text was one of the primary methods through which people engaged with culture, communicated with others, and accessed information; without a well-developed reading system that did not rely on sight, blind people were excluded from social participation (Weygand, 2009). While disabled people in general suffered from discrimination, blindness was widely viewed as the worst disability, and it was commonly believed that blind people were incapable of pursuing a profession or improving themselves through culture (Weygand, 2009). This demonstrates the importance of reading and writing to social status at the time: without access to text, it was considered impossible to fully participate in society. Blind people were excluded from the sighted world, but also entirely dependent on sighted people for information and education.

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The conclusion is the final paragraph of an essay. It should generally take up no more than 10–15% of the text . A strong essay conclusion :

Returns to your thesis
Ties together your main points
Shows why your argument matters

A great conclusion should finish with a memorable or impactful sentence that leaves the reader with a strong final impression.

What not to include in a conclusion

To make your essay’s conclusion as strong as possible, there are a few things you should avoid. The most common mistakes are:

Including new arguments or evidence
Undermining your arguments (e.g. “This is just one approach of many”)
Using concluding phrases like “To sum up…” or “In conclusion…”

Braille paved the way for dramatic cultural changes in the way blind people were treated and the opportunities available to them. Louis Braille’s innovation was to reimagine existing reading systems from a blind perspective, and the success of this invention required sighted teachers to adapt to their students’ reality instead of the other way around. In this sense, Braille helped drive broader social changes in the status of blindness. New accessibility tools provide practical advantages to those who need them, but they can also change the perspectives and attitudes of those who do not.

Write your essay conclusion

Checklist: Essay

My essay follows the requirements of the assignment (topic and length ).

My introduction sparks the reader’s interest and provides any necessary background information on the topic.

My introduction contains a thesis statement that states the focus and position of the essay.

I use paragraphs to structure the essay.

I use topic sentences to introduce each paragraph.

Each paragraph has a single focus and a clear connection to the thesis statement.

I make clear transitions between paragraphs and ideas.

My conclusion doesn’t just repeat my points, but draws connections between arguments.

I don’t introduce new arguments or evidence in the conclusion.

I have given an in-text citation for every quote or piece of information I got from another source.

I have included a reference page at the end of my essay, listing full details of all my sources.

My citations and references are correctly formatted according to the required citation style .

My essay has an interesting and informative title.

I have followed all formatting guidelines (e.g. font, page numbers, line spacing).

Your essay meets all the most important requirements. Our editors can give it a final check to help you submit with confidence.

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An essay is a focused piece of writing that explains, argues, describes, or narrates.

In high school, you may have to write many different types of essays to develop your writing skills.

Academic essays at college level are usually argumentative : you develop a clear thesis about your topic and make a case for your position using evidence, analysis and interpretation.

The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order:

An opening hook to catch the reader’s attention.
Relevant background information that the reader needs to know.
A thesis statement that presents your main point or argument.

The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay .

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

It gives your writing direction and focus.
It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

A topic sentence is a sentence that expresses the main point of a paragraph . Everything else in the paragraph should relate to the topic sentence.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

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What makes a good opening line?

September 2, 2024

Oliver Soden

The inner life of the novel is set in motion by its opening lines.

The opening chapter of Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities.

Call me Oliver. Some years ago – never mind how long precisely – I was still at school and, if we were good, the last ten minutes of an English lesson were given over to a form of literary parlour game: guess the first line. A teacher would read the opening of whatever book was to hand, and we would attempt to identify the novel it began. I recommend it for Christmases in families of keen readers, and while ‘For a long time I went to bed early’ shouldn’t be too tricky, ‘Take my camel, dear’, or even ‘The cow is there’ might stump a few. Others are better known, from the bright cold day in April 1984 when the clocks struck 13 to the queer sultry summer when they electrocuted the Rosenbergs. Most famous of all, perhaps, is Anthony Burgess’s Earthly Powers , with its self-consciously provocative commingling of archbishop and catamite .

