Want to know how to begin an essay?

Question

Do you have difficulty starting an academic writing assignment? I can help you find your way.

Answer 1

You begin with an outline sketching what you want to accomplish in each paragraph. Then, you think of an anecdote that illustrates your key point, decide whether you begin or end with the story and start writing.

Answer 2

When beginning an academic writing assignment, it is always important to start with the focus of your writing. If you are writing to answer a question, take the question and turn it into a statement. This will be your topic sentence for your paragraph, if that is what you are writing. If you are writing an essay, you will want to write an introductory paragraph which starts with a hook. Your hook should draw your readers into your topic and interest them to read more. Possible hooks include a startling statistic about your topic, a quote from someone famous relating to your topic, an anecdote, real or imagined, which gives a quick image of your topic, and an interesting fact about your topic. After your hook, you will write a bridge which connects the hook to the thesis statement. The last sentence in your introductory paragraph will be your thesis statement, which is also the road map to the body paragraphs in your essay. The thesis statement should state the main point of your paper, as if it is fact, and list the supports you will develop in each of your body paragraphs, in the order you will write the body paragraphs. Following these tips, in this order, will help you begin your writing with a strong punch.

Answer 3

A simple 5-paragraph essay format is useful for beginning writers because it is easy to understand and simple to use. Even after a student has mastered this format, it can be used as an outline for more complicated or expanded essays. The 5-paragraph essay format is similar to driving directions or recipe instructions. Think of it that way to dispel the myth of academic writing as being difficult. Start with the Hook, follow with the Thesis Statement and three Topic Sentence then expand the format to suit your objective. Once a student finds out how useful the format can be, academic writing is no long a mystery.