essay first sentence

The Introductory Paragraph: Start Your Paper Off Right

Begin with a great first sentence

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• Writing Essays
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The introductory paragraph of any paper, long or short, should start with a sentence that piques the interest of your readers . 

In a well-constructed first paragraph, that first sentence leads into three or four sentences that provide details about the subject you address in the body of your essay. These sentences should also set the stage for your thesis statement .

Writing a good thesis statement is the subject of much instruction and training, as it's the driver of your research and the subject of your paper. The entirety of your paper hangs on that sentence, which is generally the last sentence of your introductory paragraph and is refined throughout your research and drafting phases.

Writing an Intro Paragraph

It's often easier to write the introductory paragraph after you've written the first draft of the main part of the paper (or at least sketched out a detailed outline, section by section or paragraph by paragraph). After the drafting stage, your research and main points are fresh in your mind, and your thesis statement has been polished to gleaming. It's typically honed during the drafting stage, as research may have necessitated its adjustment.

At the start of a large writing project, it can also be intimidating to put those first words down, so it's often easier to begin composing in the middle of the paper and work on the introduction and conclusion after the meat of the report has been organized, compiled, and drafted.

Construct your introductory paragraph with the following:

• An attention-grabbing first sentence
• Informative sentences that build to your thesis
• The thesis statement, which makes a claim or states a view that you will support or build upon

Your First Sentence

As you researched your topic, you probably discovered some interesting anecdotes, quotes, or trivial facts. This is exactly the sort of thing you should use for an engaging introduction.

Consider these ideas for creating a strong beginning.

Surprising fact: The Pentagon has twice as many bathrooms as are necessary. The famous government building was constructed in the 1940s when segregation laws required that separate bathrooms be installed for people of African descent. This building isn’t the only American icon that harkens back to this embarrassing and hurtful time in our history. Across the United States, there are many examples of leftover laws and customs that reflect the racism that once permeated American society.

Humor: When my older brother substituted fresh eggs for our hard-boiled Easter eggs, he didn’t realize our father would take the first crack at hiding them. My brother’s holiday ended early that particular day in 1991, but the rest of the family enjoyed the warm April weather, outside on the lawn, until late into the evening. Perhaps it was the warmth of the day and the joy of eating Easter roast while Tommy contemplated his actions that make my memories of Easter so sweet. Whatever the true reason, the fact remains that my favorite holiday of the year is Easter Sunday.

Quotation: Hillary Rodham Clinton once said, “There cannot be true democracy unless women's voices are heard.” In 2006, when Nancy Pelosi became the nation’s first female Speaker of the House, one woman’s voice rang out clearly. With this development, democracy grew to its truest level ever in terms of women’s equality. The historical event also paved the way for Senator Clinton as she warmed her own vocal cords in preparation for a presidential race.

Finding the Hook

In each example, the first sentence draws the reader in to find out how the interesting fact leads to a point. You can use many methods to capture your reader’s interest.

Curiosity: A duck’s quack doesn’t echo. Some people might find a deep and mysterious meaning in this fact…

Definition: A homograph is a word with two or more pronunciations. Produce is one example…

Anecdote: Yesterday morning I watched as my older sister left for school with a bright white glob of toothpaste gleaming on her chin. I felt no regret at all until she stepped onto the bus …

Supporting Sentences

The body of your introductory paragraph should fulfill two functions: It should explain your first sentence and should build up to your thesis statement. You'll find that this is much easier than it sounds. Just follow the pattern you see in the above examples.

During the revision stage for the paper as a whole, you can make further refinements to the introduction as needed.

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• Write an Attention-Grabbing Opening Sentence for an Essay
• How to Write a Good Thesis Statement
• Definition and Examples of Analysis in Composition
• 10 Steps to Writing a Successful Book Report
• The Ultimate Guide to the 5-Paragraph Essay
• Tips for Writing an Art History Paper
• How To Write an Essay
• How to Write a Solid Thesis Statement
• How to Structure an Essay
• How to Help Your 4th Grader Write a Biography
• How to Develop a Research Paper Timeline
• How to Write a Response Paper
• What Is Expository Writing?
• 6 Steps to Writing the Perfect Personal Essay
• Understanding Organization in Composition and Speech

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Sat / act prep online guides and tips, how to start a college essay perfectly.

College Essays

If you've been sitting in front of a blank screen, unsure of exactly how to start a personal statement for college, then believe me—I feel your pain. A great college essay introduction is key to making your essay stand out, so there's a lot of pressure to get it right.

Luckily, being able to craft the perfect beginning for your admissions essay is just like many other writing skills— something you can get better at with practice and by learning from examples.

In this article, I'll walk you through exactly how to start a college essay. We'll cover what makes a great personal statement introduction and how the first part of your essay should be structured. We'll also look at several great examples of essay beginnings and explain why they work, how they work, and what you can learn from them.

What Is the College Essay Introduction For?

Before we talk about how to start a college essay, let's discuss the role of the introduction. Just as your college essay is your chance to introduce yourself to the admissions office of your target college, your essay's beginning is your chance to introduce your writing.

Wait, Back Up—Why Do Colleges Want Personal Statements?

In general, college essays make it easier to get to know the parts of you not in your transcript —these include your personality, outlook on life, passions, and experiences.

You're not writing for yourself but for a very specific kind of reader. Picture it: your audience is an admissions officer who has read thousands and thousands of essays. This person is disposed to be friendly and curious, but if she hasn't already seen it all she's probably seen a good portion of it.

Your essay's job is to entertain and impress this person, and to make you memorable so you don't merely blend into the sea of other personal statements. Like all attempts at charm, you must be slightly bold and out of the ordinary—but you must also stay away from crossing the line into offensiveness or bad taste.

What Role Does the Introduction Play in a College Essay?

The personal statement introduction is basically the wriggly worm that baits the hook to catch your reader. It's vital to grab attention from the get-go—the more awake and eager your audience is, the more likely it is that what you say will really land.

How do you go about crafting an introduction that successfully hooks your reader? Let's talk about how to structure the beginning of your college essay.

How to Structure a Personal Statement Introduction

To see how the introduction fits into an essay, let's look at the big structural picture first and then zoom in.

College Essay Structure Overview

Even though they're called essays, personal statements are really more like a mix of a short story and a philosophy or psychology class that's all about you.

Usually, how this translates is that you start with a really good (and very short) story about something arresting, unusual, or important that happened to you. This is not to say that the story has to be about something important or unusual in the grand scheme of things—it just has to be a moment that stands out to you as defining in some way, or an explanation of why you are the way you are . You then pivot to an explanation of why this story is an accurate illustration of one of your core qualities, values, or beliefs.

The story typically comes in the first half of the essay, and the insightful explanation comes second —but, of course, all rules were made to be broken, and some great essays flip this more traditional order.

College Essay Introduction Components

Now, let's zero in on the first part of the college essay. What are the ingredients of a great personal statement introduction? I'll list them here and then dissect them one by one in the next section:

• A killer first sentence: This hook grabs your readers' attention and whets their appetite for your story.
• A vivid, detailed story that illustrates your eventual insight: To make up for how short your story will be, you must insert effective sensory information to immerse the reader.
• An insightful pivot toward the greater point you're making in your essay: This vital piece of the essay connects the short story part to the part where you explain what the experience has taught you about yourself, how you've matured, and how it has ultimately shaped you as a person.

How to Write a College Essay Introduction

Here's a weird secret that's true for most written work: just because it'll end up at the beginning doesn't mean you have to write it first. For example, in this case, you can't know what your killer first sentence will be until you've figured out the following details:

• The story you want to tell
• The point you want that story to make
• The trait/maturity level/background about you that your essay will reveal

So my suggestion is to work in reverse order! Writing your essay will be much easier if you can figure out the entirety of it first and then go back and work out exactly how it should start.

This means that before you can craft your ideal first sentence, the way the short story experience of your life will play out on the page, and the perfect pivoting moment that transitions from your story to your insight, you must work out a general idea about which life event you will share and what you expect that life event to demonstrate to the reader about you and the kind of person you are.

If you're having trouble coming up with a topic, check out our guide on brainstorming college essay ideas . It might also be helpful to read our guides to specific application essays, such as picking your best Common App prompt and writing a perfect University of California personal statement .

In the next sections of this article, I'll talk about how to work backwards on the introduction, moving from bigger to smaller elements: starting with the first section of the essay in general and then honing your pivot sentence and your first sentence.

How to Write the First Section of Your College Essay

In a 500-word essay, this section will take up about the first half of the essay and will mostly consist of a brief story that illuminates a key experience, an important character trait, a moment of transition or transformation, or a step toward maturity.

Once you've figured out your topic and zeroed in on the experience you want to highlight in the beginning of your essay, here are 2 great approaches to making it into a story:

• Talking it out, storyteller style (while recording yourself): Imagine that you're sitting with a group of people at a campfire, or that you're stuck on a long flight sitting next to someone you want to befriend. Now tell that story. What does someone who doesn't know you need to know in order for the story to make sense? What details do you need to provide to put them in the story with you? What background information do they need in order to understand the stakes or importance of the story?
• Record yourself telling your story to friends and then chatting about it: What do they need clarified? What questions do they have? Which parts of your story didn't make sense or follow logically for them? Do they want to know more, or less? Is part of your story interesting to them but not interesting to you? Is a piece of your story secretly boring, even though you think it's interesting?

Later, as you listen to the recorded story to try to get a sense of how to write it, you can also get a sense of the tone with which you want to tell your story. Are you being funny as you talk? Sad? Trying to shock, surprise, or astound your audience? The way you most naturally tell your story is the way you should write it.

After you've done this storyteller exercise, write down the salient points of what you learned. What is the story your essay will tell? What is the point about your life, point of view, or personality it will make? What tone will you tell it with? Sketch out a detailed outline so that you can start filling in the pieces as we work through how to write the introductory sections.

How to Write the First Sentence of Your College Essay

In general, your essay's first sentence should be either a mini-cliffhanger that sets up a situation the reader would like to see resolved, or really lush scene-setting that situates your audience in a place and time they can readily visualize. The former builds expectations and evokes curiosity, and the latter stimulates the imagination and creates a connection with the author. In both cases, you hit your goal of greater reader engagement.

Now, I'm going to show you how these principles work for all types of first sentences, whether in college essays or in famous works of fiction.

First Sentence Idea 1: Line of Quoted Direct Speech

"Mum, I'm gay." ( Ahmad Ashraf '17 for Connecticut College )

The experience of coming out is raw and emotional, and the issue of LGBTQ rights is an important facet of modern life. This three-word sentence immediately sums up an enormous background of the personal and political.

"You can handle it, Matt," said Mr. Wolf, my fourth-grade band teacher, as he lifted the heavy tuba and put it into my arms. ( Matt Coppo '07 for Hamilton College )

This sentence conjures up a funny image—we can immediately picture the larger adult standing next to a little kid holding a giant tuba. It also does a little play on words: "handle it" can refer to both the literal tuba Matt is being asked to hold and the figurative stress of playing the instrument.

First Sentence Idea 2: Punchy Short Sentence With One Grabby Detail

I live alone—I always have since elementary school. ( Kevin Zevallos '16 for Connecticut College )

This opener definitely makes us want to know more. Why was he alone? Where were the protective grown-ups who surround most kids? How on earth could a little kid of 8-10 years old survive on his own?

I have old hands. ( First line from a student in Stanford's class of 2012 )

There's nothing but questions here. What are "old" hands? Are they old-looking? Arthritic? How has having these hands affected the author?

There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. (Charlotte Bronte, Jane Eyre )

There's immediately a feeling of disappointment and the stifled desire for action here. Who wanted to go for a walk? And why was this person being prevented from going?

First Sentence Idea 3: Lyrical, Adjective-Rich Description of a Setting

We met for lunch at El Burrito Mexicano, a tiny Mexican lunch counter under the Red Line "El" tracks. ( Ted Mullin '06 for Carleton College )

Look at how much specificity this sentence packs in less than 20 words. Each noun and adjective is chosen for its ability to convey yet another detail. "Tiny" instead of "small" gives readers a sense of being uncomfortably close to other people and sitting at tables that don't quite have enough room for the plates. "Counter" instead of "restaurant" lets us immediately picture this work surface, the server standing behind it, and the general atmosphere. "Under the tracks" is a location deeply associated with being run down, borderline seedy, and maybe even dangerous.

Maybe it's because I live in Rhinelander, Wisconsin, where Brett Favre draws more of a crowd on Sunday than any religious service, cheese is a staple food, it's sub-zero during global warming, current "fashions" come three years after they've hit it big with the rest of the world, and where all children by the age of ten can use a 12-gauge like it's their job. ( Riley Smith '12 for Hamilton College )

This sentence manages to hit every stereotype about Wisconsin held by outsiders—football, cheese, polar winters, backwardness, and guns—and this piling on gives us a good sense of place while also creating enough hyperbole to be funny. At the same time, the sentence raises the tantalizing question: maybe what is because of Wisconsin?

