Every essay needs a hook. As a writer, you should be able to grab the attention of your reader in the first sentence. If that misses out, then your piece won’t be interesting at all. In order to avoid your readers from being bored, you need to use a hook that will grab their attention from the start.
A hook could be a funny statement, an interesting statement, or a striking statement. What a hook does is that it creates an emotional connection with whoever is reading it. As the writer, you have a few options. You might consider beginning with a series of questions, a challenging statement, a little-known fact, a quotation, or some fascinating background information. For an essay containing an introduction to climate change, consider a few of the following hooks.
Begin with a Quote
Look for someone who’s well known, and has touched the discussed issue. Ensure your audience consider the famous person’s words as well as provide their own thoughts.
Begin with a quote: “Climate change is the greatest threat to our existence in our short history on this planet. Nobody’s going to buy their way out of its effects.”– Mark Ruffalo
Begin with a quote: “One thing leads to the other. Deforestation leads to climate change, which leads to ecosystem losses, which negatively impacts our livelihoods – it’s a vicious cycle.”- Gisele Bundchen.
Begin with a quote: “Global warming isn’t a prediction. It is happening.”- James Hansen
Begin with a Fact
Provide some interesting information about the particular issue you disclose. This will make your listeners and readers involved in the problem. Make sure the fact is on point and fresh that no one knows about.
Begin with a fact: “The planet’s average surface temperature has risen by two degrees Fahrenheit since the 1900s. This change is unrivaled by any others in recorded–or estimated–history.”
Begin with a fact: “2016 was the warmest year on record, with eight months setting record temperature highs around the globe.”
Start with a Question
Make your audience discuss the issue. This will help you not only make them interested in the problem but also present their own thoughts that might be also quite catchy to discuss.
Begin with a question: “What have you done lately to help prevent global warming?”
Begin with a question: “Think about how the weather has changed since you were a child. Has the weather gradually turned warmer? Colder? Perhaps you notice more snowfall or hotter summer temperatures. These are all caused directly by climate change and global warming.”
Begin with a question: “How does climate change affect you personally?”
Blow Your Audiences’ Minds
Tell something that will shock your audience. It will make them interested. But again, this has to be a real shock, not something that everyone is talking about for the last three years.
Begin with a shock: “Global sea levels have risen eight inches over the last century. In the last two decades alone, the rate of rise has nearly doubled. This is a direct cause of melting ice caps and increased global temperatures. If this rise continues, entire countries, such as Bangladesh, could be underwater.”
Begin with a shock: “If everyone in the world lives as Americans do, it would take five Earths to produce enough resources. Just five countries, including the United States, contribute to more than 50 percent of the world’s harmful CO2 emissions.”
Do you think that these hooks relate to each other? If so, then how? Could they be having something in common? Well, what they offer is more information and that’s how you learn. There are students who prefer writing the hook at the end of an essay. This is because they think that it will guide the introduction’s direction. Therefore, come up with different hooks and then pick one which you think is the best.
