good starting sentence for essay

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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..

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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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Starting Sentences for Essays & Tips for Opening Sentences

Starting sentences for essays.

A good opening sentence can make or break your essay. It’s what catches the reader’s attention and makes them want to keep reading. Before you start writing, here are some tips to help you come up with a great opening sentence for your essay:

Make it clear what the essay is about

State your main argument clearly in this sentence. This will help the reader understand what they’re going to read, and it will set the tone for the rest of your essay.

Make it interesting

Your first sentence needs to grab the reader’s attention, so think about how you can make it interesting. A good way to do this is by using an anecdote or story as part of your opening sentence.

For example, you could say “One day when I was running late for school…” or “When I was younger, my dad used to tell me never to leave home without my keys…”

Start with action

Sometimes it can be hard to come up with a catchy opening line that also includes some action. Try starting with something like “I remember the first time I ever set foot on an airplane…” or “When I was a kid, my mom always told me…”

Topic Sentence

There are many reasons for starting a topic sentence, but the most common is to catch the reader’s attention.

A topic sentence can be an anecdote, a quote or an interesting fact. It can be a question that you raise in your essay and answer throughout the rest of your essay.

The topic sentence should be placed at the beginning of your paragraph to create interest and draw readers in. In order to do that, it needs to be relevant and specific enough to relate only to the following paragraphs, but broad enough that it provides an overview of everything that follows.

A good essay starts with a strong introduction. Here are some examples of introductory sentences that you can use to get your reader interested in your topic:

• I have always been fascinated by the idea of time travel.
• The first time I went to Paris was in 2007, just after my graduation from high school, when I visited my brother’s family who had moved there a few years before.
• In the 19th century, many women were confined to the home with no opportunity for education or socialization beyond their immediate family and neighbors; however, things have changed dramatically since then and today women are just as likely as men to pursue careers outside the home and even run for political office at all levels of government in many Western countries including Canada and the United States.
• I’m not sure why we have to write an essay in this class.
• I think that a lot of people are going to get hurt by this new policy.
• The world would be a better place if everyone had respect for each other’s feelings and beliefs.
• In my opinion, teenagers today are more stressed than ever before because they have so many pressures from school, work, socializing and family life that they don’t even know what to do with themselves anymore.
• It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife.
• The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences.
• There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all.
• One must always be careful of books,” said Tessa, “and what is inside them, for words have the power to change us.”
• All happy families resemble one another; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
• The reason why I love my job is because it gives me the opportunity to help people.
• In my life, there are many things that I want to achieve, but the one thing that I want to achieve more than anything else is being able to help other people.
• Apart from my family and friends, the most important thing in my life is helping other people.
• I have always felt a strong desire to help other people, but it wasn’t until recently that I was able to realize this dream by becoming a doctor.

More to read

• What are Writing Skills?
• 12 Writing Tips for Beginners
• 5 Common Writing Mistakes
• 120 Examples of Simple Sentences
• 29 Simple Tips to Improve Interpersonal Skills

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, how do i choose a strong opening sentence for my college essay.

I want to make sure my college essay starts off strong and grabs the reader's attention. How do I come up with a captivating opening sentence? Any tips or examples would be greatly appreciated!

Great question! A strong opening sentence is indeed crucial to grabbing the reader's attention and setting the stage for your college essay. To create an impactful opening sentence, consider beginning with a story, a question, or a statement that generates curiosity.

One strategy is to start with an anecdote that highlights an experience related to the subject you plan to discuss. By doing this, you'll immerse the reader in your narrative. For example:

'As I plunged into the icy water, I realized how important it was to push my boundaries and face my fears.'

Alternatively, you could open with a question to engage the reader and set the tone for the essay. For instance:

'What does it take to turn an ordinary meal into a culinary adventure?'

Another approach involves using a thought-provoking statement that piques the reader's interest:

'If I were ever asked to describe myself in one word, it wouldn't be one word at all: it'd be a mathematical constant.'

Remember to be authentic and creative with your opening sentence. Good luck with your college essay!

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How to Get the Perfect Hook for Your College Essay

What’s covered:, developing your hook.