High, high above the North Pole, on the first day of 1969, two professors of English Literature approached each other at a combined velocity of 1200 miles per hour. (David Lodge, Changing Places )

This sentence is structured in the highly specific style of a math problem, which makes it funny. However, at the heart of this sentence lies a mystery that grabs the reader's interest: why on earth would these two people be doing this?

First Sentence Idea 4: Counterintuitive Statement

To avoid falling into generalities with this one, make sure you're really creating an argument or debate with your counterintuitive sentence. If no one would argue with what you've said, then you aren't making an argument. ("The world is a wonderful place" and "Life is worth living" don't make the cut.)

If string theory is really true, then the entire world is made up of strings, and I cannot tie a single one. ( Joanna '18 for Johns Hopkins University )

There's a great switch here from the sub-microscopic strings that make up string theory to the actual physical strings you can tie in real life. This sentence hints that the rest of the essay will continue playing with linked, albeit not typically connected, concepts.

All children, except one, grow up. (J. M. Barrie, Peter Pan )

In just six words, this sentence upends everything we think we know about what happens to human beings.

First Sentence Idea 5: The End—Making the Rest of the Essay a Flashback

I've recently come to the realization that community service just isn't for me. ( Kyla '19 for Johns Hopkins University )

This seems pretty bold—aren't we supposed to be super into community service? Is this person about to declare herself to be totally selfish and uncaring about the less fortunate? We want to know the story that would lead someone to this kind of conclusion.

Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. (Gabriel García Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude )

So many amazing details here. Why is the Colonel being executed? What does "discovering" ice entail? How does he go from ice-discoverer to military commander of some sort to someone condemned to capital punishment?

First Sentence Idea 6: Direct Question to the Reader

To work well, your question should be especially specific, come out of left field, or pose a surprising hypothetical.

How does an agnostic Jew living in the Diaspora connect to Israel? ( Essay #3 from Carleton College's sample essays )

This is a thorny opening, raising questions about the difference between being an ethnic Jew and practicing the religion of Judaism, and the obligations of Jews who live outside of Israel to those who live in Israel and vice versa. There's a lot of meat to this question, setting up a philosophically interesting, politically important, and personally meaningful essay.

While traveling through the daily path of life, have you ever stumbled upon a hidden pocket of the universe? ( First line from a student in Stanford's class of 2012 )

There's a dreamy and sci-fi element to this first sentence, as it tries to find the sublime ("the universe") inside the prosaic ("daily path of life").

First Sentence Idea 7: Lesson You Learned From the Story You're Telling

One way to think about how to do this kind of opening sentence well is to model it on the morals that ended each Aesop's fable . The lesson you learned should be slightly surprising (not necessarily intuitive) and something that someone else might disagree with.

Perhaps it wasn't wise to chew and swallow a handful of sand the day I was given my first sandbox, but it seemed like a good idea at the time. ( Meagan Spooner '07 for Hamilton College )

The best part of this hilarious sentence is that even in retrospect, eating a handful of sand is only possibly an unwise idea—a qualifier achieved through that great "perhaps." So does that mean it was wise in at least some way to eat the sand? The reader wants to know more.

All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way. (Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina )

This immediately sets readers to mentally flip through every unhappy family they've ever known to double-check the narrator's assertion. Did he draw the right conclusion here? How did he come to this realization? The implication that he will tell us all about some dysfunctional drama also has a rubbernecking draw.

How to Write a Pivot Sentence in Your College Essay

This is the place in your essay where you go from small to big—from the life experience you describe in detail to the bigger point this experience illustrates about your world and yourself.

Typically, the pivot sentence will come at the end of your introductory section, about halfway through the essay. I say sentence, but this section could be more than one sentence (though ideally no longer than two or three).

So how do you make the turn? Usually you indicate in your pivot sentence itself that you are moving from one part of the essay to another. This is called signposting, and it's a great way to keep readers updated on where they are in the flow of the essay and your argument.

Here are three ways to do this, with real-life examples from college essays published by colleges.

Pivot Idea 1: Expand the Time Frame

In this pivot, you gesture out from the specific experience you describe to the overarching realization you had during it. Think of helper phrases such as "that was the moment I realized" and "never again would I."

Suddenly, two things simultaneously clicked. One was the lock on the door. (I actually succeeded in springing it.) The other was the realization that I'd been in this type of situation before. In fact, I'd been born into this type of situation. ( Stephen '19 for Johns Hopkins University )

This is a pretty great pivot, neatly connecting the story Stephen's been telling (about having to break into a car on a volunteering trip) and his general reliance on his own resourcefulness and ability to roll with whatever life throws at him. It's a double bonus that he accomplishes the pivot with a play on the word "click," which here means both the literal clicking of the car door latch and the figurative clicking his brain does. Note also how the pivot crystallizes the moment of epiphany through the word "suddenly," which implies instant insight.

But in that moment I realized that the self-deprecating jokes were there for a reason. When attempting to climb the mountain of comedic success, I didn't just fall and then continue on my journey, but I fell so many times that I befriended the ground and realized that the middle of the metaphorical mountain made for a better campsite. Not because I had let my failures get the best of me, but because I had learned to make the best of my failures. (Rachel Schwartzbaum '19 for Connecticut College)

This pivot similarly focuses on a "that moment" of illuminated clarity. In this case, it broadens Rachel's experience of stage fright before her standup comedy sets to the way she has more generally not allowed failures to stop her progress—and has instead been able to use them as learning experiences. Not only does she describe her humor as "self-deprecating," but she also demonstrates what she means with that great "befriended the ground" line.

It was on this first educational assignment that I realized how much could be accomplished through an animal education program—more, in some cases, than the aggregate efforts of all of the rehabilitators. I found that I had been naive in my assumption that most people knew as much about wildlife as I did, and that they shared my respect for animals. ( J.P. Maloney '07 for Hamilton College )

This is another classically constructed pivot, as J.P. segues from his negative expectations about using a rehabilitated wild owl as an educational animal to his understanding of how much this kind of education could contribute to forming future environmentalists and nature lovers. The widening of scope happens at once as we go from a highly specific "first educational assignment" to the more general realization that "much" could be accomplished through these kinds of programs.

Pivot Idea 2: Link the Described Experience With Others

In this pivot, you draw a parallel between the life event that you've been describing in your very short story and other events that were similar in some significant way. Helpful phrases include "now I see how x is really just one of the many x 's I have faced," "in a way, x is a good example of the x -like situations I see daily," and "and from then on every time I ..."

This state of discovery is something I strive for on a daily basis. My goal is to make all the ideas in my mind fit together like the gears of a Swiss watch. Whether it's learning a new concept in linear algebra, talking to someone about a programming problem, or simply zoning out while I read, there is always some part of my day that pushes me towards this place of cohesion: an idea that binds together some set of the unsolved mysteries in my mind. ( Aubrey Anderson '19 for Tufts University )

After cataloging and detailing the many interesting thoughts that flow through her brain in a specific hour, Aubrey uses the pivot to explain that this is what every waking hour is like for her "on a daily basis." She loves learning different things and finds a variety of fields fascinating. And her pivot lets us know that her example is a demonstration of how her mind works generally.

This was the first time I've been to New Mexico since he died. Our return brought so much back for me. I remembered all the times we'd visited when I was younger, certain events highlighted by the things we did: Dad haggling with the jewelry sellers, his minute examination of pots at a trading post, the affection he had for chilies. I was scared that my love for the place would be tainted by his death, diminished without him there as my guide. That fear was part of what kept my mother and me away for so long. Once there, though, I was relieved to realize that Albuquerque still brings me closer to my father. ( Essay #1 from Carleton College's sample essays )

In this pivot, one very painful experience of visiting a place filled with sorrowful memories is used as a way to think about "all the other times" the author had been to New Mexico. The previously described trip after the father's death pivots into a sense of the continuity of memory. Even though he is no longer there to "guide," the author's love for the place itself remains.

Pivot Idea 3: Extract and Underline a Trait or Value

In this type of pivot, you use the experience you've described to demonstrate its importance in developing or zooming in on one key attribute. Here are some ways to think about making this transition: "I could not have done it without characteristic y , which has helped me through many other difficult moments," or "this is how I came to appreciate the importance of value z, both in myself and in those around me."

My true reward of having Stanley is that he opened the door to the world of botany. I would never have invested so much time learning about the molecular structure or chemical balance of plants if not for taking care of him. ( Michaela '19 for Johns Hopkins University )

In this tongue-in-cheek essay in which Michaela writes about Stanley, a beloved cactus, as if "he" has human qualities and is her child, the pivot explains what makes this plant so meaningful to its owner. Without having to "take care of him," Michaela "would never have invested so much time learning" about plant biology. She has a deep affinity for the natural sciences and attributes her interest at least partly to her cactus.

By leaving me free to make mistakes and chase wild dreams, my father was always able to help ground me back in reality. Personal responsibilities, priorities and commitments are all values that are etched into my mind, just as they are within my father's. ( Olivia Rabbitt '16 for Connecticut College )

In Olivia's essay about her father's role in her life, the pivot discusses his importance by explaining his deep impact on her values. Olivia has spent the story part of her essay describing her father's background and their relationship. Now, she is free to show how without his influence, she would not be so strongly committed to "personal responsibilities, priorities and commitments."

College Essay Introduction Examples

We've collected many examples of college essays published by colleges and offered a breakdown of how several of them are put together . Now, let's check out a couple of examples of actual college essay beginnings to show you how and why they work.

Sample Intro 1

A blue seventh place athletic ribbon hangs from my mantel. Every day, as I walk into my living room, the award mockingly congratulates me as I smile. Ironically, the blue seventh place ribbon resembles the first place ribbon in color; so, if I just cover up the tip of the seven, I may convince myself that I championed the fourth heat. But, I never dare to wipe away the memory of my seventh place swim; I need that daily reminder of my imperfection. I need that seventh place.

Two years ago, I joined the no-cut swim team. That winter, my coach unexpectedly assigned me to swim the 500 freestyle. After stressing for hours about swimming 20 laps in a competition, I mounted the blocks, took my mark, and swam. Around lap 14, I looked around at the other lanes and did not see anyone. "I must be winning!" I thought to myself. However, as I finally completed my race and lifted my arms up in victory to the eager applause of the fans, I looked up at the score board. I had finished my race in last place. In fact, I left the pool two minutes after the second-to-last competitor, who now stood with her friends, wearing all her clothes.

(From "The Unathletic Department" by Meghan '17 for Johns Hopkins University )

Why Intro Sample 1 Works

Here are some of the main reasons that this essay's introduction is super effective.

#1: It's Got a Great First Sentence

The sentence is short but still does some scene setting with the descriptive "blue" and the location "from my mantel." It introduces a funny element with "seventh place"—why would that bad of a showing even get a ribbon? It dangles information just out of reach, making the reader want to know more: what was this an award for? Why does this definitively non-winning ribbon hang in such a prominent place of pride?

#2: It Has Lots of Detail

In the intro, we get physical actions: "cover up the tip," "mounted the blocks," "looked around at the other lanes," "lifted my arms up," and "stood with her friends, wearing all her clothes." We also get words conveying emotion: "mockingly congratulates me as I smile," "unexpectedly assigned," and "stressing for hours." Finally, we get descriptive specificity in the precise word choice: "from my mantel" and "my living room" instead of simply "in my house," and "lap 14" instead of "toward the end of the race."

#3: It Explains the Stakes

Even though everyone can imagine the lap pool, not everyone knows exactly what the "500 freestyle" race is. Meghan elegantly explains the difficulty by describing herself freaking out over "swimming 20 laps in a competition," which helps us to picture the swimmer going back and forth many times.

#4: It Has Great Storytelling

We basically get a sports commentary play-by-play here. Even though we already know the conclusion—Meghan came in 7th—she still builds suspense by narrating the race from her point of view as she was swimming it. She's nervous for a while, and then she starts the race.

Close to the end, she starts to think everything is going well ("I looked around at the other lanes and did not see anyone. 'I must be winning!' I thought to myself."). Everything builds to an expected moment of great triumph ("I finally completed my race and lifted my arms up in victory to the eager applause of the fans") but ends in total defeat ("I had finished my race in last place").

Not only that, but the mildly clichéd sports hype is hilariously undercut by reality ("I left the pool two minutes after the second-to-last competitor, who now stood with her friends, wearing all her clothes").

#5: It Uses a Pivot Sentence

This essay uses the time expansion method of pivoting: "But, I never dare to wipe away the memory of my seventh place swim; I need that daily reminder of my imperfection. I need that seventh place." Coming last in the race was something that happened once, but the award is now an everyday experience of humility.

The rest of the essay explores what it means for Meghan to constantly see this reminder of failure and to transform it into a sense of acceptance of her imperfections. Notice also that in this essay, the pivot comes before the main story, helping us "hear" the narrative in the way she wants us to.

