how to write a hook for a history essay

how to write a hook for a history essay

Crafting Compelling Hooks for History Essays

1. Introduction to the Importance of Hooks in History Essays

What history brings to essays is both its inescapable multi-strandedness (no other subject can intertwine so many separate ideas and events, so that everything seems to be saying everything else) and the gulf in the reader’s knowledge between himself and the period or event from which the ideas and events come. The reader or teacher is in no real way related to the Thirty Years’ War, or Harold, or went mining up the Tanami in search for last year’s examination results. The disconnect accepts the facts of the French wars of religion with the same outward numbness with which others assimilate the exploits of enrêve comprehensive school in ‘Greece’nhony ear a history essay catches and holds attention is the hook. Experience tells many students, I am sure, that despite from examiners’ past appetites for essays that hang the conventional framework from a time-worn belt or two of specifics, effort whose fruits are plucked from the tree of imagination seems both more fulfilling and apt to yield better results.

The time has arrived to be crafting history essays again, and I was reminded this week of a major feature of most history essays that can snare a writer: the hook. History, more than many other subjects, for reasons you would be likely pretty quick to divine, has a way of making a writer forget where he is and what he is there for, and that way results in some very forgettable hooks. A hook’s job, of course, is to interest the reader and inspire him, before his eyes reach the bottom of the first page and all that history. This is especially important in this age of the word-processed, menu-driven essay, an age in which the demi-gods of scholarship sitting before their ancient monoliths expect a good read before they see a good essay, bless them.

2. Types of Hooks and Their Effectiveness in Historical Writing

Every writer has more preferences than others when employing a certain hook type (quote, question, statement, or offer). All forms create engaging writing when used proficiently. This idea is confirmed in Reeves and Beach’s 1996 Journal of Educational Psychology article. In that study, students were asked to evaluate introductions with different hook types. They rated all approaches similarly and no negative consequences were indicated for using one hook type more than others. Therefore, none is superior to another. Note, this investigation was not for history essays but what their results display is worth noting. Since students scored all introductions evenly, teachers could teach and practice any or all types without worrying if they are selecting an inappropriate type. Since it was a comparison of equally skilled students’ evaluations of hooks, ineffectiveness does not come from students predicting an incorrect score for any hook type. Even though quote, question, and statement effectiveness in history writing has not been studied, it is suggested history teachers assign and grade intros with all types regularly.

In general, an essay hook introduces a unique idea that makes readers interested. Ideally, this occurs very early in an essay or paper so readers can continue past the hook and into the body. There are a few ways to create a hook—by using figurative language or an interesting fact, quote, question, or attractive offer. In history essays, each of these options is effective, but they have challenges not seen in other subjects. Without experience or guidance, cultivating complexity and ensuring facts and quotes are accurate can be difficult and time-consuming for students. Additionally, since both students and teachers have a monotonous memory of history essay intros, it is possible students don’t make a selection between those with good or weak hooks. Well-chosen hooks can create exceptional writing so students should perceive the expectations of historical writing and how this aligns to their interests and the course content.

3. Strategies for Creating Engaging Hooks in History Essays

Hook: Why did George Armstrong Custer run for President? His brief military career prior to his death was unspectacular: before that, he was best known for being the main character of Little Big Man and was probably second-best known for the witticism that became a title: “The Only Good Indian is a Dead Indian.” Yet Custer was popular enough to have real influence, and some of the celebrations his ex-fighter admirers held in his memory before I was born still continue.

To create a question hook, think about what interests you about the subject matter and how you can use that interest to pique the curiosity of your reader. Then, write out a question addressing that interest. Be sure to respond to the question you pose in the body of your essay.

History essays require compelling hooks to draw in the reader and pique interest in the subject at hand. Use the following strategies, individually or in combination, to craft engaging introductions for both high school and college history essays. This document provides a brief overview of several different strategies: intriguing question, powerful quotation, vivid description, definition of a term, strong thesis statement, combination. Each strategy will be briefly explained and then illustrated with an essay introduction that uses that hook to compel the reader to continue beyond the introduction and into the body of the text. Each introduction is from a 2-5 page essay written as part of a course taught by Professor Laura Madson at California State University at Chico.

4. Examples of Successful Hooks in Historical Writing

Alan Taylor makes the role of African Americans in American History immediately vivid by presenting a brief snapshot of an atrocity committed against innocent, almost complicit victims. He contrasts the mission of the Indian as having an alien force in routing them from their land, while the role of the slave has an effect that is altogether different: “Directly or indirectly, slaves were made to repair and sustain the colonial dynasty in Virginia.” The broken backs removed from the crop applies not to the recurring crop of Indians, but rather to all the poor creatures the colonial dynasts have brought over to tend the specimens in their hothouse.

Robert Middlekauff’s essay, “The Glorious Cause,” reveals a heroic tale of America’s founding, beginning with an examination of its underlying principles that admit the shortcomings and contradictions. In describing the “form” of the Revolution, Middlekauff appeals to the same religious paradigm that prevails in the Founders’ rhetoric. It is a story of the rare chastening power of the spirit and the collection of heroes that their presence in the right place and time have won for themselves, in the process defeating the world’s most powerful army.