• 5 College Essay Hook Examples

5 Tips and Examples for Crafting a Great Hook

Your essay is one of the best tools available for standing out in a crowded field of college applicants (many with academic portfolios similar to yours) when applying to your dream school. A college essay is your opportunity to show admissions committees the person behind the grades, test scores, and resume. To ensure your college essay receives the full attention of admissions committees, you need to lure them in with a great hook—that is, a compelling opening that makes your audience hungry for more.

You need a strong start to capture the attention of the admission committees. When it comes to college essays, first impressions are everything. In fact, there’s no guarantee that anyone is going to read more than your first sentence if you bore them to tears within a few words, which is why it’s essential to craft an effective and engaging hook.

There’s no one-size-fits-all strategy for composing an attention-grabbing hook. A well-crafted hook can be anything from an image to an anecdote to an interesting fact while factors like writing style, essay structure, and prompt can all influence what makes for a good hook. That said, memorable hooks share a number of attributes, most notably they draw readers in,  connect with the topic you’re writing about, and leave a lasting impression, often in a creative or unexpected way.

For example, let’s construct a hypothetical essay. Let’s say that after some careful consideration, Jane Doe has decided to write her personal essay about her experience running canine obedience classes. She isn’t quite sure how to start her essay, so she’s practicing with some proven essay hooks. If you’re ready to develop your own hook, check out four of our favorite college essay hook strategies and how they work for Jane below!

College Essay Hook Examples

There are a number of proven strategies that Jane can use to craft a compelling hook. A few tried-and-true hooks include:

1. Open with an Anecdote

People love stories, so it makes sense that telling one is a great way to attract readers. Detailing a relevant anecdote provides context for your essay and can give the reader an idea of what you are up against if you’re overcoming an obstacle or rising to a challenge.

On the day that I told my mother I wanted to start my own canine obedience school, she smiled and muttered something under her breath about the irony of my youthful disobedience and my newfound passion for enforcing rules. What she didn’t know then was that it was not in spite of, but rather because of, my tendency to push the boundaries that I was confident in my ability to succeed.

2. Set the Scene

One fantastic way to get your essay moving and to draw your readers in is to plunge them into the middle of an important scene. Provide readers with descriptive details and dialogue to make them feel like they’re watching a movie from your life and have just tuned in at a critical moment.

I jumped back as the dog lunged for my leg, teeth bared and snarling. “It’s okay, Smokey, it’s okay,” I soothed as I tried to maneuver closer to the post where I had tied his leash. In the back of my head, I heard my brother’s taunts swirling around.

“A dog trainer?” he had scoffed. “What kind of person would hire you as a dog trainer?!”

I pushed the thoughts away and grasped the leash, pulling it tightly to my side as Smokey, surprised by my sudden confidence, fell into stride beside me.

3. Ask a Question

Asking a question at the beginning of your essay can activate your reader’s critical thinking and get them hungry for the answer that you won’t offer until later. Try to come up with a question that’s broad enough that they won’t know the answer right away, but specific enough that it isn’t a generic hook that could work on just any college essay.

How do you respond when you’re faced with a very real physical threat to your safety, yet you literally can’t afford to back down? This is the question I faced on my very first day as a dog trainer.

4. Use a Metaphor or Simile

A metaphor or simile can pull readers in by helping them make connections between seemingly unrelated topics or by encouraging them to think about topics from a different point of view.

Running canine obedience classes is a lot like navigating high school. It’s a dog-eat-dog world with a lot to learn, many personalities to manage, peril around every corner, and everyone anxious to graduate.

Selecting the right hook is a great first step for writing a winning college essay, but the execution is also important.

1. Narrow Down Your Scope

Sometimes the best way to tackle big projects like writing an attention-grabbing hook or captivating college essay is to think small. Narrow down on a specific incident or even a moment that leads into your topic.

It’s my first time teaching a canine obedience class. I’m surrounded by strangers and the dogs are barking so loud I can’t hear myself think, but I have a gnawing feeling that I’m losing control. I put my fingers to my lips and let out the loudest whistle I’m capable of. Suddenly there was silence.

2. Use Adjectives

Adjectives are used to add a description and make your writing clearer and more specific. In other words, they’re the details that make your writing stand out and suck readers in. Jane didn’t simply reward the dog for sitting, she…

It was a battle of wills between me and the eight-month-old Australian Shepherd—defiance was in his sparkling blue eyes, but so was desire for the bit of hot dog hiding in my hand. Reluctantly he sat, earning his treat while I claimed my alpha status.

