The Best Way to Start an Essay

Written by

Nancie Atwell

July 8, 2023

8 min read

Have you ever wondered how to write an essay to draw the reader’s attention immediately? This text covers the basic guidelines for writing a good essay. Consider an essay with lots of spelling mistakes, grammatical errors; have you ever wondered how would the reader feel about it? The introductory paragraph holds a crucial significance in it because it allows the reader to know what the essay is about, an eye-catching opening statement will always going to catch the attention of the reader. Your opening statement can be a question, a fact, metaphor etc.
The opening of an essay should also have a thesis statement which is the last part of the opening paragraph and gives a subtle hint to the reader of what your essay is about. It gives you a clear definition of the subject. Without a proper introduction, your reader may be disguised or they would be confused about what you are up to, so a strong opening can leave a great impression on the reader. Your opening paragraph should also have a topic sentence. Topic sentences let the reader know about the topic, followed by a number of supporting sentences.

How do you begin an essay?

Before starting to write an essay, you should have a grasp on the topic. Make sure you can deliver the topic in the most appropriate manner, so the reader can understand it.   So, in my opinion, there are certain steps you should always consider before writing an essay which is as follows:

1. Before starting an essay you should always choose a topic. You should always select one of those topics which you believe you can rely upon. As stated earlier you should always have vast knowledge about the topic for e.g. facts and figures.
2. Brainstorming: Start your essay by brainstorming your ideas, write down your ideas on a piece of paper. It will be going to help you in constructing your essay and there will be a flow while writing an essay. Do remember brainstorming doesn’t involve all the points which you have written down they are just for your convenience.
3. The third step involves how to start an essay or how to select a catchy line. Starting an essay is the most difficult phase in my opinion because you need to draw the attention of the reader.
4. Thesis statement: A thesis statement is a controlling idea, you should always frame your thesis statement very carefully because it portrays your whole essay.
5. Your thesis statement then should be followed by 3 points supporting your argument. The points should have logic as you have to explain in the main body as well.
6. Setting a tone for your essay, you should always keep in mind that you are referring to in your essay whether the tone is formal or informal, whether the tone is clear or not because it is actually going to encourage or discourage to read your essay.
7. Keep your essay short if you can actually convey your introductory points in 7 lines rather than 8 or 9 do it because the introductory paragraph is actually going to indulge your reader to read your whole text so keeping it short will going to help you out.

Examples of How to Start an Essay

Many students even after selecting the title of the essay they get confused on how to start their essay with an opening line. This article will help you out on how to start your essay and grab your reader’s attention. These are the ways which you can act upon:

1. You can start your essay by throwing a question on to the reader; the question can be a rhetorical one. Rhetorical questions can create a strong effect on the reader’s mind. By posing a question to the reader, you can actually generate the reader’s interest. For example:If you are writing on a topic of social media you can make a rhetorical question which is ‘I wonder how many miles I’ve scrolled with my thumb’.
2. You can start your essay by sharing some amazing facts and figures concerning your topic; for example, women are better than men in academics.
3. You can begin your essay with a funny joke, metaphor, and simile, for example, the couch potato watches TV all day.
4. You can either use a quote also which connects with your topic for example: ‘time spent amongst trees can never be wasted time’
5. If you are writing an argumentative essay you can compare and contrast two aspects and then you can have your point on it.
6. Your essays should have unity among it, each sentence and word should reflect your ideas.

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How do you write a Introduction Paragraph for an Essay?

Setting the tone initially in the introductory paragraph is mostly appreciated by readers as they get an idea whether the writer is going to have a serious debate or it will going to be a light one. As you have now chosen your topic you have brainstormed your ideas and also have a cheesy opening line so that reader may remain to indulge in your essay. It’s time to write an essay. Start with your opening line which should be related to your topic and which should leave a great impact on readers mind and then start building some momentum by describing some various points of what this essay is about.

Give some facts and figures and compare and contrast between facts and figures so that you can bring up an argument and hence you forced the reader to think what is actually good. Thesis statement plays an important role in an essay it gives the reader an image of what your writing is about so in order to have a good thesis statement you should have command on your topic, your thesis statement should be then followed by 3 or 4 points supporting your argument.

How to Start a Body Paragraph in an Essay?

Essays usually have 3 parts, the second one is called a body in which you summon your ideas and describe your view by stating facts and figures. As stated earlier that there should be at least 3 or more points in favor of our argument. Now in the body, we describe all those points of what they actually are so that the reader may know what the writer is onto. Your body paragraph should include a vivid topic sentence; it actually comes initially in the body paragraph so that the reader can get a broad view of what this paragraph is dealing with about.

Your body should include specific evidence and enough information to support your idea. The analysis also plays a key role in the body of the paragraph; it is a part of the paragraph which explains the evidence by stating examples. Some people may think that body paragraph does not contain other paragraphs; it does include other paragraphs as they are the part of it. Remember that body part should be the strongest part among opening and concluding paragraph because it states your ideas.

How to Start a Conclusion in an Essay

Before drawing to the conclusion you should make sure that you have covered all the necessary points to support your argument. You should also keep in mind that the word count for the concluding paragraph is not much longer. Now as you are starting your concluding remarks don’t write in conclusion because the reader may find it awkward, start with a sentence which should act as a bridge between your body and main paragraph means that you should frame your concluding paragraph so that it may connect your body part also.

Keeping in mind the thesis statement and the other 3 statements which were then followed, in the last paragraph you have to conclude all those 3 supportive points which you explained in the main body. You should always have some points in your pocket to cover the baseline of the essay.

Bottom Line

From the above example you might be clear about thematic essay. We have tried to be as clear as possible and hope that this would help you in writing a thematic essay. Being a student, you must remember the above stated rules and do not forget to add at least five paragraphs in your essay. Be precise and relevant as much as you can. Do not vague as the reader would lose interest. Avoid giving your personal opinion and add the author’s name and elaborate the literary devices used. For the introduction, a hook statement would give you bonus points.