Sample Intro 2

"Biogeochemical. It's a word, I promise!" There are shrieks and shouts in protest and support. Unacceptable insults are thrown, degrees and qualifications are questioned, I think even a piece of my grandmother's famously flakey parantha whizzes past my ear. Everyone is too lazy to take out a dictionary (or even their phones) to look it up, so we just hash it out. And then, I am crowned the victor, a true success in the Merchant household. But it is fleeting, as the small, glossy, plastic tiles, perfectly connected to form my winning word, are snatched out from under me and thrown in a pile with all the disgraced, "unwinning" tiles as we mix for our next game of Bananagrams. It's a similar donnybrook, this time ending with my father arguing that it is okay to use "Rambo" as a word (it totally is not).

Words and communicating have always been of tremendous importance in my life: from silly games like Bananagrams and our road-trip favorite "word game," to stunted communication between opposing grandparents, each speaking a different Indian language; from trying to understand the cheesemonger behind the counter with a deep southern drawl (I just want some Camembert!), to shaping a script to make people laugh.

Words are moving and changing; they have influence and substance.

From an Essay by Shaan Merchant ‘19 for Tufts University

Why Intro Sample 2 Works

Let's take a look at what qualities make this essay's introduction particularly memorable.

With the first sentence, we are immediately thrust into the middle of the action —into an exciting part of an argument about whether "biogeochemical" is really a word. We're also immediately challenged. Is this a word? Have I ever heard it before? Does a scientific neologism count as a word?

#2: It Shows Rather Than Tells

Since the whole essay is going to be about words, it makes sense for Shaan to demonstrate his comfort with all different kinds of language:

• Complex, elevated vocabulary, such as "biogeochemical" and "donnybrook"
• Foreign words, such as "parantha" and "Camembert"
• Colorful descriptive words, such as "shrieks and shouts," "famously flakey, "whizzes past," and "hash it out"
• "Fake" words, such as "unwinning" and "Rambo"

What's great is that Shaan is able to seamlessly mix the different tones and registers these words imply, going from cerebral to funny and back again.

#3: It Uses a Pivot Sentence

This essay uses the value-extraction style of pivot: "Words and communicating have always been of tremendous importance in my life." After we see an experience linking Shaan's clear love of his family with an interest in word games, he clarifies that this is exactly what the essay will be about—using a very straightforward pivoting sentence.

#4: It Piles On Examples to Avoid Vagueness

The danger of this kind of pivot sentence is slipping into vague, uninformative statements, such as "I love words." To avoid making a generalization the tells us nothing, the essay builds a list of examples of times when Shaan saw the way that words connect people: games ("Bananagrams and our road-trip favorite ‘word game,'"), his mixed-language family ("grandparents, each speaking a different Indian language"), encounters with strangers ("from trying to understand the cheesemonger"), and finally the more active experience of performing ("shaping a script to make people laugh").

But the essay stops short of giving so many examples that the reader drowns. I'd say three to five examples is a good range—as long as they're all different kinds of the same thing.

The Bottom Line: How to Start a College Essay

The college essay introduction should hook your reader and make her want to know more and read more.

Good personal statement introductions will contain the following features:

• A killer first line
• A detailed description of an experience from your life
• A pivot to the bigger picture, in which you explain why and how this experience has shaped you, your point of view, and/or your values.

You don't have to write the introduction first, and you certainly don't have to write your first sentence first . Instead, start by developing your story by telling it out loud to a friend. You can then work on your first sentence and your pivot.

The first sentence should either be short, punchy, and carry some ambiguity or questions, or be a detailed and beautiful description setting an easily pictured scene. The pivot, on the other hand, should answer the question, "How does the story you've told connect to a larger truth or insight about you?"

What's Next?

Wondering what to make of the Common Application essay prompts? We have the complete list of this year's Common App prompts with explanations of what each is asking as well as a guide to picking the Common App prompt that's perfect for you .

Thinking of applying to the University of California system? Check out our detailed guide on how to approach their essay prompts and craft your ideal UC essay .

If you're in the middle of the essay-writing process, you'll want to see our suggestions on what essay pitfalls to avoid .

Working on the rest of your college application? Read what admissions officers wish applicants knew before applying .

Anna scored in the 99th percentile on her SATs in high school, and went on to major in English at Princeton and to get her doctorate in English Literature at Columbia. She is passionate about improving student access to higher education.

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Awesome Guide on How to Write an Essay Introduction

'I'd like to recall the day I nearly burned myself in flames in my automobile while going 250 mph and escaping the police'. – Thankfully, we don't have a story like that to relate to, but we bet we piqued your interest.

That's what we refer to as an efficient hook. Fundamentally, it's an attention-grabbing first sentence that piques an audience's interest and encourages them to keep reading. While writing an essay, a strong hook in essay introductions is essential.

Delve into the article if you're wondering how to start an essay with a strong introduction. This is the ultimate guide for writing the parts of a introduction paragraph from our custom dissertation writing service to engage your readers.

Introduction Definition

The introduction paragraph, to put it simply, is the first section of an essay. Thus, when reading your essay, the reader will notice it right away. What is the goal of an opening paragraph? There are two things that an excellent introduction achieves. It initially informs the reader on the subject of your work; in other words, it should describe the essay's topic and provide some background information for its main point. It must also spark readers' interest and persuade them to read the remainder of your article.

To provide you with essay writing services , we only need your paper requirements to create a plagiarism-free paper on time.

How Long Should an Introduction Be

Typically, there are no strict restrictions on how long an opening paragraph should be. Professional essay writers often shape the size of it with the paper's total length in mind. For instance, if you wonder how to make introduction in essay with five paragraphs, keep your introductory sentence brief and fit it inside a single section. But, if you're writing a longer paper, let's say one that's 40 pages, your introduction could need many paragraphs or even be pages long.

Although there are no specific requirements, seasoned writers advise that your introduction paragraph should account for 8% to 9% of your essay's overall word length.

And, if you place an order on our coursework writing services , we will certainly comply with your introduction length requirements.

What Makes a Good Introduction

All of the following criteria should be fulfilled by a strong opening sentence:

• Start your introduction on an essay with a catchy sentence that draws the reader in.
• It needs to include baseline information about your subject.
• This should give readers a sense of the main argument(s) that your essay will address.
• It must include all necessary information on the setting, locations, and chronological events.
• By the end of your introduction, make a precise remark that serves as your essay's thesis.

What Are the 3 Parts of an Introduction Paragraph

So, what should be in a introduction paragraph? The introduction format essay has three sections: a hook, connections, and a thesis statement. Let's examine each component in more depth.

Part 1: Essay Hook

A hook is among the most effective parts of a introduction paragraph to start an essay. A strong hook will always engage the reader in only one sentence. In other words, it is a selling point.

Let's now address the query, 'how to make an essay introduction hook interesting?'. Well, to create a powerful hook, you can employ a variety of techniques:

• A shocking fact
• An anecdote 
• A short summary

And here is what to avoid when using a hook:

• Dictionary definitions
• Generalizations
• Sweeping statements that include words like 'everywhere,' 'always,' etc.

Once you've established a strong hook, you should give a general outline of your major point and some background information on the subject of your paper. If you're unsure how to write an introduction opening, the ideal approach is to describe your issue briefly before directing readers to particular areas. Simply put, you need to give some context before gradually getting more specific with your opinions.

The 5 Types of Hooks for Writing

Apart from the strategies mentioned above, there are even more types of hooks that can be used:

• A Common Misconception — a good trick, to begin with, to claim that something your readers believe in is false.

Example: 'Although many falsely believe that people working from home are less productive – employees who get such work-life benefits generally work harder.'

• Statistics — Statistical facts may provide a great hook for argumentative essays and serious subjects focusing on statistics.

Example: 'A recent study showed that people who are satisfied with their work-life balance work 21% harder and are 33% more likely to stay at the same company.'

• Personal Story — sometimes, personal stories can be an appropriate hook, but only if they fit into a few brief sentences (for example, in narrative essays).

Example: 'When I had my first work-from-home experience, I suddenly realized the importance of having a good work-life balance; I saw plenty of the benefits it can provide.'

• Scenes — this type of hook requires making the readers imagine the things you are writing about. It is most suitable when used in descriptive and narrative essays.

Example: 'Imagine you could have as much free time as you wish by working or studying from home—and spend more time with your loved ones.'

• Thesis Statement — when unsure how to do an essay introduction, some writers start directly with their thesis statement. The main trick here is that there is no trick.

Example: 'I strongly believe there is a direct correlation between a healthy work-life balance and productivity in school or at work.'

Part 2: Connections

Give readers a clearer sense of what you will discuss throughout your article once you have given a hook and relevant background information about your essay topic. Briefly mentioning your main points in the same sequence in which you will address them in your body paragraphs can help your readers progressively arrive at your thesis statement.

In this section of your introduction, you should primarily address the following questions:

You may make sure that you are giving your readers all the information they need to understand the subject of your essay by responding to each of these questions in two to three lines. Be careful to make these statements brief and to the point, though.

Your main goal is gradually moving from general to specific facts about your subject or thesis statement. Visualize your introduction as an upside-down triangle to simplify the essay writing process. The attention-grabbing element is at the top of this triangle, followed by a more detailed description of the subject and concluding with a highly precise claim. Here is some quick advice on how to use the 'upside-down triangle' structure to compose an essay introduction:

• Ensure that each subsequent line in your introduction is more focused and precise. This simple method will help you progressively introduce the main material of your piece to your audience.
• Consider that you are writing a paper on the value of maintaining a healthy work-life balance. In this situation, you may start with a query like, 'Have you ever considered how a healthy work-life balance can affect other areas of your life?' or a similar hook. Next, you could proceed by giving broad factual information. Finally, you could focus your topic on fitting your thesis statement.

Part 3: The Thesis Statement

If you're unsure of the ideal method to create an introduction, you should be particularly attentive to how you phrase your thesis statement.

The thesis of your work is, without a doubt, the most crucial section. Given that the thesis statement of your piece serves as the foundation for the entire essay, it must be presented in the introduction. A thesis statement provides readers with a brief summary of the article's key point. Your main assertion is what you'll be defending or disputing in the body of your essay. An effective thesis statement is often one sentence long, accurate, exact, unambiguous, and focused. Your thesis should often be provided at the end of your introduction.

Here is an example thesis statement for an essay about the value of a proper work-life balance to help you gain a better understanding of what a good thesis should be:

Thesis Statement Example: 'Creating flexible and pleasant work schedules for employees can help them have a better work-life balance while also increasing overall performance.'

Catchy Introductions for Different Essay Types

Although opening paragraphs typically have a fixed form, their language may vary. In terms of academic essays, students are often expected to produce four primary intro to essay examples. They include articles that are analytical, argumentative, personal, and narrative. It is assumed that different information should appear in these beginning paragraphs since the goals of each sort of essay change. A thorough overview of the various paper kinds is provided below, along with some good essay introduction samples from our argumentative essay writers:

Narrative Introduction

• The writer of a narrative essay must convey a story in this style of writing. Such essays communicate a story, which distinguishes them from other essay types in a big way.
• Such a paper's hook will often be an enticing glimpse into a specific scene that only loosely links to the thesis statement. Additionally, when writing such an essay, a writer should ensure that every claim included in the introduction relates to some important moments that have significantly impacted the story's outcome.
• The thesis in narrative writing is usually the theme or main lesson learned from the story.

Narrative introduction example: 'My phone rang, and my mother told me that Dad had suffered a heart attack. I suddenly experienced a sense of being lifted out from under me by this immaculately carpeted flooring. After making it through, Dad left me with a sizable collection of lessons. Here are three principles that I know dad would have wanted me to uphold...'

Still Can't Think of a Perfect Intro?

When assigned to write an essay, students end up with a ton of questions, including 'How to structure an essay?', 'How to choose a good topic?'. Here at EssayPro, we employ only the best essay writers who are committed to students’ success.

Analytical Introduction

• Analytical essay introduction format is another popular type. In contrast to a narrative paper, an analytical paper seeks to explore an idea and educate the reader about a topic.
• Three important facts that support the analytical premise should be included in the middle section of the introduction.
• A well-researched and well-thought-out claim will form a wonderful thesis because the main goal of this paper is to study the topic and educate readers. It's crucial to remember that this assertion shouldn't initially have any real weight. Although it will still be theoretical, it has to be articulated practically.

Analytical introduction example: “... Hence even though presidents, CEOs, and generals still have their daily schedules full of economic crises and military conflicts, on the cosmic scale of history humankind can lift its eyes up and start looking towards new horizons. If we bring famine, plague, and war under control, what will replace them at the top of the human agenda? Like firefighters in a world without fire, so humankind in the twenty-first century needs to ask itself an unprecedented question: what are we going to do with ourselves? What will demand our attention and ingenuity in a healthy, prosperous, and harmonious world? In a healthy, prosperous, and harmonious world, what will demand our attention and ingenuity? This question becomes doubly urgent given the immense new powers that biotechnology and information technology are providing us with. What will we do with all that power? ...” Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, Yuval Noah Harari

Persuasive Introduction

• To persuade readers of anything is the sole goal of persuasive essay writing. This may be accomplished using persuasive strategies like ethos, pathos, and logos.
• A hook statement for this paper may be anything from a fascinating fact to even comedy. You can use whatever technique you choose. The most crucial advice is to ensure your hook is in line with your thesis and that it can bolster further justifications.
• Generally speaking, a persuasive essay must include three supporting facts. Hence, to gradually lead readers to the major topic of your paper, add a quick summary of your three arguments in your introduction.
• Last, the thesis statement should be the main claim you will be disputing in this paper. It should be a brief, carefully thought-out, and confident statement of your essay's major argument.