3. Use Emotion

Use emotion to connect and entice your reader. Emotions make readers feel, pulling them into your essay, and are memorable. You can use them for everything from sharing a fact about yourself to putting the reader in your shoes.

When I was young, I would have been extremely lonely if not for my dog Trevor. I struggled to make friends and Trevor provided companionship, helped me overcome my shyness (he was a great icebreaker), and is responsible for shaping who I am today. When Trevor passed away in high school, I set out to train canine obedience and help dogs become the best versions of themselves—just like what Trevor did for me.

4. Short and Sweet

Admissions committees have a lot of essays to read, so the quicker you get to the point and capture their attention, the better.

Mere moments into my dream job, someone had already peed on the floor and another had bitten a person. Welcome to the life of a dog trainer.

5. Just Start Writing

Sometimes the hook of your college essay isn’t clear. Rather than getting hung up, start developing your essay and see if it adds clarity as to how to best implement a hook. Some students even find that it’s easiest to write a hook last, after writing the body of the personal statement.

Where to Get Feedback on Your Essay Hook

Wondering if you created an effective hook? It’s difficult to evaluate your own writing, especially a line or two you read and reworked numerous times. CollegeVine can help. Through our free Peer Essay Review tool , you can get a free review of your hook, and overall essay, from another student. Then you can pay it forward and improve your own writing skills by reviewing other students’ essays.

If you want a college admissions expert to review your essay, advisors on CollegeVine have helped students refine their writing and submit successful applications to top schools. Find the right advisor for you to improve your chances of getting into your dream school!

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Sentence Starters for Essays: A Complete Guide on Its Use and Tips

Table Of Contents

What is a sentence starter, importance of sentence starters for essay, are transition words and sentence starters the same, tips on how to start a sentence in an essay, how to find a good opening sentence for essay, different types of sentence starters to match different requirements, need help with sentence starters hire our experts.

Studying in high school or college is surely one of the best phases of everyone's life. But even this beautiful phase has its own challenges. Writing essays for school and different academic writing tasks is a bit challenging for students.

It has been loudly declared by most high school students that pick suitable sentence starters for essays . This is the toughest moment they face whenever they think about writing something.

The jinx is over now. This blog will introduce many wonderful ideas about how and what sentence starter for essay to pick to start with. We have segregated the whole blog into different subcategories so that you don't miss anything important when it comes to the wise use of good essay sentence starters .

Even if this guide is not enough for you and you are still struggling hard to compose your essays, hiring a professional service can save you time and your grades. Such services are deliberately kept affordable to help out a large number of students. When you are ready to pay for essay , contacting us is best because their work ethics are unparalleled. Now, let's begin and learn what university essay sentence starters are.

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Generally, a essay writing sentence starters can be defined as a set of words or phrases that we put at the beginning of a sentence. A sentence starter gives a strong indication of what your essay/paragraph is going to focus on and what type of essay it is.

Essay sentence openers are not at all necessary to be always sensational. It is best to keep it relevant and interesting to grab the attention of the reader. Now you know what it is, move on to the next section to learn the importance of sentence starters essay .

An essay should always have a vision and clarity as it explains or introduces something to the readers. How you open the door for them to your article plays a critical role in keeping their interest intact till the end.

A set of good essay sentence starters comes under the most crucial components of any write-up. They help the writer to set the stage for readers with a clue about what to expect next. Essay sentence openers hold the power to bring cohesion to lengthy pieces of writing, especially academic essays.

You can also put essay opening sentence/phrases to good use by using them to make a smooth transition from one paragraph to another. If you put the essay introduction sentence starters at a paragraph's beginning, it often the sharp shifts within your article.

The importance of sentence starters in any sort of writing cannot be overlooked. Getting help from essay writing service providers can assist students in making the best of it out of them. But, before that, you must know whether transition words and sentence starters for essays are the same or not.

Wondering What Sentence Starters to Use in an Essay?

Reach out to Our Experts and Let them Resolve All Your Doubts and Queries

If we put it simply, transition words are the group of words or phrases that helps the writer to connect the thoughts or ideas between two sentences or paragraphs. This makes things less abrupt and more fluid.

