a good hook thesis

How to Write Great Essay Hooks (Tips + Examples)

Table of contents

Yona Schnitzer

Blank screen. Cursor blinks. Clock ticks. Brain freezes.

You stressfully wonder, “How will I ever finish this essay?”

I’ve been there. 

Every time you write an essay, you want to catch your readers’ undivided attention from the very first word. The opening hook has to be *perfect* — no compromises. 

But, instead of reeling under pressure to come up with this elusively perfect essay hook at the eleventh hour, I’ve found a better way to write great essay hooks. 

In this guide, I’ll tell you what it takes to write the most compelling and attention-grabbing hooks. I’ll also break down six awesome types of essay hooks you can experiment with and share examples to inspire your next opening statement.

What is an Essay Hook?

An essay hook is the opening statement of an essay, written to capture readers' attention and nudge them to learn more about the topic. Also known as a lede or lead, this hook introduces readers to the topic/theme of the essay and piques their curiosity to continue reading. 

The hook creates the entire narrative for your essay. It tells readers what to expect from the rest of the essay and creates context around your main argument or thesis statement. 

6 Types of Essay Hooks You Can Experiment With

I’ve created this handy list of six different types of essay hooks. You can choose the one that best fits your essay’s context and create a stellar opening statement within minutes. 

1. Compelling fact or statistic

Lead with evidence and use a powerful fact or statistic as your essay hook. It’s one of the best ways to capture readers’ attention from the start and keep them intrigued throughout your essay. 

For example, if you’re writing about the importance of time management for freelancers, you have two options to create your opening sentence:

Generic : “Managing time as a freelancer is no easy feat.”

Impactful : “Nearly 70% of freelancers struggle to effectively divide and manage their time between multiple clients.” 

This data point, linked to the original research, sets a strong tone for your essay and draws people in to read more. It communicates  

Find a shocking statistic with AI

Finding relevant statistics for any topic is one of the hardest parts of the job. 

But you don't have to spend hours looking for these data points anymore. Wordtune can do this heavy lifting for you in three easy steps.

• Open the Wordtune editor and add your essay title. 
• Type in any content you've written, click on 'Add spice,' and select the 'Expand on' option.
• Write 'statistics,' and Wordtune will add relevant data points to your content.

Get Wordtune for free > Get Wordtune for free >

2. Bold claim hook

When working on an argumentative essay , I always write with the mindset that nobody has the time to read my thoughts from start to finish. So, I have to get to the point quickly and make a solid argument worth people’s time. 

That's when opening with a bold claim works best. Condense all your views on the topic into a few thought-provoking lines that would make readers go, hmmm…

But remember, you can't open with a claim that people already know and accept as fact. It has to be something original and unique to make your readers tick, nudging them to dive deeper into your essay. 

For example, if you’re writing about water crisis, you have two options to open your essay: 

‍ "In some regions, there is not enough clean water for people to use."

‍ "Imagine a world where every drop of water is a battle, a precious commodity fought over by scores of people and animals alike. This can become a reality as early as 2050."

This bold claim presents a convincing argument about the global water crisis. It also emphasizes the urgency of this argument with a research-backed statistic.

Create a bold claim suggestion using AI

Can’t think of a strong opening sentence for your essay? Wordtune can translate your thoughts into a bold claim and create a compelling essay hook. 

Open your Wordtune editor and write a few lines related to your topic. These sentences should have a consensus among your audience. Then, choose the 'Counterargument' option from the list of suggestions. 

And you’ll have a bold claim for your essay with no effort at all!

3. Story/Anecdote hook

In all my years of writing, I’ve noticed how stories have a unique effect on people. A good story can resonate with a bigger audience, pique their curiosity, and deliver a more personal message. 

That's why you can cite a personal anecdote or talk about a publicly known story as a good hook for your essay. This hook allows you to play with words and work in more storytelling . 

One of my favorite writing tips applies here: enter the scene as late as possible and leave as early as possible. You have to keep it crisp instead of rambling on and on. 

Consider these two examples:

Either of these hooks could work fine if we were just writing a personal essay about a move to a new place. But if we’re specifically writing about the sky, the second example is better. It sticks to the point — the sky and the color of the sky — and doesn’t stray into irrelevant details. 

Create a compelling story with AI

I get it—not all of us are natural storytellers. But you can use AI to your advantage to create a concise and exciting story for your essay.  

Wordtune can help you write a short story from scratch or trim down your writing into a quick anecdote. Click on the expand or shorten button to edit your story any way you like. 

4. Question Hook

Humans have a tendency to immediately look for answers every time they come across fascinating questions. Using questions as essay hooks can reel people into your essay and feed their curiosity.

But questions are also fairly overused in essays. You don't want to use a generic question that makes people say, " Not another question ." 

Instead, think of questions that approach your topic from a fresh angle. This means honing in on what was especially interesting or surprising from your research—and maybe even brainstorming different questions to find the most fascinating one.

For example, if you’re writing about the psychology behind why we buy, you have two options to open your essay:

‍ “Do you know what factors compel us to buy certain things?”

Plugged in :

“Before buying anything, have you ever taken a moment to pause and think about possible reasons driving you to this purchase?”

The latter is more descriptive and creates a realistic scenario for readers to truly think about the topic of the essay.

5. Description hook

A descriptive hook works best when writing an explanatory or opinion-led essay. Descriptive hooks, as the name suggests, illustrate a topic in detail to create context for the essay. It's a good way to build awareness for and educate readers on lesser-known themes.

But a descriptive hook can easily become too plain or unexciting to read. To make it work, you have to write an engaging description using imagery, analogies, and other figures of speech. 

Remember to make your hook reader-friendly by avoiding passive voice, mainstream cliches, and lengthy sentences.

Consider this example:

Describing a sunset is too cliche, so cross that one off the list. Describing the sky as it is on a normal day wouldn't be shocking or unexpected, so scratch that one, too.

This example creates something unique by using analogies to describe the color of the sky and painting a beautiful picture. 

Write a gripping description with AI

Writing an exciting hook for a boring topic is more challenging than it looks. But Wordtune makes it a breeze with just two steps:

• Open the Wordtune editor and write your essay topic.
• Click on Explain or Emphasize and let it work its magic.

You can also change the tone of voice to make the text more in tune with your theme. 

6. Metaphor hook

One of my favorite essay hooks is to open with a persuasive metaphor to contextualize the topic. Metaphors can help you approach the topic from a completely different lens and wow your readers with interesting insight. 

Metaphors are also super versatile to make your writing more impactful. You can write a one-line metaphor or create a scenario comparing one thing to another and linking it to your topic. 

For example, if you’re writing about the experience of working at a startup, you can open your essay with these two options:

Short & sweet: "Joining a startup is like strapping into a rollercoaster: be ready to witness thrilling highs and sinking drops."

Long & descriptive : “Picture a small sailboat navigating the unpredictable winds and tides in a vast ocean. That’s a startup operating in a massive market. And with the right vision, this journey is filled with risks and rewards.” 

Create a convincing metaphor with AI

Writing good metaphors takes up a lot of creative brain power. You can always use Wordtune to find some extra inspiration if you're out of creative ideas. 

Type your opening line in the Wordtune editor and click on the 'Give an analogy' option. You can ask for as many suggestions as you want till you find the best one! 

What to Know About Your Essay (and Topic) Before You Write the Hook

Whether you’re writing a research paper on economics, an argumentative essay for your college composition class, or a personal essay sharing your thoughts on a topic, you need to nail down a few things before you settle on the first line for your essay.

‍ Let me break them down for you. 

1. Gain in-depth knowledge of your topic

Before you start writing your essay, you need to know your topic — not just in name, but in-depth. You don't have to become a subject matter expert overnight. But you do need to research the topic inside out 

Your research will help you:

• Narrow your focus
• Build an argument
• Shape the narrative

Your research insights determine your essay’s structure and guide your choice of hook. 

After organizing your research in a neat outline, think to yourself: ‍Did you uncover a shocking fact? A compelling anecdote? An interesting quote? Any of those things could be your hook.

⚡ ‍ Take action: After finishing your research, review your notes and think through your essay. Mark or make a list of anything compelling enough to be a good lead.

2. Type of essay

In academic settings, there are generally three kinds of essays:

• Argumentative: Making the case for a certain stance or route of action.
• Expository: Explaining the who, what, when, where, why, and how of some phenomenon.
• Narrative: Telling a true story as a way to explore different ideas.

‍ The type of essay you’re writing is key to choosing the best hook for your piece. 

A serious argumentative essay can start with a shocking statistic or a bold claim. And an expository essay can open with a descriptive hook while a metaphor hook would work best for a narrative essay.

⚡ ‍ Take action: Go through your list of potential hooks and cross out anything that doesn't fit the type of essay you're writing, whether it's persuasive , argumentative, or any other type.

3. Audience and tone

A best practice I often share with writers is to think of one reader and keep yourself in their shoes . This exercise can tell you so much about your audience — what kind of tone they like, what matters the most to them, what topics interest them, and so on. 

You can use these insights to create a compelling essay hook. Here’s how:

• For an argumentative essay, you’re trying to convince someone who doesn’t agree with you that what you’re claiming is right or, at least, reasonable. You don’t want to turn them off with snarky or offensive language — but you do want to be authoritative. Your hook should match that tone and support your effort.
• A narrative essay is likely to welcome more lyrical language, so starting with a colorful description or an anecdote might make more sense than, say, a bold claim or surprising fact. Whatever tone you choose for your narrative essay — comical or gentle or bold — should be used for your hook.
• ‍ Expository essays can use all sorts of tones and be written to a variety of audiences, so think carefully about the tone that best fits your subject matter. An essay explaining how the human body shuts down when overdosed will likely require a different tone than one on the lives of circus masters in the late 1800s. 

⚡ ‍ Take action: Look at your list. Can you write these potential hooks in a tone that suits your subject and audience?

4. Length of essay

Are you writing a 10-page paper or a three-page reflection? Or is this your senior thesis, pushing over 100 pages?

‍ If you’re writing a shorter paper, you’ll want to keep your hook quick and snappy.  

Readers are expecting a quick read, and they don’t want to spend five minutes only going through the introduction. 

In contrast, you can approach a longer essay — like a senior thesis or a term paper — with a longer hook. Just make sure your hook relates to and supports the core point of your essay. You don’t want to waste space describing a scene that ultimately has nothing to do with the rest of your piece.

⚡ ‍ Take action: If you write out the items on your list, how long will they be? A sentence or paragraph? Perfect. Two to five paragraphs? Unless your essay is on the longer side, you may want to save that information for later in the piece.

‍ Now that you know the basic facts about what you’re writing, let’s look at some approaches you could use to catch those readers — and reel them in.

3 Approaches to Avoid When Writing Hooks 

I’ve read hundreds of essays — enough to recognize lazy writing from the first few words. It’s equally easy for readers to discard your essays as ‘poorly written’ just by reading the first line. 

So, I made a list of three types of essay hooks you want to avoid at all costs because these hooks can only disappoint your readers. 

1. Quotations

Quotes are probably the most overused type of hook in any form of writing. What's even worse is rinsing and repeating the same old quotes from Abraham Lincoln or Nelson Mandela in your essays. 

No matter how powerful a quote sounds, you shouldn’t slap it at the opening of your essay. It doesn’t give readers the excitement of reading something original and looks lazy.

For example, if you’re writing an essay on productivity, here’s what a good and bad lede looks like:

“Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work” – Stephen King

Did you know that consuming 100 gms of sugar can slash your productivity levels by over 50% in a day?  

2. Definitions

The New Oxford American Dictionary defines a hook as "a thing designed to catch people's attention." 

If I opened my article with this dictionary definition of a hook, you’d have either dozed off or left this page long back to find something more interesting. 

Here's the thing: definitions put people to sleep. Readers don't want to see a formal, jargon-heavy definition of a topic as the very first line of an essay. Your opening statement should have some personality in it to show readers they're in for an exciting read. 

For example, if you’re writing about happy hormones, here’s what a good and bad lede looks like:

Happy hormones are known to boost the happiness levels in your body by creating positive feelings.

Ever wondered why cat videos make you instantly happy, and ice creams give you an extra dose of energy? It's all about how happy hormones control our brain chemistry.

3. “Imagine this”

Opening your essay with "Imagine this" used to be an interesting way to put your readers in a scenario and set the context for your essay. But now, it's far too cliched and just another lazy attempt to write an essay hook. 

You can create a relatable scenario for users without asking them to imagine or picture it. Use the descriptive hook format with an interesting choice of words to convey the same ideas more creatively.

For example, if you’re writing an essay on preparing for higher studies abroad, here’s what a good and bad lede looks like:

Imagine this: You’ve been applying to multiple universities, writing SOPs, and preparing for exams without guidance. Everything can go south any minute. 

College application season is officially here. But with each passing day, you’re under more and more stress to apply to your chosen colleges and tick all the items off your list.

‍Our Go-To Trick for Writing Catchy Hooks

This opening statement can make or break your entire essay. While I’ve broken down my best tips to create the best essay hooks, here’s a surefire way to write compelling openings :

Go through your notes and either outline your essay or write the whole thing. This way, you’ll know the central thread (or throughline) that runs throughout your piece. 

Once your essay or outline is complete, go back through and identify a particularly compelling fact, claim, or example that relates to that central thread.

‍Write up that fact, claim, or example as the hook for your essay using any of the methods we’ve covered. Then revise or write your essay so the hook leads smoothly into the rest of the piece and you don’t repeat that information elsewhere.

Does your hook spark curiosity in you? 

Did that fact surprise you in the research stage? 

Chances are, your readers will have the same reaction.

And that’s exactly what you want.

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AI-driven Writing

How to write a good hook: a step-by-step guide.

Updated: April 16, 2024

Imagine casting a fishing line into the vast ocean, what makes the fish bite? It's the lure, intriguing and irresistible. Just like fishing, writing begins with a hook that grabs your reader's attention, but crafting that perfect opener can often feel daunting. A good hook is the first statement in your writing designed to captivate your audience, making them eager to dive deeper into your work. In this step-by-step guide, we'll explore the art of writing compelling hooks for various types of essays, provide examples to spark your creativity, and offer strategies to ensure your opening line makes a memorable first impression.

Start Writing Your Free Essay!

Understanding hooks: the gateway to engaging writing.

At the heart of every captivating piece of writing lies a powerful tool known as the "hook." A hook is essentially the opening line or paragraph that grabs the reader's attention right from the start. Imagine opening a book and being immediately drawn into its world, or starting an article and feeling an irresistible urge to read on. That's the magic of a well-crafted hook. It's not just any opening sentence; it's your first, and perhaps most crucial, opportunity to engage your audience. Whether it's an intriguing question, a surprising fact, or a vivid scene, the hook sets the tone for everything that follows.

Why is the hook so important? In today's fast-paced world, where distractions abound, capturing your reader's attention within the first few seconds is more critical than ever. Studies show that our attention spans have significantly decreased, making the battle for engagement a tough one. A compelling hook acts as a gateway, inviting the reader into the narrative and making them want to stay. It's not just about starting strong; it's about laying the foundation for a connection that keeps the reader invested in your story or argument. By understanding the role and power of hooks, writers can transform their openings from mere introductions to captivating invitations into their written worlds.

The Different Flavors of Hooks: Choosing the Right One

Just as a chef selects the perfect ingredients to create a dish that will delight the senses, a writer must choose the right type of hook to engage their reader's interest from the very beginning. There are various "flavors" of hooks at your disposal, each serving a unique purpose and appealing to different tastes. Rhetorical questions provoke thought and curiosity, anecdotes offer a personal touch that can make your writing more relatable, and startling facts grab attention with their unexpectedness. Understanding the nuances of each type allows you to tailor your opening to the specific dish you're serving – that is, the theme, tone, and audience of your essay.

Selecting the appropriate hook is akin to choosing the right key for a song; it sets the stage for everything that follows. For instance, a rhetorical question might be perfect for an essay that challenges common beliefs, while an anecdote could be the ideal opener for a personal narrative that aims to connect deeply with the reader. Startling facts work well in essays that aim to inform or persuade based on empirical evidence. It's important to consider not just the essay's content, but also its intended effect on the reader. By matching the "flavor" of the hook to the essay's goals, writers can create a harmonious and compelling introduction that resonates with their audience.

Hook Examples That Capture Attention

Let's dive into some examples of hooks that have the power to captivate readers right from the start. Imagine opening an essay on environmental conservation with a startling fact: "Every minute, an area of rainforest the size of 20 football fields is lost." This fact immediately sets a serious and urgent tone, compelling the reader to learn more. On a lighter note, an anecdote could open a personal essay on the joys and trials of learning to cook: "The first time I tried to make a soufflé, it ended up looking more like a pancake." This humorous glimpse into the writer's life piques curiosity and builds a relatable connection.

For essays that seek to challenge or provoke, a rhetorical question can be incredibly effective: "What if everything you were taught about healthy eating was wrong?" This question not only draws readers in but also primes them for a discussion that may alter their preconceived notions. Meanwhile, a quote can lend authority and thematic depth to an essay on leadership: "As John C. Maxwell once said, 'A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.'" By carefully selecting a hook that aligns with the essay's theme and desired impact, writers can ensure that their first impression is both memorable and engaging.

When to Weave Your Hook: Timing in the Writing Process

Crafting the perfect hook is a crucial step in the writing process, but when exactly should you focus on this task? Many writers might be tempted to start with the hook right away, believing it sets the tone for everything that follows. However, an effective strategy is to write your hook after you have a clear understanding of your essay's content and direction . This approach allows you to craft a hook that not only grabs attention but also aligns seamlessly with the overall message and purpose of your essay. By waiting until you have laid out your arguments or narrative, you ensure that your hook is not just intriguing but also deeply connected to the essence of your writing.

There are several benefits to crafting your hook later in the writing process:

• Alignment with your essay's tone and purpose : Ensuring that your hook accurately reflects the tone and main ideas of your essay is easier when you have a complete draft in front of you.
• Flexibility to experiment : Writing your hook later gives you the freedom to experiment with different types of hooks (such as rhetorical questions, startling facts, or anecdotes) to see which one best suits your essay.
• Enhanced creativity and relevance : With a fully fleshed-out essay, you can draw upon its content to create a hook that is not only creative but also highly relevant to your reader's interests and the essay's key themes. This strategic placement of the hook within the writing process ensures that your opening line is not just a catchy phrase but a compelling gateway into your essay's world .

Tailoring Your Hook to the Essay Prompt

Tailoring your hook to the essay prompt is like choosing the right outfit for an occasion—it needs to fit perfectly to make the right impact. The essay prompt provides clues about the tone, style, and direction your essay should take, making it essential to align your hook accordingly. For example, if the prompt asks for a reflective piece on a personal experience, an anecdote that resonates with the theme will draw readers in more effectively than a startling statistic. Similarly, for a prompt that demands a critical analysis of a societal issue, starting with a provocative question or a startling fact can set the stage for a compelling argument. It's all about matching the hook to the prompt's requirements to ensure your essay starts on the right foot.

Here are a few strategies to ensure your hook is perfectly tailored to your essay prompt:

• Reflect on the prompt's key themes : Identify the core themes or questions posed by the prompt and brainstorm hooks that directly engage with these ideas.
• Consider the desired emotional impact : Determine what emotions the prompt aims to evoke—be it curiosity, empathy, or shock—and choose a hook that aligns with this emotional tone.
• Keep the audience in mind : Think about who will be reading your essay and what kind of hook would be most appealing or relevant to them. A hook that intrigues a general audience might differ from one that captures the attention of a more specialized group. By meticulously aligning your hook with the essay prompt, you ensure that your introduction not only captures attention but also sets a coherent and relevant tone for the rest of your essay.

Crafting Hooks for Argumentative Essays

Crafting hooks for argumentative essays demands a strategic approach due to their persuasive nature. Unlike narrative or expository essays, argumentative essays aim to sway the reader's opinion from the outset. Therefore, the hook in an argumentative essay should not only grab attention but also position the reader to be more receptive to the argument that follows. This can be achieved through:

• Posing a provocative question that challenges preconceived notions
• Presenting a startling fact or statistic related to the essay's argument
• Quoting a powerful statement from a reputable source that aligns with your stance

The effectiveness of your hook in an argumentative essay hinges on its ability to engage the reader's emotions and intellect simultaneously. For instance, a hook that highlights a controversial issue or a common misconception can spark curiosity and encourage readers to explore your perspective further. Remember, the goal is to make readers question their current beliefs and consider your argument with an open mind. By carefully crafting your hook to align with the persuasive goal of your essay, you set the stage for a compelling and thought-provoking argument.