Persuasive introduction example: 'Recycling waste helps to protect the climate. Besides cleaning the environment, it uses waste materials to create valuable items. Recycling initiatives must be running all around the world. ...'

Personal Introduction

• The final sort of academic writing that students frequently encounter is a personal essay. In principle, this essay style is creative nonfiction and requires the author to reflect on personal experiences. The goals of such a paper may be to convey a story, discuss the lessons that certain incidents have taught you, etc. This type of writing is unique since it is the most personal.
• Whatever topic you choose can serve as the hook for such an essay. A pertinent remark, query, joke, or fact about the primary plot or anything else will be acceptable. The backdrop of your narrative should then be briefly explained after that. Lastly, a thesis statement can describe the impact of particular experiences on you and what you learned.

Personal introduction example: 'My parents always pushed me to excel in school and pursue new interests like playing the saxophone and other instruments. I felt obligated to lead my life in a way that met their standards. Success was always expected on the route they had set out for me. Yet eight years after my parents' separation, this course was diverted when my dad relocated to California...'

Tips for Writing a Winning Introduction Paragraph

You now understand how to do introduction and have specific intro example for essays to help you get going. Let's quickly examine what you should and shouldn't do during the writing process.

• Keep the assignment's purpose in mind when you write your introduction, and ensure it complies with your instructor's requirements.
• Use a compelling and relevant hook to grab the reader's attention immediately.
• Make sure your readers understand your perspective to make it apparent.
• If necessary, establish key terms related to your subject.
• Show off your expertise on the subject.
• Provide a symbolic road map to help readers understand what you discuss throughout the post.
• Be brief; it's recommended that your introduction make up no more than 8 to 9 percent of the entire text (for example, 200 words for a 2500 words essay).
• Construct a strong thesis statement.
• Create some intrigue.
• Make sure there is a clear and smooth transition from your introduction to the body of your piece.
• If you're looking for a custom writer , request assistance from the EssayPro team. We know how to write a term paper along with many other types of essays.

Don'ts

• Provide too much background information.
• Use sentences that are off-topic or unnecessary.
• Make your opening paragraph excessively long.
• Keep some information a secret and reveal it later in conclusion.
• Employ overused phrases or generalizations.
• Using quotation marks excessively

Now that you know what is in the introduction of an essay, we recommend reading the information on how to critique an article to gain more academic insight.

If you are still struggling with that, keep in mind that you can always send us your request to get professional assistance from our law essay writing service .

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Sentence Starters: Ultimate List to Improve Your Essays and Writing

Ashley Shaw

This blog post is going to be about … No. Too boring.

Today, I am going to talk to you about ... No. Too specific.

This is a blog post for all writers ... Nope. Too generic.

Has this ever been you while writing? I get it. Writing a good sentence can be hard, and when you have to string a whole lot of them together, the task can become daunting. So what do you do?

From the first sentence you write to the very last, you want each one to show your style and motivate your reader to keep reading. In this post, we are going to think about how you start your sentences.

What Is a Good Sentence Starter for an Essay Introduction?

What is a good sentence starter for a body paragraph, 25 useful transitions, can i repeat a sentence starter, how can i rephrase "in conclusion".

The first paragraph of a paper can make or break your grade. It is what gets your audience into the topic and sets the whole stage. Because of this, it is important to get your readers hooked early.

The first sentence of a paper is often called the hook. It shouldn’t be anything ordinary. It should have strong language and be a little surprising, with an interesting fact, story, statistic, or quote on the topic.

Because it is designed to pull the reader in and surprise them a little, it is often good to avoid pre-written sentence starter examples when writing your hook. Just get into it here, and worry about the flow later.

Here are some examples:

Spider webs were once used as bandages.

I taught myself to read when I was three. At least, that’s the story my parents tell.

Recent studies suggest that the average person lies at least once in every conversation.

“The world is bleeding and humans wield the knife,” or so says environmental scientist So Andso.

(P.S. Except for example 1, which is true, I just made all of these up to demonstrate my point. So, please don’t quote me on these!)

Once you jump right in with your hook, it is time to start working on ways to move sentences along. Here is where you may need some sentence starter examples.

In your first paragraph, you basically want to connect your hook to your thesis. You’ll do this with a few sentences setting up the stage for your topic and the claim you will make about it. To do that, follow the tips found in the next section on body paragraphs and general sentence starter tips.

Many of the tips I am about to discuss can be used anywhere in a paper, but they are especially helpful when writing body paragraphs.

Let’s start with one of the most important types of sentence starter in essay writing: transition words.

How Do I Use Transitions in an Essay?

If you want to start writing terrific sentences (and improve your essay structure ), the first thing you should do is start using transition words.

Transition words are those words or phrases that help connect thoughts and ideas. They move one sentence or paragraph into another, and they make things feel less abrupt.

The good thing about transition words is that you probably know a lot of them already and currently use them in your speech. Now, you just need to transition them into your writing. (See what I did there?)

Before we get into examples of what a good transition word is, let’s look at a paragraph without any transitions:

I went to the store. I bought bacon and eggs. I saw someone I knew. I said hello. I went to the cashier. They checked me out. I paid. I got my groceries. I went to my car. I returned home.

Yikes! That is some boring writing. It was painful to write, and I am sure it is even worse to read. There are two reasons for this:

• I start every sentence with the same word (more on this later)
• There are no signposts showing me how the ideas in the paragraph connect.

In an essay, you need to show how each of your ideas relate to each other to build your argument. If you just make a series of statements one after the other, you’re not showing your instructor that you actually understand those statements, or your topic.

How do we fix this? Transition words. Roughly 25% of your sentences should start with a transition word. If you can hit that number in your essay, you’ll know that you’ve made meaningful steps towards demonstrating your understanding.

Of course, hitting that number isn’t enough—those transitions need to be meaningful. Let’s look at the different types of transitions and how you can use them.

What Are Words Like First , Next , and Last Called?

You probably already use some transitions in your essays. For example, if you start a paragraph with firstly , you’ve used a transition word. But transitions can do so much more!

Here are 25 common transitional words and phrases that you could use in your essay:

• Additionally / In Addition
• Alternatively / Conversely
• As a result of
• At this time
• Consequently
• Contrary to
• First(ly), Second(ly), etc.
• In contrast
• Nonetheless
• On the other hand
• Particularly / In particular
• In other words

This list isn’t exhaustive, but it is a good start.

These words show different types of relationships between ideas. These relationships fall into four main categories: Emphasis , Contrast , Addition , and Order .

What Are Emphasis Transition Words?

These phrases are used when you want to highlight a point. Examples from my above list include clearly , particularly , and indeed . Want to see some more? Follow my bolded transitions: Undoubtedly , you understand now. It should be noted that you don’t need to worry.

How Do You Use Addition Transitions?

These words add on to what you just said. These are words like along with , moreover , and also . Here are some more: Not only are you going to be great at transitions after this, but you will also be good at writing sentences. Furthermore , everyone is excited to see what you have to say.

How Can I Use Transitions to Contrast Ideas?

This is the opposite of addition, and you use it when you want to show an alternative view or to compare things. Examples from my list include words like nonetheless , contrary to , and besides .

Here are some more: Unlike people who haven’t read this article, you are going to be really prepared to write great sentences. Even so , there is still a lot more about writing to learn.

How Do I Order Ideas in My Essay?

A good first step is using order transition words.

This set of transitions helps mark the passage of time or gives an order to events. From the list, think of things like first and finally . Now for some extras: At this time yesterday , you were worried about starting sentences. Following this , though, you will be an expert.

Now that you get the concept of transitions, let’s go back to that poorly written paragraph above and add some in to see what happens:

This morning , I went to the store. While I was there, I bought bacon and eggs. Then I saw someone I knew. So I said hello. After that , I went to the cashier. At that time , they checked me out. First , I paid. Next , I got my groceries. Following that , I went to my car. Finally , I returned home.

(Notice the use of commas after most of these transitions!)

This isn’t the best paragraph I’ve ever written. It still needs a lot of work. However, notice what a difference just adding transitions makes. This is something simple but effective you can start doing to make your sentences better today.

If you want to check your transition usage, try ProWritingAid’s Transitions report . You’ll see how many of each type of transition word you've used so you can pin-point where you might be losing your reader.

Sign up for a free ProWritingAid account to try it out.

What Are Some Linking Phrases I Can Use in My Essay?

As well as individual words, you can also use short phrases at the beginning of your sentences to transition between ideas. I just did it there— "As well as individual words" shows you how this section of the article is related to the last.

Here are some more phrases like this:

As shown in the example,

As a result of this,

After the meeting,

While this may be true,

Though researchers suggest X,

Before the war began,

Until we answer this question,

Since we cannot assume this to be true,

While some may claim Y,

Because we know that Z is true,

These short phrases are called dependent clauses . See how they all end with a comma? That's because they need you to add more information to make them into complete sentences.

• While some may claim that chocolate is bad for you, data from a recent study suggests that it may have untapped health benefits .
• Since we cannot assume that test conditions were consistent, it is impossible to reach a solid conclusion via this experiment .
• As a result of this, critics disagree as to the symbolism of the yellow car in The Great Gatsby .

The bolded text in each example could stand on its own as a complete sentence. However, if we take away the first part of each sentence, we lose our connection to the other ideas in the essay.

These phrases are called dependent clauses : they depend on you adding another statement to the sentence to complete them. When you use a sentence starter phrase like the ones above in your writing, you signal that the new idea you have introduced completes (or disrupts) the idea before it.

Note: While some very short dependent clauses don’t need a comma, most do. Since it is not wrong to use one on even short ones (depending on the style guide being used), it is a good idea to include one every time.

Along with missing transitions and repeating sentence structure, another thing that stops sentences from being great is too much repetition. Keep your sentences sharp and poignant by mixing up word choices to start your sentences.

You might start your sentence with a great word, but then you use that same word 17 sentences in a row. After the first couple, your sentences don’t sound as great. So, whether it is varying the transitional phrases you use or just mixing up the sentence openers in general, putting in some variety will only improve your sentences.

ProWritingAid lets you know if you’ve used the same word repeatedly at the start of your sentences so you can change it.

The Repeats Report also shows you all of the repeats in your document. If you've used a sentence starter and then repeated it a couple of paragraphs down, the report will highlight it for you.

Try the Repeats Report with a free ProWritingAid account.

Now that you have your introduction sentences and body sentences taken care of, let’s talk a little about conclusion sentences. While you will still use transitions and clauses as in the body, there are some special considerations here.

Your conclusion is what people will remember most after they finish reading your paper. So, you want to make it stand out. Don’t just repeat yourself; tell them what they should do with what you just told them!

Use the tips from above, but also remember the following:

Be unique. Not only should you vary the words you use to start different sentences, but you should also think outside of the box. If you use the same conclusion sentence starter everyone else is using, your ideas will blend in too.

Be natural. Some of the best writing out there is writing that sounds natural. This goes for academic writing, too. While you won’t use phrases like "at the end of the day" in essay writing, stilted phrases like "in conclusion" can disrupt the flow you’ve created earlier on.

Here are some alternatives to "in conclusion" you could use in an essay:

• To review, ... (best for scientific papers where you need to restate your key points before making your final statement)
• As has been shown, ...
• In the final analysis, ...
• Taking everything into account, ...
• On the whole, ...
• Generally speaking, ...

If you’re looking for more ways to rephrase "in conclusion," take a look at our complete list of synonyms you can use.

There may not be a set word or words that you can use to make your sentences perfect. However, when you start using these tips, you’ll start to see noticeable improvement in your writing.

If you’ve ever heard people talk about pacing and flow in academic writing, and you have no idea what they mean or how to improve yours, then this is your answer. These tips will help your writing sound more natural, which is how you help your ideas flow.

Take your writing to the next level:

20 Editing Tips from Professional Writers

Whether you are writing a novel, essay, article, or email, good writing is an essential part of communicating your ideas., this guide contains the 20 most important writing tips and techniques from a wide range of professional writers..

Be confident about grammar

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

Ashley Shaw is a former editor and marketer/current PhD student and teacher. When she isn't studying con artists for her dissertation, she's thinking of new ways to help college students better understand and love the writing process.

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How to write a great first sentence and nail your opening.

In the process of writing a novel or memoir—or anything, really—no single sentence is more outright intimidating than the first. It isn’t easy to figure out how to write a great first sentence.

You hear it in workshops, college classrooms, writer’s conferences, and how-to books, and for that matter in blog posts like this one written by book editors like me: The first sentence needs to hook the reader. If the first sentence doesn’t engage the reader, why bother with the second? There are millions and millions of other books out there. There are thousands and thousands of other submissions.