One may as well begin with Ulysses ’ beginning . Burgess once wrote a whole essay on its opening paragraphs, and you need not have read the book entire for a bell to ring at the sound of ‘Stately, plump Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead…’. It takes a second, or a second reading, to realise that the carefully placed comma means that Buck Mulligan came from the stairhead in a stately manner, that ‘stately’ is an adverb (‘statelyly’), and that Buck is not habitually stately. He is habitually plump and, we soon gather, habitually vulgar, so his stateliness is comic, as much of Joyce’s stately plump novel will be. Imagine ‘Plump Buck Mulligan walked in a stately fashion from the stairhead…’, ridding Ulysses of its vital upbeat. Or, worse, ‘Buck Mulligan, who was plump…’.

Consider another alternative opening. ‘Kate Croy waited for her father to come in…’. But Henry James decided to begin The Wings of the Dove with a syntactical limp: ‘She waited, Kate Croy, for her father to come in, but he kept her unconscionably, and there were moments at which she showed herself, in the glass over the mantel, a face positively pale…’. As the book will reveal, Kate, who is never Katherine, is as wounded as the syntax, unable quite to be the subject of a sentence, a novel, or a love affair. James presents us, as the mantelpiece mirror does, with two Kates, caught in the act of self-scrutiny, pale to the point of disintegration, and pared to monosyllables.

The critic Eric Griffiths, in an otherwise caustic television appearance appraising the 1990 Booker prize shortlist, praised Brian Moore’s terrific thriller Lies of Silence for its opening sentence: ‘At a quarter to nine, just before going off work, Dillon went down to reception to check the staff roster for tomorrow.’ Susannah Clapp, in the London Review of Books , castigated him for his silliness but missed his reasoning: ‘fifty pages later the question of whether something takes place at a quarter to nine or a quarter to eight is going to be absolutely crucial’. The seeming mundanity was critical to the plot, proof of Moore’s characteristically astonishing tightness of construction, and of the way in which a good first line can reveal something about the book itself.

Take Dickens , a reliable master of opening lines, and, indeed, closing ones (it is a truth universally acknowledged that, aside from A Tale of Two Cities , few novels have first and last sentences which enter the language). Holden Caulfield dismissed ‘all that David Copperfield kind of crap… where I was born, and what my childhood was like’. But what about Bleak House : ‘London. Michaelmas Term lately over, and the Lord Chancellor sitting in Lincoln’s Inn Hall. Implacable November weather. As much mud in the streets…’ and so on. It takes three extensive paragraphs for Dickens to include a finite clause, meaning that, for a long while, the syntax is as foggy as the streets Dickens is describing: the reader cannot see through the syntactical pea-souper to work out whether the action is taking place in the past or present. This is a point of grammar relevant to the book entire, which, concerned above all with how the past wounds and scars the present, interleaves a present-tense, third-person, unnamed speaker with a perfect-tense narration by Esther Summerson.

Little Dorrit opens: ‘Chapter 1. Sun and Shadow. Thirty years ago, Marseilles lay burning in the sun, one day.’ That ‘Chapter 1’ must be included, for only then can the ‘un’ sound toll properly through the line in its carefully symmetrical order (‘one – sun – sun – one’). The short vowels are in careful cross-stitch with the longer ones, casting their long shadows: Marseilles and lay, shadow and ago. And so a pattern of counterpoint is introduced to a novel rich with doublings and predicated on contrasts, between light and shadow, poverty and riches, good and evil. Little Dorrit , with its fortunes that arrive from nowhere, its house on stilts, its wicked identical twins, is in part a fairy tale, and fairy tales begin long ago, once upon a time. Yet how differently, how neatly Dickens could have started: ‘One day, thirty years ago, Marseilles lay burning in the sun.’ Brisk, bright, jovial, even chatty – until the more jagged rearrangement introduces the grave enchanted oddity that will suffuse the book entire.

Jane Eyre likewise unfolds from the tone of disappointment and dashed expectation that is introduced by ‘There was no possibility of taking a walk that day’, which can be read aloud with the stress on at least four of the words, each version subtly altering the sense. This opening, which refuses to reveal whether the novel is to be told in the first or third person, speaks of a day recollected across distance (‘that day’). Another novel by Charlotte Brontë, The Professor , nonchalantly recalls the recent past (‘The other day, in looking over my papers’). One day, that day, the other day – all novels must start (like Henry Green’s Loving ) ‘once upon a day’, even if they can’t all end (as Green’s does) ‘happily ever after’. The reader is often located specifically and imprecisely. As Winnie has it, in Beckett’s Happy Days : ‘That day… What day?’

