Welcome back to my channel in today's video I'm going to teach you one way to improve your
writing especially essay writing and that is how to write an excellent hook I love teaching
my students about hooks because I find that it's really easy for them to start using a great hook
in their essay but it's maybe something that they didn't realize they could do or they didn't know
it was important but really making a great hook at the beginning of your essay is a great way
to take your essay writing to the next level and the good news is that it's a little bit fun too
so in today's video I'm going to talk about what a hook is and why it's important in your essay
then I'm going to show you five different ways to write a good hook and at the end of the video
we will practice together so first what is a hook? A hook is the first part of your essay it's
usually between one and four sentences long and the purpose of the hook is to catch the reader's
attention that's why it's called a hook because like a hook that catches a fish the hook of your
essay catches your reader's attention it makes your reader curious and want to know more so that
they'll be interested in reading your essay a hook is important because it's really the first thing
that the reader reads they read your title and then they read your hook so if you can write a
good hook it sets the tone for your essay is this essay going to be interesting or is this essay
going to be a drag is this essay going to show me something new or is this essay going to be boring
so there's nothing wrong with a clear and boring essay but having a more interesting essay
is something that is going to attract your reader and your reader is going to say wow this person
you know cares about their writing and they try to take their writing to the next level so that's
what a hook can do for you one thing that you want to remember is that your hook must be connected to
the topic of your essay so you might think of a great hook but if it's not related to the topic
of your essay then it's not effective so there are several ways to write a hook for your essay
and the first way that I'm going to show you is also the way that I don't really recommend
it's probably the easiest way to write a hook but it also can be boring it is to write a question
now sometimes students learn how to write a question for their hook um as the first way to
make a hook and then they use that all the time but it really isn't the best way because again
it is quite boring it's predictable and often the questions just leave the reader feeling a little
bit confused like why are you asking me this let me show you a couple of examples of questions that
would not be good hooks so for the examples that I'm going to show you in this video most of them
are about the same topic so for this example essay the students were writing about the reasons that
people immigrate maybe the reasons that people decide to come to the united states or the reasons
that people immigrate in general so an example of a question hook might be have you ever immigrated
to another country or have you ever thought about why people immigrate so the first question is not
bad you know maybe the reader me or your teacher or whoever your reader is maybe the reader has
immigrated to another country the second question have you ever thought about why people immigrate
it's not really a good question because if you give this essay to your professor to read the
professor has thought about that before that's why the professor assigned this essay so not
really a good question so while these hooks are acceptable they're not good because they're not
very interesting so another thing that can happen with question hooks is that the question is just
not suitable to the reader so think about this example Why did you immigrate to the U.S.? so if I
read this question I will feel like this question is not suitable for me because I did not immigrate
to the United States I was born and raised here so that question just does not suit or does not match
the reader and I feel like I wonder why did the writer ask me this question? so a better
question could be Immigrating is not easy so why do people choose to leave their homes?
this question is not addressed to me personally but it does make me stop and think so that would
be a better hook another example could be have you ever thought about leaving your life behind
and moving to another country again that would be a better hook so while some questions can make an
acceptable hook there are other ways to write a really good hook the first one is to tell a story
now in this case you don't want the story to be too long but it's definitely going to probably
be more than one sentence here you want to think about not going over about a half page so just be
careful that your story doesn't get too long but a story as a hook can really pull the reader in
here is an example I will never forget that day I was sitting on an airplane looking out the window
and watching my hometown become smaller and smaller
I looked at my mother and saw tears in her eyes we were on our way to California for a new life
but at that moment we were not excited we were sad. so as you can see this story is about the
same topic immigrating but it's really interesting it makes me feel like I want to continue reading
and I know that the essay is going to use some of the students personal experience and I feel
interested I want to know more the second way to write a hook is to use a shocking statistic
this would be a number that makes the reader stop and say wow I want to know more about this topic
here's an example: Every year more than one million people immigrate to the United States
so this is a good hook because the number one million is so large that it makes the reader stop
and think here's another example 258 million people now live outside their country of birth
again that number is so huge and the reader will probably stop and think wow I didn't know that
and but I want to know more about this topic number three is a quote usually this is a quote
from a famous person or it could be a well-known saying from your culture something that people
have heard many times like a proverb try not to use quotes that have already been overused
and also when you write a quote you probably want to add a short phrase after it that explains
who the writer was and finally you should also briefly explain what the quote means or how it's
related to your topic you're not just going to drop the quote in there and then write the rest
of your introduction so here's an example: No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark.
this quote by Warsan Shire a writer whose family left their country when she was a baby reflects
how difficult it is for people to leave their home country so that's an excellent quote and
it's directly related to the topic of immigration the next type of hook is a metaphor a metaphor is
when we use two nouns that seem to be completely unrelated but they have something in common and
this is kind of a fun way to catch your reader's attention usually with a metaphor we use the word
like to show that two things are similar here's an example in the famous movie Forrest Gump he says,
Life is like a box of chocolates you never know what you're going to get. so in this
metaphor we have two completely unrelated nouns life and box of chocolates but Forrest Gump
says that life is like a box of chocolates why because you never know what you're going to get
here's an example of a metaphor as a hook for our immigration topic for immigrants moving
to a new country is like gambling at a casino they might win big or they might lose it all
the last type of hook is an unexpected statement something with a twist what I mean by this is
that it's something unexpected maybe presents a problem or presents something in a way that
the reader might not have thought about before and it pulls the reader in here's an example:
when most people think of California they imagine sandy beaches and tall redwood trees
but for most of the immigrants living there California looks very different
okay so this again is our topic about immigration actually this sentence could be true for anyone
living in California um that people are not just going to the beach or walking in the redwood
forest every day so let's practice I'm going to read you a few hooks from example student essays
and the first thing you're going to do is think does it catch my attention is it effective
and second what kind of hook is it is it an interesting question a story a shocking statistic
a quote a metaphor or an unexpected statement if you suffer from shyness you are not alone
for shyness is a universal characteristic experienced by many people around the world
One day while sitting in my classroom the wall started shaking and the
teacher shouted get under your desk the earthquake had begun
Experts predict that by the year 2050 the majority of Americans will no longer be white
What was the most memorable day of your life?
Do you know what the most common fear is that people have?
If you guessed public speaking, you're right.
What is the secret to a happy marriage?
Soccer is like the glue that unites the world
anywhere you go you can make friends with people if you can talk about soccer
Today a reader, tomorrow a leader.
I will never forget this saying because my parents always told me this to encourage me to read more
so I hope that you found this video helpful for your essay writing and please remember that it's
helpful for me if you can share this video or hit the notification bell so you don't miss any
upcoming videos let me know your questions in the comment box below and until next time take care!