That’s a lot for any one sentence to live up to. It’s not difficult to understand why writers agonize over it. But learning how to write a great first sentence and nailing the hook doesn’t have to be scary. It certainly isn’t easy , but here in the third installment of our series on the opening pages, we’ll run through some ideas and concepts to help you determine what to do, and what not to do, to start off your story in just the right way.

[Missed the first article in this series?  Click here to get caught up !]

Utilize Action Over Exposition

In the last couple of articles in this series, we talked about the importance of beginning a story with action rather than exposition . It shouldn’t be a surprise that the same applies to the opening sentence, because it applies for essentially the same reason: It’s easier to engage with the momentum of action than the inertia of expository background.

Action could be your protagonist’s hand getting caught in the door of her pick-up truck. It could be a rocket ship blasting off into space. It could be something as simple as sipping a cup of coffee. Utilized as a first sentence, any of these actions, big or small, provides readers a clear and well-defined visual detail that presents some level of narrative. It suggests the existence of subsequent action, which compels readers to move on to the next sentence.

This is even truer if the sentence includes or implies conflict. If your protagonist’s hand is caught in the door, there’s going to be a reaction to that—immediate repercussions to be dealt with. That rocket ship may include less obvious conflict, but maybe the first sentence establishes as well that it’s going in entirely the wrong direction, or that our protagonist should be in it but isn’t. Maybe the coffee in the third example is stale. Whatever the specific detail, it establishes a situation for subsequent sentences to develop.

Exposition doesn’t do that. Sure, you can elaborate on the world, but that background on the universe or town or protagonist isn’t a situation. It’s just a sequence of facts. And facts are useful, but they don’t generate momentum, and that’s what we’re looking for.

Avoid Cliches

The first sentence in a lot of ways is a message to the reader. It’s the introduction to your story, told in your voice, representing your vision. So the last thing you want to do is write exactly the same first sentence as the last twelve authors.

So one of the most important rules for how to write a great first sentence is to avoid the clichés utilized by those who have gone before you.

Clichés can manifest in a few different ways, and some are more obvious than others. For instance, if you’re writing a horror or murder mystery story, you’re probably familiar with the classic first sentence: It was a dark and stormy night. It’s become such a common expression that it’s easy to forget that it was once an original opening by an actual author: specifically, Edward Bulwer-Lytton, in his 1830 novel Paul Clifford .

He wrote it. You didn’t.

Taken out of its historical context, that sentence actually has a lot going for it—it certainly sets a tone—but we’ve heard it a million times. If you start your novel that way, the agent or publisher or reader is going to close the book right there.

But what if you start with a sound effect?

It could be brrrrrrring , like the ringing of an alarm clock. It might be the chirp chirp of an incoming text message. Sounds like these are known collectively as onomatopoeia , and a lot of authors utilize them for a first sentence that suggests immediately action or movement. The theory isn’t bad. It’s just that someone else had the same idea first, and at this point a sound effect will probably do you more harm than good.

Another very common introduction—sometimes in the opening sentence, and sometimes elsewhere in the opening paragraphs—is a description of the main character, often in a mirror. Like the sound effect device, there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with the concept other than its familiarity. And familiarity breeds contempt.

That’s a cliché too. Best not to open with it.

Don’t Overcomplicate It

Above I described “it was a dark and stormy night” as the opening sentence of Bulwer-Lytton’s Paul Clifford —but actually, that isn’t entirely true. The entire first sentence is as follows:

It was a dark and stormy night; the rain fell in torrents—except at occasional intervals, when it was checked by a violent gust of wind which swept up the streets (for it is in London that our scene lies), rattling along the housetops, and fiercely agitating the scanty flame of the lamps that struggled against the darkness.

Presented in full, this sentence contains some of the positive characteristics about which we’ve been speaking. It certainly describes action, and the potential for conflict in the severity of the storm. Yet it’s also a long sentence composed of numerous clauses describing the setting from a variety of different angles. It hooks the reader, but also provides ample opportunity to lose them.

This sort of thing was not uncommon in classic Victorian literature—another famous example is Charles Dickens’s “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” which is but a small fraction of the first sentence of the 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities . But in the present day this sort of elaborate first sentence is a far less palatable approach.

When figuring out how to write a great first sentence, some writers will ask too much of their hooks, describing multiple beats of action in quick succession or describing a single moment or object in inordinate detail. If that results in too complex a sentence—even a run-on sentence, or any phrasing that proves difficult to follow—then instead of hooking your reader, you might instead leave them behind.

So you want to be original. But you also want to be precise. Keep an eye out for too many commas, or too many “and”s, or any ambiguity in the writing that might muddy the waters of the action you mean to convey and the story you mean to tell.

That brings us to our last point.

Don’t Forget the Second Sentence

The goal of the first sentence is to convince readers to read the second—but the second sentence is there too. If your first sentence includes too much , write another. If the second sentence is not enough to contain the idea, build the paragraph.

In other words, the task of hooking the reader doesn’t fall upon the first sentence alone. That’s why this series is about opening pages . Learning how to write a great first sentence is important—critical, even—but only if you’re able to match it with a second great sentence, and a third great sentence, and so on are you going to keep readers engaged throughout those pages. And only then is the reader truly hooked .

What’s your favorite first-sentence hook? Let us know in the comments below!

And don’t miss the next installment in this series, where I’ll explore the factors that influence how different story types can most effectively begin, and tell you how to start your story .

Harrison Demchick came up in the world of small press publishing, working along the way on more than two dozen published novels and memoirs, several of which have been optioned for film. He is an award-winning, twice-optioned screenwriter, and the author of literary horror novel  The Listeners . He’s   part of  The Writer’s Ally  team as a developmental editor of fiction and memoir, for which he’s currently accepting new clients.

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November 27, 2021 at 5:25 pm

My favorite first sentence: Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice. (English translation) 100 Years of Solitude, Gabriel García Márquez

November 28, 2021 at 6:26 am

After being killed by my own Guru, I concluded that enlightened masters don’t always know what they are about.

(An autobiography in the process)

[…] And don’t miss the next installment in this series, where I’ll explore what makes a truly great first sentence. […]

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Anne R. Allen's Blog... with Ruth Harris

Writing about writing. Mostly.

April 28, 2018 By Anne R. Allen 53 Comments

How to Write a Great First Sentence—with 22 Inspiring Examples

First sentences from classic and contemporary literature analyzed.

by Ruth Harris

No matter what genre you write, your first sentence is a seduction. It can be in the form of an invitation. A declaration. A tease. A promise. A jolt. A shock.

You must be shameless and your first sentence must be irresistible. It must induce curiosity and promise the answer to an urgent question.

You must do whatever you can to lure your reader into the web you’ve woven by writing a sentence so provocative and so powerful that s/he is compelled to continue.

You’re the master of ceremonies and in your first sentence you must present yourself and your book with confidence and authority. If you’ve written a thriller, your first sentence must promise thrills. If you’ve written a romance, your first sentence must promise romance.

Just like a nothingburger cover or a  meh  blurb, a clunky or poorly-conceived first sentence that’s inconsistent with your genre, will turn readers off and cause them to skip your book.

Whether you’re writing fiction or non-fiction, romance or sci fi, a thriller or a mystery, the first sentence of your book must achieve one goal: compel the reader to read on.

Stephen King has said that he spends “months and years” creating that first line. He goes on to say: “An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.”

The question is, how do we accomplish all this in one sentence? From  Moby Dick ’s “ Call me Ishmael”  to  Charles Dickens’  “ It was the best of times, it was the worst of times ,” some first sentences have become famous classics. So, too, Jane Austen’s “ It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.”

A deeper look into the breadth of masterful first sentences offers a wide array of the ways writers draw readers into their stories and inspiring examples of how much information can be conveyed in a single sentence.

The First Person Introduction.

In a memoir or a novel written in the first person, the author puts himself in the mind of the central character and, in one way or another, tells us that we are about to get the real deal. No BS here, the sentence promises, just the honest, unvarnished truth about someone we want to know more about.

Sylvia Plath uses the first sentence of  The Bell Jar , to establish the nervous, dark mood that hovers over the character and the story. Her story begins—

“It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn’t know what I was doing in New York.”

Plath’s use of the word  electrocuted  provides an unexpected jolt and mention of the  Rosenbergs  sets a time (June 1953).  Sultry summer  sets an uncomfortable season,  New York  establishes a place, and the final phrase conveys the uncertainty of a young woman struggling to find an identity and a place in life.

Vladimir Nabokov uses the first nine words of  Lolita  to convey the note of obsessive erotic desire that pulses through the entire novel.

“Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins.”

Nabokov begins by naming the object of his passion, the word  light  expresses her transformative influence on the narrator, the word  loins  promises that we will be reading a story about sex, and the repetition of the letter  l  creates the feeling of an incantation.

In  Ghostwriters In The Sky , Book 1 of The Camilla Randall Mysteries, Anne uses her first sentence to introduce the MC, locate the place (the subway can only mean NYC), and refer to the season (sweaty indicates hot, most likely summer).

“The subway car was so crowded I couldn’t tell which one of the sweaty men pressing against me was attached to the hand now creeping up my thigh.”

The phrase “creeping up my thigh” indicates a level of unwanted personal attention which places the character in an uncomfortable, if rather ludicrous situation—a theme that will be repeated in different variations throughout the novel.

In  Catcher In the Rye , J.D. Salinger uses an effective but contradictory combination of bravado and vulnerability to establish a unique voice as he introduces us to preppy Holden Caulfield.

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. 

We read on because Salinger’s confessional tone makes us want to know more about his  lousy childhood  and find out why he doesn’t feel like going into it.

The Third Person Introduction.

In  Goldfinger , Ian Fleming introduces 007 in the first sentence.

“James Bond, with two double bourbons inside him, sat in the final departure lounge of Miami airport and thought about life and death.”

Fleming has told us in only a few words that his MC is a drinking man, one who travels, and one who contemplates the larger questions of existence. Where, we wonder, is Bond going, what is he going to do once he gets there, and why does he need to down  two double bourbons  before he boards his flight?

In  The Hobbit , JRR Tolkien simply tells us where his MC lives, but in such a startling way that we feel compelled to read on.

“In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.”

A hobbit? A story about a creature who lives in a hole? Who or what is this hobbit and why does he live in a hole. Curious, we read on.

I introduce DeeDee Dahlen, the MC in  Love And Money , Book 1 of the Park Avenue Series with a brief, declarative sentence.

“Her name was DeeDee Dahlen and she was famous from the day she was born.”

How can a newly-born infant be famous?, the reader wonders. What rewards—and penalties—does unasked-for celebrity impose? What secrets and scandal will shadow her future?—urgent questions that will reverberate throughout the entire novel.

Graham Greene, in  Brighton Rock , compels us to want to know more.

“Hale knew, before he had been in Brighton three hours, that they meant to murder him.”

Who are the ‘they?’ we wonder. And what has Hale done? Why do ‘they’ want to kill him?

Gabriel Garcia Marquez begins  One Hundred Years of Solitude  with this famous sentence—

“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendia was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”

The author uses a shocking situation—a man facing a firing squad—plus a long-ago memory to pique our curiosity. Who is the Colonel and what had he done that he ends up facing a firing squad? What was there about the discovery of ice that it has lodged so forcefully in his memory? Compelling questions to which we must find the answer and, thus, we continue to read.

Whether classic literature, hard-boiled pulp fiction, or cyberpunk scifi, the first sentence establishes a theme that will continue throughout the story. If the book does not follow through on the promise of that first sentence, the disappointed reader will feel cheated.

In his first sentence, Leo Tolstoy in  Anna Karenina  tells us that we are about to read a story about an unhappy family.

“All happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

Why, we ask ourselves, are they unhappy? What has happened to them and what will they do? Powerful questions the reader wants answered.

James Matthew Barrie establishes the theme of  Peter Pan  with a brief, declarative statement.

“All children, except one, grow up.”

Which child, we wonder. Why not? And what will happen to a child who doesn’t grow up?

A far different theme is set by Franz Kafka in his posthumously published 1925 novel,  The Trial.

Someone must have slandered Josef K., for one morning, without having done anything truly wrong, he was arrested.

Kafka’s first sentence thrusts us immediately into the MC’s waking nightmare of terror and paranoia that will be sustained throughout the story.

William Gibson’s  Neuromancer  was the first novel to win the Nebula Award, the Philip K. Dick Award, and the Hugo Award. The chilling first sentence, said to have been written at the last minute, sets the novel’s theme of a burnt-out computer hacker adrift in a dystopian near future governed by artificial intelligence.

“The sky above the port was the color of television, tuned to a dead channel.”

Hunter S Thompson, starts his novel,  Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas , by establishing a place, a mood, and a theme (a disenchanted retrospective look at the 1960s) in the first sentence.

“We were somewhere around Barstow on the edge of the desert when the drugs began to take hold.”

A Tease, a Shock, a Jolt.