Transition words can be used as good sentence starters for essays and vice versa. But not all transition words can fit the category of sentence starters.

If you choose professional writing help to make your essay outstanding, the service providers usually assign that task to an efficient UK essays writer. Such writers know exactly how to blend the right amount of transitional words and sentence starters. 

A Few Useful Transition Words as University Essay Sentence Starters

To help you in making writing more creative yet tightly knitted pieces, here is a list of some useful transition words:

• Alternatively
• At this time
• Consequently
• In effect of
• In contrast
• In other words

These transition words are quite simple to try as an opening sentence for essay or paragraph. They don't take much of your effort to improve your writing style.

Till now, you just get familiar with sentence starters for essays . In the upcoming section, you will know some tips to use it properly in essays.

Also Read:  A Guide to Double Spaced Essay (Process, Significance, Tips)

Writing an essay is not just jotting down your ideas and expressing them in words. There is more to it, particularly when you are writing something related to your academics. Be careful with the words to use in an essay . The most difficult part remains the introductory part. So, take a look at the following tips before you start the essay:

• Make a rough draft of your thoughts, ideas and how you want to execute that in writing.
• Choose an interesting title for your essay.
• List down a few good essay introduction sentence starters. Read carefully through your essay requirements to understand what is expected from your essay
• Organise your points in a logical order
• Keep sentences together that make sense with each other in a paragraph
• Think about a way to grab the attention of the reader
• Your introduction paragraph should say what the article is going to be about
• Never skip the conclusion part
• You can use previously written essay examples as reference

The quality of your essay's first paragraph heavily determines the whole writing's success. You must start the first paragraph interestingly so that reader gets hooked. A good opening sentence for essay can do that for you.

Here is how to pick a stimulating essay opening sentence:

• Your language should be clear and strong
• You can add some element of surprise
• Find something that can help you to pop up the main topic
• Don't use phrases like "I think" or "It may be". Instead, you may write "I believe" or "I am sure that", etc.

You can take the help of a professional essay writer to process essay for you. Such services are quite affordable.

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In this section, we have categorised a hoard of sentence starters for essays to serve different purposes. We hope these categories will help everyone, including students, to write more powerful essays.

Starters for Writing Essay Topic Sentence

A topic sentence sets the stage for the reader by stating the subject of the essay in the upcoming paragraphs. Here is the list of topic sentences to give you a clue about how to start a sentence in an essay introduction.

• This paper aims to…
• Today's topic covered in the paper includes…
• This write-up focuses on…
• One reason why…
• The first thing to note is…

Sentence Starter Ideas for Closing Sentences

Just like a captivating introduction, it is equally crucial to close your essay with the right tone. You can choose from the following phrases to draft the final sentence while looking for sentence starters for university essays.

• In light of what we have discussed…
• Put simply…
• Pieces of evidence and facts suggest that…
• As conclusion…
• To conclude…
• To sum it up…
• Taking everything into account…
• In the final analysis…
• On the whole…

Starters for Hooks

To grab the attention of readers, you can use anything you like from the below list of essay sentence starters:

• Just as… [for an analogy]
• Do you know that…[for a fact]
• As per… [for a statistic]

Starters for Denoting Orders/List

Here comes the group of starters for listing ideas:

• The second…

Also Read:  Report Vs Essay - All the Major Differences You Need to Know!

Starters for Elaborating

Looking for an essay sentence starter to elaborate on an idea? Take a look at the below-mentioned phrases:

• In other words…
• For example,
• To elaborate…
• Another way to put it would be…
• In simple words...

Starters for Contrasting/Comparing

If you need sentence starters for writing essays for contrasting and comparing two or more things, here are some good ideas:

• The flip side is…
• Rather than…
• Apart from…
• In contrast to…
• Compared to…
• On the other hand…
• Even though…

Starters for Cause and Effect Essays

Here are some wonderful ways to start a sentence in an essay to describe the reason or effect of something:

• That's why…
• In that case…
• This being the scenario…
• So that's why…
• Subsequently…

Starters for Sharing Background Info

Following are the good sentence starters for essays for giving brief background information in the paper:

• As everyone knows…
• In this age of…
• As mentioned previously…

Writing a good essay is not just about conveying your thoughts. You should make it intriguing to keep the reader glued to the last word. The sentence starters for essays are great tools for making the article more engaging. For any kind of professional help with writing academic essays, Assignment Desk is always ready to assist you.