Personal Statements: Hooks That Tell Your Story

Crafting a good hook for your personal statement is about more than just grabbing attention; it's about making an authentic and emotional connection with the reader from the very first line. Your personal statement is a unique opportunity to share your story, your aspirations, and what makes you, you. To achieve this, start with something deeply personal or an experience that shaped you. This could be a pivotal moment, a challenge you overcame, or a passion that drives you. The key is to be genuine; authenticity resonates more than any grandiose statement could. Here are a few approaches to consider:

• A vivid anecdote that illustrates a defining moment
• A question that reflects your inner thoughts or dilemmas
• A powerful statement that encapsulates your values or ambitions

Remember, the goal of your hook is not just to pique interest, but to set the tone for your entire personal statement. It should seamlessly lead into the rest of your story, highlighting why you are a compelling candidate for admission. This means that after capturing the reader's attention, your hook should also hint at the themes or experiences you will explore in greater detail. For instance, if your hook is about a moment of failure, your statement might delve into the lessons learned and how they propelled you forward. Or, if you start with a question about your identity, the rest of your essay can explore how various experiences have shaped your understanding of yourself. By carefully crafting a hook that is both engaging and reflective of your overall narrative, you'll ensure that your personal statement stands out for all the right reasons.

Engaging Hooks for Personal Narratives

Writing engaging hooks for personal narratives is all about drawing the reader into your world from the very first sentence. Personal narratives offer a unique opportunity to share your experiences, thoughts, and feelings, making it crucial to start with a hook that captures the essence of your story. A great hook could be a vivid description of a moment, a line of dialogue that sets the scene, or an intriguing question that hints at the narrative's emotional core. These hooks work because they create a sense of immediacy, placing the reader right in the middle of the action or thought process.

Consider the following strategies for crafting compelling hooks in personal narratives:

• Use sensory details to paint a vivid picture of the scene or moment. This could involve describing a sound, taste, or smell that is significant to your story.
• Start with a moment of action or conflict to immediately grab the reader's attention. This could be a critical turning point in your story that raises questions or sets the tone.
• Pose a thought-provoking question related to your narrative's theme, inviting the reader to ponder as they dive into your story. By employing these strategies, you ensure that your personal narrative begins with a hook that not only engages but also promises an emotionally rich and immersive storytelling experience .

Literary Analysis Essays: Starting with a Strong Hook

Starting with a strong hook in a literary analysis essay can be a game-changer, drawing your reader into a deep exploration of themes and characters. Using a quote from the literature you're analyzing is a classic yet effective approach. It not only shows your familiarity with the work but also sets a thematic tone right from the beginning. Alternatively, crafting a thematic statement that encapsulates the essence of the literature can intrigue readers, making them eager to see how you'll unravel these themes further.

Another powerful technique is posing a provocative question that relates directly to the literary work's themes or characters. This approach:

• Engages readers by prompting them to think critically about the literature.
• Serves as a bridge to the deeper analysis you will provide.
• Indicates that your essay will offer fresh insights or perspectives. By carefully selecting a hook that resonates with the essence of the literary piece, you ensure that your essay not only captures attention but also promises a thoughtful and compelling exploration of the text.

Research Papers: Setting the Stage with Your Hook

Writing a great hook for a research paper is like laying down the first piece of a puzzle; it sets the stage for everything that follows. Unlike essays that might start with a bold claim or a provocative question, research papers require a hook that establishes both relevance and curiosity. This could be a surprising statistic that highlights the significance of your research topic, an intriguing question that your paper seeks to answer, or a brief anecdote that illustrates the real-world implications of your study. The goal is to make the reader think, "This is something I need to know more about."

Why focus on relevance and curiosity? For research papers, these two elements are crucial because:

• Relevance assures the reader that the paper addresses an important issue or question.
• Curiosity piques the reader's interest and motivates them to delve deeper into your research findings.

By carefully crafting a hook that balances these aspects, you ensure that your introduction not only grabs attention but also seamlessly leads into the broader context and objectives of your research. Remember, a compelling hook is your first opportunity to show the reader why your research matters and to set the tone for a persuasive and insightful paper.

Elevate Your Hooks with Samwell.ai: Start Writing Today

Crafting the perfect hook can be challenging, but Samwell.ai's AI-powered writing assistance makes it easier by offering tailored research and access to authentic sources . This ensures your hooks are not only captivating but also grounded in accurate information. With Samwell.ai, you can:

• Effortlessly find intriguing facts or quotes to start your essay
• Access a wide range of authentic sources for inspiration
• Ensure your hook aligns with the overall theme and tone of your writing

Moreover, Samwell.ai's advanced plagiarism checks guarantee that your writing remains original, setting your work apart from the rest. This feature is crucial for maintaining academic integrity and fostering true creativity in your writing. Start writing with Samwell.ai today and take the first step towards crafting hooks that not only grab attention but also leave a lasting impression. With Samwell.ai, elevating your writing is just a click away.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good hook sentence.

A good hook sentence is the first statement in your writing designed to captivate your audience, making them eager to dive deeper into your work. It's an opening line or paragraph that grabs the reader's attention right from the start, setting the tone for everything that follows. Whether it's an intriguing question, a surprising fact, or a vivid scene, a good hook ensures that your first impression is memorable and engaging.

How do you write a catchy hook?

Writing a catchy hook involves selecting the right type of hook to engage your reader's interest from the beginning. This could be a rhetorical question to provoke thought, an anecdote for a personal touch, or a startling fact for immediate attention. The key is understanding the nuances of each type and tailoring your opening to the theme, tone, and audience of your essay. Additionally, crafting your hook after you have a clear understanding of your essay's content and direction can help ensure it's not only intriguing but also deeply connected to the essence of your writing.

How do you write a strong opening hook?

Writing a strong opening hook involves a strategic approach that aligns with the overall message and purpose of your essay. Start by choosing the right type of hook that matches the essay's goals, such as a provocative question for argumentative essays or a vivid anecdote for personal narratives. Ensure that the hook reflects the essay's tone and main ideas, and consider crafting it after you've outlined your arguments or narrative for better alignment. Experimenting with different types of hooks and drawing upon the essay's content can also enhance creativity and relevance, making your opening line a compelling gateway into your work.

What are the 5 hooks in writing?

The blog post discusses various "flavors" of hooks rather than specifying a list of five. Among the types mentioned are rhetorical questions, which provoke thought and curiosity; anecdotes, offering a personal touch; startling facts, grabbing attention with unexpectedness; quotes, lending authority and thematic depth; and thematic statements or provocative questions for literary analysis essays. These hooks serve unique purposes, appealing to different tastes and aligning with the theme, tone, and audience of your essay.

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• Writing Tips

How to Write the Ultimate Essay Hook

4-minute read

• 6th May 2023

Never underestimate the power of an essay hook . This opening statement is meant to grab the reader’s attention and convince them to keep reading. But how do you write one that’ll pack a punch? In this article, we’ll break this down.

What Is an Essay Hook?

An essay hook is the first thing your audience will read. If it doesn’t hook them right off the bat, they might decide not to keep reading. It’s important that your opening statement is impactful while not being too wordy or presumptuous.

It’s also crucial that it clearly relates to your topic. You don’t want to mislead your readers into thinking your essay is about something it’s not. So, what kind of essay hook should you write? Here are seven ideas to choose from:

1.   Story

Everyone likes a good story. If an interesting story or anecdote relates to your essay topic, the hook is a great place to include it. For example:

The key to a good story hook is keeping it short and sweet. You’re not writing a novel in addition to an essay!

2.   Fact

Another great essay hook idea is to lay out a compelling fact or statistic. For example:

There are a few things to keep in mind when doing this. Make sure it’s relevant to your topic, accurate, and something your audience will care about. And, of course, be sure to cite your sources properly.

3.   Metaphor or Simile

If you want to get a little more creative with your essay hook, try using a metaphor or simile . A metaphor states that something is something else in a figurative sense, while a simile states that something is like something else.

Metaphors and similes are effective because they provide a visual for your readers, making them think about a concept in a different way. However, be careful not to make them too far-fetched or overly exaggerated.

4.   Question

Asking your audience a question is a great way to hook them. Not only does it make them think, but they’ll also want to keep reading because you will have sparked their curiosity. For example:

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Try to avoid using questions that start with something along the lines of “Have you ever wondered…?” Instead, try to think of a question they may never have wondered about. And be sure not to answer it right away, at least not fully. Use your essay to do that!

5.   Declaration

Making a bold statement or declaring a strong opinion can immediately catch people’s attention. For example:

Regardless of whether your reader agrees with you, they’ll probably want to keep reading to find out how you will back up your claim. Just make sure your declaration isn’t too controversial, or you might scare readers away!

6.   Common Misconception

Laying out a common misconception is another useful way to hook your reader. For example:

If your readers don’t know that a common belief is actually a misconception, they’ll likely be interested in learning more. And if they are already aware, it’s probably a topic they’re interested in, so they’ll want to read more.

7.   Description

You can put your descriptive powers into action with your essay hook. Creating interesting or compelling imagery places your reader into a scene, making the words come alive.

A description can be something beautiful and appealing or emotionally charged and provoking. Either way, descriptive writing is a powerful way to immerse your audience and keep them reading.

When writing an essay, don’t skimp on the essay hook! The opening statement has the potential to convince your audience to hear what you have to say or to let them walk away. We hope our ideas have given you some inspiration.

And once you finish writing your essay, make sure to send it to our editors. We’ll check it for grammar, spelling, word choice, references, and more. Try it out for free today with a 500-word sample !

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How to Write a Hook: Start Off Your Essay Strong with This Guide

What is a Hook for an Essay: Importance and Purpose

Which section of your essay can make your readers dip their toes into your writing? Is it the body paragraphs where all the analysis is laid out? Or maybe the introduction, where you present your thesis statement and voice your perspective on the subject? Well, if you think it is the latter, then we must agree with your decision. However, let's get more specific; if we take the introductory paragraph to pieces, which piece gets the most recognition? You must have guessed from the article's title that we're talking about a hook. But first, let's define what is a hook for an essay before we walk you through the reasons why it deserves our pat on the back.

The hook is the initial sentence in a written work. Whether you're asking how to write a hook for a song, blog post, or term paper, know that the purpose of any effective hook is to seize the reader's attention. It can be one sentence long, often for shorter pieces, or composed of several lines - usually for larger pieces. Making the reader want to keep reading is what an essay hook accomplishes for your paper, just as an intriguing introduction does for any piece.

Our main emphasis in this guide is on creating a good hook for an essay. Nonetheless, these fundamental guidelines apply to nearly every format for communicating with your audience. Whether writing a personal statement, a speech, or a presentation, making a solid first impression is crucial to spur your readers into action.

How to Write a Hook for Different Kinds of Writing

Although it is a tough skill to master, understanding how to write a hook is crucial for academic writing success. By reviewing the most prevalent kinds of essay hooks, you can discover how to effectively captivate readers from the start and generate a hook that is ideal for your article. To do so, let's head over to the following sections prepared by our dissertation writers .

How to Write a Hook for a College Essay?

By mastering how to write a hook for a college essay, you have the opportunity to stand out from the hundreds of applicants with identical academic portfolios to yours in your college essay. It should shed light on who you are, represent your true nature, and show your individuality. But first, you need an attention-grabbing start if you want the admissions committee to read more of yours than theirs. For this, you'll require a strong hook.

Set the Scene

When wondering how to write a good hook for an essay, consider setting the scene. Open in the middle of a key moment, plunge in with vivid details and conversation to keep your essay flowing and attract the reader. Make the reader feel like they are seeing a moment from your life and have just tuned in.

Open with an Example

Starting with a specific example is also a great idea if you're explaining how you acquired a particular skill or unique accomplishment. Then, similar to how you established the scenario above, you may return to this point later and discuss its significance throughout the remaining sections.

Open with an Anecdote

Using an anecdotal hook doesn't necessarily mean that your essay should also be humorous. The joke should be short and well-aimed to achieve the best results. To assist the reader in visualizing the situation and understanding what you are up against when tackling a task or overcoming a challenge, you might also use a funny irony. And if this sounds too overwhelming to compose, buy an essay on our platform and let our expert writers convey your unmatched story!

How to Write a Hook for an Argumentative Essay?

If you write a strong hook, your instructor will be compelled to read your argument in the following paragraphs. So, put your creative thinking cap on while crafting the hook, and write in a way that entices readers to continue reading the essay.

Use Statistics

Statistics serve as a useful hook because they encourage research. When used in argumentative writing, statistics can introduce readers to previously undiscovered details and data. That can greatly increase their desire to read your article from start to finish. You can also consider this advice when unsure how to write a good hook for a research paper. Especially if you're conducting a quantitative study, a statistic hook can be a solid start.

Use a Common Misconception

Another answer to your 'how to write a hook for an argumentative essay' question is to use a common misconception. What could be a better way to construct an interesting hook, which should grab readers' attention, than to incorporate a widely held misconception? A widespread false belief is one that many people hold to be true. When you create a hook with a misinterpretation, you startle your readers and immediately capture their interest.

How to Write a Hook for a Persuasive Essay?

The finest hooks for a persuasive essay capture the reader's interest while leading them to almost unconsciously support your position even before they are aware of it. You can accomplish this by employing the following hook ideas for an essay:

Ask a Rhetorical Question

By posing a query at the outset of your essay, you may engage the reader's critical thinking and whet their appetite for the solution you won't provide until later. Try to formulate a question wide enough for them to not immediately know the answer and detailed enough to avoid becoming a generic hook.

Use an Emotional Appeal

This is a fantastic approach to arouse sympathy and draw the reader into your cause. By appealing to the reader's emotions, you may establish a bond that encourages them to read more and get invested in the subject you cover.

Using these strategies, you won't have to wonder how to write a hook for a persuasive essay anymore!

How to Write a Hook for a Literary Analysis Essay?

Finding strong essay openers might be particularly challenging when writing a literary analysis. Coming up with something very remarkable on your own while writing about someone else's work is no easy feat. But we have some expert solutions below:

Use Literary Quotes

Using a literary quote sounds like the best option when unsure how to write a hook for a literary analysis essay. Nonetheless, its use is not restricted to that and is mostly determined by the style and meaning of the quotes. Still, when employing literary quotes, it's crucial to show two things at once: first, how well you understand the textual information. And second, you know how to capture the reader's interest right away.

Employ Quotes from Famous People

This is another style of hook that is frequently employed in literary analysis. But if you wonder how to write a good essay hook without sounding boring, choose a historical person with notable accomplishments and keep your readers intrigued and inspired to read more.

How to Write a Hook for an Informative Essay?

In an informative essay, your ultimate goal is to not only educate your audience but also engage and keep them interested from the very beginning. For this, consider the following:

Start with a Fact or Definition

You might begin your essay with an interesting fact or by giving a definition related to your subject. The same standard applies here for most types mentioned above: it must be intriguing, surprising, and/or alarming.

Ask Questions that Relate to Your Topic

Another solution to 'How to write a hook for an informative essay?' is to introduce your essay with a relevant question. This hook lets you pique a reader's interest in your essay and urge them to keep reading as they ponder the answer.

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Expert-Approved Tips for Writing an Essay Hook

Are you still struggling with the ideal opening sentence for your essay? Check out some advice from our essay helper on how to write a hook sentence and make your opening stand out.

• Keep your essay type in mind . Remember to keep your hook relevant. An effective hook for an argumentative or descriptive essay format will differ greatly. Therefore, the relevancy of the hook might be even more important than the content it conveys.
• Decide on the purpose of your hook . When unsure how to write a hook for an essay, try asking the following questions: What result are you hoping to get from it? Would you like your readers to be curious? Or, even better, surprised? Perhaps even somewhat caught off guard? Determine the effect you wish to accomplish before selecting a hook.
• Choose a hook at the end of the writing process. Even though it should be the first sentence of your paper, it doesn't mean you should write your hook first. Writing an essay is a long and creative process. So, if you can't think of an effective hook at the beginning, just keep writing according to your plan, and it will eventually come into your head. If you were lucky enough to concoct your hook immediately, double-check your writing to see if it still fits into the whole text and its style once you've finished writing.
• Make it short . The shorter, the better – this rule works for essay hooks. Keeping your hook to a minimum size will ensure that readers will read it at the same moment they start looking at your essay. Even before thinking if they want or don't want to read it, their attention will be captured, and their curiosity will get the best of them. So, they will continue reading the entire text to discover as much as possible.

Now you know how to write a good hook and understand that a solid hook is the difference between someone delving further into your work or abandoning it immediately. With our hook examples for an essay, you can do more than just write a great paper. We do not doubt that you can even write a winning term paper example right away!

Try to become an even better writer with the help of our paper writing service . Give them the freedom to write superior hooks and full essays for you so you may learn from them!

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What Is A Good Hook For An Essay?

How to write a hook for an essay, what is a good hook for an argumentative essay.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

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How to Write a Hook: Top 5 Tips for Writers

Hannah Yang

How do you make people feel excited to read your work?

Well, for starters, you can write a great hook.

The “hook” refers to the first sentence, or first few sentences, of an essay, article, or story. That’s because these first few lines need to hook readers in, the same way fishermen use bait to hook fish in.

If you’re trying to figure out how to write a hook, you’ve come to the right place. Read on to learn how to write a fantastic hook and to see some examples of successful ones.

What Is a Hook in Writing?

Top 5 tips for writing good hooks, great examples of hooks, is writing a hook in an essay different from a story hook, conclusion on how to write a hook.

We use the term “hook” to talk about the very beginning of a written work—specifically the part designed to grab readers’ attention. The hook can be as short as a single sentence or as long as a full paragraph.

Writing hooks is a necessary skill for all types of writing—narrative essays, research papers, fiction writing, and more.

What Makes a Good Hook Important?

Good hooks make your reader feel excited to keep reading.

If you’re writing a book, you need a great hook so people decide to actually buy your work, instead of putting it back on the shelf.

If you’re writing a blog post or article, you need a great hook so people read to the end, instead of scrolling or flipping to a different article instead.

And if you’re writing an essay for school, you need a good hook so you can practice the skill of writing well.

What Are the Different Types of Hooks?

There’s more than one way to write a great hook.

Here are six types of hooks that will grab your reader’s attention.

• Question hook : a question that provokes the reader’s curiosity and makes them keep reading to find out the answer
• Statement hook : a strong declaration related to your topic that makes the reader keep reading to see you defend this statement
• Statistic hook : an interesting fact or statistic that makes you sound knowledgeable, so your reader trusts your expertise
• Quote hook : a memorable quote, often by a famous person, that the reader will find interesting
• Description hook : a vivid description that immerses your reader into a specific scene
• Anecdotal hook : a personal story that relates to your topic and makes the reader feel personally connected to the story

Here are our top tips for writing a strong opening hook.

Tip 1: Surprise the Reader

Readers crave the unexpected. If you start your piece in a surprising way, they’ll be more likely to keep reading.

You can even say something controversial. Readers will want to keep reading to see how you prove your own statement.

Tip 2: Raise a Question

When starting an essay or a story, you should try to create a question that the reader wants answered.

This doesn’t have to be a literal question that ends with a question mark—instead, it can simply be an unusual statement or a weird situation. Make sure it’s something your target audience will find interesting.

Tip 3: Keep Your Promises

If you open your essay with an interesting hook, you need to be mindful of what you’re promising to the reader. If you don’t keep that promise throughout the piece, your reader will feel tricked.

For example, you’d probably be unhappy if you read a story that started with, “The monster was coming for me” and then, later in the first chapter, said, “Then I woke up and realized it was just a nightmare.”

The first sentence is a strong opening hook, but it promises a dramatic scene, which doesn’t get fulfilled, because the hook turns out not to be real.

An equivalent in an essay would be writing a controversial statement and then failing to prove why that statement is true, or asking an interesting question and then failing to answer it later.

Tip 4: Keep It Relevant

Some writers try so hard to choose an interesting hook that they end up using something irrelevant to their essay. Readers will get confused if you open with a random quote or statistic that only tangentially connects to your thesis.

If you’re choosing between a fascinating hook that doesn’t have much to do with your topic, or a decent hook that’s directly related to your thesis statement, you should go with the latter.

Tip 5: Don’t Stop at the Hook

Some writers focus so much on nailing the opening hook that they forget to make the rest of the essay equally strong.

Your reader could still stop reading on the second page, or the third, or the tenth. Make sure you use strong and engaging writing throughout the piece.

One way to learn how to write hooks is to look at examples.

Here are examples of six hooks you could use to start a persuasive essay about artificial intelligence, plus three hooks you could use to start a sci-fi story.

Example 1: Question Hook

• Will artificial intelligence someday become smarter than humans?

Example 2: Statement Hook

• Artificial intelligence could become smarter than humans by 2050.

Example 3: Statistic Hook

• As of 2022, the global AI industry is worth over $130 billion.

Example 4: Quote Hook

• The scientist Stephen Hawking once said, “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race.”

Example 5: Description Hook

• The Alexa AI blinks from the kitchen table, emitting a comforting blue light.