A skillfully written first sentence containing a tease, a shock or a jolt can introduce a character, establish a tone or a setting, and dare the reader not to continue.

The first sentence of  Nineteen Eighty-Four,  George Orwell’s dystopian novel, often considered one of the best one hundred books of the 20 th  Century, tells us immediately that something—time itself—is awry in a future world of Big Brother, doublethink and government surveillance.

“It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen.”

Joe Konrath pulls us right into the action in the first sentence of his mystery thriller,  Dirty Martini , Book 4 of the Jacqueline “Jack” Daniels Mystery series.

“No security cameras this time, but he still has to be careful.”

What is he doing, we wonder? In his first sentence, Konrath lets us know that whatever it is, it’s something he’s done before. Something risky, perhaps dangerous, and, even though experienced, he still has to be careful. Of what? Of whom?

In his legal thriller,  The Firm , John Grisham uses his first sentence to tell us that this unnamed and mysterious senior partner will indeed find something to dislike about Mitchell Y. McDeere who, the word  résumé  indicates, is being considered for a job.

“The senior partner studied the résumé for the hundredth time and again found nothing he disliked about Mitchell Y. McDeere, at least not on paper.”

What kind of job, we wonder, and what will the senior partner find to dislike? Grisham’s tease promises evil doings and the reader is lured on.

In  L.A. Confidential,  James Ellroy’s first sentence introduces a main character, sets a theme, and tells us exactly what we are about to read. Ellroy uses a knowledgable tone and vernacular language to let us know that he knows what he’s talking about.

“An abandoned auto court in the San Berdoo foothills; Buzz Meeks checked in with ninety-four thousand dollars, eighteen pounds of high-grade heroin, a 10-gauge pump, a .38 special, a .45 automatic, and a switchblade he’d bought off a pachuco at the border—right before he spotted the car parked across the line: Mickey Cohen goons in an LAPD unmarked, Tijuana cops standing by to bootsack his goodies, dump his body in the San Ysidro River.”

Dennis Lehane, in his short story,  Until Gwen  pulls us in with the use of the second person combined with the promise of drugs and sex.

“Your father picks you up from prison in a stolen Dodge Neon, with an 8-ball of coke in the glove compartment and a hooker named Mandy in the back seat.”

The Rule Breakers.

Although writers are often cautioned about starting a book with a character’s dream, that rule was effectively broken in the classic first sentence of Daphne DuMaurier’s famous gothic mystery,  Rebecca .

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again.”

Marie Force begins her Gansett Island romance,  Meant For Love , with a reference to a dream.

“The dream was always the same, the last perfect moment before life as Jenny Wilks knew it changed forever.”

Both dreams refer to emotionally significant aspects of the characters’ pasts. The reader wonders why the unidentified first-person narrator of  Rebecca  dreams of a place and Jenny Wilks of a “perfect” life now gone forever. The authors use dreams to provoke interest in their characters and in the events of the story to come.

The passive tense is usually considered to be another no-no. Charles McCarry, in  TheTears Of Autumn, considered to be one of the best espionage thrillers of the 20 th  Century, uses the passive tense to introduce American intelligence officer, Paul Christopher, who is investigating the assassination of John F. Kennedy.

“Paul Christopher had been loved by two women who could not understand why he had stopped writing poetry.”

McCarry’s elegant use of the passive tense to introduce his MC sets the theme of the book: an exploration of glittering promise that results in the wreckage of unintended consequences—the end of poetry and the end of Camelot.

Your first sentence is your opportunity to let your creativity shine. Whether you decide to go for a tease or a jolt, a theme or a rule breaker, a first person or third person introduction, remember what Mom always said: You never have a second chance to make a first impression.

For more info on beginnings, Anne and I have both opined about first chapters. For  Anne’s take . For  Ruth’s take .

by Ruth Harris (@RuthHarrisBooks) April 29, 2018

What about you, scriveners? Do you have a favorite first line? Do you find your first line hard to write? (I usually write mine last.) Do you have a dynamite first line for a book you haven’t written yet? 

This week Anne is Poisoning People for Fun and Profit again. This time she’s talking about Gelsemium , a pretty plant that may be growing in your own backyard. And is so deadly it’s the drug of choice of many professional assassins. It also nearly killed Arthur Conan Doyle.

BOOK OF THE WEEK

OPPORTUNITY ALERTS

Central Coasters: Don’t miss the “Writers in Action: From Idea to Publication” Workshop  on May 19th! 1-day workshop by Sisters in Crime, Central Coast at the PG&E Energy Center in San Luis Obispo. Should be a lot of fun. Here’s a link to the application form and lunch menu.

Red Hen Press annual Nonfiction Contest.    $25 entry FEE. $1,000 prize and publication by the prestigious Red Hen Press. They’re looking for an essay collection, memoir, or book of narrative nonfiction. Florencia Ramirez will judge. Using the online submission system, submit a manuscript of at least 150 pages.  Deadline April 30

CRAFT Literary Short Story contest. $20 FEE .  Short fiction up to 6000 words. $2000 first prize; the two runners-up will receive $500 and $300, respectively. plus publication in CRAFT  Literary Magazine. Deadline April 30th.

Mad Scientist Journal: Battling in All Her Finery.  Genre : Speculative fiction stories about women leaders in any field.  Payment : 2 cents/word.  Deadline: April 30, 2018.

13 Imprints of Big 5 publishers who take unagented submissions. From the good people at Authors Publish Magazine.

Supernatural Fiction Award : $1000 prize + publication in The Ghost Story magazine. Not just ghost stories. Any paranormal story welcome. 1500-10,000 words   $20 entry fee. Deadline April 30 th .

Prophecy Creek Book Award for Speculative Fiction . Prize $1,000 and publication by Hidden River Publishing.  Any length novel that includes elements of science fiction, supernatural fiction, or fantasy. $22 fee. Deadline May 15.

Smokelong Quarterly Flash Fiction contest. $13 Fee.  Under 1000 words. Nominates for Pushcart. Must never have been published (including on blogs.) $1500 prize plus publication. Runner-up prizes, too. Deadline May 20th. 

Nowhere Spring Travel Writing Contest   $10 Fee.  800-5000 words showing a powerful sense of place: Fiction or nonfiction. Previous publication okay. $1000 prize plus publication in Nowhere magazine. Deadline May 31st

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About Anne R. Allen

Anne writes funny mysteries and how-to-books for writers. She also writes poetry and short stories on occasion. Oh, yes, and she blogs. She's a contributor to Writer's Digest and the Novel and Short Story Writer's Market.

Her bestselling Camilla Randall Mystery RomCom Series features perennially down-on-her-luck former socialite Camilla Randall—who is a magnet for murder, mayhem and Mr. Wrong, but always solves the mystery in her quirky, but oh-so-polite way.

Anne lives on the Central Coast of California, near San Luis Obispo, the town Oprah called "The Happiest City in America."

April 29, 2018 at 10:27 am

I didn’t fully appreciate the importance of the first line until after my first book. I am proud of the first lines of the next three books, especially the two that say so much about the character. Those are excellent examples and a good breakdown as to why they work. Knowing that is half the struggle.

April 29, 2018 at 12:54 pm

Alex—Thanks! Congratulations on your quality first lines….knowing what and where the target is makes it so much easier to score!

April 29, 2018 at 11:10 am

Couldn’t agree more Ruth, and it’s one of my favorite topics to cover with aspiring authors on the library-circuit. It’s one of those things a newish writer hasn’t truly considered, but they light up when you show examples like these gems (we overlap with several!). I would suggest there’s also the out-and-out lunatic opening to consider, like Ian Banks who set the bar pretty high with his opening to “The Crow Road” (1992):

“It was the day my grandmother exploded.”

Tell me who’s going to put that one back on the rack!

April 29, 2018 at 12:56 pm

Will—Love the Ian Banks first line. Thanks for the great addition!

April 29, 2018 at 11:28 am

Excellent! I particularly like the constellation of 1st person examples: Plath, Nabokov, Salinger, & Allen! Well-chosen, indeed. And, as I am big-idea person more than an analytical person, I love seeing these split into categories — I simply wouldn’t think to do that to these fine examples, but it helps me conceptualize it all. Thanks again.

April 29, 2018 at 12:59 pm

CS—Thanks and happy to hear my category breakdown helped. There are infinite ways to write a great first sentence!

April 29, 2018 at 1:39 pm

I love the topic you chose for today, Ruth, and the way you take a close, illuminating look at each one. Thanks so much for the insight.

I think you had one or two short story first lines in the mix, and I’m glad for that.(I write short stories.) I think an awesome first line is every bit as important in short stories. (Last line too.)

Tolstoy’s Anna Kerenina first line is also an example of what I think has the potential to be powerful: A truism, or a simple philosophical (sort of) statement. He certainly nails it with this one!

An article on great last lines would be a fascinating complement to this one.

April 29, 2018 at 4:32 pm

Tricia—thanks! Yes, the Dennis Lehane first sentence was from a short story. First sentences matter!

April 29, 2018 at 2:35 pm

My favourite opening line is from J.G. Ballard’s ‘High-Rise’:

“Later, as he sat on his balcony eating the dog, Dr Robert Laing reflected on the unusual events that had taken place within this huge apartment building during the previous three months.”

It sets tone, character, place…and the opportunity to decline an invitation to proceed.

April 29, 2018 at 4:34 pm

Patricia—that’s just great! Thanks!

April 29, 2018 at 3:44 pm

I used my favorite first line in an email signature that earned me a visit from the President of the college; he never made me take it down, but I knew somebody had asked about it nonetheless. From James Crumley’s Last Good Kiss: “When I finally caught up with Abraham Trahearne, he was drinking beer with an alcoholic bulldog named Fireball Roberts in a ramshackle joint just outside of Sonoma, California, drinking the heart right out of a fine spring afternoon.” I can smell that wasted, lost afternoon, I know the likes of Abraham Trahearne right up front, and one day I’m going to name my new bulldog Fireball Roberts.

April 29, 2018 at 4:38 pm

Ruthie—thanks for another fabulous first line! Wonder if anyone would name a kitten Fireball Roberts? Nah, don’t think so. 😉

April 29, 2018 at 4:35 pm

Sorry to be picky, but there are two typos in this article…which, by the way, is great. This a wonderful collection of first lines, some of which I’ve never seen before. ‘auto court’, I think, rather than ‘auto cout’ – although maybe this is a type of area I’ve not come across before! And Mr Grisham gets spelt as Grosham at one point….

April 29, 2018 at 4:47 pm

Mcrow—Thanks for your eagle eye! I wondered about “cout” but that’s how it came up in my research so I decided to go with it. Maybe a regionalism? Grissom is just a plain vanilla typo. (As I type this, tho, autocorrect turns it into Grissom.) lol

April 30, 2018 at 8:53 am

This is such a great post. I love to look at the first line of a book. It really does either pull you in … or not. I really liked ““All children, except one, grow up.” I’ve never read the book. Maybe now I will. I always try to write a first line or at least the first few lines in a way that the reader will wonder what’s going to happen next and what’s going on. Thanks for this.

April 30, 2018 at 11:24 am

Patricia—thanks for the kind words. First lines are well worth the effort.:)

April 30, 2018 at 10:01 am

First lines are tough and hard to make appealing to a large group of people–even within our own genres.

One I like is: This is the way the world ends – not with a band or a whimper, but with zombies breaking down the back door. – Hollowland by Amanda Hocking

I love the call back to Eliot with a fantasy twist.

April 30, 2018 at 11:27 am

HR—thanks for another good example and fine analysis!

April 30, 2018 at 5:48 pm

Thanks so much for this insightful look into first lines, Ruth. A good reminder to go over some of my old favs and revisit first lines in particular. 🙂

May 1, 2018 at 6:11 am

Dg—appreciate your kind words. Have fun with your old faves!

April 30, 2018 at 6:41 pm

Thanks for this article! I was inspired to re-check out some first lines. I’m pretty happy with the first lines of my two fantasy novels…the second one took a long time. The whole first chapter and especially the first paragraph went through a dozen false starts before I managed to like one I tried. But the first line of Stephen King’s “The Gunslinger” is wonderful–and it must be, as it begins not only a novel, but an epic seven-book series. The line: “The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”

May 1, 2018 at 6:15 am

Fred—*only* a dozen tries? Wow! Speedy. ;-). Thanks for the excellent Stephen King addition. Much appreciated!

May 6, 2018 at 4:32 pm

Not really speedy. I had it published about twenty-two years after I finished the first draft. I’m finishing a paranormal romance and beginning a fantasy series. Thanks to your article I re-examined, and changed, the first sentence of each one. And of course I may do so again before I’m finished. My thanks to you and Anne both for all these great helpful blogs.

May 1, 2018 at 6:47 am

Wow, those are some great first lines. I’ve always found first lines hard to write and this post has really motivated me to make sure the promise I’m making to my audience is there inside it.

One of my favorite first lines is from the manga Fullmetal Alchemist (English Translation):

“Teachings that do not speak of pain have no meaning…for humankind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return.”