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Home » Syracuse University » What Are Good Opening Sentences For An Essay?

What Are Good Opening Sentences For An Essay?

Table of Contents

Strong Introductions for Essays

• Use a Surprising Fact. You can capture the reader’s attention with a surprising fact or statement.
• Pose a Question.
• Start With an Anecdote.
• Set the Stage.
• State Your Point Clearly.
• Start With Something Shocking.
• Use a Statistic.
• Get Personal.

What would be a good opening sentence?

Start with the chase. A good hook might also be a question or a claim—anything that will elicit an emotional response from a reader. Think about it this way: a good opening sentence is the thing you don’t think you can say, but you still want to say . Like, “This book will change your life.”

What is a good opening for an essay?

A hook is one of the most effective introduction starters for an essay. A hook has the purpose of catching the reader’s attention (always in a single sentence). In other words, it is an attention grabber.

How do you start a essay sentence?

Begin the first paragraph of your essay with a topic sentence that expresses the main point of your essay, the thesis statement, a kind of mini-outline for the essay ; it tells the reader what the essay is about.

What is a good starting sentence for a paragraph?

Sometimes referred to as a focus sentence, the topic sentence helps organize the paragraph by summarizing the information in the paragraph. In formal writing, the topic sentence is usually the first sentence in a paragraph (although it doesn’t have to be).

What is an example of an open sentence?

Open Sentence in Mathematics The replacement value is known as the solution of the open sentence. For example, 1 – y = 8 is an open sentence because the value of ‘y’ is unknown and as a result, we can state if it is true or false.

How do you write your first sentence?

6 Tips for Writing a Memorable Opening Line

• Start in the middle of a story. The first lines don’t have to begin with long descriptions of a room’s appearance or a character’s personality.
• Open with a mystery.
• Flash back to the past.
• Describe the current state of affairs.
• Set the tone.
• Start with a voice.

What is a good hook sentence?

A strong statement hook is a sentence that makes an assertive claim about your topic . It connects to the thesis statement and shows the importance of your essay or paper. A strong statement is a great technique because it doesn’t matter if your reader agrees or disagrees with your statement.

How do you write a catchy introduction?

5 Ways to Write an Introduction [Summary]

• Start with a quotation.
• Open with a relevant stat or fun fact.
• Start with a fascinating story.
• Ask your readers an intriguing question.
• Set the scene.

How do you start a essay paragraph?

The introductory paragraph of any paper, long or short, should start with a sentence that piques the interest of your readers . In a typical essay, that first sentence leads into two or three more sentences that provide details about your subject or your process. All of these sentences build up to your thesis statement.

What are the 7 sentence openers?

Used at the beginning of a sentence, these words signal to you that a sentence opener follows: After, Although, As, Because, Before, If, Since, Unless, Until, When, While .

How do I start my introduction?

It should begin by providing your reader a general understanding of the overall topic . The middle of the introduction should narrow down the topic so your reader understands the relevance of the topic and what you plan to accomplish in your paper.

What can I use instead of I in an essay?

If you wanted to say “I will present”, or “I have described”, then the alternative will be “ the essay will present ”, or “as described in the essay.” Another method of replacing “I” in an essay is using appropriate wording like “this writer” if the verb’s action is not within the text.

What are 5 examples of phrases?

5 Examples of Phrases

• Noun Phrase; Friday became a cool, wet afternoon.
• Verb Phrase; Mary might have been waiting outside for you..
• Gerund Phrase; Eating ice cream on a hot day can be a good way to cool off.
• Infinitive Phrase; She helped to build the roof.
• Prepositional Phrase; In the kitchen, you will find my mom.

What is an open statement?

An open statement is a sentence containing one or more variable . Thus, when specific values are given to the variable, they are called an open statement. On the other hand, compound statements are those which are a combination of two or more simple statements.

What is a true closed sentence?

closed number sentence A closed number sentence gives all the information about the numbers, and it is always true or always false . Here are some more examples of closed number sentences: 9÷3=3 (true) 7×12=84 (true) 4×8=8+8+8+8+8 (false)

What is the best hook for an essay?

