How To Write A Hook For A Research Paper - A List Of Some Great Tips

A hook is a literary device which is meant to metaphorically hook the reader's attention. You can see where it gets its name from. The assumption is that the reader is about to open the book and begin to read. The author wants to make sure that the reader keeps reading. To do that the author or writer throws out a hook. The hook catches the reader and thus the writer wins.

This simple concept applies not just in writing essays in school or college but in almost every other form of writing. Whether it is a novel, a play, a screenplay or even an advertisement, the creator of the work wants to grab the attention of the viewer or reader or listener. To do that, they create a hook.

So you have been given the task of writing a research paper and you want to be able to capture the attention of the reader. Now if you are a high school or college student, it may seem to you to be silly to write a hook. I mean your research paper has to be read by your teacher or professor. That's their job. They don't have a choice. So if they are going to read it anyway why should you bother creating a hook?

Do you want to get the highest score possible?

Well the answer to that rhetorical question is obvious. Of course you want to get the highest mark possible. And one of the best ways to do that is to win over the approval of the person marking your paper. And one great way to win them over is to throw out a hook. So having agreed that a hook is a valuable thing in writing, how can we present one in a research paper that really works?

The first thing to understand is the hook must come very early on in the research paper. It will appear in your introduction. It could even be the very first sentence of your research paper. But hooks can take different forms. Here are some of them.

• A literary quote which may even include some poetry.
• A quote by a famous person.
• And anecdote or simple story.
• A question which poses a clever conundrum.

You certainly can grab the attention of the reader by beginning with a clever literary quote. This will have been created by a person with an outstanding reputation in the world of literature. That immediately gives an impressive beginning. And likewise if you begin with a quote from a famous person. Again the quality of the source of your writing gives gravitas to your work.

People love a story and by creating a hook which is a simple anecdote, you immediately capture the reader's attention. What is going to happen next? The reader wants to know. You have hooked them. And finally you can begin by asking a question and provided this doesn't have a simple yes or no answer but rather stretches the imagination of the reader, you have written a powerful hook.