How can I make the intro. to my essay an 'attention grabber'?

Question

Im writing about the symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder on veterans of war such as nightmares and sleep disorders and how they affect them after war

Answer 1

In Reading , Writing, and Rising Up, Linda Christensen suggests four types of "attention-grabbers" that have worked for her students. I have passed the same formulas on to my own students with varied success. Any one of the following can be used for just about any essay (as long as the assignment-maker has not expressly forbidden one or two of the forms, as I have in the past due to misuse).

1. Quotes--the key here is not to find the cleverest quote in Bartlett's, but to respond genuinely. Some of Christensen's students used familiar TV ad lines. Beware, it is easy to get caught up paraphrasing what the quote already said--do NOT do that! Respond with your own personal response, not, "What this means is..."

2. Question--I usually end up outlawing this one. Most students fall back into "Have you ever" and "Would you ever" type questions. Lame-o. Rule of thumb: try to avoid "you" in any academic paper. The point of the question is to get the audience's mind pondering, not just raise your voice at the end of a sentence.

3. Anecdote--Big word for story. This is usually a pretty effective way. The only problem is that writers often want to get off on a tangent telling the story rather than making their points, they lose focus. Limit yourself to a single paragraph. Eliminate anything that does not go DIRECTLY back to your point and keep only enough to make it clear.

4. Wake-up call--This is a favorite among my students. Basically, the goal is to scare the audience into paying attention. Caution: don't just use exclamation points or--as suggested above, repeated words (e.g. "Me! Me! Me!") It gets old for the audience quick, and does little to advance your point. I had one student who used that method once with some success and then did it EVERY time after. Don't do that. The example that Christensen cites has to do with three-eyed fish and all kinds of anomalies to introduce a pollution paper. Shock 'em. Don't just yell at 'em.

If you have further questions, feel free to contact me!

Answer 2

No introduction will grab everyone's attention so first figure out the audience you are writing to and what you want to say. For example, maybe your audience is a teacher who is a adamant about proper punctuation and spelling and you want to convince your audience(teacher) that summer reading programs for kids help their writing skills. Attention grabber intro: "When I was 8 I askd mom if I cude reed books after skool with the other kids but she sed that that was silly that I red just fine but I trid telling her that I likd reeding but she sed no becuse I had chores to do and besides mom sed she wus teeching me work ethics and work ethics pade the bills. Mom sed nobody ever pade the bills reeding books. Now Im 20 and people lauf at me when I fill out an job application."
Anyway, the "attention grabber" is the easy part because it really doesn't say much, however effective it is at grabbing attention.
Be yourself and stand by what you write.

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
How can I make the intro. to my essay an 'attention grabber'?

Answer 4

as an essay you should strive to asses both sides of the argument, yes walt disney has brought out the inner child in all of us and has created one the most successful and credited businesses, but on the flip side (you may want to research this), walt disney was firmly racist and right-wing. as for your three topic i think you should talk about 1. walt disney himself.2. the origins of the company, eg disney's van thing with the cartoons on it. 3. the early disney cartoon motion pictures and its rise to global renown. As for your intro-"Disney. It means so much to us all; he releases the inner child in us all and brightens children's youth; who however was the man behind the cartoons? Was he a joyful animator or was there more? Was there a dark and less appealing part of disney that wdidn'tnt know about? The answer is of course yes. I plan to asses both sides of the argument..ETCct ect.

Answer 5

It's always good to start, with something that grabs the attention, so to speak ( ;0) ), like "Me, me, me, me, ME!" them continue: "In this essay on an 'attention grabber' I intend to look at..." and then outline the general themes and references you intend to use, and the possible conclusions you might expect.

Answer 6

Just a thought.

Sleep is but a dream to some. Every night when they close their eyes the images of horror flood the dreamscape. They don’t know of time, time that heals all wounds. These wounds are cut deep into their psyche. They reach beyond time and space to rest in a place of constant fear and dread. The fear of sleep. The dread that comes from knowing they will be visiting that place that haunts them through the night, and throughout their days. These poor souls suffer from posttraumatic stress disorder.

Answer 7

start off with a question or perhaps start with a scenario. i did an essay on bipolar disorder when i was in high school and my intro gave a small peek into the life of someone with bipolar, including symptoms and how they kept their house. try something like that. good luck

Answer 8

the usual answers are to use an impressive fact/statistic, start with a good quote from someone. there's more i'm sure.

Answer 9

There is a book called writers inc that is just great to help you with any kind of writing

Answer 10

I could surely help you if you send me a short idea of what you are writing about and what your first paragraph will be about... Best wishes