Quotes and questions are perfect hooks for novel critiques or persuasive essays, while facts or statistics fit argumentative essays best . Don’t start your essay with a great hook simply because it’s great. It should be relevant to your topic, thesis, and purpose of your paper.

What are some hooks examples?

List of Hook Sentence Examples for Ideas

• Some of the best role models for teens are…
• Getting inspired to do good come from…
• The best way to get homework papers done is to…
• Why is it so hard to…?
• The photo of…
• One of the most shocking facts to date is about…
• A top business secret to know is…

How do you begin a paper?

Take a look at these common ways to start an essay:

• Share a shocking or amusing fact.
• Ask a question.
• Dramatize a scene.
• Kick it off with a quote.
• State your thesis directly.
• Pick the right tone for your essay.
• When you’re stuck, work backwards.

How do you write an eye catching essay?

How to Write a Captivating Introduction to Hook Your Audience’s Attention

• Begin With A Startling Statistic.
• Tell An Interesting Or Unusual Story.
• Ask If They Want To Achieve Their Desires.
• Take A Stance Against Something Relevant.
• Show Them What Success Would Look Like.

What are the 6 basics of proper introduction?

• Step 1: Introduce your topic. The first job of the introduction is to tell the reader what your topic is and why it’s interesting or important.
• Step 2: Describe the background.
• Step 3: Establish your research problem.
• Step 4: Specify your objective(s)
• Step 5: Map out your paper.

By Paul Arnold

Paul Arnold is an education expert with over 25 years of experience in the field. He has worked in both public and private schools, as well as colleges and universities. Paul is passionate about helping students learn and grow, and he has written extensively on the topic of education. He currently works as a professor at a local college.

When he's not teaching or writing, Paul enjoys spending time with his wife and two children. He also likes playing golf and watching sports. Paul is a big fan of the Boston Celtics and New England Patriots.

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Shockingly Appealing Starter Sentences For Essays

According to world statistics, 123 million people are writers with great writing skills. The secret of good writing is effectively and accurately conveying the primary message of the essay, research paper, or book using words.

Starter sentences for essays can be challenging, and students need exclusive knowledge to add them to their work.

Table of Contents

What Are The Essay Sentence Starters?

Starter sentences for essays are phrases that help in connecting the paragraphs in an essay and organizing all the information. They are a set of words that are used at the start of the sentence in order to introduce what the rest of the sentence and paragraph are going to be about.

They are usually used by students of all education levels, especially those with bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees. Researchers, copywriters, authors, and essay writers are also popular users of such sentences.

What Do Authors Say About Using Sentence Starters?

Skilled writers always recommend using sentence starters for clarity and content organization. The writer of this guide also shared, “Using sentence starters made my writing more readable and concise. It really brings out the beauty of my thoughts that I wanted to convey.”

The key to successful essays is the flow of the essay writing, and the key to the flow of the essay is the effectiveness of sentence starters in every paragraph of the essay. Let’s look at some good starter sentences for essays and how to use them within the context effectively.

Essay Sentence Starters

There are different types of starter sentences for essays that help organize an essay. Even the  essay service  providers also use sentence starters for commercial purposes. In the below section, we have shared some of the best examples of sentence starters according to the kind of sentence that accompanies them.

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5 Good Sentence Starters For Essays Introduction

The introduction of an essay is very important in order to grab the reader’s attention and hook them to read the essay till the end. The starter sentences for essays in the introduction describe what the essay is about and what it aims for. Let’s take a look at some of the good first sentences for essays.

• “This essay discusses…”
• “This study aims to…”
• “The previous research in the area was interpreted…”
• “The primary purpose of this essay is…”
• “The main subject of our research is….”

7 Essay Topic Sentence Starters

Starter sentences for essays would help if you introduced the topic to the audience at the start of your essay. It would help to reveal what your essay is about and what the readers can take away from it.

Suppose your essay topic is  what is a descriptive paragraph , you need to introduce it by describing what the essay aims to deliver. Topic sentence starters declare the essay’s purpose and what the readers can expect from it. Following are some good sentence starters for topics.