Example 6: Anecdotal Hook

• Like many people of my generation, I used an AI for the first time when I was twelve years old.

Example 7: Sci-Fi Story Hooks

• Samuel Gibson had friends. Sure, all his friends were AI robots that his parents had purchased for him, but they still counted as friends.
• My father’s office is full of strange machines, which none of us are allowed to touch.
• The AI revolt began on Christmas morning of the year 2068.

Both essays and stories require good hooks. After all, you’re still competing for your reader’s attention, no matter what kind of work you’re writing.

However, a story hook will look very different from an essay hook.

If you’re writing fiction, you most likely won’t use a statistic, question, or quote to hook your readers in. Instead, your best options will be a statement, a description, or an anecdote—or, or often, a sentence that combines a little bit of all three.

Just like with essays, you should try to raise a question in your reader’s head. This can be a strange character, an unusual setting, or a mysterious fact.

Here are some examples of strong hooks in novels:

“My first memory, when I was three years old, was of trying to kill my sister.”—Jodi Piccoult, My Sister’s Keeper

“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.”—Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

“Once upon a time, on the coldest night of midwinter, in the darkest heart of the forest, Death and Fortune came to a crossroads.”—Margaret Owen, Little Thieves

“The women gather in a YMCA basement rec room: hard linoleum floors, half-windows along one wall, view of sidewalk and brick.”—Maria Adelmann, How to Be Eaten

“I became what I am today at the age of twelve, on a rainy overcast day in 1975.”—Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner

“It did not surprise Fire that the man in the forest shot her. What surprised her was that he shot her by accident.”—Kristen Cashore, Fire

There you have it—a complete guide to writing a fantastic hook.

ProWritingAid has specific settings for creative writers and students, so it can help you write your story or essay. Try it out the next time you need to write a hook.

Good luck, and happy writing!

Be confident about grammar

Check every email, essay, or story for grammar mistakes. Fix them before you press send.

Hannah Yang is a speculative fiction writer who writes about all things strange and surreal. Her work has appeared in Analog Science Fiction, Apex Magazine, The Dark, and elsewhere, and two of her stories have been finalists for the Locus Award. Her favorite hobbies include watercolor painting, playing guitar, and rock climbing. You can follow her work on hannahyang.com, or subscribe to her newsletter for publication updates.

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Write an Attention-Grabbing Opening Sentence for an Essay

• M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
• B.A., History, Armstrong State University

You can think of the first sentence of your essay as you would a fishing hook. It grabs your reader and allows you reel the person into your essay and your train of thought. The hook for your essay can be an interesting sentence that captures a person's attention, it can be thought-provoking, or even, entertaining.

The hook for your essay often appears in the first sentence . The opening paragraph includes a thesis sentence . Some popular hook choices can include using an interesting quote, a little-known fact, famous last words, or a statistic .

A quote hook is best used when you are composing an essay based on an author, story, or book. It helps establish your authority on the topic and by using someone else's quote, you can strengthen your thesis if the quote supports it.

The following is an example of a quote hook: "A man's errors are his portals of discovery." In the next sentence or two, give a reason for this quote or current example. As for the last sentence (the thesis) : Students grow more confident and self-sufficient when parents allow them to make mistakes and experience failure.

General statement

By setting the tone in the opening sentence with a uniquely written general statement of your thesis, the beauty is that you get right to the point. Most readers appreciate that approach.

For example, you can start with the following statement: Many studies show that the biological sleep pattern for teens shifts a few hours, which means teens naturally stay up later and feel alert later in the morning. The next sentence, set up the body of your essay, perhaps by introducing the concept that school days should be adjusted so that they are more in sync with the teenager's natural sleep or wake cycle. As for the last sentence (the thesis) :  If every school day started at ten o'clock, many students would find it easier to stay focused.

By listing a proven fact or entertaining an interesting statistic that might even sound implausible to the reader, you can excite a reader to want to know more. 

Like this hook: According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics , teens and young adults experience the highest rates of violent crime. Your next sentence can set up the argument that it's dangerous for teenagers to be on the streets at late hours. A fitting thesis statement might read: Parents are justified in implementing a strict curfew, regardless of a student's academic performance.

The Right Hook for Your Essay

The good news about finding a hook? You can find a quote, fact, or another type of hook after you determine your thesis. You can accomplish this with a simple online search about your topic after you've developed your essay .

You can nearly have the essay finished before you revisit the opening paragraph. Many writers polish up the first paragraph after the essay is completed.

Outlining the Steps for Writing Your Essay

Here's an example of the steps you can follow that help you outline your essay.

• First paragraph: Establish the thesis
• Body paragraphs: Supporting evidence
• Last paragraph: Conclusion with a restatement of the thesis
• Revisit the first paragraph: Find the best hook

Obviously, the first step is to determine your thesis. You need to research your topic and know what you plan to write about. Develop a starting statement. Leave this as your first paragraph for now.

The next paragraphs become the supporting evidence for your thesis. This is where you include the statistics, opinions of experts, and anecdotal information.

Compose a closing paragraph that is basically a reiteration of your thesis statement with new assertions or conclusive findings you find during with your research.

Lastly, go back to your introductory hook paragraph. Can you use a quote, shocking fact, or paint a picture of the thesis statement using an anecdote? This is how you sink your hooks into a reader.

The best part is if you are not loving what you come up with at first, then you can play around with the introduction. Find several facts or quotes that might work for you. Try out a few different starting sentences and determine which of your choices makes the most interesting beginning to your essay.

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• Definition and Examples of Analysis in Composition
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Learn How to Write an Essay Hook, With Examples

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Are your essays failing to keep readers interested? Struggling to maintain engagement throughout? 

If you don't grab attention from the start, readers might click away or never even begin. But how can we make sure that does not happen? 

An essay hook is what you need to meet this challenge. It is an attention grabber that hooks your reader’s interest. 

In this blog, we'll explain how to write an essay hook and explore several engaging examples of hooks in writing. Additionally, we'll look at different types of hooks and offer tips for writing engaging hook statements in your essays.

So, let’s start with the blog!

• 1. What is an Essay Hook?
• 2. How to Write a Good Essay Hook?
• 3. Different Types of Hook
• 4. Hook Examples for Types of Essays
• 5. Tips to Choose a Good Hook

What is an Essay Hook?

Hooks for essays, often found at the beginning of an essay introduction , serve as an opening sentence that immediately grabs the reader's attention. These hooks are a common feature in high school, college, and various academic assignments.

Keep in mind that hooks are not the same as introductions; they complement introductions and make them engaging. A good hook should be self-contained, avoiding the pitfalls of being dull or predictable.

Purpose of Hook in Writing

An effective hook serves two primary purposes. 

• Firstly, it sets the tone for the essay by giving a sneak peek into what it's about.
• Secondly, it creates an engaging start that makes the reader want to explore the essay further.

How to Write a Good Essay Hook?

Here are the points that you need to keep in mind to write a hook for your essay. 

Step#1 Know the Kind of Literary Work

First, it is important to have a clear vision in mind of the literary work you have selected for your paper. Here you need to describe what a certain essay type demands and what types of techniques you require to support your arguments in your essay. 

Step#2 Create an Outline

Always create an essay outline to see how the information can be organized better and which points need to be highlighted. Try to find an attention grabber that adds to the significance of that point. 

Step#3 Who are You Writing for? 

Know your target audience and choose a way in which you want to develop your work. Your hook statement should be according to it. If you are writing for students, write in simple language. If you are writing for professionals, take the specific language into account. 

Step#4 Know the Purpose of Writing Your Essay

Choose hooks that fit your paper. Know the type of essay you are writing and its purpose. You can go for funny hooks if you are writing a paper on a light topic. If you are writing a conference paper, then you should be more formal. 

Step#5 Revise and Refine

After writing your hook, revise it to ensure it's polished and impactful. Ask yourself if it effectively grabs attention and sets the stage for your essay. 

Different Types of Hook

Let’s take a look at different types of essay hooks and explain them briefly with examples. 

Type 1: Question Hook

A question hook is when you start something, like a story or an essay, by asking a question. It's a way to immediately get people thinking about what you're going to say next. It's like hooking their attention by making them wonder and want to find out the answer.

When posing a question, think about the interest of the reader and the things they would want to learn more about. Avoid making your question generalized or simple Yes or No questions. 

For example, asking a general question such as “Do you watch television?” won’t grab their attention and make them think it over. 

Always use rhetorical questions!

Question Hook Example

 Here are some hook question examples:

Type 2: Anecdotal Hook

An anecdotal hook is like starting your essay with a short, interesting story or personal experience. It catches someone's attention by sharing a real-life example or a funny incident before getting to the main topic.

This type of hook should be directly related to the central theme of the paper, showing its relevance and connection to the main idea.

Anecdotal hooks shouldn't contain cliched phrases or unrealistic scenarios that feel fake or unrelated to the essay topic.

Anecdote Hook Example

Let’s take a look at the anecdotal hook example: 

Type 3: Quotation Hook

A "quote hook" is a type of hook used in writing that involves opening an essay with a quotation from a notable person, a famous author, or a respected source. The purpose of a quote hook is to instantly capture the reader's attention and establish the relevance of the topic by providing an authoritative statement.

A well-chosen quote can add credibility to your writing, evoke emotion, or introduce a key theme that you intend to explore in your essay. It can also set the tone for the piece, whether it's persuasive, informative, or narrative.

Quotation Hook Example

For example, if you're writing an essay about the importance of perseverance, you might start with a quote like this:

Type 4: Statistical Facts Hooks 

Statistical facts hooks are when you start an essay with numbers or data to grab people's attention. The purpose of a statistical facts hook is to engage the reader's interest by presenting them with a surprising, statistic related to the essay's topic.

This type of hook is particularly effective when writing an informative essay or persuasive essay that relies on data and evidence to support the main argument. 

Statistical Hook Example

Take a look at the sample statistical hook below:

Type 5: Personal Story Hook 

Starting a piece of writing with a personal short story is a good idea when writing narrative essays or a college application essay .

It doesn’t have to be an experience that you faced firsthand; it could be something that happened with a friend or a relative.

Personal Story Hook Example 

Here is what a good personal story hook looks like: 

Type 6: Description Hook

This type of hook is like painting a picture with words. Instead of jumping right into the action or topic, it starts by vividly describing something related to the main idea. 

This draws readers in by appealing to their senses and creating a clear image in their minds. It sets the scene and gets them interested in what's to come. Descriptive hooks are most commonly used in narrative essays but can be used in any type of writing. 

Description Hook Essay Example

Here is an example of a description hook: 

Type 7: Metaphor/Simile Hook

A metaphor or simile hook is like comparing something in your essay to something else, using words like "as" or "like."It directly compares two things that are not related to each other. 

It's a way to paint a vivid picture in the reader's mind, making your point more interesting and memorable.

Metaphor/Simile Hook Example

Let’s take a look at the metaphor/simile hook example:

Type 8: Common Misconception Hook

This type of hook starts by talking about something that most people believe, but then reveals that it's actually not true. It's like saying something surprising to make your reader curious and interested in what you're going to say next.

Avoid adding information that's too complex or confusing, keeping it simple and straightforward to maintain clarity and impact.

Common Misconception Hook Example

Here is a sample common misconception hook: 

Hook Examples for Types of Essays

In academics, there are different types of essays according to their structure and purpose.  For instance, an argumentative essay is a serious essay written to persuade the reader of an argument. Whereas a narrative essay could be a light-hearted narration of an event. 

You can not use a funny question to start an argumentative essay. Similarly, you can not use a serious fact to start a funny narrative essay. 

The table shows hook examples for different types of essays:

Let’s explore in detail some interesting hook examples according to different types of essays.

Expository Essay Hook Example -

Argumentative essay hook example.

Here are two different hook examples for argumentative essay:

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Descriptive Essay Hook Example 

A hook example sentence for a descriptive essay is as follows: 

Persuasive Essay Hook Example

A hook example sentence for a persuasive essay is as follows:

Narrative Essay Hook Example 

A hook example for narration is as follows:

Compare and Contrast Essay Hook Example

Here is a sample hook: 

Process Essay Hook Example

A hook example sentence for a process analysis essay is as follows:

Cause and Effect Essay Hook Example

A hook example sentence for a cause and effect essay is as follows:

Analytical Essay Hook Example

A hook example sentence for an analytical essay is as follows:

Informative Essay Hook Example

Here is a hook example for an informative essay:

Research Paper Hook Example

Here is a hook example for research paper :

Hook Examples In Speeches

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Tips to Choose a Good Hook

Choosing a good hook involves engaging your audience, creating interest, and setting the stage for your content. Here is how to choose a good hook: 

• Know Your Audience: Understand the interests and preferences of your target audience.
• Relevance is Key: Ensure your hook directly relates to your content's topic.
• Shock or Surprise: Use shocking facts, surprising statistics, or intriguing anecdotes.
• Tell a Story: Engage emotionally with personal stories or narratives.
• Pose a Question: Ask thought-provoking questions that make readers curious.
• Quotations: Share powerful quotes from relevant authorities.
• Visual Imagery: Use descriptive language to create vivid mental images.
• Conciseness: Keep your hook brief and to the point.

To Sum it Up!

Now you know the different ways to start your essay or research paper. You are the one to decide which hook is better and more effective to use according to the type of paper. Don’t forget to take into account the preparatory steps and figure out what type of hook is best to use. You know that starting with a hook can make or break your academic essay. However, it is not always easy to come up with the perfect anecdote or statement for an opening line. 

Luckily, you can get help from MyPerfectWords.com . Our team of professional writers is ready to craft impeccable essays tailored to your needs, ensuring academic success without the stress.

Why struggle with complex assignments when you can ask us to " write my essay online " and experience the difference firsthand? 

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a good hook sentence.

A good hook sentence is a sentence that grabs the reader’s attention or compels them to read your essay further. It is supposed to make your essay more interesting and engaging for them. 

What comes first, thesis or hook?

The hook of your essay is the first line of your introductory paragraph or can be more than one also. But the essay hook is written first. A thesis statement follows it. It is included as a mini-outline of the essay and tells the readers about the essay’s content. 

What is a hook statement?

The hook is the first sentence of your introduction, and it should be interesting. A great way to start a strong introduction is by writing an engaging, concise, and clear hook. This will spark curiosity in the reader, which leads them through all that you have written about.

How long is a hook in an essay?

The hook is 1-2 sentences of your essay are important because they help capture the reader's attention. They will continue reading if they are interested in what you have to say.

What is the difference between a hook vs lead-in transition to the thesis?

A hook captures the reader's attention at the beginning of an essay with an intriguing statement or question. A lead-in transition smoothly connects the hook to the thesis statement, guiding the reader from the attention-grabbing opening to the main argument of the essay.

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73 Essay Hook Examples

An essay hook is the first one or two sentences of your essay that are used to grab the reader’s attention and draw them into your discussion.

It is called a hook because it “grabs” the reader and doesn’t let them go! It should have something in there that makes the reader feel curious and intrigued, compelling them to continue reading.

Techniques for Good Essay Hooks

Here are a few techniques that you can use to write a good essay hook:

• Use a Quotation : Sometimes, a relevant quotation from a well-known author or expert can help establish the context or theme of your essay. Next time you’re conducting research for an essay, keep an eye out for a really compelling quote that you could use as your hook for that essay.
• Start with a Statement that is Surprising or Unusual: A surprising or unusually statement will draw a reader in, making them want to know more about that topic. It’s good if the statement contradicts common knowledge or reveals an insight about your topic that isn’t immediately obvious. These can be particularly good for argumentative essays where you’re putting forward a controversial or compelling argument as your thesis statement .
• Tell a Brief Anecdote : A short, interesting story related to your topic can personaize the story, making it more than just a dry essay, and turning it into a compelling narrative that’s worth reading.
• Use Statistics or Facts: Interesting, surprising, or shocking facts or statistics work similarly to surprising statements: they make us want to know more about a topic. Statistics and facts in your introductions are particularly useful for analytical, expository , and argumentative essays.
• Start with a Question: Questions that make the reader think deeply about an issue, or pose a question that the reader themselves has considered, can be really effecitve. But remember, questions tend to be better for informal and personal essays, and are generally not allowed in formal argumentative essays. If you’re not sure if you’re allowed to use questions in your essays, check with your teacher first.

Below, I’ll present some examples of hooks that you could use as inspiration when writing your own essay hook.

Essay Hook Examples

These examples might help stimulate your thinking. However, keep in mind that your essay hook needs to be unique to your essay, so use these as inspiration but write your own essay hook that’s perfect for your own essay.

1. For an Essay About Yourself

An essay about yourself can be personal, use “I” statements, and include memories or thoughts that are deeply personal to you.

• Question: “Have you ever met someone who could turn even the most mundane events into a thrilling adventure? Let me introduce myself.”
• Anecdote: “The smell of freshly baked cookies always takes me back to the day when I accidentally started a baking business at the age of nine.”
• Intriguing Statement: “I’ve always believed that you haven’t truly lived until you’ve read a book upside down, danced in the rain, or taught a parrot to say ‘I love pizza.'”
• Quotation: “As Mark Twain once said, ‘The secret of getting ahead is getting started.’ That’s a philosophy I’ve embraced in every aspect of my life.”
• Humorous Statement: “I’m a self-proclaimed ‘professional chocolate tester’ – a title that’s not only delicious but also requires extreme dedication.”
• Start with your Mission Statement : “My life motto is simple but powerful: be the person who decided to go for it.
• Fact or Statistic: “According to a study, people who speak more than one language tend to be better at multitasking . As a polyglot, I certainly live up to that statistic.”
• Comparison or Metaphor: “If my life were a book, it would be a blend of an adventurous novel, a suspense thriller, and a pinch of romantic comedy.”
• Personal Revelation: “Ever since I was a child, I’ve had an uncanny ability to communicate with animals. It’s an unusual skill, but one that has shaped my life in many ways.”
• Narrative: “The day everything changed for me was an ordinary Tuesday. Little did I know, a single conversation would lead me to discover my true passion.”

2. For a Reflective Essay

A reflective essay often explores personal experiences, feelings, and thoughts. So, your hooks for reflective essays can usually be more personal, intriguing, and engaging than other types of essays. Here are some examples for inspiration:

• Question: “Have you ever felt as though a single moment could change your entire life? This essay is going to explore that moment for me.”
• Anecdote: “I was standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon, looking at the vast emptiness, and for the first time, I truly understood the word ‘perspective’.”
• Bold Statement: “There is a part of me that is still trapped in that room, on that rainy afternoon, holding the letter that would change everything.”
• Personal Revelation: “The first time I truly felt a sense of belonging wasn’t in a crowded room full of friends, but in the quiet solitude of a forest.”
• Intriguing Statement: “In my life, silence has been a teacher more profound than any words could ever be.”
• Quotation: “Einstein once said, ‘The only source of knowledge is experience.’ Now, looking back, I realize how profound that statement truly is.”
• Comparison or Metaphor: “If my life is a tapestry, then that summer was the vibrant thread that changed the entire pattern.”
• Narrative: “As the train pulled out of the station, I realized I wasn’t just leaving my hometown, I was leaving my old self behind.”
• Philosophical Statement: “In the theater of life, we are both the actor and the audience, playing our part and watching ourselves simultaneously.”
• Emotive Statement: “There is a sort of sweet sorrow in remembering, a joy tinged with a hint of sadness, like the last notes of a beautiful song.”

For an Argumentative Essay

Essay hooks for argumentative essays are often the hardest. This type of essay tends to require the most formal type of academic writing, meaning your hook shouldn’t use first person, and should be more based on fact and objectivity, often at the expense of creativity. Here are some examples.

