A thesis, and a good hook is needed to create and effective opening statement. If your audience gets bored, they will not give the rest of your essay a chance, so keep it interesting.
What is a thesis?
A thesis is what you are trying to sell to your audience, so make it as convincing as possible. This is only around 1 sentence, try not to ramble on or people will get bored. A strong thesis could be something like; 'Same-sex marriage should be legal.' This leaves no doubt in you readers mind about where you stand (don't use words like, i think, possibly, maybe.0
Hook
Your introduction needs a hook, something to grab the reader's attention and spark their attention. a few examples ( thanks to
http://www.pps.k12.or.us/schools/davinci/443.htm ) are:
What is a thesis?
A thesis is what you are trying to sell to your audience, so make it as convincing as possible. This is only around 1 sentence, try not to ramble on or people will get bored. A strong thesis could be something like; 'Same-sex marriage should be legal.' This leaves no doubt in you readers mind about where you stand (don't use words like, i think, possibly, maybe.0
Hook
Your introduction needs a hook, something to grab the reader's attention and spark their attention. a few examples ( thanks to
http://www.pps.k12.or.us/schools/davinci/443.htm ) are:
- Open with an unique detail or statistic, startling or striking fact from an authoritative source – About 27% of food in developed countries is wasted ea About 27% of food in developed countries are wasted each year. It's simply thrown away.
- Open with a strong statement – Cigarettes are the number one cause of lighter sales in Canada!
- Open with a quotation – Ghandi once said, “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”
- Open with an anecdote (Anecdotes are stories, from your own experience or someone else's, told to make a point.) – Imagine if there were only 70 humans left in the world because they had all been killed by another species! Well that's reality for the Golden-headed Languar in Vietnam.
- Open with an engaging question – Have you ever thought about being a vegetarian?
- Open with an exaggeration or outrageous statement - If we continue logging trees at the rate we are now, by 2020 there will be none left!