• “In this paper…”
• “Below, you will find…”
• “This essay details…”
• “This paper aims to…”
• “This discussion is about…”
• “The primary purpose of this essay…”

10 Body Paragraph Starter Sentences For Essays

Body paragraphs are present in the essay’s body, which explains the evidence and the factual information. It’s essential for all the body paragraphs to be interconnected and relevant to each other because they need to resonate with the central thesis statement of the essay.

You can look into some  topic sentences for body paragraph examples  to get ideas as well. The transition from one paragraph to another gives a flow to the essay. Let’s take a look at some sentence starters for body paragraphs.

• “Moreover…”
• “Therefore…”
• “Additionally…”
• “In this case…”
• “Secondly…”
• “Furthermore…”
• “Moving on…”
• “Eventually…”

7 Good Starter Sentences For Comparison

In an essay, the writer analyzes, interprets, and evaluates the evidence they collect in order to make their main claim. That’s why it’s essential to cater to the evidence, transition towards the counterclaims, and then make a judgment based on it. Without proper organization, the essay will be just a cluster of data that hasn’t been transformed into information properly.

That’s why it’s essential to use starter sentences for essays in every argument you are going to discuss in order to show its relation with the rest of the content. Following are some sentence starters for showing comparison and contrast between two paragraphs or two concepts.

• “In contrast…”
• “In comparison…”
• “Unlike the previous point…”
• “To compare…”
• “This statement contrasts…”
• “Likewise…”
• “In the same way…”

10 Starter Sentences For Essays For Sequences and Lists

An essay also has several series and sequences that help show the classification of different elements. There are different  types of sentences  that require different starters to ensure accuracy. These sequences might organize other points of the same concept or multiple discussion points. It helps write instructions and gives a flow to the series of events and how they impacted the main thesis statement or argument.

• “First of all…”
• “In the end…”
• “Afterwards…”
• “Eventually…”
•  “Once again…”

10 Sentence Starters For Adding New Points

In the midst of writing an essay and interpreting evidence, if you feel the need to introduce a new point of discussion, you need to do it with the proper starter sentences for essays. You can’t just throw new discussion points in the essay because it will make your context look disorganized and confusing. The following sentence starters are going to help you transition to new points.

• “On the other hand…”
• “Even more important…”
• “In addition…”
• “Otherwise…”
• “Unlike this…”
• “Further on this issue…”

8 Starter Sentence For References

There are plenty of instances where you will have to quote information from other sources in your essay. They help elaborate sentence starters that explain a point by supporting it with other studies.

To reference an outside source to support your claim, you must properly take the reader to that point. Refrain from mentioning the references without writing them differently from the rest of the text. Use the following starter sentences for essays to quote the references.

• “According to….”
• “Based on the findings of…”
• “As previous research described…”
• “As explained by…”
• “With Regards to…”
• “As explored by…”
• “As seen in…”
• “With regards to…”

15 Sentence Starters To Present Uncertainties

At some point in your essay, there might be some points that will bring doubt to your statement. You will have to make sure that it won’t weaken your thesis and affect your research.

Starter sentences for essays also help in making the thesis and  essay longer with words  that are necessary only, and help you stay away from redundancy. You need to cater to those points of discussion in a positive light and provide a better context in which those points of conversation can be correct.

• “Although the results suggest…”
• “It Is plausible that…”
• “This statement might be true, but…”
• “It remains unclear whether…”
• “It’s hard to say that…”
• “Although not proven…”
• “It’s possible that…”
• “Then again…”
• “It may be that…”
• “While debatable…”
• “Conversely…”
• “Notwithstanding…”
• “Despite that…”

10 Sentence Starters For Conclusions

The concluding sentence starters are a mandatory part of an essay because they summarize all the information, points, and aspects discussed in the essay context.

The sentence starters for conclusions are an essential part of starter sentences for essays. They play a vital role in gathering all the potential points to show the key results the essay has found and how it achieved the set goal.

• “In summary…”
• “To summarize…”
• “In conclusion…”
• “To conclude…”
• “In review…”
• “To sum up…”
• “To review…”
• “Over All…”
• “On the whole…”

10 Sentence Starters For Examples

Examples are the best points to elaborate sentence starters. It would help if you used sentence starters for essays before adding an example in your essay as well. 

You have to make sure that the readers understand if you are speaking hypothetically or giving some examples to make your point across. Following are some clear evidence sentence starters that you can use before stating an example to prove your point.

