How can I create a hook for my essay about Hephaestus?

Without knowing in exactly which direction the essay is going to go, I can't dial in a perfectly tailored hook for the essay. However, I can help get you started by briefly discussing four generally effective writing hooks for essays.

A "hook" is what I call an "attention-getter" to my classes.  It's the first few sentences of a speech or an essay. It's critical that the hook grabs a reader's attention right from the very...

Without knowing in exactly which direction the essay is going to go, I can't dial in a perfectly tailored hook for the essay. However, I can help get you started by briefly discussing four generally effective writing hooks for essays.

A "hook" is what I call an "attention-getter" to my classes.  It's the first few sentences of a speech or an essay. It's critical that the hook grabs a reader's attention right from the very beginning. If the reader is bored after two sentences, he or she isn't likely to be a motivated reader.  The reader might not even continue reading at all. The hook needs to excite and motivate your reader to read more.  Here are four types of hooks that work well.

1. Use a quote. Quotes tend to get readers' attention, because readers assume that the quote must be of supreme value if the author of the paper is deciding to use it instead of his or her own words.


2. Use a bold, slightly controversial statement. This hook is effective because it attempts to get an emotional rise out of the reader. Be careful to not offend your reader. That might actually cause the reader to stop reading right away, or that reader will just be antagonistic to everything that you are trying to prove.


3. Ask a question. This is a simple and easily implemented hook. It works because it immediately forces your reader to mentally engage and answer the question. It could be something as simple as "Who was Hephaestus?" Or try this one: "Despite being the son of Zeus, why is Hephaestus not more well-known?"


4. Use a definition. This is similar to a quote, but it tends to target a reader's logic center instead of their emotional core. For an essay on Hephaestus, I would actually recommend that you steer clear of this hook.  I recommend this because the definition hook works better when the essay topic is about something other than a person, character, or mythological figure; however, you could perhaps define "fire" or "masonry" or "blacksmithing," because Hephaestus is the god of those things.