Wuthering Heights carefully sets itself 46 years in the past for its first readership: ‘1801. – I have just returned from a visit to my landlord – the solitary neighbour that I shall be troubled with.’ But unlike, say, Anne’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall , which begins by urgently taking the reader’s hand – ‘You must go back with me to the autumn of 1827’ – Wuthering Heights will for now be told in the moment, and to the moment: ‘I have just returned…’. (The novel would exert a much looser grip had it begun: ‘Half-a-century ago, in the county of –––shire, there lived a wealthy gentleman by the name of Lockwood….’) The tense – the present-perfect – links past to present in a way that will become important in the novel’s multi-generational tangles. So eager is the speaker to tell us what he has just done that he speaks in starts, distractedly, a burst of afterthought marked not with a comma but a dash. His diction is happy, too, in those more formal days, to end a sentence with a preposition. How much more formal, and more troubled, he would sound had he said ‘the solitary neighbour with which I shall be troubled’.

We do not yet know that Mr Lockwood is speaking, only that the narrator is a tenant, nor where he is speaking, only that it is barely populated, nor that Nelly Dean will soon take over, and that Wuthering Heights will prove to be built from Russian dolls, speaker within speaker, as if a work of oral history, a saga handed down over the generations and providing a mythology for the moors. Heathcliff and Cathy are gods as well as people, lying at the end beneath and part of their landscape, as Lockwood wonders ‘how anyone could ever imagine unquiet slumbers, for the sleepers in that quiet earth’. By this time the plot has forcibly rearranged its opening sentence. At first it seems that Lockwood is saying ‘I have just returned from a visit to my landlord, the only neighbour that I’ll have to bother about.’ Only later can a reader, realising the careful ambiguity of ‘solitary’ and ‘troubled’, see what he meant: ‘I have just returned from a visit to my landlord, my lonely and companionless neighbour, whose behaviour will trouble me.’ And so it will.

The final round of the opening-line game, as I recall, was to invent the first line of a novel we had not read. Someone came up with ‘the house was not bleak to begin with’, which – with its echoes of Jacob Marley, who was dead, to begin with – struck me as rather good, and a line that would make me want to continue. I was given Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man and, flummoxed, oh-so-wittily suggested ‘I am an invisible man’. Full marks. The best opening lines do what it says on the tin; the worst… don’t get me started.

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At the Jerusalem synagogue where Hersh Goldberg-Polin danced in life, grief and anger reign after his death

JERUSALEM — Three hundred and thirty-two days after Hersh Goldberg-Polin danced in the courtyard next to his Jerusalem synagogue on the holiday of Simchat Torah, more than a thousand people gathered there in grief and prayer to mourn his murder by Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

During the Sunday night vigil, the courtyard railings were lined with oversized yellow ribbons to symbolize advocacy for the hostages, Hapoel Jerusalem soccer flags — the 23-year-old’s favorite team — and posters that read, “We love you, stay strong, survive,” a mantra coined by his mother, Rachel Goldberg-Polin.

Just hours earlier, one of the posters had been hanging over the balcony of the home of Shira Ben-Sasson, a leader of Hakhel, the Goldberg-Polins’ egalitarian congregation in the Baka neighborhood of Jerusalem.

“We were sure we would take it down when he came home,” Ben-Sasson said.

The community wanted to unite while respecting the Goldberg-Polins’ desire for privacy, she said, prompting them to organize the prayer gathering.

“But it’s like a Band-Aid or giving first aid, it’s what you do in an emergency. I don’t know how we go on after this,” she said.

A covered courtyard at the Hakhel congregation was filled with mourners the day after Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose family are prominent members, was found to have been killed in Gaza. Hundreds of other people crowded outside the gates, Sept. 1, 2024. (Deborah Danan)

She added that the community, which has a large contingent of English-speaking immigrants, was not prepared for the High Holidays, which begin in about a month. She said, “Seeing his empty seat is hard.”

For Ben-Sasson, who wore a T-shirt bearing the Talmudic dictum “There is no greater mitzvah than the redeeming of captives,” the tragedy is especially painful because, she said, it could have been avoided with a ceasefire agreement that freed hostages.

“Hersh was alive 48 hours ago. We think a deal could have saved him. There is no military solution to this,” she said.

