How to start an essay

Grab our attention with an incredibly specific and arresting image or sentence. Then tell us why it matters.

Example:

Smeared blood, shredded feathers.

How to start an essay

How to start an essay introduction

How to start an essay for a scholarship

Short essay introduction examples

How to start an essay about yourself

Clearly, the bird was dead. But wait, the slight fluctuation of its chest, the slow blinking of its shiny black eyes. No, it was alive.

Why It Works: This style subtly highlights the writing talent of the author without drawing attention away from the content of the story.

In this example, the staccatoed sentence fragments convey a sense of halting anxiety and also mimic the movement of the bird’s chest as it struggles to breathe.

How to start an essay introduction

All sorts of questions come up: What happened to the bird? What will the author do? (Read the rest of the essay here.)

Another example: 

February 2011– My brothers and I were showing off our soccer dribbling skills in my grandfather’s yard when we heard gunshots and screaming in the distance.

We paused and listened, confused by sounds we had only ever heard on the news or in movies. My mot