Attention Getters for Essays: Types & Examples
What is an Attention Getter?
An attention getter is also called a hook because it hooks the reader, just like a fishing hook. The attention getter is usually the first sentence in an academic essay.
The purpose of the attention getter is to grab the reader’s attention and give him/her some context for the essay. This is your opportunity to let your reader know why this topic is important. However, an attention getter shouldn’t give too many specifics about your essay – that’s what your thesis statement, or main idea should do.
Types of Attention Getters
There are several different kinds of attention getters. While you can usually use a variety of attention grabbers for any essay assignment, we will also talk about which attention getter works well for particular assignments. Here are the different types of attention getters.
A quotation from an important politician, well-known author, or famous person can be a good way to grab your reader’s interest. For example, if I used a quotation by William Shakespeare, most people would know who he is. This kind of attention grabber works well with literary analyses and persuasive essays.
An interesting statistic related to your topic can be a powerful way to show your reader why your essay is important. This kind of attention grabber works well with research papers and argument essays.
An open-ended question can get your reader thinking about your topic. It’s important that your question be interesting and thought-provoking. This kind of attention grabber works well with narrative essays or essays on controversial topics.
A personal story or anecdote (a short, interesting story based on true events) can be a good way to show your readers how your topic affects people. This kind of attention grabber works well with personal essays and essays on controversial topics.
You don’t want to use dictionary definitions or yes/no questions for attention getters because they aren’t interesting and don’t engage your reader.
Examples of Attention Getters
Now, let’s look at some sample attention getters. There are so many options, but these ideas will help you get started.
If the assignment was to analyze the characters in a book, a good attention getter might be a quotation: Writer Ernest Hemingway once said, ‘When writing a novel, a writer should create living people; people not characters. A character is a caricature.’ This attention getter gives the topic of the paper, which is character, but it doesn’t give specific information about the point of the paper. It’s also important to introduce the quotation, which I did at the start of this attention getting by explaining who said it.
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