That feeling of bereavement, often mixed with betrayal, pervaded gatherings across Israel on Sunday, as the country struggled with the news that six hostages who may have been freed in an agreement were now dead as negotiations continue to stall. Speakers at protests in Tel Aviv blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who himself apologized for not getting the hostages out alive but blamed Hamas for obstructing a deal. The country’s labor union, the Histadrut, has called a national strike on Monday to demand a deal.

A rare early September rain lashed parts of Israel on Sunday, leading to a widespread interpretation: God, too, was weeping.

Some at the Jerusalem gathering, including the relative of another former hostage, said Netanyahu had chosen defeating Hamas over freeing the captives.

Josef Avi Yair Engel’s grandson Ofir was released from Hamas captivity in November. He paid tribute to Hersh Goldberg-Polin, murdered in captivity, in Jerusalem, Sept. 1, 2024. (Deborah Danan)

Josef Avi Yair Engel, whose grandson Ofir, 18, was released from Hamas captivity in November during that month’s ceasefire deal, expressed shock over Hersh’s murder but said he was not surprised, given the wartime policies of Netanyahu’s government.

“We knew months ago this was going to happen. Bibi’s formula, to dismantle Hamas and return the hostages, wasn’t logical. It’s an either/or situation,” Engel said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. “He’s tearing the country apart. I’m afraid that in the coming months there won’t be a state at all.”

Engel said he felt a close bond with Hersh’s father Jon Polin, not only because of their joint activism in the hostage families’ tent outside the Prime Minister’s Residence, but also because of their shared identity as Jerusalemites.

“There aren’t many of us in the hostage circle,” he said. “We’re like family.”

Sarah Mann, who did not know the family personally, said the weekend’s tragedy reminded her of Oct. 7.

“This day has sparks of the seventh, which created numbness and an inability to talk. Just complete shock,” she said.

Mourners left notes at a gathering at Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s family synagogue in Jerusalem. Many of the messages used the Hebrew word for “sorry.” (Deborah Danan)

Part of the reason for that, Mann said, was Rachel, who she described as a “force of faith.” Goldberg-Polin’s mother emerged as the most prominent advocate for the hostages globally and became a symbol in her own right as she crisscrossed the world calling for her son’s freedom.

“Millions of people around the world held onto her. Once that was cut, people’s ability to hold onto faith was knocked out today. But even though this has shattered us, we need to keep holding onto God,” Mann said.

For Susi Döring Preston, the day called to mind was not Oct. 7 but Yom Kippur, and its communal solemnity.

She said she usually steers clear of similar war-related events because they are too overwhelming for her.

“Before I avoided stuff like this because I guess I still had hope. But now is the time to just give in to needing to be around people because you can’t hold your own self up any more,” she said, tears rolling down her face. “You need to feel the humanity and hang onto that.”

Like so many others, Döring Preston paid tribute to the Goldberg-Polins’ tireless activism. “They needed everyone else’s strength but we drew so much strength from them and their efforts, “she said. “You felt it could change the outcome. But war is more evil than good. I think that’s the crushing thing. You can do everything right, but the outcome is still devastating.”

Guy Gordon, with his daughter Maya, added a broken heart to the piece of tape he has worn daily to mark the number of days since the hostage crisis began, Sept. 1, 2024. (Deborah Danan)

Guy Gordon, a member of Hakhel who moved to Israel from Dublin, Ireland, in the mid-1990s, said the efforts towards ensuring Hersh’s safe return have been an anchor for the community during the war. The community knew him as the family described him in its announcement of his funeral on Tuesday, as “a child of light, love and peace” who enjoyed exploring the world and coming home to his family, including his parents and younger sisters, Leebie and Orly.

“It gave us something to hope for, and pray for and to demonstrate for,” he said. “We had no choice but to be unreasonably optimistic. Tragically it transpired that he survived until the very end.”

Gordon, like many others in the crowd, wore a piece of duct tape marked with the number of days since Oct. 7 — a gesture initiated by Goldberg-Polin’s mother. Unlike on previous days, though, his tape also featured a broken red heart beside the number.

Nadia Levene, a family friend, also reflected on the improbability of Hersh’s survival.

“He did exactly what his parents begged him to do. He was strong. He did survive. And look what happened,” Levene said.

She hailed Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s “unwavering strength and belief in God,” adding, “There were times I lost faith. I suppose I was angry with God. But she just kept inspiring us all to pray, pray, pray.”