May 1, 2018 at 7:25 am

Amy—happy to hear the post helped. 🙂 thanks,too, for the excellent addition to our first lines!

May 1, 2018 at 7:30 am

I often write my first lines after the first draft. Rather, I should say, I “rewrite” my first line a gazillion times after the first draft. Great post, Ruth. Thanks for the inspiration!

May 1, 2018 at 11:06 am

Sue—yes! It’s not the writing. It’s the rewriting. + the revisions. Facts of life! 😉

May 1, 2018 at 10:17 pm

I love, love, love first sentences. I’ve written hundreds of them! If only I had completed stories to go with all with my first lines….heavy sigh. Enjoyed the post.

May 2, 2018 at 4:13 am

Tammy—ditto and thanks. Maybe find the love for second sentences? 😉

May 6, 2018 at 8:26 am

A great article, Anne.

May 6, 2018 at 12:20 pm

Robbie–The thanks go entirely to Ruth. Not only did she write the piece. but she chose the image this time too. I thought it was perfect!

May 6, 2018 at 4:52 pm

Robbie—glad to learn you enjoyed the post!

May 6, 2018 at 10:31 am

3 greatest are from Moby Dick, Old Man and Sea and Tale of 2 Cities. Oh, and that “In the beginning…” one is pretty famous too.

May 6, 2018 at 1:10 pm

Carl—thanks for the suggestions. We should also add “once upon a time.” 🙂

May 7, 2018 at 3:55 am

Yes, of course !

May 6, 2018 at 4:50 pm

Fredwaiss—22 years? Definitely not speedy! I stand corrected. 🙂 Pleased to learn the post encouraged you to go back and review your first lines. Anne and I work with the goal of helping writers avoid the mistakes we made!

May 8, 2018 at 12:23 pm

Great post, thanks! It was a dark and stormy night…?????

May 8, 2018 at 12:52 pm

M. L.—Perfecto! A truly worthy addition! 🙂

May 8, 2018 at 1:08 pm

Great article Ruth! I have a harder time with LAST lines but reading this reminded me of an unread book I peeked at while unpacking last week that made me want to sit in the pile boxes to keep reading:

“Even before I push the fucking door open I know.” First line of IN SIGHT OF THE STARS by Gae Polisner.

I’m a little envious of that opening…

May 8, 2018 at 2:06 pm

Eldonna—Thanks. 🙂 Thanks, too, for adding another great first sentence!

May 10, 2018 at 3:17 pm

What a fun post – and great comments with more first lines – love it! Thanks for this.

My favorite for description is from IN COLD BLOOD by Truman Capote because of the contrast with the title:

“The village of Holcomb stands on the high wheat plains of western Kansas, a lonesome area that other Kansans call ‘out there.’ ”

and my favorite for ‘you had me at the first line’ (technically, 3 sentences, they could have been separated by commas… but it would change the rhythm) still, it got me and I read this one, then pretty much all his other books in a 2-month binge. It’s in STRAIGHT by Dick Francis:

“I inherited my brother’s life. Inherited his desk, his business, his gadgets, his enemies, his horses and his mistress. I inherited my brother’s life, and it nearly killed me.”

May 10, 2018 at 5:58 pm

Msmartha—Thanks for the kind words—and for two great suggestions! I recall a lengthy dick Francis binge, too. 🙂

June 3, 2018 at 3:09 pm

I don’t have a favorite first line, sorry! I opened an email from you and saw this as title as one of your previous posts and was intrigued. Fantastic post! I’m starting my new WIP today and you’ve inspired me to nail down that first line of my WIP. Thanks!

June 3, 2018 at 4:16 pm

Fiona—Ruth Harris here. Glad you enjoyed the post! Even happier to learn it was inspiring. Good luck with your great first sentence!

October 7, 2018 at 3:21 pm

“If there were a way, if I could, I would write this book in sign language.” Ruth Sidranski’s first line in her memoir entitled In Silence.

October 7, 2018 at 4:48 pm

Katherine—excellent! Thank you.

October 28, 2019 at 8:58 am

I read and try to write romance. This is my favorite opening line from a romance novel, The Best Man by Kristan Higgins:

“On a beautiful day in June, in front of literally half the town, wearing a wedding dress that made her look like Cinderella and holding a bouquet of perfect pink roses, Faith Elizabeth Holland was left at the altar.”

It was my first book by Kristan Higgins, but I can assure you it wasn’t my last!

October 28, 2019 at 10:24 am

Dena Jo—Wonderful! Thanks for a great addition to the list of compelling first lines. Appreciated! 🙂

November 21, 2019 at 6:54 am

First lines–yes! I waffled when I started to write my first book. (A fantasy novel based on a D&D scenario I wrote.) I decided to self-publish it after an agent who had taken me on tried to get me to publish with a publisher who asked for a lot of money. At least it was a lot to me. I was proud of that book, but it took far too long to get to the story proper. I wrote part 2 of the series and published it. Then I found a publisher for my next book, who wanted to take on my previously published books, so I took the opportunity of rewriting the beginning. I cut at least the first 4 chapters and began where the protagonist and his friends were given their quest. A much better beginning,I think.

November 21, 2019 at 1:34 pm

V.M.—Thanks for the great comment! Sounds like you’re on the right track by cutting your early chapters and starting with the quest. And yes, indeed, sometimes getting a book right does take “too long.” Frustrating but worth it!

June 19, 2020 at 5:30 am

so I wrote a first paragraph and I was hoping that someone might help me with critiquing it “You know that every time I peek my head through this window and see the tower, my heart fills with uneasiness, how it pokes into the sky here in Paris and is quite the centerpiece in the culture. Of course, I was talking about the Eiffel tower, the looming feeling I get measures to about the amount you get when you see the corpse of a person next to a puddle of blood with a 15mm Occitane Pistol floating along slowly to a sewer pipe. When you know whatever caused it can just peek out and get you too, slide its fingers along the side of the trigger, and in seconds your years of life have come to an end. ” by the way, Occitane is a region in France, in the book I am writing it also holds a secret underground gun producing factory.

June 19, 2020 at 6:26 am

Noah—Thanks for taking the time to comment. Anne and I do not offer critique services, but wish you the best of luck with your book.

August 15, 2021 at 4:10 pm

Here’s the first sentence of my second novel, plus the short one that follows:

“Who was that,” Greg asked as he and Josie drove home from the folk dance, “the fiddler, singing, at the end? You know him?” Jealousy tainted his question.

It seems to set up the emotional tension that permeates the book.

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The writer of the academic essay aims to persuade readers of an idea based on evidence. The beginning of the essay is a crucial first step in this process. In order to engage readers and establish your authority, the beginning of your essay has to accomplish certain business. Your beginning should introduce the essay, focus it, and orient readers.

Introduce the Essay.  The beginning lets your readers know what the essay is about, the  topic . The essay's topic does not exist in a vacuum, however; part of letting readers know what your essay is about means establishing the essay's  context , the frame within which you will approach your topic. For instance, in an essay about the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech, the context may be a particular legal theory about the speech right; it may be historical information concerning the writing of the amendment; it may be a contemporary dispute over flag burning; or it may be a question raised by the text itself. The point here is that, in establishing the essay's context, you are also limiting your topic. That is, you are framing an approach to your topic that necessarily eliminates other approaches. Thus, when you determine your context, you simultaneously narrow your topic and take a big step toward focusing your essay. Here's an example.

The paragraph goes on. But as you can see, Chopin's novel (the topic) is introduced in the context of the critical and moral controversy its publication engendered.

Focus the Essay.  Beyond introducing your topic, your beginning must also let readers know what the central issue is. What question or problem will you be thinking about? You can pose a question that will lead to your idea (in which case, your idea will be the answer to your question), or you can make a thesis statement. Or you can do both: you can ask a question and immediately suggest the answer that your essay will argue. Here's an example from an essay about Memorial Hall.

The fullness of your idea will not emerge until your conclusion, but your beginning must clearly indicate the direction your idea will take, must set your essay on that road. And whether you focus your essay by posing a question, stating a thesis, or combining these approaches, by the end of your beginning, readers should know what you're writing about, and  why —and why they might want to read on.

Orient Readers.  Orienting readers, locating them in your discussion, means providing information and explanations wherever necessary for your readers' understanding. Orienting is important throughout your essay, but it is crucial in the beginning. Readers who don't have the information they need to follow your discussion will get lost and quit reading. (Your teachers, of course, will trudge on.) Supplying the necessary information to orient your readers may be as simple as answering the journalist's questions of who, what, where, when, how, and why. It may mean providing a brief overview of events or a summary of the text you'll be analyzing. If the source text is brief, such as the First Amendment, you might just quote it. If the text is well known, your summary, for most audiences, won't need to be more than an identifying phrase or two:

Often, however, you will want to summarize your source more fully so that readers can follow your analysis of it.

Questions of Length and Order.  How long should the beginning be? The length should be proportionate to the length and complexity of the whole essay. For instance, if you're writing a five-page essay analyzing a single text, your beginning should be brief, no more than one or two paragraphs. On the other hand, it may take a couple of pages to set up a ten-page essay.

Does the business of the beginning have to be addressed in a particular order? No, but the order should be logical. Usually, for instance, the question or statement that focuses the essay comes at the end of the beginning, where it serves as the jumping-off point for the middle, or main body, of the essay. Topic and context are often intertwined, but the context may be established before the particular topic is introduced. In other words, the order in which you accomplish the business of the beginning is flexible and should be determined by your purpose.

Opening Strategies.  There is still the further question of how to start. What makes a good opening? You can start with specific facts and information, a keynote quotation, a question, an anecdote, or an image. But whatever sort of opening you choose, it should be directly related to your focus. A snappy quotation that doesn't help establish the context for your essay or that later plays no part in your thinking will only mislead readers and blur your focus. Be as direct and specific as you can be. This means you should avoid two types of openings:

• The history-of-the-world (or long-distance) opening, which aims to establish a context for the essay by getting a long running start: "Ever since the dawn of civilized life, societies have struggled to reconcile the need for change with the need for order." What are we talking about here, political revolution or a new brand of soft drink? Get to it.
• The funnel opening (a variation on the same theme), which starts with something broad and general and "funnels" its way down to a specific topic. If your essay is an argument about state-mandated prayer in public schools, don't start by generalizing about religion; start with the specific topic at hand.

Remember.  After working your way through the whole draft, testing your thinking against the evidence, perhaps changing direction or modifying the idea you started with, go back to your beginning and make sure it still provides a clear focus for the essay. Then clarify and sharpen your focus as needed. Clear, direct beginnings rarely present themselves ready-made; they must be written, and rewritten, into the sort of sharp-eyed clarity that engages readers and establishes your authority.

Copyright 1999, Patricia Kain, for the Writing Center at Harvard University

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• Example of a great essay | Explanations, tips & tricks

Example of a Great Essay | Explanations, Tips & Tricks

Published on February 9, 2015 by Shane Bryson . Revised on July 23, 2023 by Shona McCombes.

This example guides you through the structure of an essay. It shows how to build an effective introduction , focused paragraphs , clear transitions between ideas, and a strong conclusion .

Each paragraph addresses a single central point, introduced by a topic sentence , and each point is directly related to the thesis statement .

As you read, hover over the highlighted parts to learn what they do and why they work.

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Other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about writing an essay, an appeal to the senses: the development of the braille system in nineteenth-century france.

The invention of Braille was a major turning point in the history of disability. The writing system of raised dots used by visually impaired people was developed by Louis Braille in nineteenth-century France. In a society that did not value disabled people in general, blindness was particularly stigmatized, and lack of access to reading and writing was a significant barrier to social participation. The idea of tactile reading was not entirely new, but existing methods based on sighted systems were difficult to learn and use. As the first writing system designed for blind people’s needs, Braille was a groundbreaking new accessibility tool. It not only provided practical benefits, but also helped change the cultural status of blindness. This essay begins by discussing the situation of blind people in nineteenth-century Europe. It then describes the invention of Braille and the gradual process of its acceptance within blind education. Subsequently, it explores the wide-ranging effects of this invention on blind people’s social and cultural lives.

Lack of access to reading and writing put blind people at a serious disadvantage in nineteenth-century society. Text was one of the primary methods through which people engaged with culture, communicated with others, and accessed information; without a well-developed reading system that did not rely on sight, blind people were excluded from social participation (Weygand, 2009). While disabled people in general suffered from discrimination, blindness was widely viewed as the worst disability, and it was commonly believed that blind people were incapable of pursuing a profession or improving themselves through culture (Weygand, 2009). This demonstrates the importance of reading and writing to social status at the time: without access to text, it was considered impossible to fully participate in society. Blind people were excluded from the sighted world, but also entirely dependent on sighted people for information and education.