• Quotation: “Thomas Jefferson once said, ‘Whenever the people are well-informed, they can be trusted with their own government.’ If Jefferson were alive today, he would likely feel that this meed for a well-informed citizenry is falling well short of where he would aspire.”
• Provocative Statement: “Despite what romantic films may portray, love at first sight is merely a myth perpetuated by society. This essay will prosecute the argument that love at first sight is a myth.”
• Statistical Fact: “According to the World Health Organization, depression is the leading psychological disability worldwide. Yet, mental health is still stigmatized and often overlooked. This essay will argue that depression should be seen as a health issue, and stigmatization of depression causes serious harm to society.”
• Comparison: “Much like an unchecked infection, climate change, if left ignored, can spread far beyond what it is today, causing long-term economic and social problems that may even threaten the longevity of humanity itself.”
• Contradiction : “While we live in an era of unprecedented technological advancements, millions around the world are still denied basic internet access.”
• Bold Declaration: “Animal testing is not only ethically unacceptable, but it also undermines the progress of medical research.”
• Challenging Belief: “Despite popular belief, the automation of jobs is not a threat but an opportunity for society to evolve.”
• Quotation: “George Orwell wrote in ‘1984’, ‘Big Brother is Watching You.’ In our modern society, with the advancement of technology, this is becoming more of a reality than fiction.”
• Intriguing Statement: “Despite countless diet fads and fitness trends, obesity rates continue to rise. This argumentative essay will argue that this is because medical practitioners’ approaches to health and weight loss are fundamentally flawed.”
• Statistical Fact: “Research reveals that over 90% of the world’s plastic waste is not recycled. This alarming figure calls for a drastic change in social attitudes towards consumption and waste management.”
• Challenging Assumption: “Society often assumes that progress and growth are intrinsically good, but this is not always the case in the realm of economic development.”
• Contradiction: “Western society upholds the value of freedom, yet every day, members of society cede personal liberties in the name of convenience and security.”
• Analogy: “Like an overplayed song, when a news story is repeated too often, it loses its impact. In the era of digital media, society is becoming desensitized to critical issues.”
• Relevant Anecdote: “In a village in India, the arrival of a single computer transformed the lives of the residents. This small anecdote underscores the importance of digital inclusion in today’s world.”
• Call to Rethink: “In a world where success is often equated with financial wealth, it is time for society to reconsidered what truly constitutes a successful life.”

For a Compare and Contrast Essay

A compare and contrast essay examines two issues, looking at both the similarities and differences between them. A good hook for a compare and contrast essay will immediately signal to the reader the subjects that are being compared and why they’re being compared. Here are sine ideas for hooks for a compare and contrast essay:

• Quotation: “As Charles Dickens wrote in his novel ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’. This could equally apply to the contrasting dynamics of urban and rural living.”
• Provocative Statement: “Despite popular belief, cats and dogs have more in common than society tends to think.”
• Comparison: “Comparing being an only child to growing up with siblings is like contrasting a solo performance with an orchestral symphony.”
• Contradiction: “While many view classic literature and contemporary fiction as worlds apart, they are more akin to two sides of the same coin.”
• Bold Declaration: “Android and iPhone may compete in the same market, but their philosophies could not be more different.”
• Statistical Fact: “Statistics show that children who grow up reading books tend to perform better academically than those who do not. But, the jury is out on how reading traditional books compares to reading e-books on screens.”
• Quotation: “As Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote, ‘Sooner or later, we all sit down to a banquet of consequences.’ This statement can be used to frame a comparison between short-term and long-term thinking.”
• Provocative Statement: “Democracy and dictatorship are often seen as polar opposites, but are they are not as different as they seem.”
• Comparison: “Climate change and plastic pollution are two major environmental issues, yet they demand different approaches and solutions.”
• Contradiction: “While traditional classrooms and online learning are seen as separate modes of education, they can often blend into a cohesive learning experience.”
• Bold Declaration: “Though both based on merit, the structures of capitalism and socialism lead to vastly different societal outcomes.”
• Imagery: “The painting styles of Van Gogh and Monet can be contrasted as a stormy sea versus a tranquil pond.”
• Historical Reference: “The philosophies of the Cold War-era – capitalism and communism – provide a lens to contrast economic systems.”
• Literary Comparison: “The dystopian societies portrayed in George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Aldous Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’ serve as contrasting visions of the future.”
• Philosophical Question: “Individualism and collectivism shape societies in distinct ways, but neither one can truly exist without the other.”

See Here for my Guide on Writing a Compare and Contrast Essay

For a Psychology Essay

Writing an engaging hook for a psychology essay involves sparking the reader’s interest in the human mind, behavior, or the specific psychology topic you’re discussing. Here are some stimulating hooks for a psychology essay:

• Rhetorical Question: “How much control do we truly have over our own actions?”
• Quotation: “Sigmund Freud once said, ‘Unexpressed emotions will never die. They are buried alive and will come forth later in uglier ways.’ This essay will explore whether this is universally true.”
• Provocative Statement: “Contrary to popular belief, ‘venting out’ anger might actually be fueling the fire of fury.”
• Comparison: “Just as an iceberg reveals only a fraction of its bulk above water, conscious minds may only be a small piece of who humans truly are.”
• Contradiction: “While it may seem counterintuitive, studies show that individuals who are more intelligent are also more likely to suffer from mental health issues.”
• Bold Declaration: “Despite advances in technology, understanding the human brain remains one of the final frontiers in science.”
• Statistical Fact: “According to a study by the American Psychological Association, nearly one in five adults in the U.S. lives with a mental illness. Yet, mental health continues to be a topic shrouded in stigma.”

For a Sociology Essay

Writing an engaging hook for a sociology essay involves sparking the reader’s interest in social behaviors, cultural phenomena, or the specific sociology topic you’re discussing. Here are ideas for hooks for a sociology essay:

• Quotation: “As Karl Marx once noted, ‘Social progress can be measured exactly by the social position of the fair sex.’ Sadly, society has not made much progress in gender equality.”
• Provocative Statement: “Social media, initially created to connect people, is ironically leading society into an era of unprecedented isolation.”
• Comparison: “Comparing society to a theater, where each individual plays a role, it is possible to start to see patterns and scripts embedded in daily interactions.”
• Contradiction: “While people often believe that technology is bringing society closer together, evidence suggests that it’s actually driving a wedge between people, creating ‘digital divides’.”
• Bold Declaration: “Human societies are constructed on deeply ingrained systems of inequality, often invisible to those benefiting from them.”
• Statistical Fact: “A recent study found that women still earn only 81 cents for every dollar earned by men. This stark wage gap raises questions about equality in the workforce.”

For a College Application Essay

A college essay is a personal statement where you can showcase who you are beyond your grades and resume. It’s your chance to tell your unique story. Here are ten potential hooks for a college essay:

• Anecdote: “At the age of seven, with a wooden spoon as my baton, I confidently conducted an orchestra of pots and pans in my grandmother’s kitchen.”
• Provocative Statement: “I believe that life is like a game of chess. The king might be the most important piece, but it’s the pawns that can change the entire course of the game.”
• Personal Revelation: “It wasn’t until I was lost in a foreign city, armed with nothing but a map in a language I didn’t understand, that I truly discovered my love for adventure.”
• Intriguing Question: “Have you ever wondered how it feels to be part of two completely different cultures, yet wholly belong to neither?”
• Bold Declaration: “Breaking a bone can be a painful experience. Breaking stereotypes, however, is an entirely different kind of challenge.”
• Unusual Fact: “I can recite the periodic table backwards while juggling three tennis balls. It’s a strange talent, but it’s a perfect metaphor for how I tackle challenges.”
• Quotation: “As Albert Einstein once said, ‘Imagination is more important than knowledge.’ This quote has defined my approach to learning.”
• Narrative: “It was a cold winter’s day when I first discovered the magic of turning a blank page into a world full of characters, stories, and ideas.”
• Metaphor: “Like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly, my high school years have been a period of profound metamorphosis.”
• Humorous Statement: “Being the youngest of five siblings, I quickly learned that the best way to be heard was to become the family’s unofficial lawyer.”

Conclusion: The Qualities of a Good Essay Hook

As I wrap up this article, I want to share a few last tips on qualities that a good essay hook should have. Keep these tips in mind when writing your essay hook and using the above essay hook examples:

First, relevance . A good hook should be directly relevant to the topic or theme of your essay. The hook should provide a preview of what’s to come without giving too much away.

Second, Intrigue. A great hook should make the reader want to continue reading. It should create a question in the reader’s mind or present a fascinating idea that they want to know more about.

Third, uniqueness. An effective hook should be original and unique. It should stand out from the many other essays that the reader might be going through.

Fourth, clarity. Even though a hook should be captivating and original, it should also be clear and easy to understand. Avoid complex sentences and jargon that might confuse the reader.

Fifth, genre conventions. Too often, my students try to be so creative in their essay hooks that they forget genre conventions . The more formal an essay, the harder it is to write the hook. My general approach is to focus on statistics and facts, and avoid rhetorical questions , with more formal essay hooks.

Keep in mind that you should run your essay hook by your teacher by showing them your first draft before you submit your essay for grading. This will help you to make sure it follows genre conventions and is well-written.

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 10 Elaborative Rehearsal Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ Maintenance Rehearsal - Definition & Examples
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ Piaget vs Vygotsky: Similarities and Differences
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 10 Conditioned Response Examples

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Good Hooks for Essays: 14 Hook Ideas with Examples

Now here’s the clue.

If you want to wow your teacher, polish the introduction. Add something interesting, funny, shocking, or intriguing. Good essay hooks help you build an emotional connection right from the start. Think of an essay hook as bait for your readers.

Our expert team has prepared numerous examples of hooks for essays. You’ll find hook examples for an argumentative essay, personal story, history essay, and other types of papers.

For 100% clarity, we provided examples using each hook tactic. And a short part about how to write a good hook.

• 💎 What Exactly Is a Hook & How to Write a Good One
• 📜 Examples of Classical Essay Hooks
• 💡 Try Some Informative Essay Hooks
• 🦄 Here are the Most Uncommon Essay Hooks

✅ Good Hooks for Essays: Bonus Tips

• 🔗 References for More Information

We highly recommend reading all the methods and examples, so you don’t have any questions.

💎 How to Write a Hook That Will Work for Your Essay?

The hook of your essay usually appears in the very first sentence.

The average length of an essay hook should be 3-7 sentences, depending on the topic.

But first, let’s quickly go through the key questions.

What Is an Essay Hook?

An essay hook (or narrative hook) is a literary technique that writers use to keep their readers engaged. It shows that the content below is worth reading.

The hook can have different lengths. Some writers make it last for several pages. Though, it better be a short paragraph or even a sentence.

Why Do You Need a Good Essay Hook?

Writing the right hook is essential for a few reasons:

• It heats up your readers’ interest. If you did it right, they read the whole piece.
• It shows off your skills . A right hook presents you as an expert in your field.
• It attracts target audience. Only the readers you want will keep reading.
• It keeps the tension on the right level. Use an intriguing question, and a reader dies to find out the answer.
• It makes a good introduction. Starting your essay off a boring fact is simply not a good idea.

How to Write a Good Hook: Ideas and Examples

Next, we will discuss these hook types in more detail. We’ll also provide essay hook examples of less common yet intriguing types: dialogue, story, contradiction, comparison, definition, metaphor, puzzle, announcement, and background information hooks.

💬 The Famous Quote Hook

Use a famous quote as a hook for your essay on history, literature, or even social sciences. It will present you as an established writer. It shows how knowledgeable you are and motivates the readers to engage in the text.

⬇️ Check out examples below ⬇️

Quote Hook Example: Political Science

Hilary Clinton once said that "there cannot be true democracy unless women's voices are heard." Which creates a discussion about how perfect democracy should look like. If it is a form of government that considers all opinions, why are women silenced so often even nowadays? The truth is that we need to ensure completely equal opportunities for women in politics before we talk about establishing the correct version of democracy. And even the most developed and progressive countries are still struggling to get to that level of equality. It can be achieved by various methods, even though they might only work in certain countries.

Social Sciences

"Ask not what your country can do for you – ask what you can do for your country." These words of wisdom from John Kennedy reflect the perspective we need to teach the younger generations. For some reason, it has become popular to blame the government for any problem arising in society. Is it their fault that we don't think about waste and keep trashing our home? Social responsibility is a real thing. The well-being of our countries starts with the actions of every separate individual. It is not entirely right to wait until the government fixes all the issues for us. The best strategy is to start thinking about what we can do as a community to make our home even a better place.

And excellent sources of quotes for you:

• Brainyquote.com – you can search quotes by topic or by author.
• Goodreads.com is not only a great collection of e-books but also quotes.
• Quoteland.com has plenty of brilliant words for all imaginable situations.
• Quotationspage.com – more than 30,000 quotations for unique essay hooks.

❓Rhetorical Question Essay Hooks

It doesn’t have to be rhetorical – any type of question addressed to your audience will do its job. Such a universal kind of hook can spike the interest of your readers immediately.

Some useful patterns of rhetorical questions:

• What could be more important than…?
• What if there was only one… (chance/day/hour)?
• Who wouldn’t like to… (be a cat/turn visitors into clients)?
• Why bother about… (inequality/imperfect education system)?
• Which is more important: … (making money or realizing potential)?

And more in examples:

Example of a Question Hook on Education

Wouldn't free access to education for everyone be wonderful? The answer would most likely be positive. However, it is not as simple as it seems. As much as the governments try to achieve this goal, there are still many uneducated people. On the bright side, in the era of technology, learning has never been so easy. Of course, some young adults just prefer the shortcut option of taking a student loan. Other ways are much more challenging and require a lot of responsibility and patience. Finding free educational resources online and gaining experience with the help of video tutorials might sound unprofessional. Still, you will be surprised how many experts hired in different fields only received this type of education.

Question Hook Example: Health

Is there anything that can help you lose weight fast? You have probably heard of this magical keto diet that is getting more and more popular worldwide. People claim that it helps them shred those excess pounds in unbelievably short terms. But how healthy is it, and does it suit anyone? The truth is that no diet is universal, and thanks to our differences, some weight-loss methods can even be harmful. Keto diet, for example, leads your body into the state of ketosis. What happens is that you don't receive carbohydrates, and in this state, fat is used as the primary source of energy instead them. However, it carries potential threats.

😂 Anecdotal Essay Hooks

This type would usually be more suitable for literary pieces or personal stories. So, don’t use it for formal topics, such as business and economics. Note that this hook type can be much longer than one sentence. It usually appears as the whole first paragraph itself.

It wouldn't be Kate if she didn't do something weird, so she took a stranger for her best friend this time. There is nothing wrong with it; mistakes like that happen all the time. However, during only five minutes that Kate spent with the stranger, she blabbed too much. Thinking that she sat down at the table that her friend took, Kate was so busy starting on her phone that she didn't notice that it wasn't her friend at all. Sure enough, the naive girl started talking about every little detail of her last night that she spent with her date. It was too much for the ears of an old lady. Kate realized she took the wrong table only when it was too late.

Literature (personal story)

Do not ever underestimate the power of raccoons! Those little furry animals that may look overly cute are too smart and evil. It only takes one box of pizza left outside your house by the delivery person for the disaster to begin. When they smell that delicious pizza, no doors can stop them. They will join the forces to find a hole in your house to squeeze into. Even if it's a window crack four feet above the ground, they know how to get to it. Using their fellow raccoons as the ladder, they get inside the house. They sneak into the kitchen and steal your pizza in front of your eyes and your scared-to-death dog. Not the best first day in the new home, is it? 

📈 Fact or Statistic Hook

Looking deeper into your essay topic, you might find some numbers that are quite amusing or shocking. They can serve as perfect hooks for economics- and business-oriented writings. Also, it is better if they are less known.

Business/social sciences

The UAE workforce is culturally diverse since around 20% of employees (usually called expatriates) come from different countries. Ex-pats tend to take managerial positions, which makes communication within companies quite tricky. The training focused on raising cultural awareness is getting more common, but such educational strategies as games (or gamification) are still rarely applied in the UAE companies. Yet, gamification was a useful tool in other places, making it an attractive UAE team building method. It can significantly help integrate ex-pats and create a more culturally aware environment.

Statistic Hook Example in Economics

The United Arab Emirate's debt has been rising drastically in past years, from about US$17 billion in 2003, which is almost 19 percent of GDP, to US$184 billion in 2009. Only a small proportion of the debt can be tracked directly to the public sector. A report by UBS bank shows that most of the debt comes from the corporate sector. Most of the companies that hold the main section of the debt are financial institutions. The public sector partly owns them. Banks in the UAE have been accumulating their debt amounts in the years mentioned above and could now account for 75 percent of the total foreign debt. The discussion is about the reasons why the UAE debt has been rising at an alarming rate.

Some good sources for statistics

• Finance.yahoo.com is perfect for business papers.
• Usa.gov/statistics is an easy-to-use governmental engine for searching data and stats.
• Unstats.un.org provides a massive collection of statistics published by UN organizations
• Oecd-ilibrary.org is the online library of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), featuring its books, papers, and statistics and is a gateway to the OECD’s analysis and data.

🤯 Shocking Facts are Very Good Hooks for Essays

Very similar to a statistical hook, a fact can serve as a perfect engaging introduction. Search your field for some shocking phenomenon and gently insert it in the beginning.

Don’t forget to include a reliable source reinforcing your words!

Fact Hook Example in Economics

Nowadays, much attention is paid to the problem of shark finning around the world. Millions of sharks are killed annually for their fins, and many of them are dropped back to the ocean finless, where they die because of suffocation. In many countries, the idea of shark finning remains illegal and unethical, but the possibility of earning huge money cannot be ignored (Dell'Apa et al. 151). Regarding available technologies, market economies, trade relations, and cheap employment, it does not take much time to organize special trips for shark hunting. The Trade of shark fins is alive and well developed in countries like the United States and China. However, the number of people who are eager to try shark fin soup has considerably decreased during the last several years because of the popularity of anti-shark fin soup campaigns and laws supported worldwide (Mosbergen). The situation continues to change in China.

Daniel Stacey and Ross Kelly observed that long lines and a new gray market trend for bigger screen phones marked Apple's new iPhones debut. As expected, new phone models drew Apple fans outside retail stores (Stacey and Kelly). Global critics, however, noted that this year's lines were generally longer relative to previous periods mainly because of the developing gray market for Apple products. The new Apple's iPhones have larger screens than the previous models. Also, they boast of improved battery life, faster processors, and an enhanced camera. Tim Cook called them "mother of all upgrades" (Stacey and Kelly).

Sources to look for reliable facts:

• Buzzfeed.com – news, videos, quizzes.
• Cracked.com – a website full of funny stuff, like articles, videos, pictures, etc.
• Webmd.com – an incredible collection of medical facts you will love.
• Livescience.com – discoveries hitting on a broad range of fields.
• National Geographic – needs no introduction.
• Mental Floss answers life’s big questions, a compilation of fascinating facts and incredible stories.

🗣️ Dialogue as a Catchy Hook for Essays

Dialogue is another type of hooks that goes perfectly with pieces of literature and stories. It can even make your short essay stand out if you include it at the beginning. But don’t forget that it only concerns specific topics such as literature and history.

Here it is:

Dialogue Hook Example in Literature

– Why did you do it? – I don't know anymore… That's why I'm leaving for a little bit right now. I need time to think.

With these words, Anna stepped back into the train car and waved goodbye to Trevor. She couldn’t even find the right words to explain why she ran away on her wedding day. It wasn’t that she didn’t love Trevor, but there was this deep, natural, and unexplored feeling that told her it wasn’t time yet. But the only thing Anna realized was that the city made her sick. That day, she took off her wedding dress, bought a ticket on the next flight leaving that afternoon, and hopped on the train taking her to the airport. She couldn’t even remember the country’s name she was going to so blurry everything was from her tears.

Dialogue Hook for History Essay

– If we still had inquisition, we could probably set him on fire. – Some dark magic, indeed, my friend! It would have probably been a real dialogue if we knew who was the first automobile inventor for sure. People were undoubtedly shocked to see the cars moving by themselves without horses. However, since they started appearing around the globe around the same time, it is almost impossible to identify who was the original creator of the idea and the first automobile itself. The credit was usually given to Karl Benz from Germany, who created a gasoline car in 1885-1886. But there are also much earlier records of a gentleman named Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, who built the first vehicle powered by steam in France in 1769.

🔮 A Story Looks Like an Extremely Good Essay Hook

A universal essay hook is a story. You can use this trick pretty much anywhere. The main challenge is to be as authentic as possible, try to tell something fresh and engaging. The more specific and narrow the story, the more chances for a successful introduction.

Story Hook Example for an Essay on Business

Dell started fast and strong. The original company was founded in 1984 when the founder was only a 19-year-old student at the University of Texas. Four years after the inception of the company, Michael Dell became the Entrepreneur of the Year. Eight years after he started the company from his dorm room's comfort, Dell was chosen as the Man of the Year by PC Magazine. […] The company was acknowledged as the world's leading direct marketer of personal computers. At the same time, Dell was known as one of the top five PC vendors on the planet (Hunger 9). […] However, the company's journey encountered a major hurdle down the road. Even after recovering from an economic recession in 2010, the company continued to experience declining sales.

🦚 Contradictory Statement – Queen of Good Hooks

Everybody loves to start an argument by contradicting some facts. Therefore, you simply need to add a controversial statement at the beginning of your essay. People of all ages and beliefs will not be able to stop reading it!

Challenging your readers works well for social sciences, business, and psychology topics.

Examples of contradictory statements essay hooks:

If you think being a manager is a calm and relatively easy task, try surviving on five cups of coffee, a sandwich, and two packs of cigarettes a day. You would rather believe that managers only walk around the office and give their staff orders, wouldn't you? Unfortunately, the reality is much harsher than such rainbowy dreams. The use of the internet in academic contexts is on the rise, and its role in learning is hotly debated. For many teachers who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. A whole set of personal qualities and professional skills must keep up with the successful strategic planning, assessment, and development. All the tasks the managers need to attend to are nerve-wracking and sometimes almost impossible to do. The stress from the demanding managerial position is often overlooked or underestimated.

