- [Narrator] This video is part one of four
on how to write an essay step by step.
In this video,
I teach you how to write the introduction paragraph
beginning with the hook,
then background,
and, finally, the thesis statement.
So, first, what is an essay?
An essay is a group of paragraphs that explain an idea.
So how many paragraphs are in an essay?
Three to five paragraphs.
Before the essay,
usually, you have a prompt.
A prompt is a question or statement
that your essay answers.
Here's an example.
What is the best exercise?
Write an essay that explains your answer.
So let's look at an example essay.
Here's an essay written
to the example prompt we just read.
This essay is called "The Best Exercise."
As you see, it has five paragraphs.
The first paragraph is the introduction paragraph.
The next paragraphs two, three, and four
are called body paragraphs.
And paragraph five is called the conclusion paragraph.
When we write an essay,
we need to be sure to clearly show
where each paragraph begins.
There are two ways to do this.
One is to use an empty line after each paragraph
like I've done here.
See the empty lines?
And two is to indent the first word of each paragraph.
And here's what the essay looks like
when we've indented each paragraph
by putting several spaces
in front of the first word of the paragraphs.
So there are the two ways to clearly show
where each paragraph begins.
Just be sure to use the format
that your teacher requires.
But what information goes in the paragraphs?
That's what we're going to talk about next.
The first part of the introduction paragraph
is called the hook.
Before we begin,
remember this very important note.
There are many ways to write an introduction,
body, and conclusion paragraph.
This structure that I'm going to show you
is just one of those ways.
The hook is an interesting sentence about the topic,
and it's our first sentence in the essay.
The topic is the thing or person you're writing about.
We call the first sentence of an essay "the hook"
because this sentence
hooks or catches the readers' attention
and makes them want to read more of your essay.
There are many types of hooks,
but I'm going to tell you about five hooks
that I think are the easiest types to write,
and I'm going to give you an example of each one.
The first type is a surprising fact
or statistic about your topic.
Here's an example:
"According to the World Health Organization,
one in four adults do not get enough exercise."
Another type of hook is an interesting question.
For example, "Does exercise only improve health
if it's difficult?"
You can see how this type of question,
if it comes first in the essay,
might interest the reader
in reading more to find the answer.
Another type of hook is a wise quote.
For example, "Reading is to the mind
what exercise is to the body,
according to Joseph Addison."
Another type of hook is a contradiction.
"People think strenuous exercise
is better for them than easy exercise,
but almost no one does a strenuous routine twice."
Do you see how each part
of that sentence contradicts the other?
This makes the reader think more deeply about the topic.
Finally, my favorite type of hook
is a pretty simple one,
which is a sentence that tells
why the topic is important.
For example, "People need exercise to stay healthy."
You see that this type of hook
is simpler than all the others above it
and not quite as exciting as the others.
But some of the other types of hooks above,
like the surprising fact or statistic
and the wise quote,
include very specific information
like numbers and facts.
When you use specific information
like this in an essay,
you need to tell your readers
where you found the information
in case they want to check it.
This requires that you do a citation
and a Work Cited page or a bibliography
to go with your essay.
Citations and bibliographies
is an advanced topic
that can get a little complicated,
so I'll avoid them in this video.
So I'm going to use the last type of hook
in the example essay that we read.
Let's look at a few more examples of hooks
that tell why a topic is important.
This time, we'll look at topics besides exercise.
Remember that when you write this type of hook,
don't use the word "important."
Just tell why the topic is important.
Using the word "important"
will make your sentence sound a little too simple.
So let's say you're writing an essay about vegetables.
You could use this hook.
"Vegetables have vitamins that cannot
be found in other foods."
Do you see how we stated why vegetables are important,
but we didn't oversimplify the sentence
by using the word "important"?
If you were writing about a topic like a driving license,
this could be a good hook.
"A driving license gives a person independence."
If you have a scientific topic like the human brain
you could begin your essay like this:
"The human brain controls everything we do and say."
And finally, if you're writing an essay
about a topic in literature,
like the character Romeo,
you could begin your essay with this sentence:
"Romeo is one of Shakespeare's most famous characters."
Do you see how all of these sentences
tell why the topic is important,
but they don't use the word "important"?
That's a good, solid way
to start the essay about these topics.
The next part of the introduction paragraph
we'll talk about is background information.
Okay, so you start your introduction paragraph
with the first sentence called "the hook."
Then you follow with sentences
that tell background information
on your topic.
Examples of background information
include facts, numbers, group opinions, or history.
These are just a few examples
of background information,
and the type of background information you use
should prepare your readers
for your message about your topic.
Now, I'm going to show you several types
of background information
that you can write in your essay
after the hook.
The first type is a surprising
statistic or fact about your topic.
Here's an example:
"A vigorous 30 minute walk
raises your heart rate
and burns over 100 calories."
Remember, a surprising statistic or fact
can also be used as your hook.
It's okay if you use a fact or statistic
as both your hook and background information,
as long as those two facts are different.
Another type of background information
is a definition about a word
that readers might not know.
For example, "Vigorous exercise is physical activity
that raises the heart rate and speeds up breathing."
When you use a definition,
just be sure that it's for a word
that readers need to know
to understand your topic
and also, that the word
is at least a little difficult.