• “For example…”
• “We can see this in…”
• “Consider the following case of…”
• “This is evidenced by…”
• “To illustrate…”
• “For instance…”
• “Specifically…”
• “Let’s understand with an example…”
• “Considering this…”
• “Take the example of…”

12 Sentence Starters To Present Cause And Effect

Proper starter sentences are needed for essays to present the causes and effects of some problems and social issues in society and to get your point across to the reader; you also need to use the right words and transitions.

They are the evidence sentence starters because they help discover new aspects of the study. Following are the starter sentences for essays that will help you transition from explaining causes or effects.

• “As a result…”
• “Accordingly…”
• “Consequently…”
• “Because of…”
• “For this reason…”
• “This means that…”
• “That is why…”
• “It clarifies that…”

10 Sentence Starters for Showing Emphasis

There are some sets of starter sentences for essays that help represent the emphasis on specific concepts or phrases. Sometimes, they are used in the conclusion of an  essay writing  to show the importance of the critical results. Following are some sentence starters that you can use in the context to display emphasis on specific points. 

• “Above all…”
• “Above mentioned…”
• “Undoubtedly…”
• “Unarguably…”
• “Generally speaking…”
• “Most importantly…”
• “Obviously…”

11 Sentence Starters for Traditional Accepted Concepts

You might have to use some traditionally accepted terms and concepts in your essay in order to show relevance to the social norms. These sentence starters for essays help readers understand the position of that particular concept and where it stands from the viewpoints of the research. Let’s take a look at sentence starters in this category.

• “Initially…”
• “Conventionally…”
• “In the past…”
• “Historically…”
• “Commercially…”
• “Until now…”
• “Customarily…”
• “Culturally…”
• “Ethically…”
• “Recently…”
• “Previously…”

Why Sentence Starters for Essays are Important?

Starters sentences for essays are a highly recommended set of words that uplifts an essay to perfection. Instructors and professors across the globe always suggest and recommend sentence starters and  writing conventions  in order to write an impactful essay. We conclude sentence starters by saying that they are the foundations of good writing.

Sentence starters help grab the reader’s attention and make them focus on the position of the following sentence in the essay. These sentences also help readers understand the level and purpose of writing. They will make it easy for the reader to follow the essay flow comprehendingly.

Starter sentences for essays are going to provide a roadmap to your essay and estimate which direction your research and findings are going. It will tell the reader what the topic previously has done, what are the present implications, and what future opportunities it has. It will resonate with the importance of your research topic and thesis statement.

Starter sentences for essays provide a smooth transition from one point to another. Jumping to a new point of discussion might be confusing, so sentences help create context and make sense of most of the content. They are also very helpful for students who skim through an essay or use  essay writing tools  to improve their writing.

How Does Sentence Start Impact The Writing?

Let’s see the comparison between sentences without starters and with them. You can observe the difference clearly.

Sentence Starter Practice Quiz

Fill in the blanks with suitable starter sentences. (Answers are hidden within content, you only need to find)

1- _______ Catherine was tired, she still went shopping.

2- _______ monarchy was one of the popular governing systems..

• Historically

3- _______ the grandmother has arrived.

4- ________ with his previous study record, he performed excellently..

• In comparison
• As a result

5- _________ We need to find some shelter.

• First of all

6- ________ the casualties remained unharmed.

7-________ to the previous research, new benefits of physical theory are introduced..

• In addition to
• In spite of

8- ________ his opinion, the death penalty should be banned.

• According to
• Instead of 

9- _________ big ice glaciers melted away.

• Consequently

10- _________ writers are also needed for web content.

• Commercially

Get Help In Starter Sentences From Experts

Starter sentences really help make your essay perfect, but they might need help being used in the proper place. If you are having problems using them, you  hire an essay writer  to get your work done with absolute accuracy.

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Wrapping Up

You’ve made it to the end of this ultimate guide to use starter sentences for essays. Sentence starters in essays are very important because they help in conveying the actual message of the writer.

They are very essential in showing relevancy, reference, and transition from one thought, concept, idea, or topic to another. These sets of words are for every possible scenario, whether the introduction, body paragraphs, or conclusion.

You can also use them to show sequences, timing, expression, uncertainties, new points, cause and effect, emphasis, and comparison.

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