Social sciences

Video games have been ruining our kids' lives and leading to an increase in crime. Since the gaming industry's development in recent years, the fear of its adverse effects on the younger generations' brains has become a significant concern. There is such a wide variety of games, ranging from educational to violent shooters and horrors. Almost immediately, caring parents jumped on the latter category, claiming that its impact is too significant and children become more aggressive and uncontrollable. Some supporters of this theory went even further. They decided to link real-life crimes to the effects of violent video games on child and adult behavior. However, as we will see later in this article, there is no or little scientific evidence supporting those ideas.

🔁 Vivid Comparison Essay Hook

Introducing your topic with an engaging, vivid comparison is a universal strategy. It is suitable for any kind of writing. The main idea is to grab your readers’ attention by showing them your unique perspective on the topic. Try to make the comparison amusing and exciting.

Comparison Essay Hook Options:

• Comparison with daily chores (e.g., Proofreading your essays is like cleaning your teeth.)
• Comparison with something everyone hates (e.g., Learning grammar is like going to the dentist.)
• Comparison with something everyone loves (e.g., John was happy like a child eating a free vanilla ice cream.)
• Comparison of modern and old-school phenomena (e.g., Modern email has much in common with pigeon post.)
• Funny comparison (e.g., Justin Bieber is the Michael Jackson of his time)

Check out examples:

Environment

For many people, flying feels like a dream come true. More and more people take their first-ever flight thanks to the rapidly developing aviation technologies. Aircraft and airports are advancing, and air traveling is getting cheaper. However, except for transporting eager travel addicted and business people, planes are used in other ways. It appears that the whole economies across the world depend on the effectiveness and efficiency of airlines. Import and export demand this kind of transportation to work at all times. Aviation development seems like a great thing. However, just like any other technological breakthrough, it comes with a price. Environmental issues did not wait too long to show up.

Social sciences/psychology

Leaving home for the first time as a freshman can only be compared to the level of stress you had in childhood when your mother left you in the line at the checkout for too long. Indeed, becoming a student and moving out of the parent's house comes with a great deal of stress. All the unknown that lies ahead makes youngsters too anxious. Then, the difficulties of financial planning and increased academic pressure come as additional sources of worries. However, it does not have to be such a negative experience. Particular techniques can help students overcome their stress related to the separation from their parents.

📄 Definitions = Easy & Good Hooks for Essays

Another versatile essay hook option is introducing a qualitative definition. Try to make it capacious, and don’t fall into verbal jungles. This narrative hook is perfect for short scientific papers where there is only one focus subject.

Business Ethics

White-collar crime refers to the peaceful offense committed with the intention of gaining unlawful monetary benefits. There are several white-collar crimes that can be executed. They include extortion, insider trading, money laundering, racketeering, securities fraud, and tax evasion. Enron Company was an American based energy company. It was the largest supplier of natural gas in America in the early 1990s. The company had a stunning performance in the 1990s. Despite the excellent performance, stakeholders of the company were concerned about the complexity of the financial statements. The company's management used the complex nature of the financial statements and the accounting standards' weaknesses to manipulate the financial records. The white-collar crime was characterized by inflating the asset values, overstating the reported cash flow, and failure to disclose the financial records' liabilities. This paper carries out an analysis of the Enron scandal as an example of white-collar crime as discussed in the video, The Smartest Guys in the Room.

Motivation is the act of influencing someone to take any action to achieve a particular goal (Montana& Chanov, 2008). Employees' motivation depends on the job's nature, the company's organizational culture, and personal characteristics. In this case study, various theories influence and show how employees can be motivated in the workplace.

📚 Metaphor Hook for Essays

Naturally, using a metaphor as a hook for your essay comes with some limitations. You should only use this type in literature and sometimes in psychology. However, it serves as a great attention grabber if it’s engaging enough.

Let’s see how you can use a metaphor:

When life gives you dirt, don't try to squeeze the juice out of it. It's better to leave it alone and let it dry out a bit. Kate decided to follow this philosophy since nothing else seemed to work. After the painful divorce process, last week's ridiculous work assignments and managing two kids alone almost drove her crazy. No polite discussions, arguing, or bribing helped take care of seemingly a million tasks these little women had to deal with. Even letting out the anger just like her phycologist recommended did not help much. Instead, Kate referred to the last remedy. She put all the issues aside with the hope that it would get better later.

The recipe is relatively easy – take a cup of self-respect, two cups of unconditional love, half a cup of good health, a pinch of new positive experiences, and mix it all for a perfect state of happiness! We all wish it would be possible, right? However, the mystery of this state of being happy is still unsolved. The concept and its perception considerably change depending on time and values. Happiness is so complicated that there is even no universal definition of it. Besides, humans are social creatures, so associating your level of success with others is not unusual. Therefore, being happy means achieving a certain level of several aspects.

🧩 Puzzle? Yes! Amazing Hook for Your Essay

Doesn’t a good riddle grab your attention? Sometimes you just want to find out the answer. The other times, you want to figure out how it is related to the topic. Such a hook would be great for writings on psychology and even economics or business.

Here are the examples:

How many Google office employees you need to destroy a box of fresh donuts? Google is indeed famous for some of the most accommodating and unique working places around the whole world. However, the success of the company does not only appear from treats for employees. It seems that the organizational culture has many effects on business decisions and overall performance. All the staff working in Google share the same visions and values, helping them cooperate and lead the company to success. However, there is one aspect to consider. The organizational culture needs to be adapted to the ever-changing business environment.

Who survives on dirt-like substance, is never joyful, and only returns to the cave to sleep? It sounds horrible, but the correct answer is human. Nowadays, the demands for any kind of workers are rising, which brings tremendous effects on people. As the number of duties increases, it is getting harder for employees not to chug on coffee and come back home in time for a family dinner. The work-life balance is disturbed, leading to anxiety, relationship issues, and even health problems. Social life appears to be as important as making money. Therefore, the correct distribution of time between personal life and work duties is necessary for happiness.

📢 Announcement Is Also a Good Essay Hook Option

Announcements could be suitable for literary pieces and historical essays.

Such a hook doesn’t have to be too long. It should be significant enough to persuade your readers to stick to your writing. Make sure it aligns with your topic as well.

Ways to use announcements as essay hooks:

It was a revolution! The Beatle's first song came out in 1962, and almost immediately, hordes of fans pledged their loyalty to this new band. Nearly all youngsters became obsessed with their music. No one can deny that the Beatles are still considered the creators of some of the best songs in history. However, the arrival of the British band influences culture as well. Many photos depict girls going crazy on live concerts and guys shaping their haircuts after the Beatles' members. The revolution that the band brought left an impact, evidence that we can still trace in modern British culture and music.

I will never go to Starbucks again! Oh, no, mind me. I love their coffee. At some point in my life, I even thought I had an addiction and had to ask my friends to watch my consumption of Pumpkin Spice Latte. Then, the wind of change turned everything upside down. On my usual Starbucks morning run, I noticed a homeless man holding a paper cup begging for money. At first, I didn't pay much attention since it's a usual occurrence in our area. However, one day, I recognized my old neighbor in him. The only cash I had on me, I usually spent on my cup of coffee, but I decided it was not much of a sacrifice. From that moment, I only showed up on that street to shove a few bucks into that poor guy's cup. One day, to my surprise, he talked to me.

ℹ️ Background Information Essay Hook

Last but not least, give background information on your subject to make a good intro. Such an essay hook is effortless and suitable for practically any paper. Try to find the most unobvious angle to the background information. At the same time, keep it short and substantive.

Here are the ways to use background information essay hooks:

Air Arabia is among the leading low-cost carriers in the global airline industry. The airline is mainly based at the Sharjah International Airport in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) (Air Arabia, 2012). The airline came into inception in 2003 after His Highness Dr. Sheik Mohammed Al Qassimi, the Ruler of Sharjah, issued an Emiri Decree. Later, Air Arabia was transformed into a limited liability company. For nearly a decade, Air Arabia has witnessed tremendous growth, resulting in increased fleet size and improved sales revenues. At the same time, Air Arabia has created a renowned brand that offers reliable and safe services (Dubai Media Incorporated, 2012). Air Arabia identifies itself as a low-cost carrier by providing low fares in the industry. Some of the key strengths of the airline include punctuality and safety. This aims to ensure that the airline serves its customers most efficiently by observing its safety requirements and adhering to the landing and takeoff schedules (De Kluyver, 2010).

Walmart was founded by Sam Walton in the Arkansas United States in 1962 as a grocery store. The company, which operates a chain of over 8,000 stores in fifteen countries, is estimated to employ over two million employees from diverse backgrounds. Wal-Mart was incorporated in 1969 and started trading in the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. […] Although the company can leave its consumers with a saving due to its low-price policy, it has faced some sharp criticisms over how it treats its employees and other stakeholders. Wal-Mart boasts of its ability to save its customers' money, an average of $950 per year. This, however, has been criticized as harming the community. Also, the feminists' activists have focused on Walmart's misconduct in offering low prices. (Fraedrich, Ferrell & Ferrell 440)

Now we won’t keep you for long. Let’s just go through simple points of essay hook writing.

Someone may think that you have to write your hook first. It comes first in the paper, right?

In reality, though, you can wait until your entire essay is nearly finished. Then go back and rewrite the very first paragraph. This way, you can have a fresh look at what you’ve written in the beginning.

Here’s a simple plan you can follow.

• First, write a basic version of your thesis statement.
• Then, provide supporting evidence for your thesis in every body paragraph.
• After that, reword your thesis statement and write your concluding paragraph.
• Finally, search for an attention-grabbing fact, statistic, or anything from the list above to serve as an engaging essay hook.

Add this essay hook to the beginning of your introduction. Make sure that your ideas still flow naturally into your thesis statement.

⚠️ Pro tip: choose various hooks and play around, adding each hook to your introduction paragraph. Like this, you can determine which one makes the most impressive beginning to your paper.

Some of your choices may sound interesting but may not lead to your essay’s main point. Don’t panic! Paper writing always involves trial and error. Just keep trying your essay hook ideas until one fits perfectly.

That’s it 😊

Good luck with your work!

🔗 References

• Hook – Examples and Definition of Hook
• How to Engage the Reader in the Opening Paragraph – BBC
• Hooks and Attention Grabbers; George Brown College Writing Centre
• Hook Examples and Definition; Literary Devices
• What Is a Narrative Hook? Video
• How to: Writing Hooks or Attention-Getting Openings-YouTube

Research Paper Analysis: How to Analyze a Research Article + Example

Film analysis: example, format, and outline + topics & prompts.

Thesis Statements

What this handout is about.

This handout describes what a thesis statement is, how thesis statements work in your writing, and how you can craft or refine one for your draft.

Introduction

Writing in college often takes the form of persuasion—convincing others that you have an interesting, logical point of view on the subject you are studying. Persuasion is a skill you practice regularly in your daily life. You persuade your roommate to clean up, your parents to let you borrow the car, your friend to vote for your favorite candidate or policy. In college, course assignments often ask you to make a persuasive case in writing. You are asked to convince your reader of your point of view. This form of persuasion, often called academic argument, follows a predictable pattern in writing. After a brief introduction of your topic, you state your point of view on the topic directly and often in one sentence. This sentence is the thesis statement, and it serves as a summary of the argument you’ll make in the rest of your paper.

What is a thesis statement?

A thesis statement:

• tells the reader how you will interpret the significance of the subject matter under discussion.
• is a road map for the paper; in other words, it tells the reader what to expect from the rest of the paper.
• directly answers the question asked of you. A thesis is an interpretation of a question or subject, not the subject itself. The subject, or topic, of an essay might be World War II or Moby Dick; a thesis must then offer a way to understand the war or the novel.
• makes a claim that others might dispute.
• is usually a single sentence near the beginning of your paper (most often, at the end of the first paragraph) that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation.

If your assignment asks you to take a position or develop a claim about a subject, you may need to convey that position or claim in a thesis statement near the beginning of your draft. The assignment may not explicitly state that you need a thesis statement because your instructor may assume you will include one. When in doubt, ask your instructor if the assignment requires a thesis statement. When an assignment asks you to analyze, to interpret, to compare and contrast, to demonstrate cause and effect, or to take a stand on an issue, it is likely that you are being asked to develop a thesis and to support it persuasively. (Check out our handout on understanding assignments for more information.)

How do I create a thesis?

A thesis is the result of a lengthy thinking process. Formulating a thesis is not the first thing you do after reading an essay assignment. Before you develop an argument on any topic, you have to collect and organize evidence, look for possible relationships between known facts (such as surprising contrasts or similarities), and think about the significance of these relationships. Once you do this thinking, you will probably have a “working thesis” that presents a basic or main idea and an argument that you think you can support with evidence. Both the argument and your thesis are likely to need adjustment along the way.

Writers use all kinds of techniques to stimulate their thinking and to help them clarify relationships or comprehend the broader significance of a topic and arrive at a thesis statement. For more ideas on how to get started, see our handout on brainstorming .

How do I know if my thesis is strong?

If there’s time, run it by your instructor or make an appointment at the Writing Center to get some feedback. Even if you do not have time to get advice elsewhere, you can do some thesis evaluation of your own. When reviewing your first draft and its working thesis, ask yourself the following :

• Do I answer the question? Re-reading the question prompt after constructing a working thesis can help you fix an argument that misses the focus of the question. If the prompt isn’t phrased as a question, try to rephrase it. For example, “Discuss the effect of X on Y” can be rephrased as “What is the effect of X on Y?”
• Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? If your thesis simply states facts that no one would, or even could, disagree with, it’s possible that you are simply providing a summary, rather than making an argument.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough? Thesis statements that are too vague often do not have a strong argument. If your thesis contains words like “good” or “successful,” see if you could be more specific: why is something “good”; what specifically makes something “successful”?
• Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? If a reader’s first response is likely to  be “So what?” then you need to clarify, to forge a relationship, or to connect to a larger issue.
• Does my essay support my thesis specifically and without wandering? If your thesis and the body of your essay do not seem to go together, one of them has to change. It’s okay to change your working thesis to reflect things you have figured out in the course of writing your paper. Remember, always reassess and revise your writing as necessary.
• Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? If a reader’s first response is “how?” or “why?” your thesis may be too open-ended and lack guidance for the reader. See what you can add to give the reader a better take on your position right from the beginning.

Suppose you are taking a course on contemporary communication, and the instructor hands out the following essay assignment: “Discuss the impact of social media on public awareness.” Looking back at your notes, you might start with this working thesis:

Social media impacts public awareness in both positive and negative ways.

You can use the questions above to help you revise this general statement into a stronger thesis.

• Do I answer the question? You can analyze this if you rephrase “discuss the impact” as “what is the impact?” This way, you can see that you’ve answered the question only very generally with the vague “positive and negative ways.”
• Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? Not likely. Only people who maintain that social media has a solely positive or solely negative impact could disagree.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough? No. What are the positive effects? What are the negative effects?
• Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? No. Why are they positive? How are they positive? What are their causes? Why are they negative? How are they negative? What are their causes?
• Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? No. Why should anyone care about the positive and/or negative impact of social media?

After thinking about your answers to these questions, you decide to focus on the one impact you feel strongly about and have strong evidence for:

Because not every voice on social media is reliable, people have become much more critical consumers of information, and thus, more informed voters.

This version is a much stronger thesis! It answers the question, takes a specific position that others can challenge, and it gives a sense of why it matters.

Let’s try another. Suppose your literature professor hands out the following assignment in a class on the American novel: Write an analysis of some aspect of Mark Twain’s novel Huckleberry Finn. “This will be easy,” you think. “I loved Huckleberry Finn!” You grab a pad of paper and write:

Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a great American novel.

You begin to analyze your thesis:

• Do I answer the question? No. The prompt asks you to analyze some aspect of the novel. Your working thesis is a statement of general appreciation for the entire novel.

Think about aspects of the novel that are important to its structure or meaning—for example, the role of storytelling, the contrasting scenes between the shore and the river, or the relationships between adults and children. Now you write:

In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore.

• Do I answer the question? Yes!
• Have I taken a position that others might challenge or oppose? Not really. This contrast is well-known and accepted.
• Is my thesis statement specific enough? It’s getting there–you have highlighted an important aspect of the novel for investigation. However, it’s still not clear what your analysis will reveal.
• Does my thesis pass the “how and why?” test? Not yet. Compare scenes from the book and see what you discover. Free write, make lists, jot down Huck’s actions and reactions and anything else that seems interesting.
• Does my thesis pass the “So what?” test? What’s the point of this contrast? What does it signify?”

After examining the evidence and considering your own insights, you write:

Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the true expression of American democratic ideals, one must leave “civilized” society and go back to nature.

This final thesis statement presents an interpretation of a literary work based on an analysis of its content. Of course, for the essay itself to be successful, you must now present evidence from the novel that will convince the reader of your interpretation.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Anson, Chris M., and Robert A. Schwegler. 2010. The Longman Handbook for Writers and Readers , 6th ed. New York: Longman.

Lunsford, Andrea A. 2015. The St. Martin’s Handbook , 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.

Ramage, John D., John C. Bean, and June Johnson. 2018. The Allyn & Bacon Guide to Writing , 8th ed. New York: Pearson.

Ruszkiewicz, John J., Christy Friend, Daniel Seward, and Maxine Hairston. 2010. The Scott, Foresman Handbook for Writers , 9th ed. Boston: Pearson Education.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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How to Write a Good Thesis Introduction: The Hook

How do you write a good introduction such that your readers will read the rest of your paper? You need to have a good hook. What is a hook and how is it used? This article explains this concept and provides an example.

After reading a lot of articles, essays, narrations, accounts, among other things, I would say I have had a good deal of experience to say how good introductions must be written. I say this not only in reference to writing a thesis, but for any other composition for that matter.

I encountered many tips on how to write introductions. All those tips make sense, but the bottom line of it all is that the one concerned has to develop his or her own style of writing the introduction. A common goal is such that the reader of the introduction should be able to thoroughly understand and appreciate what the researcher wants to do.

So, what really matters in writing the introduction, in this case, to be specific – the thesis introduction? I’m fond of simplifying things so I set forth the vital elements of a good introduction based on introductions I have read that catch my attention. I will start with those elements that really matter. Foremost among those that researchers must consider in writing the introduction is how to write a good “hook.”

How to Write a Good Hook

Have you ever read something that holds your attention after reading just a few lines of words? Things that push you to read on to find out what’s next?  And even read it all the way to the end?

If that’s the case, then you’re hooked! You have read an introduction that has a good “hook.” The “hook” is the writer’s way to attract your attention. It’s not an empty hook. It is something that pulls you around to follow what the author wants you to follow closely, i.e., without you consciously knowing that you were captivated by what you have just read.

Well, how do you write a good “hook?” It’s a matter of style. You can start with something that’s intriguing or an issue that is timely and appealing to people so that they would want to know more about it.

Examples are good ways to demonstrate how things work so here is an example of a “hook” just to give you an idea to help you get started. This is about a true case that occurred about a decade ago. I often use this example in my environmental science class to illustrate the link between the use of pesticides and human health.

Example of a Good Hook

Here is an example of how a good hook should be written:

The high rate of albinism among newly born babies in a mango-growing community alarmed concerned government agencies. A task force from the Department of Health was dispatched to the area to find out the reason behind the occurrence of such condition. Initial queries among the affected families revealed that all mothers who gave birth to albinos ate young mangoes while they were pregnant. Is there something wrong with the mangoes? The group explored further and tried to see if mango consumption is a good lead to undertake an investigation. They asked questions about anything related to mango production.

Several key informants noted that the abnormality started to occur since the mango farmers switched to a new pesticide formula introduced by a well-known manufacturer of consumer chemicals to their community. Is there something in the new pesticide that caused albinism among children in the recent years?

After this hook, you may then proceed and introduce what you intend to do to verify if indeed there is a link between pesticides and albinism.

Don’t you think the above account will spark your curiosity to go on and read what’s next? Well, I hope you do agree with me because the reason there was a high rate of albinism is quite interesting. What did the researchers find in the more rigorous investigation that followed the scoping or exploratory survey ?

To cut the story short, the culprit of albinism among children are the contaminated young, green mangoes which pregnant mothers crave to eat while conceiving. In our local vernacular, we call this “paglilihi sa hilaw na mangga.” As a result, mothers consume mangoes laced with pesticide, which, incidentally, has an ingredient that prevents the production of melanin. Melanin is a natural substance produced by the body that gives color to hair, skin, and the iris of the eye. It is produced by cells in the skin called melanocytes.