There's no reason to include a definition
for easy words that everybody already knows.
Another type of background information
would be positive or negative opinions
that people have about your topic.
For example, "Many people view walking
as too easy to improve health or help weight loss."
You could also write about opposite opinions.
"Some people enjoy walking,
but others prefer higher intensity sports
like running, weightlifting, or swimming."
One of the most interesting,
and often helpful,
types of background information for a topic
is to give a little history about the topic.
For example, "Historically, people walked
as a form of transportation.
By 1900, walking was an Olympic event."
And finally, you can give trends
or recent changes that pertain to your topic
like this one:
"By the 1990s, walking was a popular US sport
with over 65 million regular walkers."
I wouldn't use all of these sentences
as background information.
You only need to pick
about three or four sentences
that are very closely related
to what you're going
to say about your topic in your essay.
Now let's talk about the thesis statement.
After you've written the hook
and background information on your topic,
the next sentence you'll write
is the thesis statement.
The thesis statement
is the most important sentence
in your essay.
It is also the last sentence
in your introduction paragraph.
The thesis statement contains
your main idea about the topic,
plus three reasons.
The main idea is your message about your topic.
And sometimes instead of three reasons,
you'll need three steps in a process,
three types of something,
three parts of something,
three examples of something.
And whether you need reasons,
steps, types, parts, or examples
depends on your topic
and your main idea.
I'm going to give you several examples
in just a moment
so that you clearly understand
what a thesis statement is
and how to write one
about various topics
that answer to various prompts.
Your thesis statement
answers the prompt in one sentence.
This sentence includes three reasons.
Let me give you an example.
Remember the essay prompt asks a question.
For example, what is the best exercise?
Write an essay that explains your answer.
The thesis statement
answers the question in the prompt.
For example, "The best exercise is walking
because it is easy, convenient
and usually done outside."
Now, the thesis statement
answers the question in the prompt,
but we still need an entire essay
to explain our thesis statement.
Also note that this thesis statement
has the main idea,
which is the best exercise is walking,
and it has three reasons
that tell us why the main idea is true.
Why is the best exercise walking?
Because it is easy, convenient,
and usually done outside.
Let's look at a few examples
of thesis statements
about different topics.
Prompt one, what is one thing everyone should do?
A thesis statement that answers this prompt is,
"Everyone should eat lots of vegetables
for vitamins, minerals and fiber."
Remember, all thesis statements
need a main idea or main message,
plus three reasons that tell
why that main idea is true
or that explain the main idea.
In this thesis statement,
the main idea is
that everyone should eat lots of vegetables.
The three reasons people should eat vegetables
are for the vitamins, minerals, and fiber.
Prompt two, explain how to get a driver's license.
An example thesis statement
that answers this prompt is,
"Getting a driver's license
requires a few steps
including to learn rules,
practice driving, and pass exams."
The main idea in this thesis statement
is that getting a driver's license
requires a few steps.
Now, remember that getting a driver's license is a process.
So, instead of three reasons,
this thesis statement
will have three steps in a process.
The three steps for getting a driver's license are
to learn the rules,
practice driving, and past exams.
Prompt three, describe the parts of the human brain.
"The human brain has three main parts,
including the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brain stem."
The main idea of this thesis statement is
the human brain has three main parts.
This thesis statement
has three parts of something
instead of three reasons.
The parts are the cerebrum, cerebellum, and brain stem.
And finally, analyze the character Romeo
and explain what motivates him.
A thesis statement that answers this prompt is,
"The character Romeo is driven by
devotion to his family, friends, and Juliet."
The main idea of this thesis statement is
that the character Romeo is driven by devotion.
We have three examples
that explain who or what Romeo is devoted to.
And those examples are
devotion to family, friends, and Juliet.
So now we've talked about all parts
of an introduction paragraph of an essay
including the hook, background information,
and thesis statement.
Let's go ahead and look at
all of these parts together
in the essay that we'll study
in this video.
So remember that you start with the prompt
or the question from the teacher, which is,
what is the best exercise?
Write an essay that explains your answer.
So to answer that prompt,
we have begun our essay
with this introduction paragraph and title.
The title is "The Best Exercise."
And in our introduction paragraph,
first we need the hook,
which tells why the topic is important.
Our hook is, "People need exercise to stay healthy."
After the hook,
we need the background information on our topic.
This can include facts,
numbers, group opinions, or history.
And in this case, our background information is,
"Adults should exercise 20 minutes daily,
but most people do not.
Activities like swimming, lifting weights,
and playing sports are often
inconvenient or too expensive."
And finally, we have our thesis statement,
which includes our main idea and three reasons.
So our thesis statement reads,
"The best type of exercise is walking
because it is easy, convenient,
and usually done outside."
And remember that the thesis statement
contains the main idea,
which is your message about the topic.
In this case,
our main idea is that
the best type of exercise is walking.
The thesis statement also gives three reasons
for your main idea.
Our three reasons are,
reason one, because it is easy;
reason two, it is convenient;
and reason three, it is usually done outside.
That's the end of our video on part one of
How to Write an Essay Step by Step
about the introduction paragraph.
Next is Part Two on
how to write a body paragraph.
Thank you for watching.