Leah Silver of Jerusalem examined stickers showing Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s mantra for her son Hersh, who was murdered in captivity in Gaza, at a gathering after Hersh’s death, Sept. 1, 2024. (Deborah Danan)

Jerusalem resident Leah Silver rejected politicizing the hostages’ deaths.

“Everything turns political so quickly. I came here because I felt that before all the protests, we need to just mourn for a moment and to pray. And show respect for each other,” she said. “We’ve become confused about who the enemy is. It’s very sad.”

But not everyone at the gathering joined in to sing Israel’s national anthem at the closing of the prayer gathering.

“I’m sorry, I can’t sing ‘Hatikvah,'” Reza Green, a Baka resident who did not know the Goldberg-Polins personally, said. “I’m too angry. We shouldn’t be here.”

‘I’m gutted,’ Doug Emhoff says about murdered hostages at Washington synagogue vigil

Engagement in campus Jewish life spiked after Oct. 7 but has since dropped down somewhat, Tufts study finds

US Justice Department files criminal charges against Hamas, spurred by Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s murder

As Israel endured a difficult weekend at home, its athletes won several Paralympic medals, bringing Paris total to 7

Hapoel Jerusalem, Hersh Goldberg-Polin’s favorite soccer club, mourns the death of ‘our friend in the stands’