Now, that’s something that will make you think. If you are quite mindful of your health and consume lots of fruits and/or vegetables, you need to make sure that those are free of pesticides that can be harmful to your health. It is disturbing to know that many of the common fruits and veggies that we eat have pesticide residues in them.

Is this a good hook for writing a good introduction? Did it spark your curiosity to know more? Write your thoughts below.

© 2014 March 1 P. A. Regoniel

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About the author, patrick regoniel.

Dr. Regoniel, a faculty member of the graduate school, served as consultant to various environmental research and development projects covering issues and concerns on climate change, coral reef resources and management, economic valuation of environmental and natural resources, mining, and waste management and pollution. He has extensive experience on applied statistics, systems modelling and analysis, an avid practitioner of LaTeX, and a multidisciplinary web developer. He leverages pioneering AI-powered content creation tools to produce unique and comprehensive articles in this website.

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Guide to Writing Introductions and Conclusions

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First and last impressions are important in any part of life, especially in writing. This is why the introduction and conclusion of any paper – whether it be a simple essay or a long research paper – are essential. Introductions and conclusions are just as important as the body of your paper. The introduction is what makes the reader want to continue reading your paper. The conclusion is what makes your paper stick in the reader’s mind.

Introductions

Your introductory paragraph should include:

1) Hook:  Description, illustration, narration or dialogue that pulls the reader into your paper topic. This should be interesting and specific.

2) Transition: Sentence that connects the hook with the thesis.

3) Thesis: Sentence (or two) that summarizes the overall main point of the paper. The thesis should answer the prompt question.

The examples below show are several ways to write a good introduction or opening to your paper. One example shows you how to paraphrase in your introduction. This will help you understand the idea of writing sequences using a hook, transition, and thesis statement.

» Thesis Statement Opening

This is the traditional style of opening a paper. This is a “mini-summary” of your paper.

For example:

» Opening with a Story (Anecdote)

A good way of catching your reader’s attention is by sharing a story that sets up your paper. Sharing a story gives a paper a more personal feel and helps make your reader comfortable.

This example was borrowed from Jack Gannon’s The Week the World Heard Gallaudet (1989):

Astrid Goodstein, a Gallaudet faculty member, entered the beauty salon for her regular appointment, proudly wearing her DPN button. (“I was married to that button that week!” she later confided.) When Sandy, her regular hairdresser, saw the button, he spoke and gestured, “Never! Never! Never!” Offended, Astrid turned around and headed for the door but stopped short of leaving. She decided to keep her appointment, confessing later that at that moment, her sense of principles had lost out to her vanity. Later she realized that her hairdresser had thought she was pushing for a deaf U.S. President. Hook: a specific example or story that interests the reader and introduces the topic.

Transition: connects the hook to the thesis statement

Thesis: summarizes the overall claim of the paper

» Specific Detail Opening

Giving specific details about your subject appeals to your reader’s curiosity and helps establish a visual picture of what your paper is about.

» Open with a Quotation

Another method of writing an introduction is to open with a quotation. This method makes your introduction more interactive and more appealing to your reader.

» Open with an Interesting Statistic

Statistics that grab the reader help to make an effective introduction.

» Question Openings

Possibly the easiest opening is one that presents one or more questions to be answered in the paper. This is effective because questions are usually what the reader has in mind when he or she sees your topic.

Source : *Writing an Introduction for a More Formal Essay. (2012). Retrieved April 25, 2012, from http://flightline.highline.edu/wswyt/Writing91/handouts/hook_trans_thesis.htm

Conclusions

The conclusion to any paper is the final impression that can be made. It is the last opportunity to get your point across to the reader and leave the reader feeling as if they learned something. Leaving a paper “dangling” without a proper conclusion can seriously devalue what was said in the body itself. Here are a few effective ways to conclude or close your paper. » Summary Closing Many times conclusions are simple re-statements of the thesis. Many times these conclusions are much like their introductions (see Thesis Statement Opening).

» Close with a Logical Conclusion

This is a good closing for argumentative or opinion papers that present two or more sides of an issue. The conclusion drawn as a result of the research is presented here in the final paragraphs.

» Real or Rhetorical Question Closings

This method of concluding a paper is one step short of giving a logical conclusion. Rather than handing the conclusion over, you can leave the reader with a question that causes him or her to draw his own conclusions.

» Close with a Speculation or Opinion This is a good style for instances when the writer was unable to come up with an answer or a clear decision about whatever it was he or she was researching. For example:

» Close with a Recommendation

A good conclusion is when the writer suggests that the reader do something in the way of support for a cause or a plea for them to take action.

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How to Write an Explanatory Essay

• Smodin Editorial Team
• Published: May 24, 2024

A study from the English Language Teaching Educational Journal found that students encounter difficulty in organizing thoughts, generating ideas, and understanding writing processes when writing essays [1]. These are all key components of putting together a good explanatory essay. If this sounds like you, then don’t worry.

With the right approach, you can seamlessly combine all these components. This guide will give you a simple step-by-step strategy for writing an explanatory essay. It’ll also give you handy writing tips and tool suggestions, like utilizing artificial intelligence.

With this guide, you’ll be able to write an explanatory essay with confidence.

1. Develop a strong thesis statement

Crafting a strong thesis statement is the cornerstone of any well-written explanatory essay. It sets the stage for what your essay will cover and clarifies the main point you’re going to explain. Here’s how to create a thesis:

• Find the main idea : Start by pinpointing the key concept or question you want to explain. Develop a clear purpose for the essay. This will guide your research and writing process for your explanatory paper. Use other reputable explanatory essay examples to guide your ideas. This may involve exploring other explanatory essay topics within the same field.
• Be specific : A vague thesis can confuse readers. So, make sure your statement is clear. If you’re explaining a complex process, break it down to its key points. After that, break it into a clear, concise statement that’s easy to understand.
• Reflect objectivity : Explanatory essays educate and inform. They do not argue a point. So, your thesis should take an unbiased stance on the topic. It should present the facts as they are, not as you interpret them.
• Use tools like the Smodin Writer : Smodin Writer does all the heavy lifting by leveraging the power of artificial intelligence. With it, you can generate an essay with a thesis statement. How, you ask? Through its dedicated thesis generator . It can create a statement that’s both strong and relevant. Plus, it can pull in all the most interesting information based on your topic to further enrich your thesis statement.

Make your thesis clear, informative, and neutral. This sets a strong foundation for an effective explanatory essay. Next, let’s look at how to gather the information you’ll need to support this thesis effectively.

2. Research and gather information

You need to conduct thorough research that will back your thesis with credible sources and relevant evidence. This will make your explanatory essay both informative and persuasive. Here’s a step-by-step guide to conducting effective research:

• Start with a plan: Put together an explanatory essay outline that includes the information you need to support your thesis. The plan should list the best sources, like academic journals, books, reputable websites, or scholarly articles.
• Use credible sources: They ensure the accuracy of your essay. Libraries, academic databases, and certified websites are excellent places to find trustworthy information.
• Seek detailed information: Look for the most current sources that explain your topic well and provide unique insights related to or opposing your thesis statement. This depth is crucial for explaining complex ideas clearly and thoroughly in your explanatory papers. Pay attention to the explanatory essay structure to guide your topic of choice (more on this later).
• Gather relevant evidence: Collect data, stats, and examples. They should directly support your main points. Make sure this evidence is directly related to your topic and enhances your narrative.
• Employ digital tools: Tools like Smodin’s Research Assistant can accelerate your research process. Smodin’s tools can help you find detailed information quickly, ensuring that the data you use is up-to-date and relevant.
• Document your sources: As you conduct research, keep a meticulous record of where your information comes from. This practice will help you make an accurate bibliography. It can save you time when you need to refer back to details or verify facts. Again, this is something that’s covered thanks to Smodin’s Citation Machine.
• Evaluate your findings: Critically assess the information you collect. Ensure it provides a balanced view and covers the necessary aspects of your topic to give a comprehensive overview of your essay.

By following these steps, you can gather a rich pool of information that provides a strong backbone for your explanatory essay. Now, you can start structuring your findings into well-organized body paragraphs.

3. Structure body paragraphs

Once you’ve gathered relevant evidence through thorough research, it’s time to organize it. You should put it into well-structured body paragraphs that follow a logical flow. Here’s how to structure each body paragraph for a strong explanatory essay:

• Decide how many paragraphs to use : It will depend on your topic’s complexity and the needed detail. Typically, three to five paragraphs are suitable, but longer essays may require more. An explanatory essay example on your topic of choice will be helpful.
• Start with a topic sentence : Each body paragraph should begin with a clear topic sentence that introduces the main idea of the paragraph. This sentence will act as a roadmap for the paragraph, giving the reader a sense of what to expect.
• Provide supporting evidence : After the topic sentence, share the evidence from your research. Ensure the evidence is relevant and directly supports the paragraph’s topic sentence.
• Give a detailed explanation : Follow the evidence with an analysis or explanation that ties it back to the thesis statement. This step is crucial for maintaining logical flow throughout your body paragraphs.
• Use linking words : They connect body paragraphs smoothly, ensuring the reader can follow your argument.
• End each body paragraph with a closing sentence : It should sum up the point and move to the next idea.

Following this structure will help your body paragraphs support your thesis. These paragraphs will also offer a clear, detailed explanation of your essay topic. Strong body paragraphs are essential to maintain objectivity in your writing.

4. Maintain objectivity

An explanatory essay aims to inform and educate, which makes maintaining objectivity crucial. Staying neutral lets readers form their own opinions based on facts. This ensures the writing is both reliable and informative. Here’s how to maintain objectivity:

• Avoid personal opinions: Your goal is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the topic. Refrain from injecting your personal opinion or biases. Instead, stick to presenting factual information that supports the thesis.
• Use relevant evidence: As mentioned, ground your arguments with relevant evidence from credible sources. Back up your main points with data and use research findings and verified details. This will make the explanatory article trustworthy.
• Provide a balanced view: In cases with multiple perspectives, offer a balanced view. Cover each side fairly. Even if one view prevails in consensus, acknowledging others gives readers a broader understanding.
• Adopt neutral language: Be careful with word choice and tone. Neutral language implies words that don’t encourage or illustrate bias. This helps avoid emotionally charged phrases and keeps the writing objective.
• Cite sources accurately: Proper citation of sources provides accountability for the evidence presented. This transparency builds credibility and shows you’ve conducted research thoroughly. It’s also worth noting that different intuitions have different citation styles like APA and Chicago, which is important to note before starting your essay.
• Review for biases: After drafting your essay, review it with an eye for biases. Ensure no part leans too much on one viewpoint. And, don’t dismiss an opposing perspective without cause.

Maintaining objectivity enhances the clarity and reliability of explanatory writing. Let’s now focus on crafting an introduction and conclusion that bookend your work effectively.

5. Craft an effective introduction and conclusion

A good introduction and a strong conclusion frame your explanatory essay. They give context at the start and reinforce the main points at the end. Here’s how to craft an effective introduction and conclusion.

In the introduction:

• Hook your reader in the introduction : Use an interesting fact, a compelling quote, or a surprising statistic.
• Provide background information : Be brief and offer only the essential context the reader needs to fully understand the topic. This should give the audience a foundational understanding before diving deeper into your main points.
• Include the thesis statement : Clearly state your thesis near the end of the introduction. This statement will outline the essay’s direction and give readers a preview of the body paragraphs.

In the conclusion:

• Summarize the key points : Start your explanatory essay conclusion with a summary. It should cover the main points from the body paragraphs. This summary should help readers recall and reinforce the information they’ve just read.
• Restate the thesis : Repeat your thesis again but in a new way. Explain how the evidence from the body paragraphs supported or clarified it.
• Provide a conclusion : End the essay with a statement that wraps up the argument. This statement should resonate with the reader. It should leave them with an impression that stresses the topic’s importance.

An effective introduction and conclusion give the essay structure and coherence. They guide readers from start to finish. The next step is revising and editing your entire essay for clarity and precision.

6. Revise and check clarity

Revising and editing are key in writing. They make sure your essay is clear, joined, and polished. Here’s how to refine your writing using an explanatory essay checklist and proven academic writing techniques:

• Take a break: Before diving into revisions, step away from your essay for a few hours or even a day. This break will help you return with fresh eyes, making it easier to spot errors or inconsistencies.
• Follow an essay checklist: Create or use a checklist to ensure your essay has all the needed parts. It needs a strong intro with a clear thesis, well-structured body paragraphs, good sources, and a short conclusion. Check that your arguments follow a logical flow and that all relevant evidence is directly linked to your thesis statement.
• Check for clarity and conciseness: Academic writing needs clarity. So, make sure each paragraph and sentence conveys your point. Don’t use unnecessary jargon or overly complex language. Keep sentences concise while maintaining detailed explanations of your main points.
• Verify facts and citations: Make sure all facts, data, and quotes in the essay are accurate. Also, check that they are cited in the required academic style (e.g. MLA, APA). Improper citations can undermine the credibility of your writing.
• Review the grammar and style: Look for common grammar mistakes, punctuation errors, and awkward phrasing. Reading the essay aloud can help catch odd sentence structures or confusing wording.
• Seek feedback: Share your essay with a peer or use online tools to get constructive criticism. A second perspective can highlight issues you might have missed.

These editing steps will help you produce a polished essay that clearly explains your main points and holds up to academic scrutiny.

Explanatory Essay Format

Understanding the explanatory essay format is key to a well-structured and logical paper. Here’s a basic breakdown of the format for an explanatory essay:

Introduction paragraph

• Begin with an interesting sentence to capture the reader’s attention.
• Give a short intro. It should set the topic and outline the essay’s purpose.
• Present a clear thesis statement summarizing the main idea of the entire essay.

Body paragraphs

• Organize the body paragraphs around logical subtopics related to the essay topic.
• Start each body paragraph with a topic sentence that aligns with the thesis.
• Show evidence from good sources. Also, give key details for each main point.
• Incorporate a robust concluding statement per paragraph that drives home your point and links to the ideas in the next paragraph/section.
• Summarize the key points.
• Provide a final statement that reinforces the main idea without introducing new information.
• Craft a concluding statement that leaves your teacher or professor with a lasting impression.

Following this essay outline ensures that your paper has a clear flow. This makes it easy for readers to understand and follow your argument.

Write Better Explanatory Essays With Smodin

Explanatory essays can be overwhelming. Presenting a solid argument, keeping your professor or teacher interested, and remembering conventions like citations can be a real headache.

But, a strong thesis and thorough research make them easier. Well-structured body paragraphs also help deliver a clear, insightful essay that maintains objectivity. Just remember to revise and check for accuracy!

AI-powered platforms like Smodin simplify and enhance the process of writing explanatory essays.

Smodin’s tools help craft clear and well-structured essays that meet any of your academic standards. With Smodin’s advanced research capabilities, you can gather detailed and relevant information quickly. This will save you time and improve your work.

• Plagiarism Checker : Ensure your essay maintains originality with Smodin’s plagiarism detection tool. This feature helps maintain academic integrity by checking your work against vast databases.
• Auto Citation : Cite your sources accurately without the hassle. Smodin’s auto-citation tool ensures your references are in the right format and meet your academic institution’s rules.
• Text Shortener : If your explanatory essay is too long, use Smodin’s AI writer as an essay shortener. It will help you cut your content without losing key details. This helps keep your essay clear and relevant.
• Text Rewriter : Helps paraphrase existing content, ensuring uniqueness and a fresh perspective.
• Summarizer : The Summarizer boils down long articles into short summaries. They are perfect for making an efficient outline or conclusion.

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A Conservative Futurist and a Supply-Side Liberal Walk Into a Podcast …

Could the u. s. economy be twice as large today if it hadn’t made policy mistakes in the 1970s.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

From New York Times Opinion, this is “The Ezra Klein Show.”

I don’t know if y’all were fans growing up of the show “The Jetsons,” but if you were and if you were super fan enough to take the internal math of the show seriously, George Jetson was supposed to have been born in 2022. He would be a toddler right now. And the world we live in, the world my toddlers are growing up in, it does not feel like it is a world on path to the future the Jetsons imagined, a future that a lot of people in the 1960s thought was totally plausible by the 2020s, 2030s, 2040s, 2050s.

So what happened that got us off of that track? Not just the real track, but the imaginary track? Another way of asking this question, a question that’s come up a lot in the book I’m writing about how liberalism changed and why it’s become so difficult to build is, what happened in the 1970s?

The ‘70s are this breakpoint between one era in our economy and our government and our society and our vision for the future and the next. The ‘70s are when economic inequality really begins rising, when the environmental movement takes off, when a huge amount of legislation is passed in response to the harms of all the building and growth that had happened since the New Deal.

But there’s this tendency to look at the places that legislation goes too far and to say, well, if we hadn’t made all these dumb mistakes, everything would be great. We’d be richer. We’d have our moon colonies and our flying cars and our nuclear energy. We would have made it to Jetsons land.

But then why did no other country take that path? To just wipe away the politics and the passions that led to the backlash against certain forms of growth and technology in a lot of different countries is to miss something important, something that anybody who cares about growth is going to need to understand, if we’re not just going to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Jim Pethokoukis is a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute. He’s the author of the technology-focused Substack, Faster, Please! and of the recent book, “The Conservative Futurist.” And one thing I’ve noticed is there are ways in which I feel like he and I are asking a lot of the same questions, but from very different ideological positions. So I wanted to see where our stories converge and where they differ and what happened to the world of the Jetsons. As always, my email, [email protected].

Jim Pethokoukis, welcome to the show.

Thanks so much for having me on.

So I wanna begin this conversation in the early ‘70s. Things change in the U.S. economy on any number of charts. You begin to see something happen to the line. What are some of those changes?

The most obvious change, at least especially from an economics point of view, is that the sort of rapid productivity growth that we saw in the previous couple of decades that economists and other experts in the ‘60s thought was going to be a permanent state of affairs slowed down. And other than, really, the late ‘90s or early 2000s, it’s been in that sort of weaker state. And it’s one of the great, still, conundrums for economists.

I mean, economists still, less so now, would have debates about what caused the Great Depression. And to me, this downshift, what I call in my book, “the great downshift in productivity growth,” is as significant as that because of we’re not where we could be if it hadn’t.

So if it had kept growing since the ‘70s, as it did in the couple decades before, what would the US economy look like? What would the median household income look like?

Bigger, more, multiples more, and that was the expectation. So instead of having a $25 trillion economy, depending on how you want to slice the numbers, it could be twice as big, it could be three times as big. So I don’t know. I mean, I think conservatively, instead of the median family making $80,000 adjusted for inflation, maybe they make $150,000. I mean, it’s pretty significant.

What that economy would look like? Well, listen, to grow that fast, it would be driven by technological progress. And that’s what people expected in those immediate postwar decades. So all the sort of the kind of classic, retro, Jetsons kind of sci-fi things that people imagined back then, it wasn’t just sort of cartoons and films. Experts, technologists, CEOs, economists all expected that kind of stuff to actually happen.

So nuclear power and everything, nuclear reactors from coast to coast. We would probably have, colonies on the moon and Mars. Cures to diseases, which seem like chronic diseases, which we still battle, would be cured.

All of that together would be part of this grand future, driven by rapid, technological progress, which drives faster productivity growth, which drives faster economic growth. If there’s one lesson of the pandemic, is, people don’t like suffering and shortages, so we better figure out a different way. I see the only path forward is through growth and technology and making that work.

What is your theory, though, of what happened in the ‘70s? What do you see as the contributors to this slowdown?

I think, certainly, it was probably multi-causal. One reason I wrote the book, to be honest, is a paper, a paper by an economist named Ray Fair from Yale University who noticed something weird happened around the ‘70s. He wasn’t focused on productivity growth, but he looked at infrastructure spending as a share of total economic spending. And he looked at what was going on with the budget, where we started to begin to run smaller surpluses and run budget deficits around 1970.

And he asked the exact same question that you’re asking. So, like, what happened? Because from those two statistics, he began to wonder like, that, to me, seems like a society that’s less future oriented than it used to be. You tended to see it more in the United States than in other places.

So what are your theories?

Listen, I’m not going to create a brand new theory. Was it just that all of the great inventions, the internal combustion engine, electrification of factories, and all those great inventions of the second kind of phase, Industrial Revolution, we had kind of squeezed all the sort of productivity gains out of those, and they weren’t replaced by another wave of great inventions? I mean, that’s a theory.

I mean, another theory is just that as we’ve advanced in science technology, it’s just harder to climb that tree of knowledge and come up with more big ideas. And it requires more people and resources. All of that is probably true. But our decisions mattered. And there are things that we did, which hurt. And I hope we can reverse some of those things because that would help.

And I think the two, I think, screamingly obvious things that we stopped doing is we stopped spending on science, research, and development, the way we did in the 1960s, and we began to regulate our economy as if regulation would have no impact on innovation.

