How to Start an Essay - Easy Writing Tips

Are you a student who has to write a lot of essays for academics but never get desired appreciation and grades from instructors?

Well, writing an essay is a part of every school and college student’s life. Even if you are not a student and you are in your practical life, you will be dealing with essays in the form of reports, etc.

Some people have strong writing skills but still lag behind. Writing an essay is as wide as a world. You cannot just take a pen and paper and start writing.

There are several procedures involved in pre-writing, writing, and post-writing processes of developing an essay and each process are equally important.

This blog is written to signify the importance of a good start of an essay and how an essay is started in general.

1. Pre-Writing Steps of an Essay

All types of essays are written with a format and an outline. Whether an argumentative essay, persuasive essay, expository essay, or any other essay, has some concrete rules that required to be followed.

We have split these rules into three phases of the writing process.

• Pre-Writing
• Writing
• Post Writing

As this blog is about starting an essay, it will be focusing on the pre-writing and writing phase.

What do you do when you have just given an assignment to write? You surely don’t go home, take a pen and a paper and start writing.

There is a whole detailed process to be taken before you grab a pen. The following are the few steps you initially take when writing an essay:

• Choose a topic - The very first step to take is to come up with a topic. If your instructor has already given you a topic then this step will not be taken. But if not then you will have to do some extra effort.
  Choose a topic that interests you and you know will interest your readers as well. The topic should be exciting and pleasing for the targeted audience. Make sure that the topic or issue selected should be easy to gather information on.
• Brainstorm - After choosing a topic brainstorm ideas in which it can be presented. Write down the angles in which it can be described. Just think of the information that you want to add to your essay.
• Research - Your ideas and perspectives are raw and cannot be added as they are in the content. To formally present them you need the information to support your ideas and stand.
  Research about the key points for the body of your essay.
• Outline - Split your researched information into parts to give structure to your essay. The outline of a basic essay includes an introduction, main body, and conclusion.

Divide your information into these parts and start the writing process.

2. Writing Process

The writing process starts when you have taken all the above mentioned steps successfully.

People often do not realize how important it is to take the right start. If the starting of your essay is shaky and unattractive, you will never be able to make your audience read your entire essay. And the purpose is lost.

Your essay starts with an introduction. Writing an introduction is as hard as any part of an essay.

2.1 How to Write an Essay Introduction

An introductory paragraph is the first paragraph of an essay or paper. Its purpose is to introduce the topic and main argument of the essay to the readers.

To make your essay worth reading, add some basic ingredients to your introduction. The major components of an essay introduction are:

• Hook
• Background Information
• Thesis Statement.

2.1.1 Hook

Start an essay introduction with a hook. It is an opening line or statement that works as an attention grabber for the readers.

You are writing your essay for people to read. If there is no audience then what’s the point of even writing, and to have an audience your topic and its introduction should be so interesting that readers find it hard to resist.

To do this, a hook is used. Make the first line of the first paragraph of your essay exciting To instantly grab the reader’s interest.

There are different types of hooks used for multiple essay topics. Depending on the piece of writing, a hook can take the following types.

2.1.1.1 Quote

A hook can take the form of a quotation as well. The quotation and saying of famous and influential people are great to use to grab the reader’s attention and interest so you can totally start your essay with a quote.

Make sure that if you’re using a certain quote or saying, it should be relevant to the topic and should be written in inverted commas.

2.1.1.2 Question

Another interesting and engaging hook is a question. When you ask a question you are directly engaging your audience to respond to your statement. Even if they do not know the answer hit them with rhetorical questions to make them, find an answer in your essay.

2.1.1.3 Fact

Apart from using a quotation and question as a hook, interesting facts and statistics can be used as well. If your topic is related to science or technology, a fact or a statistic will perfectly go.

Whatever hook you use in your introduction make sure that it is interesting and relevant to the topic. Never address a serious and tragic topic with a casual and funny statement.

The stronger and relevant a hook is, the more attentive your readers will be while reading your essay.

2.1.2 Background Information

Following the hook comes the background information on the topic chosen. The background information is given after a hook because for background information you need your reader’s attentive mind.

Here you state the main idea and its background in a precise manner. The trick is to just give an overview and not reveal extra information that should be a part of the main body of the essay.

Never bombard information on readers. It will just scare them away. You just have to make them familiar with the main concept.

2.1.3 Thesis Statement

It is the last ingredient of an introduction and the most important one. A thesis statement is the main argument that states the main goal and objective of an essay.

A thesis statement is a claim made by a writer and proved in the essay. All the content that follows the introduction aims to prove and support this claim.

A strong thesis statement is arguable. Never form a thesis statement on facts as the readers already are aware of it and will not be interested to read your essay.

After writing an introduction comes the body paragraphs. Each paragraph has a topic sentence and everything in that specific paragraph talks about it. Always start a paragraph using a topic sentence or a heading. Together, all the paragraphs strive to prove the thesis statement.

All the paragraphs are arranged in a form in which they maintain a proper flow that leads up to the conclusion.

3. Mistakes to Avoid When Starting an Essay

There are some common mistakes that people do when they start writing their essays. To make your starting flawless never:

• Use a definition as a hook. Using definitions is monotonous and dull. Use a creative and interesting opener. Even a personal opinion to describe your point of view would go well.
• Make obvious text styles. Your next sentence should be a surprise for your readers. If you are predictable, it is pretty much confirmed that readers will lose interest in your essay.
• Explicitly and individually give the purpose of the assignment in the introduction.

Follow this guide and start writing your essays today. Just use these tips and tricks to create the best essays or any piece of paper writing.

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