Biden says Netanyahu is not doing enough to release the hostages

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COMMENTS

36 Engaging opening sentences for an essay
It also creates a sense of nostalgia about how good things used to be, making it more engaging. 16. "I feel like I'm losing my mind.". This opening sentence is effective because it creates a voice by describing the writer's experience and establishes conflict, so the reader knows what to expect in this essay.
How to Start an Essay: 7 Tips for a Knockout Essay Introduction
Intriguing ways to start an essay. There are many different ways to write an essay introduction. Each has its benefits and potential drawbacks, and each is best suited for certain kinds of essays.Although these essay introductions use different rhetorical devices and prime the reader in different ways, they all achieve the same goal: hooking the reader and enticing them to keep reading.
How to Write an Essay Introduction
Table of contents. Step 1: Hook your reader. Step 2: Give background information. Step 3: Present your thesis statement. Step 4: Map your essay's structure. Step 5: Check and revise. More examples of essay introductions. Other interesting articles. Frequently asked questions about the essay introduction.
Great Opening Lines: Examples of How to Begin an Essay
What Makes an Opening Line Effective . What these opening lines have in common is that all have been reprinted (with complete essays attached) in recent editions of The Best American Essays, an annual collection of crackling good reads culled from magazines, journals, and websites.
Hooked from the Start: The Most Creative, Weird, and Catchy Opening
A strong opening line in an essay is like a good first impression—it sets the tone and engages the reader right from the start. It's crucial because it can determine whether the reader will be interested in continuing to read or not. A compelling opening line grabs the reader's attention and makes them curious about what comes next.
How to Start an Essay: 13 Engaging Strategies
One straightforward way to begin is to get right to the point. But avoid making your thesis a bald announcement, such as "This essay is about...". "It is time, at last, to speak the truth about Thanksgiving, and the truth is this. Thanksgiving is really not such a terrific holiday...." (Michael J. Arlen, "Ode to Thanksgiving."
How To Start a College Essay: 9 Effective Techniques
For many, getting started is the hardest part of anything. And that's understandable. First, because it turns whatever you're doing into a reality, which raises the stakes. Second, because where you start can easily dictate the quality of where you end up. College essays have their own special brand of DTDT.
How to Write a Strong Opening Sentence & Engage Readers (With Examples)
How to Write a Great Opening Sentence. Everyone knows some of the great opening lines from fiction novels: "Call me Ishmael.". - Herman Melville, Moby Dick . "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.". - Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina.
What are some great opening lines for a college essay?
Here are some tips and examples to help you create an effective opening line for your college essays: 1. Start with a vivid image or description: Paint a vivid picture in the reader's mind using sensory language and intriguing details. This will draw the reader into your world and make them want to read more.
How to Write an Introduction, With Examples
Every good introduction needs a thesis statement, a sentence that plainly and concisely explains the main topic. Thesis statements are often just a brief summary of your entire paper, including your argument or point of view for personal essays. For example, if your paper is about whether viewing violent cartoons impacts real-life violence ...
How to Write a Great College Essay Introduction
Good example. I wiped the sweat from my head and tried to catch my breath. I was nearly there—just one more back tuck and a strong dismount and I'd have nailed a perfect routine. Some students choose to write more broadly about themselves and use some sort of object or metaphor as the focus.
How to Write a Killer Opening to Your College Essay
Try to answer each essay prompt with three essay topics. Start writing, and see which one flows the best and resonates with your creativity. With the right topic, the opening line will sound natural and the rest of the essay will flow easily. If you are truly struggling with the voice or organization of your essay, try reading sample essays.
30 Examples of Opening Sentences That Pack a Punch
Here is why you're wrong. I always told myself that ___. Here is why I was wrong. Five years ago, I ___. ___ is the perfect way to ___. Most ___ are trying to ___ and failing. Mastering ___ isn't just about ___, but also ___. It's shocking how many people ___. I decided to ___, and it was the best decision I ever made.
Great Opening Lines: How to Grab Readers and Never Let Them Go
A great opening line does one or more of the following: Begins right in the middle of the story, putting the reader immediately into the dramatic action. Takes us immediately into another world that we feel we must know more about. Immediately gives us the opportunity to escape from our own thoughts, obsessions and concerns. Let's us know ...
What Makes a Great Opening Line?
A great first line can spur intense readerly attraction—provoke a compulsion to know more. Let's call this: love at first sentence. Such a reading experience is also a rare one, however. Just as it is easy to encounter most strangers and remain unmoved—so is it easy to not read most works of literature. The world is full of people we will ...
Great Opening Lines and Why They Work So Darn Well
Why Great Opening Lines Matter. The answer to this is delightfully straightforward: Your opening line matters because it's your first opportunity to draw the reader in. Great opening lines entice the reader to keep going—to immerse themselves in your story's world. A disappointing first sentence, on the other hand, might inspire them to ...
PDF Strategies for Essay Writing
When you receive a paper assignment, your first step should be to read the assignment prompt carefully to make sure you understand what you are being asked to do. Sometimes your assignment will be open-ended ("write a paper about anything in the course that interests you"). But more often, the instructor will be asking you to do
How to Write a Hook: Powerful Openers for Your Essay
Tips to Write Good Hooks for Essays. Writing good hooks for essays needs creativity and an understanding of who will read your work. Here are some tips to help you write strong openings: Make your hook appeal to the specific people who will read your essay. Make sure your hook fits with the overall feel of your essay, whether it's formal, funny ...
How to Structure an Essay
The basic structure of an essay always consists of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. But for many students, the most difficult part of structuring an essay is deciding how to organize information within the body. This article provides useful templates and tips to help you outline your essay, make decisions about your structure, and ...
Examples of Great Introductory Paragraphs
An introductory paragraph, as the opening of a conventional essay, composition, or report, is designed to grab people's attention. It informs readers about the topic and why they should care about it but also adds enough intrigue to get them to continue to read. In short, the opening paragraph is your chance to make a great first impression.
How to Write a Strong Essay Hook, With Examples
An essay hook is a sentence or two that piques the reader's interest, compelling them to continue reading. In most cases, the hook is the first sentence or two, but it may be the entire opening paragraph. Hooks for essays are always in the first section because this is where the essay needs to hook its reader. If the reader isn't engaged ...
Example of a Great Essay
Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order: An opening hook to catch the reader's attention. Relevant background information that the reader needs to know. A thesis statement that presents your main point or argument. The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay.
The Beginner's Guide to Writing an Essay
Come up with a thesis. Create an essay outline. Write the introduction. Write the main body, organized into paragraphs. Write the conclusion. Evaluate the overall organization. Revise the content of each paragraph. Proofread your essay or use a Grammar Checker for language errors. Use a plagiarism checker.
What makes a good opening line?
Call me Oliver. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - I was still at school and, if we were good, the last ten minutes of an English lesson were given over to a form of literary parlour game: guess the first line. A teacher would read the opening of whatever book was to hand, and we would attempt to identify the novel it began.
At the Jerusalem synagogue where Hersh Goldberg-Polin danced in life
Josef Avi Yair Engel, whose grandson Ofir, 18, was released from Hamas captivity in November during that month's ceasefire deal, expressed shock over Hersh's murder but said he was not ...