What’s your causal theory of why we did that?

I think a lot of that was because of NASA, and we won the space race. And there just wasn’t an interest in continuing that. OK, so that’s sort of the immediate short-term explanation.

So much of that was really just NASA? Because I think of the R&D surge as the Cold War.

And the Soviet Union was going strong in the ‘70s.

Right, Soviet Union was going strong. But we had clearly won that space race. And while we’ve continued to spend a lot of money on R&D as a share of the economy, it’s a lot less than what it used to be. That’s not surprising that perhaps there was a shift in priorities. People did begin worrying about budgets back then.

And the regulation part to me also sort of isn’t surprising. When countries become wealthier, they tend to care a lot more about the downsides of economic growth. There are books, like “Silent Spring,” and some events, like the Santa Barbara oil spill. We began learning more about the radiation from Hiroshima and worrying about nuclear. So that is not surprising that we started to pass environmental regulation.

What is surprising is that when it became clear that the economy was not re-accelerating the way they thought, that there was not more of a holistic effort to change that, to not give up on those expectations that people had in the 1960s.

So I’ve been, for my own book, thinking a lot about the ‘70s and looking a lot at the politics of the ‘70s. And from where we sit now, we think of environmentalism as a liberal thing, right? The environmentalists are greens, they’re Democrats. And I ran into this quote that Richard Nixon gives in his 1970 State of the Union that I think gives a good flavor of how different the politics had become. So I want to play that here.

The great question of the ‘70s is, shall we surrender to our surroundings, or shall we make our peace with nature and begin to make reparations for the damage we have done to our air, to our land, and to our water?

Restoring nature to its natural state is a cause beyond party and beyond factions. It has become a common cause of all the people of this country. It is a cause of particular concern to young Americans because they, more than we, will reap the grim consequences of our failure to act on programs which are needed now if we are to prevent disaster later.

Clean air, clean water, open spaces — these should once again be the birthright of every American. If we act now, they can be. We still think of air as free, but clean air is not free, and neither is clean water. The price tag on pollution control is high. Through our years of past carelessness, we incurred a debt to nature. And now that debt is being called.

What do you think when you hear that?

I think that’s exactly what I would expect to hear for a country that has gone through a period of industrialization and economic growth, where people had become rich enough that the immediate sort of material concerns could be balanced off with other kinds of concerns, such as the water they’re drinking, the air we’re breathing. Is it worth losing a little bit of growth — maybe — to deal with that? So, that doesn’t surprise me. And as you know, some of the key environmental legislation we still have happened under the Nixon administration.

A huge amount of it. I mean, I think you can make a very good case Nixon is the most consequential environmentalist president of the 20th century.

But did people back then assume that what they were doing, with that environmental legislation, was making it very difficult to build the kind of future they had imagined heading into the 1970s. I don’t think they did. I believe they thought that the economy was so strong and that technological progress, the momentum was so tremendous that we could have cleaner air and water and still have everything else.

The people who voted for, for instance, the National Environmental Policy Act, most people thought that was just kind of a good mom and pop and baseball and apple pie piece of legislation. Hey, who doesn’t want cleaner water? That’s all what we’re doing here. I don’t think anyone imagined that then it would make it hard to build a factory that makes wind turbines in the year 2024.

Well, what’s the evidence that that raft of environmental legislation, the National Environmental Policy Act you mentioned, the Endangered Species Act — we have Clean Air Acts, Clean Water Acts — a lot of them work really well. We really do clean up the air, the water. I mean, I grew up in Los Angeles, or outside Los Angeles. The smog is much better today than when I was growing up.

Sure. You can see the mountains sometimes.

You can see the mountains. What is the evidence that that is as causal in the slowdown of productivity as you’re putting it here?

After the space age, after Apollo. We didn’t follow it with anything, right? One thing we — Nixon thought about following it with was building nuclear reactors, 1,000 nuclear reactors from coast to coast. Would it have been possible to build 1,000 nuclear reactors from coast to coast with the emerging regulatory regime that was beginning to happen? Absolutely not. Absolutely not.

And it became obvious, even in the early ‘70s, that there was a problem, that there was a problem that was becoming harder to build. That was the case with the Alaska pipeline. It became — again, you’re too young to remember this, but it was a running joke in the United States in the 1970s that they could not build a new dam in Tennessee because of a tiny little fish called the snail darter.

And that fish was preventing — that fish that no one — you could barely see it, and nobody knew about it. You couldn’t build that dam because that was the Endangered Species Act. I think the weight of those kind of incidents, the weight of the academic studies I cite in my book — have there been studies looking at how much it costs to build a highway?

And does NEPA, the National Environmental Policy Act, does it make it more expensive? Does it make it harder to build? Yes, and I think if you just look around right now, I don’t think it’s a tremendous leap of imagination to think that if it makes it very difficult to build a transmission line, a nuclear power plant — where are the nuclear power plants? I mean, it’s like the dog that didn’t bite. Where are they?

So let’s talk about nuclear here, because nuclear is interesting to me because I basically agree with you —

OK, do you not think that NEPA had a material impact?

I don’t think there’s any doubt that the totality of environmental and regulatory bills passed in the ‘70s slows growth, or a different way to put it is, makes it hard to build. I mean, it’s a big part of the work I’m doing right now. At the same time, when you’re trying to measure or try to understand what has happened to total factor productivity, I think this case is a little harder to make than people want it to be for a couple of reasons.

But I’ll give you one here. Let’s take nuclear. I am 100 percent on board with the idea that we’ve made it much too hard to build and iterate nuclear technology in this country. On the other hand, there is no country anywhere that is living in the nuclear topia that nuclear advocates are always telling me was possible. There are countries that use much more nuclear energy than we do, France being a great example, but France does not have energy too cheap to meter. They do not have a wild level of energy abundance.

There is something here where one of the ways this sounds — and it sounds this way to me when I read your book — is that there’s been this 20 or maybe 1,000 or maybe trillion or maybe multi-trillion dollar bill lying on the sidewalk, and you would expect some country to pick it up. But you go from the ‘70s forward — nobody today is ahead of America.

It sort of doesn’t surprise me that countries which I think have been, over these decades, far less innovative and pushing forward the technological frontier, might not be pushing forward the technology of nuclear power. So why doesn’t France have very cheap nuclear energy? Why doesn’t France already have these very small nuclear reactors? I’m not sure what the incentive was or whether they were capable of innovating to that degree. I don’t know.

But the incentive is exactly what you’re saying. Right? I mean, it’s sort of —

Kind of a state, but it’s not a market-based power system in France. These are all state subsidized reactors.

I mean, but take South Korea, take the U.A.E., take China. I mean, you can pick your country here. The kind of question I’m trying to raise about your thesis, because it’s also relevant, frankly, to my thesis, is, if the problem is that America makes a series of policy mistakes in the ‘70s, why, then, in the ensuing five decades, don’t a bunch of our competitor countries race past us. There are theories that they would. Japan, in the ‘80s and ‘90s, seemed like maybe they were, right? Japan was going to be the future. There were a million books written in the ‘90s about this. Germany at different times, right? But I don’t think you would look at anybody today, any rich country of significant size, and say, they really got it right, and we really got it wrong. So how do you understand that if the story is about mistakes we specifically made in the ‘70s?

Well, we can make mistakes that are very specific to us. And other countries may have made different mistakes, even though there was, as you say, this great enthusiasm in the ‘80s that Japan had it sort of figured out, that they could do economic growth and innovation in a brand new way, which turned out not to be the case. And then you mentioned Germany, and we seem to have this insatiable desire to find — at least some people do — to find some other model. I don’t think those models have turned out better than the American model.

If you were to try to make an argument about why things look not the same, but why nobody has achieved the Jim Pethokoukis world across Canada, across Western Europe, across Asia, right, all countries during this period that were rich enough to do much of what you’re talking about, do you have theories that unite the answer?

Yeah, I mean, listen, I don’t think it is wrong to do sort of a cross-country because this productivity slowdown didn’t just happen in the United States. Clearly, there was some sort of macro reasons. It’s just becoming harder and more expensive to do research. Those things affected everybody.

So once you’ve assumed, OK, there was sort of this umbrella effect that would make it difficult to do productivity and economic growth and faster tech progress everywhere. So that mattered. And then to what extent do our decisions matter? At first, we didn’t understand what happened. And then when we did, I think we’ve just underestimated the difficulty, at least certainly in the United States, of returning to fast growth.

And the ideas that we put forward, whether it was a little more spending on this program, a tax cut here, maybe those are individually great ideas, but given, I think, the headwinds from these macro factors, sort of the tailwinds need to be much, much stronger. And even now, when we’re talking about spending more money on R&D, I don’t think it’s enough.

Let me try some thesis on you that I think can work across countries. One is that as countries get richer, they become more risk averse. Some of the innovations you’re talking about, like colonies on the moon and flying cars, they require a high tolerance for risk. Maybe as societies get more affluent, people have enough. Their lives are good enough. They aren’t as motivated to take that risk. What do you think of that?

I think, inherently, people pull back from risk. To go back to the ‘70s, there are some conservative thinkers who thought that capitalism was doomed because the intellectuals who were separated from the actually working and producing wouldn’t appreciate how hard it is to do that. They wouldn’t appreciate how hard it is actually to grow an economy.

And these are the people who would be our bureaucrats and they’d be focused on risk aversion and creating more rules. So, yeah, I think that’s an obvious problem. Then, add in the fact that as countries get richer, they care more about the environment. You see it in China. As China’s gotten richer, they care more about smog. And for people to, I think, move beyond that inherent caution, they have to believe it is worth it. People need a realistic, plausible image of why it’s all worth it.

And we used to have people who would do that for us. We had public intellectuals, and we had Hollywood, who would say the future can be better, and it’s going to be awesome. And then that disappeared. So who paints a future? Listen, I spent a lot of time going on the Drudge Report. It used to be — it’s still operating. I don’t think it is what it used to be. And every article about technology and science and Silicon Valley was, these are crazy people who want a future, an inhuman future for you, where you’re going to all live in tubes, and you’re going to all have bugs — eat bugs for — no more steaks. We’re all going to have bug steaks. That’s just one small example. And I can point to pretty much every Hollywood film in the past 50 years. So what is our sort of collective imagination of why are we going to do this, that we don’t live in a world that’s destined to burn, that we don’t live in a world where if we should have all these wonderful inventions, only the people at the very rich will have it. They’ll be living above us on the space platforms, while everybody on Earth is groveling around. So we’ve had this inability to say like, why should you take a risk? And that has to change.

I think visions of the future, to a degree people don’t always appreciate, are built on what people see in the present. And something that has been striking to me, as I’ve done a lot of research into the politics of the ‘60s and ‘70s, is how much people ceased liking what they saw in the present. I’m going to play a speech that Lyndon Johnson gave in 1964, talking about what America looked like to him in terms that are not how I think of the great society.

The water we drink, the food we eat, the very air that we breathe, are threatened with pollution. Our parks are overcrowded. Our seashores, overburdened. Green fields and dense forests are disappearing. A few years ago, we were greatly concerned about the ugly American. Today, we must act to prevent an ugly America.

So one thing that I think, or I’ve come to believe, is a bigger dimension here, is that beauty is part of politics, and wanting a beautiful world, believing that you’re going to get a beautiful world matters, right? This is part of post-materialist politics, which are very, very powerful and begin, I think, strongly in the ‘60s and the ‘70s. So how do you think about that dimension of it, the kind of pervasiveness of a fear that the modernity people were getting from rapid growth was an ugly, advertising soaked, concrete, gray, deforested modernity?

Was that the majority opinion? Do you think that people thought there was too much affluence? And beauty, again, that’s a preference. Some people love this notion of, like, solarpunk. We’re all going to live in these giant trees that are —

I like this notion.

— part tree, but yet — right. Even skyscrapers will be gardens. And that is a personal preference for a kind of world that I’m sure — I think we’re maybe taking our views now, and we’re kind of imposing on what people thought in the 1960s based on one speech.

No, so that, I can assure you, I’m not doing. I’m just not yet reading you chapter one and two of my forthcoming book on this show.

Oh, I’m sure those chapters are excellent. They’re excellent chapters.

They’re glittering, but this politics was pervasive. I mean, there were all kinds of books written about this. I mean, this is what the environmental movement comes out of. The environmental movement is not built on climate change. It’s built on conservation of green space.

Right, and —

“Silent Spring,” and there were disasters.

And I think that’s legitimate.

And I want to push you on this because the thing that I hear you doing is wiping this to the side. That’s a personal preference. But what we’re trying to do here, right, what I’m trying to do with you — there’s plenty of things you and I disagree on, right? You’re a conservative. I’m a progressive. But one thing that I don’t think we disagree on is that we’re not building enough and productivity is too low.

But what I want to try to understand is, well, then, why, and why is it happening in so many places? And one theory that I take very seriously now, having looked at the politics, right, ticky tacky. That’s a term that comes from a song recorded about what the homes look like in Daly City, in California.

(SINGING) Little boxes on the hillside

Little boxes made of ticky tacky

Little boxes on the hillside

Little boxes all the same

There’s a pink one and a green one

And a blue one and a yellow one

I can show you pieces from the San Francisco Chronicle where they talk about the people moving to California like locusts, right? Like they are going to just destroy the thing. And I agree that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. But often, the politically powerful beholders are the ones who live in a place already.

So, for instance, one kind of curb on productivity that I believe is really important is the inability to build homes in highly productive places like cities. You bring this up in your book, too, but the people with power there, they like the way it looks now. They like the brownstones. They don’t want to see those knocked over for big apartment buildings.

So I agree with you, right? What you find beautiful, what I find beautiful, what another person finds beautiful, they might all be different. But one thing that I wonder is, do you just discount the power of people’s aesthetic preference in politics?

Is it a story of aesthetics, or is it a story of a generation sort of repulsed by their parents? I guarantee the parents in those ticky tacky houses probably thought those were pretty good houses, probably better houses than what they grew up in. I take my —

So why did they lose the political fight?

Well, because that generation was really, really big, and eventually that generation took control. But — OK, I’m gonna really get to your question. So what is this future going to look like? I could point to some possibilities. And I could maybe — I would love if sort of science fiction people and there are people in science fiction who think that as well, that they need to create images that aren’t utterly dystopian. Like, that’s an entire movement within that community.

But I wouldn’t say, like, that’s my image of the future. I want to give people the tools and make sure the economy is growing. And then we can all kind of create the future we want. But I don’t think it needs to be one particular preference. It needs to be like a solarpunk vision or some other kinds of vision.

Well, I’m not — I don’t want —

We have to have choice.

I’m not saying we should impose one aesthetic. But what I am saying is that I think there’s good reason to believe that this huge generation you’re bringing up, right — and I take that point that the boomer generation is large. They didn’t like what they saw, and that that happened in a lot of different places at once.

I mean, I have a million problems politically, as you might imagine, with Elon Musk. Just, like, a million problems. One reason that guy has been a very successful futurist is that he takes beauty very seriously.

You could go less controversial. You could say Steve Jobs, who took how things look, the elegance. I mean, he’s a boomer, and he wanted to create beautiful, elegant products. Now, how you translate that into a public policy that creates a beautiful, elegant future, but I think Elon Musk, to some degree, has that. I mean, who wants to go to Mars, really? It’s cold. There’s no air. There’s nobody there.

But SpaceX has created these marvelous little videos about what it would be like to get on a Starship spaceship. And you get to Mars, and it’s these beautiful kind of domes, and it’s green. And that’s an elegant, beautiful vision of the future for a place that’s none of those things.

One thing when I think about the sort of conservatism in your futurism that actually surprised me in your book was the confidence that if we pumped a bunch more money into the R&D structure, we would get a bunch more output.

I’m confident about that, at least on even days.

But one counterargument on this, I hear sometimes, right, as you mentioned, a lot of the R&D surge midcentury came from NASA. And when you think about the amount of money NASA has had to spend on R&D in recent decades, and the amount of money SpaceX had to spend on R&D — which, of course, SpaceX could only do that because of NASA contracts, but nevertheless, they had less money — and how fast SpaceX was actually able to advance rocket technology, I think it should make you wonder why NASA is not as able to make advances as it once was. Right?

I think you could say this across a lot of domains of federally funded, government funded R&D. So I think there is a question of how much money there is, and there’s also a question of whether the structures support that money turning into innovations, turning into products. How do you think about that?

Well, I mean, and certainly, I think the people at SpaceX would say that they stand on the shoulders of giants. So they did not have to start at a baseline at zero and figure out how to get something into space. So I think that’s important to note.

I would like the government spending more money on R&D. I think I would like a hard look at what they call the meta science, which is, how is that money actually spent? What is that process like? Are good ideas squashed? This is sort of an emerging area of public policy where they’re taking a hard look at that process. Are good controversial ideas, are they not getting funded? Like, those kinds of reforms I think would have to be part of anything.

And I’m not sure that spending more — I mean, great, I can point to studies, but until we actually do it, I don’t know. But I think we’re at sort of like a moment that we should try to use every plausible idea to make sure we don’t waste a moment that I think we had at the end of the ‘60s, that I think we had at the end of the ‘90s, to create a much faster growing economy.

We have this emerging cluster of technologies that lets support these technologies. And I think A.I. is a great example. And see if this is possible. Because I’ve lived through 50 years of what some people call the Great Stagnation, in the book, I call the Great Downshift. I don’t want that to be the next 50 years. Because what does our politics look like after the past decade of economic tumult and stagnation? I don’t want to look at our politics after another decade of that.

Let’s talk about a success story of innovation inside the government, which is Darpa. What makes Darpa work? And is that scalable?

Well, I mean, you have highly motivated people working on very specific projects. The managers of those programs are not there forever. They’re there to create new technologies that would have some sort of military application. So the easy answer is, we need Darpa for everything. We need to have this — can you scale that? Geez, I would like to try. I would like to try scaling that. I would like to try scaling a lot of things. I think it shows that despite skepticism that can’t accomplish anything, you can point to the successes of Darpa.

How do you think about tolerance for failure? Because one thing Darpa has is a tolerance for failure. I think part of that is that it’s understood and has been a sort of part of the national security state. And we allow the national security state to waste money. We’re cool with it. The fact that some things are not going to work out, we don’t get mad at them. On the other hand, when you have the Department of Energy give out a loan to something like Solyndra that doesn’t come through —

That’s a good example.

— there are hearings. There’s a scandal. People are furious. I mean, that same program also saved Tesla, which is something you hear less about. So what allows things in government to make counterintuitive bets? And what allows them to survive those bets failing?

When Solyndra happened, there was a sort of a deep skepticism that the era of — Bill Clinton said the era of big government is over. And now it seemed like the era of big government was back. And I think people were waiting to pounce on that. I mean, I looked at Solyndra, and my immediate thought was, this is back then. Like, this is government failing again.

So I don’t think I had that kind of tolerance for failure. I sort of do now. My personal tolerance is higher. I don’t think for most people on the right, right now, is yet particularly high, especially if you’re looking at it purely in a political standpoint. Listen, and I’m sure you’re aware of this, that in the past, when there have been these government science programs, there have been conservatives who have picked through them to try to find something that sounds like ridiculous or silly.

You’re correct.

Yes, ridiculous or silly. Like, why are we spending money to figure out, like, how hamsters survive in orbit or something like that. So we shouldn’t pretend not to have a toleration of basic science? Because it was the kinds of basic science that didn’t seem like it had any application. Like, I don’t know — the theory of relativity is why we have GPS’s.

But this seems like an important reformist project in your coalition. I mean, you worked at the American Enterprise Institute. That is the kind of place that has made this argument, right, year after year after year after year. And it particularly makes it against Democrats, right? I mean, Solyndra, I don’t think Solyndra was the issue there, was that you were in a kind of post-Bill Clinton turn against neo-liberalism. It was that you could make a Democratic president look really bad. Right?

And you can make the stimulus look bad. And, to me, when I think of why I am nervous as a liberal, that if I pump, we pump, a huge amount of money into government R&D, we’re not going to get the kind of fundamental advances that I’m hoping for. It’s that I think a lot of the major government research structures have now been built to emphasize a kind of conservatism — not a conservatism of the political sort, but conservatism of the, “we don’t want to spend money on anything that could make us look bad,” sort.

And so there’s a lot of peer review. There’s a lot of bureaucracy. There’s a lot of people checking your work. The grant operations are huge and the amount of time people spend checking grants. There’s a big “cover your ass” mentality. And the problem with that is, I think, actually, a bipartisan problem. Like on the one hand, I think liberals are too trusting of process. I think liberals have become just kind of process-obsessed institutional defenders.

But I think conservatives have, in some ways, created a bunch of that because they’ve created the conditions in which people in government, and particularly, civil servants, are terrified of being the ones to have done something that gets their agency embarrassed and their funding cut. And so I’m curious, when you think about this as a reformist project in your own coalition, how do you think about that?