In France, debates about how to deal with disability led to the adoption of different strategies over time. While people with temporary difficulties were able to access public welfare, the most common response to people with long-term disabilities, such as hearing or vision loss, was to group them together in institutions (Tombs, 1996). At first, a joint institute for the blind and deaf was created, and although the partnership was motivated more by financial considerations than by the well-being of the residents, the institute aimed to help people develop skills valuable to society (Weygand, 2009). Eventually blind institutions were separated from deaf institutions, and the focus shifted towards education of the blind, as was the case for the Royal Institute for Blind Youth, which Louis Braille attended (Jimenez et al, 2009). The growing acknowledgement of the uniqueness of different disabilities led to more targeted education strategies, fostering an environment in which the benefits of a specifically blind education could be more widely recognized.

Several different systems of tactile reading can be seen as forerunners to the method Louis Braille developed, but these systems were all developed based on the sighted system. The Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris taught the students to read embossed roman letters, a method created by the school’s founder, Valentin Hauy (Jimenez et al., 2009). Reading this way proved to be a rather arduous task, as the letters were difficult to distinguish by touch. The embossed letter method was based on the reading system of sighted people, with minimal adaptation for those with vision loss. As a result, this method did not gain significant success among blind students.

Louis Braille was bound to be influenced by his school’s founder, but the most influential pre-Braille tactile reading system was Charles Barbier’s night writing. A soldier in Napoleon’s army, Barbier developed a system in 1819 that used 12 dots with a five line musical staff (Kersten, 1997). His intention was to develop a system that would allow the military to communicate at night without the need for light (Herron, 2009). The code developed by Barbier was phonetic (Jimenez et al., 2009); in other words, the code was designed for sighted people and was based on the sounds of words, not on an actual alphabet. Barbier discovered that variants of raised dots within a square were the easiest method of reading by touch (Jimenez et al., 2009). This system proved effective for the transmission of short messages between military personnel, but the symbols were too large for the fingertip, greatly reducing the speed at which a message could be read (Herron, 2009). For this reason, it was unsuitable for daily use and was not widely adopted in the blind community.

Nevertheless, Barbier’s military dot system was more efficient than Hauy’s embossed letters, and it provided the framework within which Louis Braille developed his method. Barbier’s system, with its dashes and dots, could form over 4000 combinations (Jimenez et al., 2009). Compared to the 26 letters of the Latin alphabet, this was an absurdly high number. Braille kept the raised dot form, but developed a more manageable system that would reflect the sighted alphabet. He replaced Barbier’s dashes and dots with just six dots in a rectangular configuration (Jimenez et al., 2009). The result was that the blind population in France had a tactile reading system using dots (like Barbier’s) that was based on the structure of the sighted alphabet (like Hauy’s); crucially, this system was the first developed specifically for the purposes of the blind.

While the Braille system gained immediate popularity with the blind students at the Institute in Paris, it had to gain acceptance among the sighted before its adoption throughout France. This support was necessary because sighted teachers and leaders had ultimate control over the propagation of Braille resources. Many of the teachers at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth resisted learning Braille’s system because they found the tactile method of reading difficult to learn (Bullock & Galst, 2009). This resistance was symptomatic of the prevalent attitude that the blind population had to adapt to the sighted world rather than develop their own tools and methods. Over time, however, with the increasing impetus to make social contribution possible for all, teachers began to appreciate the usefulness of Braille’s system (Bullock & Galst, 2009), realizing that access to reading could help improve the productivity and integration of people with vision loss. It took approximately 30 years, but the French government eventually approved the Braille system, and it was established throughout the country (Bullock & Galst, 2009).

Although Blind people remained marginalized throughout the nineteenth century, the Braille system granted them growing opportunities for social participation. Most obviously, Braille allowed people with vision loss to read the same alphabet used by sighted people (Bullock & Galst, 2009), allowing them to participate in certain cultural experiences previously unavailable to them. Written works, such as books and poetry, had previously been inaccessible to the blind population without the aid of a reader, limiting their autonomy. As books began to be distributed in Braille, this barrier was reduced, enabling people with vision loss to access information autonomously. The closing of the gap between the abilities of blind and the sighted contributed to a gradual shift in blind people’s status, lessening the cultural perception of the blind as essentially different and facilitating greater social integration.

The Braille system also had important cultural effects beyond the sphere of written culture. Its invention later led to the development of a music notation system for the blind, although Louis Braille did not develop this system himself (Jimenez, et al., 2009). This development helped remove a cultural obstacle that had been introduced by the popularization of written musical notation in the early 1500s. While music had previously been an arena in which the blind could participate on equal footing, the transition from memory-based performance to notation-based performance meant that blind musicians were no longer able to compete with sighted musicians (Kersten, 1997). As a result, a tactile musical notation system became necessary for professional equality between blind and sighted musicians (Kersten, 1997).

Braille paved the way for dramatic cultural changes in the way blind people were treated and the opportunities available to them. Louis Braille’s innovation was to reimagine existing reading systems from a blind perspective, and the success of this invention required sighted teachers to adapt to their students’ reality instead of the other way around. In this sense, Braille helped drive broader social changes in the status of blindness. New accessibility tools provide practical advantages to those who need them, but they can also change the perspectives and attitudes of those who do not.

Bullock, J. D., & Galst, J. M. (2009). The Story of Louis Braille. Archives of Ophthalmology , 127(11), 1532. https://​doi.org/10.1001/​archophthalmol.2009.286.

Herron, M. (2009, May 6). Blind visionary. Retrieved from https://​eandt.theiet.org/​content/​articles/2009/05/​blind-visionary/.

Jiménez, J., Olea, J., Torres, J., Alonso, I., Harder, D., & Fischer, K. (2009). Biography of Louis Braille and Invention of the Braille Alphabet. Survey of Ophthalmology , 54(1), 142–149. https://​doi.org/10.1016/​j.survophthal.2008.10.006.

Kersten, F.G. (1997). The history and development of Braille music methodology. The Bulletin of Historical Research in Music Education , 18(2). Retrieved from https://​www.jstor.org/​stable/40214926.

Mellor, C.M. (2006). Louis Braille: A touch of genius . Boston: National Braille Press.

Tombs, R. (1996). France: 1814-1914 . London: Pearson Education Ltd.

Weygand, Z. (2009). The blind in French society from the Middle Ages to the century of Louis Braille . Stanford: Stanford University Press.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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An essay is a focused piece of writing that explains, argues, describes, or narrates.

In high school, you may have to write many different types of essays to develop your writing skills.

Academic essays at college level are usually argumentative : you develop a clear thesis about your topic and make a case for your position using evidence, analysis and interpretation.

The structure of an essay is divided into an introduction that presents your topic and thesis statement , a body containing your in-depth analysis and arguments, and a conclusion wrapping up your ideas.

The structure of the body is flexible, but you should always spend some time thinking about how you can organize your essay to best serve your ideas.

Your essay introduction should include three main things, in this order:

• An opening hook to catch the reader’s attention.
• Relevant background information that the reader needs to know.
• A thesis statement that presents your main point or argument.

The length of each part depends on the length and complexity of your essay .

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

A topic sentence is a sentence that expresses the main point of a paragraph . Everything else in the paragraph should relate to the topic sentence.

At college level, you must properly cite your sources in all essays , research papers , and other academic texts (except exams and in-class exercises).

Add a citation whenever you quote , paraphrase , or summarize information or ideas from a source. You should also give full source details in a bibliography or reference list at the end of your text.

The exact format of your citations depends on which citation style you are instructed to use. The most common styles are APA , MLA , and Chicago .

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Sentence Starters Made Easy for Better Essays

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The first sentence of an essay is a sentence starter. They must intrigue the reader enough to read further into the paper without being too wordy.

Generally, they should introduce the topic and give the reader the main idea of the paper at a glance. It also helps establish the tone and direction of the essay.

Without them, writing can become fragmented and disjointed, making reading difficult. However, it is not always clear which ones to include and when.

In this article, we provide sentence starters that you can use in your writing, separated into categories for simple references. Let’s get started!

What Is a Sentence Starter?

Sentence starters are the words or phrases that introduce the remainder of the sentence and are generally separated by commas. Sentence-beginning words are crucial in writing. They introduce the subject of the sentence so that the reader knows what to anticipate.

The first sentence of an essay are vital to the cohesion of lengthy academic writing works. Because each sentence effectively has its own theme, these compositions frequently and sometimes abruptly move from point to point.

Sentence starters facilitate the reader’s comprehension by softening abrupt transitions and introducing the next topic.

This rule also applies to paragraphs that bounce from subject to subject. Paragraph starters provide an organizational signpost via introductory sentence starters to bridge the gap between themes.

Although prevalent in fiction, sentence starters are most effective when writing nonfiction, especially essays.

In contrast to fiction, nonfiction employs a range of facts that serve as sentence starters for the reader. In other words, if you believe nonfiction to be dull, imagine if it were simply a list of facts!

When Should You Employ Sentence Starters?

Sentence starters aren’t required for all sentences. In fact, their overuse can be distracting. These are some instances where a sentence starter is most effective:

• When it’s hard to see how one sentence fits with the others.
• You’re bringing up a new idea, like at the start of an essay or a paragraph.
• Giving a summary or conclusion, like at the end of an essay.
• Want to put more attention on a certain sentence or point.
• You need to write a hook to get people interested.
• The sentence needs some background information or context to make sense.

There is no hard and fast rule for when to utilize and when to avoid sentence starters. If you are having difficulty deciding, consider revisiting your past few paragraphs and evaluating their flow.

There is no need for sentence starters if your sentence flows well. If something feels odd, out of place, or absent, try adding one to see if it helps.

Below you will discover samples of context-appropriate phrase beginnings.

First Sentence of an Essay (Topic Sentences)

Topic sentences introduce the topic of the paragraph or the entire content to enable readers know what to expect.

• This paper discusses …
• In this paper . . .
• Here, we discuss . . .
• Below, you will find . . .

Sequences or Lists: Sentence Starters

Sentence starters come particularly handy when writing sets of instructions or explaining a succession of events. These components aren’t always related in obvious ways. Sentence openers connect them and put them in the proper order, so your reader can organize them in their thoughts.

• First . . ., Second . . ., Third . . ., etc. 
• Subsequently . . .
• After that . . .

Comparisons: Sentence Starters

To show that two items are similar or linked, use sentence starters.

• Similarly . . .
• I n the same way . . .
• Likewise . . .
• Again . . .

Elaboration or Adding New Points

When a single sentence is insufficient to properly express your idea, including sentence starters to subsequent sentences can connect them.

• Additionally . . .
• Moreover . . .
• Furthermore . . .
• Also .  . .

Introducing Examples

For essays, you should support your claims with proof. Sentence openers facilitate the shift from describing the large picture to illustrating the application of these principles in the real world.

• For example . . .
• For instance . . .
• This is evidenced by . . .
• Consider the [case/example] of . . .

Contrasts and Abrupt Transitions

Sentence starters are most effective when switching topics abruptly. The writing seems abrupt and disjointed without them, so utilize them to keep your reader on track, especially when comparing topics.

• Although . . .
• On the other hand . . .
• In contrast . . .
• Despite that . . ..

To Establish Cause and Effect

Commonly, two sentences are used to describe a cause-and-effect relationship, such as something causing something else to occur. This link can be clarified by using sentence starters to show the distinction between the cause and effect.

• As a result . . .
• Accordingly . . .
• Therefore . . . .
• That is why . . .

Emphasis: Sentence Starters

In other instances, sentence beginnings are not required, but they serve to emphasize a point. Reserve these for the sentences that you want your audience to remember most.

• Above all . . .
• As usual . . .
• Certainly . . .
• Generally speaking . . .

Starters for References

If you are crediting someone else’s concept, such as in a research paper, include the attribution in the first words of the phrase. Use these phrase openers before quoting or discussing an idea from another source.

• According to . . .
• Based on the findings of . . .
• As explained by . . .
• With regards to . . .

Generally Accepted Concepts (Historicals)

Some sentences lack meaning when removed from their context. This could be a popular, mainstream notion that is unknown to the reader, or some historical context that is not well known. Sentence starters can provide background in these cases without veering off topic. 

• Traditionally . . .
• Historically . . .
• Initially . . .
• Until now . . .

To Show Uncertainty or Doubt

If you are writing about facts, your audience will assume that everything you write is true. In circumstances where something is unproven or unknown, tell your readers that doubt exists so as not to mislead them.

• Perhaps . . .
• Although not proven . . .
• Arguably . . .
• While debatable . . .

Conclusion and Summaries

Because they do not convey fresh information, conclusions and summaries always behave differently than other phrases and paragraphs.

Sentence starters can signal to the reader that you’re about to “close things up,” so they don’t expect any fresh points or proof.

• In summary . . .
• To summarize . . . 
• In conclusion . . .
• To wrap things up . . .

A sentence starter is a brief word or phrase to help the reader transition . Sentence starters are commonly used in written texts, blog posts, reports, and essays.

If you want your sentence starters to stand out from the crowd, avoid common words. Common words such as “I,” “am,” and “this” should be avoided. Always use sentences that are familiar to most readers.

Abir Ghenaiet

Abir is a data analyst and researcher. Among her interests are artificial intelligence, machine learning, and natural language processing. As a humanitarian and educator, she actively supports women in tech and promotes diversity.

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