So I was listening to the podcast you did fairly recently with Jerusalem Demsas, and thinking about some of these issues of zoning, housing restrictions, and why it’s hard to build anything. And housing actually is the perfect issue. Housing seems like we need more housing, and conservatives should like because that’s growth.

And conservatives are supposed to like economic growth and tumult and dynamism, and people can move to high productivity cities. But conservatives seem to be against housing reform, at least some conservatives. They don’t like the idea because they view it as a culture war issue, which eventually eats up everything because you’re destroying the suburbs. You’re going to bring the wrong kind of people to our neighborhood, and all that kind of thing.

So the people who are on the left who are looking at these issues and think we need maybe need to grow faster, and there’s things we need to build in this country, and regulations are a problem, and funding is a problem, there needs to be an ally on the right where you’re certainly not going to agree on everything, but there’s a common ground with people who have some sort of confidence that we can actually move forward on problems. But right now, I think, while there are some pockets of that, I think, on the right and in the Republican Party, it just seems to be sort of moribund at the moment.

The one of these that blows my mind is, I am not a person inclined to give Donald Trump huge amounts of credit. But Operation Warp Speed is one of the most successful government programs ever, full stop. It is just like a tremendous, astounding success. Is he running on 8 or 10 more Operation Warp Speeds? No. Is the Republican Party proposing a bunch more Operation Warp Speeds for other kinds of things? As far as I can tell, no.

By the way, the Democrats aren’t either. I’ve talked to them about why, and I kind of get the sense it has something to do with whether or not they want to give Donald Trump credit for things. But here, you have just an astonishing, like a truly astonishing policy success. We were able to pull forward a completely futuristic technology in a time frame nobody thought possible, and make it available for free to Americans, right?

It was equitable. It was technological. We worked with the private sector. The public sector got things out of their way. And it is an orphan. And the political economy of Warp Speed’s orphan status is, I think, one, an indictment of American politics, but two, also a bit of a genuine mystery, because here, Donald Trump could run on this. It was a success of his presidency. Nothing, crickets. Why?

My hope has been — and as you just suggested, it has yet to be realized — that the pandemic would accelerate this need, I would hope to accelerate technological progress and growth. This is the perfect example of a problem that many people knew was coming, right? I mean, there’s a gazillion white papers that we’re going to have a pandemic, but yet despite that fact, we didn’t have enough ventilators, and we didn’t have enough masks.

And what finally, despite all the white papers, all the thoughts about preparation, what finally really allowed our economy and our lives to go on was the fact that America is a really rich country, and we’re really technologically advanced, and we were able to solve a problem on the fly because of those two things. And that people will look at that example, and we no longer have to go back to Apollo to be excited about something where we all came together and solved the big problem, beating the Russians. This time, we all came together and solved the big problem.

And people have yet to look at that. Instead, it has sort of gotten lost. And I can blame Donald Trump for that, for not talking about that. He should be talking about that. And if he’s not going to talk about it, I would love for the Democrats to talk about it and use that as an example. But I hope that eventually, we’ll be able to look at the pandemic and Operation Warp Speed as sort of a proof of concept that all the things we’ve been talking about can work.

One of the things that has been surprising to me in post-pandemic politics and policy is, we have spent a lot of money since 2021. We spent money on stimulus for the economy, support for the economy. We spent money on certain kinds of pandemic preparedness.

The thing we have not really spent money on is vaccines. We have not put together a huge new project to try to create vaccines across an array of different diseases. There’s possibilities of pan coronavirus vaccines. There’s a lot we could maybe do.

And I reported on a bunch of this. And what I found was that there wasn’t really a constituency for it. There were people in the Biden administration trying to get vaccine money into different kinds of bills. On the one hand, they weren’t finding the votes, but on the other hand, the critique I would make of Joe Biden is that nor was he out there demanding it.

And it got me thinking about the way, outside maybe climate, we underrate technological solutions to political problems. One of the lines I have on this is that a liberal can typically tell you sort of five social insurance programs they would like to build or improve, right? Universal pre-K, single-payer health care — you can pick your set.

They typically can’t tell you the five technologies they want the government to pull forward into the present, right? The five technologies they really want to fund to try to make happen. Maybe right now, a little bit around energy, people can. But I think outside of that, it isn’t a way people think about things.

What is your answer to that? If the government was going to come out with its “these are the five technologies we are going to try to put money behind to clear bureaucratic roadblocks out of the way of making sure you can have the materials for,” what is your five technologies for social progress agenda?

I don’t want to create a China 2025 plan where we’re going to pick a bunch of technologies, and I do worry about being locked in a certain kind of technological path, which is why I do basic research, and I do like to see what the private sector is doing and try to support that, like with my example about — deep geothermal looks like it might be something, but they need more money for demonstration projects.

I think having some sort of imprimatur that this is actually going to work and is making progress, I think government has more of a role in that situation. But I’ll tell you, I don’t know if you recall, but last summer, for about a week, there was this notion — and I think it was Korean researchers had figured out superconductivity, that we could create these materials which would allow us to transmit electricity with no loss. And if that was possible, like everything was possible. Like 90 percent of what “Star Trek” is about was possible. We could build very fast, very cheap high-speed rails, brand new medical devices. And then it turned out that that’s not the case.

I’ll have to admit, I thought hard. Maybe we need a Manhattan Project for superconductors. Maybe that’s something. All these problems we’ve been talking about, that kind of breakthrough would utterly change our entire sort of political discussion. An A.I. that can be 80 percent as efficient as a human, we have a very different discussion.

All of a sudden, the economy can grow at a point and a half faster for an extended period of time. Our entitlement discussion, our politics is completely different. So yeah, technology driving progress, driving growth, it’s a different kind of politics, and one where we’re not fighting over a fixed pie, but how to grow the economy faster.

But I think — and maybe this is the liberal in me versus the conservative in you — I think this is a bit of a dodge because if you want to pump all this money into R&D, if you want to pump it all, even just into basic research, someone, somewhere, has to decide where this money is going.

I can imagine different ways you might do that. But first, somebody has to decide how we are allocating this money, how much to what kind of scientist. But —

To govern is to decide, Ezra Klein. To govern is decide. And people will have to make decisions. I’m not against making decisions. I am against someone making a decision saying, this is the kind of engine we need to have —

Well, i’m not saying that —

— for a hypersonic plane.

That’s why I’m asking about technologies, how we achieve the technologies, right? I’m quite agnostic on that myself. But the other thing the government has to do, which I do think people really underestimate, is, get difficulties out of the way. So I remember when I was reporting on the effort to develop a pan-coronavirus vaccine, and I was talking to one lab that had a pretty promising candidate, and the genius vaccine expert leading that lab was spending so much of their time trying to source monkeys, they just couldn’t get the monkeys they needed to run trials.

And I remember just thinking, that should be somebody else’s job, right? This person who has gotten to this point in medical research that they’re leading this lab and getting this funding to create a vaccine that could save however many lives, at no point in their career was their expertise logistics sourcing. But functionally, everybody I talked to in this period was like, they’re working on grants. They’re trying to find these things.

And if you look at Warp Speed, a bunch of what Warp Speed did was figure out how to get the correct materials so you could transport these vaccines, and they wouldn’t break in transport, right? There’s a lot of just making the jobs of scientists easier. There’s a lot of the government acting as a kind of accelerator of innovation, but it does require the government to make decisions about where it’s going to focus its efforts. So then I’m going to go back to my question, which is, after you’ve written this book — I mean, you write a Substack about the future and about all these technologies — you don’t have in the back of your head the five things you’d like to see a Manhattan Project on, a Warp Speed on? Again, to govern is to choose. Like, what would you choose? What do you think would — if we really put our backs into it, it is possible for us to move forward into the present and would do the most good.

Yeah, listen, I think one technology that if we’re able to crack it, and there’s already money pouring into it, is nuclear fusion. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cabinet officer happier than when Energy Department Secretary Jennifer Granholm was talking about the nuclear fusion breakthrough about a year and a half ago. Like, there’s more work that needs to be done on that technology. And I think government has a role.

I think a lot of these energy technologies — if you talk to these startups, I always ask them like, what do you want government to be doing? And of course, you guys will point to some regulation. And I’ll say, OK, that’s great. I’m not surprised that you said that. But what about is there some aspect of technology that needs more work? And they’ll point to it. It could be like, some sort of drill bit for geothermal.

But yeah, so I think, broadly, areas of, I think, energy — for now, I’m just gonna stop with energy because that just seems to be the linchpin. I mean, I’m very excited about artificial intelligence and what it can do. And it can be a general purpose technology that can help us do science better and come up with cures. But already, you have people saying, oh, great, maybe it’ll do all that, but we just can’t afford the amount of power. How are you going to power those data centers?

So if that’s like the thing, if that’s like a key constraint to artificial intelligence, yeah, then energy is pretty important. And we better be doing more work. Again, we’ve mentioned nuclear fusion, but it might not be. Maybe it’s not nuclear fusion. Maybe it is geothermal. And I’m glad we’re going to space. I’m glad we’re going to space because I love the space program, and I love the idea of us doing things in orbit.

But you know what? Someday we may be able to use the materials from Mars to build space solar panels to beam infinite amount of power to Earth. So, yeah, I think energy is certainly a sector that I would like to see more research done, and I think the federal government has a role.

How do you marry technology and sustainability? This is something that I think discussions of technology often miss, that there are values embedded in technologies, which technologies we pursue, which technologies we deploy, whether you leave everything to the market, whether you have a guiding hand of government, whether you’re pricing carbon or not pricing carbon. How do you approach the process by which we make those decisions?

You often hear now economists talking about A.I. and how it will automate jobs, and they’ll say, well, we need the kind of A.I. that will create new things, but less of the kind that will automate people out of jobs. So we need job creating kind of A.I., but not the job replacing kind of A.I., which is I think we probably need both. But I don’t know of any real public policy that can do that.

So to me, then, that’s sort of, there’s no remedy that’s realistic to that. So I’m not going to give that a lot of regard. What we need is both. And, say, like, well, I’m going to get a certain kind of outcome by tweaking the tax code in this way. It seems to me to be unrealistic. So I guess I’m skeptical about the guiding technology sort of path I think you’re suggesting.

But I don’t think that’s quite right. So let me give a very concrete example using A.I. as what we’re talking about. You could make it possible to make a huge amount of money using A.I. to manipulate or persuade people to buy things, right, to hook A.I. into advertising. You could also say, we are not going to allow you to hook A.I. into personalized data-based advertising, right? Those are both just choices a society can make. You could say, we’re going to allow you to do it, but not for anybody under 18, right? I mean, there’s a million things you could do here. And the path of A.I. development will be different depending on what kind of things you can do to make money with it.

If it turns out the government had a bunch of prizes out there where if you could use A.I. to achieve this or that scientific goal, you got $3 billion, and the answer went into the public domain, people would build more A.I.s in that direction. So there are a lot of ways to shape the pathway of technology.

I don’t know that we can say we’re going to have the good kind of A.I. and not the bad kind of A.I., but the decisions we make about how we regulate A.I. will certainly shape the pathway of A.I. itself.

Well, I mean, to use that example, I’m certainly aware there are people who don’t like, for instance, how tech companies make money. They don’t like the advertising and the targeted ads, and they feel like there’s privacy issues. I don’t really have a problem with that. I certainly know some people do. They call it surveillance capitalism. I don’t have a problem with it.

But isn’t it true that that revenue is what is sort of financing all the R&D, these companies that are now doing the A.I. and creating the kinds of models that might actually not just create better advertising, but create a cornucopia of scientific advancements? That’s an unexpected consequence.

And before we, I think, begin thinking hard about this emerging technology that none of us really heard of up until 18 months ago, before we started thinking about ways to shape this technology, we probably should have a little humility that we don’t know all the things that can be. We don’t know the paths it will take.

And there might be some unexpected consequences in a rush to begin shaping and guiding this technology. And even people who are really upset about digital platforms, I don’t think they’re saying, like, the internet was a bad idea, and we should be an analog society.

So is your view we should not regulate A.I. at all?

I would think very hard about very specific use cases. I would think very hard about existing sorts of laws on the books, things you cannot do.

I think my default position would be rather than try to glom on our sort of social media concerns, which I think a lot of policymakers, because they feel like they missed the boat on social media regulation, so now they’re taking those concerns and applying them to A.I., is to think a lot about the internet in the 1990s, in which we saw that it was an evolving technology, and we decided to let it evolve and see what happened.

That seems to be an example we’ve forgotten because we’ve been so overwhelmed by social media and sort of content and privacy issues. And so that would be my instinct.

You just mentioned that a lot of people want to rerun the social media experiment, but with A.I., this time, getting ahead of it, as opposed to behind it. I think that’s right. Something that I often say is that I think it’s very much the wrong metaphor. I think A.I. is more like the internet or more like a foundational technology than it is like social media.

But on the other hand, one of my theses on all of this is that in key places, we got the regulation wrong, which, then, over time, also leads to overregulation, as people correct aggressively and often too late. And this, to me, feels completely core to the broader story you’re telling, but not something you’re comfortable applying here, which is the sort of growth era of the early 20th century created genuine harms.

You have Richard Nixon talking about them. Ronald Reagan, as president, brags about signing the California Environmental Quality Act into law. And so then you have very aggressive regulation. A disagreement I have with the people who call themselves A.I. accelerationists, the people who are just like, let it rip, is, I think they’re the real decelerationists.

I think if you let the Mark Andreessens of the world and so on in charge of A.I., that is a perfect recipe to get very aggressive, very early regulation. Because, one, terrible things are going to happen, but two, people are not going to trust them, whereas, in fact, that Altman and Hassabis and Dario Amodei and a bunch of the others seem very cautious and seem very concerned about what could go wrong, is almost paradoxically leading to less regulation. And I somewhat know this from reporting on these meetings they’re having with members of Congress. Because the members of Congress trust that they’re going to be careful and that they’re sort of harm-aware. Now, whether or not that proves to be true, I don’t know. But I do think that there’s a much more complicated relationship between wise regulation and the social tolerance for innovation and innovative risk than people sometimes give credit for.

I just am not sure where your confidence comes from that we will come anywhere close, at this early stage, to getting it right. I mean, it did not take long after the passage of the National Environmental Policy Act for the problems to become obvious. And did we correct those problems? We did not.

So I guess I have low confidence that at this early stage, we will get the regulation right. Nor do I have confidence that if we figure out we’ve gotten the regulation wrong, that those fixes will be made. Because I think, as you know, once something is passed, it’s very difficult to undo it, which is why even though it’s been screamingly obvious for a long time that we have a regulation problem, sort of making it hard to build in this country, it has been very difficult to undo those rules.

But I guess, then, what I think —

So I want to know where your confidence comes from.

Well, I don’t have any confidence.

The humility.

That’s why I’m writing the book, and that’s why I have a job. But I think one of the questions that I have here is that I think I don’t — if you don’t understand my confidence, which I don’t have, I don’t understand your political economy, because you agree you believe that society is risk intolerant.

You agree, you believe, that its reaction to things going wrong is going to be to not just regulate, but to try to have a safety-first approach to regulation that could be very, very dangerous for innovation. The fear people had of nuclear going wrong and a couple of major events like Chernobyl and Three Mile Island led to a level of nuclear regulation that effectively choked off the entire industry.

What seems to me to emerge from that is you need some way of balancing the fears people both have and the fears that emerge without going way too far in the other direction. But you’re not going to get there, right? I mean, this seems to me to be the point of the history you are telling. You’re not going to get there telling people, hey, just don’t be afraid. Don’t worry about it. And so I think what I’m interested in here is, how do you think that you strike this balance?

Well, no. And again, I think inherently people are super risk averse. So why should we be confident? I think confidence comes from my core thesis, which is rapid growth. When the economy is growing, people become more confident. They become less risk averse.

And I don’t think it’s any coincidence that not only did we see light regulation of the internet in the 1990s, but other times where we’ve had fast economic growth, we’ve been able to take more risks with social policy, such as the Civil Rights Act. Like, good things happen when an economy is growing quickly. So I think that would be very helpful if we went through a period of rapid growth for us to have more confidence that like, you know what? Technology is going well. The economy is going well. Let’s go easy on A.I.

But doesn’t wealth and growth lead, I mean, in the model we’ve been talking about, to more regulation, to less risk tolerance? I mean, wasn’t the 70s coming on the tail end of a long period of wealth and growth?

Right, and at a certain point, people become more willing to have less growth. But I would hope that after the past half century of going through a period where that kind of risk aversion has turned out to be the riskiest possible thing. I mean, we’re in this populist moment. And one reason I think that you get populist moments is because people think the government is really incompetent, particularly on economics.

So we’ve had this period where we’ve had a war people didn’t think very well. We had a global financial crisis. We had a pandemic that people — maybe we responded well, as we mentioned earlier, but we didn’t seem to be particularly well, well prepared for. So, yes, I’m talking about learning from history.

I think that’s a good place to end. Always our final question, what are three books you would recommend to the audience?

One book which greatly influenced my book was the book, “Why Information Grows,” which is by a physicist named César Hildalgo, who presents a very different way of thinking about economic growth. Rather than merely thinking about labor and capital and land, all sort of the foundational aspects you may have learned in a high school economics class, he thinks what matters is connection — people connecting with each other, companies and people and universities and even countries. So that sort of connection economics and economic openness is really sort of at the heart of the vision I tried to give in my book.

I would also recommend, since I write about sci-fi so much in my book, the “Expanse” series, which they turned into a TV series, which I view — I may be in the minority — that I view as a future optimist hard science series because it shows Earth a few 100 years from now that has sort of mastered the solar system. But it’s not a perfect world. Things have gone wrong. Like, climate change was bad, though we seem to have gotten a hold of that. And technology has meant there are people out of work and on basic income. So it’s not a perfect world. But nothing in my vision is about creating a utopia. It’s about solving problems. And maybe that solution will create another problem. But we keep moving forward. And that’s what I think the “Expanse” series does.

My final book is “The American Dream is Not Dead” by one of my A.E.I. colleagues, Michael Strain, which is sort of a no-nonsense look at issues like wage stagnation, income inequality, and the supposed gap between productivity — there’s productivity again — and worker pay. And I think it’s a bit of a myth, but a very cautious myth-busting book that what you may think about all those issues may not be true. So it’s a pretty great book.

Jim Pethokoukis, thank you very much.

Thanks for having me. [MUSIC PLAYING]

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” is produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris with Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota and Isaac Jones. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon.

The show’s production team includes Annie Galvin, Elias Isquith and Kristin Lin. We have original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. Special thanks to Sonia Herrero.

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• April 30, 2024   •   1:03:00 Cows Are Just an Environmental Disaster
• April 26, 2024 Salman Rushdie Is Not Who You Think He Is
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• April 12, 2024   •   1:33:07 What if Dario Amodei Is Right About A.I.?
• April 5, 2024   •   1:25:33 Will A.I. Break the Internet? Or Save It?
• April 2, 2024   •   1:14:31 How Should I Be Using A.I. Right Now?

Produced by ‘The Ezra Klein Show’

“The Jetsons” premiered in 1962. And based on the internal math of the show, George Jetson, the dad, was born in 2022. He’d be a toddler right now. And we are so far away from the world that show imagined. There were a lot of future-trippers in the 1960s, and most of them would be pretty disappointed by how that future turned out.

So what happened? Why didn’t we build that future?

The answer, I think, lies in the 1970s. I’ve been spending a lot of time studying that decade in my work, trying to understand why America is so bad at building today. And James Pethokoukis has also spent a lot of time looking at the 1970s, in his work trying to understand why America is less innovative today than it was in the postwar decades. So Pethokoukis and I are asking similar questions and circling the same period, but from very different ideological vantages.

[You can listen to this episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” on the NYT Audio App , Apple , Spotify , Amazon Music , YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts .]

Pethokoukis is a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and the author of the book “ The Conservative Futurist: How to Create the Sci-Fi World We Were Promised .” He also writes a newsletter called Faster, Please! “The two screamingly obvious things that we stopped doing is we stopped spending on science, research and development the way we did in the 1960s,” he tells me, “and we began to regulate our economy as if regulation would have no impact on innovation.”

In this conversation, we debate why the ’70s were such an inflection point, whether this slowdown phenomenon is just something that happens as countries get wealthier and what the government’s role should be in supporting and regulating emerging technologies like artificial intelligence.

You can listen to our whole conversation by following “The Ezra Klein Show” on the NYT Audio App , Apple , Spotify , Google or wherever you get your podcasts . View a list of book recommendations from our guests here .

(A full transcript of this episode is available here .)

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Rollin Hu. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota. Our senior editor is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Elias Isquith and Kristin Lin. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser. And special thanks to Sonia Herrero.

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