There are countless ways to begin an essay effectively. As a start, here are 13 introductory strategies accompanied by examples from a wide range of professional writers. State your thesis briefly and directly (but avoid making a bald announcement, such as "This essay is about . . .").It is time, at last, to speak the truth about Thanksgiving, and the truth is this. Thanksgiving is really not such a terrific holiday. . . .(Michael J. Arlen, "Ode to Thanksgiving." The Camera Age: Essays on Television. Penguin, 1982)Pose a question related to your subject and then answer it (or invite your readers to answer it).

What is the charm of necklaces? Why would anyone put something extra around their neck and then invest it with special significance? A necklace doesn't afford warmth in cold weather, like a scarf, or protection in combat, like chain mail; it only decorates. We might say, it borrows meaning from what it surrounds and sets off, the head with its supremely important material contents, and the face, that register of the soul. When photographers discuss the way in which a photograph reduces the reality it represents, they mention not only the passage from three dimensions to two, but also the selection of apoint de vue  that favors the top of the body rather than the bottom, and the front rather than the back. The face is the jewel in the crown of the body, and so we give it a setting. . . .(Emily R. Grosholz, "On Necklaces." Prairie Schooner, Summer 2007)State an interesting fact about your subject.The peregrine falcon was brought back from the brink of extinction by a ban on DDT, but also by a peregrine falcon mating hat invented by an ornithologist at Cornell University. If you cannot buy this, Google it. Female falcons had grown dangerously scarce. A few wistful males nevertheless maintained a sort of sexual loitering ground. The hat was imagined, constructed, and then forthrightly worn by the ornithologist as he patrolled this loitering ground, singing, Chee-up! Chee-up! and bowing like an overpolite Japanese Buddhist trying to tell somebody goodbye. . . .(David James Duncan, "Cherish This Ecstasy." The Sun, July 2008)

Present your thesis as a recent discovery or revelation.I've finally figured out the difference between neat people and sloppy people. The distinction is, as always, moral. Neat people are lazier and meaner than sloppy people.(Suzanne Britt Jordan, "Neat People vs. Sloppy People." Show and Tell. Morning Owl Press, 1983)Briefly describe the place that serves as the primarysetting of your essay.It was in Burma, a sodden morning of the rains. A sickly light, like yellow tinfoil, was slanting over the high walls into the jail yard. We were waiting outside the condemned cells, a row of sheds fronted with double bars, like small animal cages. Each cell measured about ten feet by ten and was quite bare within except for a plank bed and a pot of drinking water. In some of them brown silent men were squatting at the inner bars, with their blankets draped round them. These were the condemned men, due to be hanged within the next week or two.(George Orwell, "A Hanging," 1931)Recount an incident that dramatizes your subject.One October afternoon three years ago while I was visiting my parents, my mother made a request I dreaded and longed to fulfill. She had just poured me a cup of Earl Grey from her Japanese iron teapot, shaped like a little pumpkin; outside, two cardinals splashed in the birdbath in the weak Connecticut sunlight. Her white hair was gathered at the nape of her neck, and her voice was low. “Please help me get Jeff’s pacemaker turned off,” she said, using my father’s first name. I nodded, and my heart knocked.(Katy Butler, "What Broke My Father's Heart."The New York Times Magazine, June 18, 2010)Use the narrative strategy of delay: put off identifying your subject just long enough to pique your readers' interest without frustrating them.They woof. Though I have photographed them before, I have never heard them speak, for they are mostly silent birds. Lacking a syrinx, the avian equivalent of the human larynx, they are incapable of song. According to field guides the only sounds they make are grunts and hisses, though the Hawk Conservancy in the United Kingdom reports that adults may utter a croaking coo and that young black vultures, when annoyed, emit a kind of immature snarl. . . .(Lee Zacharias, "Buzzards." Southern Humanities Review, 2007)Using the historical present tense, relate an incident from the past as if it were happening now.Ben and I are sitting side by side in the very back of his mother’s station wagon. We face glowing white headlights of cars following us, our sneakers pressed against the back hatch door. This is our joy--his and mine--to sit turned away from our moms and dads in this place that feels like a secret, as though they are not even in the car with us. They have just taken us out to dinner, and now we are driving home. Years from this evening, I won’t actually be sure that this boy sitting beside me is named Ben. But that doesn’t matter tonight. What I know for certain right now is that I love him, and I need to tell him this fact before we return to our separate houses, next door to each other. We are both five.(Ryan Van Meter, "First." The Gettysburg Review, Winter 2008)

Briefly describe a process that leads into your subject.I like to take my time when I pronounce someone dead. The bare-minimum requirement is one minute with a stethoscope pressed to someone’s chest, listening for a sound that is not there; with my fingers bearing down on the side of someone’s neck, feeling for an absent pulse; with a flashlight beamed into someone’s fixed and dilated pupils, waiting for the constriction that will not come. If I’m in a hurry, I can do all of these in sixty seconds, but when I have the time, I like to take a minute with each task.(Jane Churchon, "The Dead Book."  The Sun, February 2009)Reveal a secret about yourself or make a candid observation about your subject.I spy on my patients. Ought not a doctor to observe his patients by any means and from any stance, that he might the more fully assemble evidence? So I stand in doorways of hospital rooms and gaze. Oh, it is not all that furtive an act. Those in bed need only look up to discover me. But they never do.(Richard Selzer, "The Discus Thrower."Confessions of a Knife. Simon & Schuster, 1979)Open with a riddle, joke, or humorous quotation, and show how it reveals something about your subject.Q: What did Eve say to Adam on being expelled from the Garden of Eden?A: "I think we're in a time of transition."The irony of this joke is not lost as we begin a new century and anxieties about social change seem rife. The implication of this message, covering the first of many periods of transition, is that change is normal; there is, in fact, no era or society in which change is not a permanent feature of the social landscape. . . .(Betty G. Farrell,  Family: The Making of an Idea, an Institution, and a Controversy in American Culture. Westview Press, 1999)Offer a contrast between past and present that leads to your thesis.As a child, I was made to look out the window of a moving car and appreciate the beautiful scenery, with the result that now I don't care much for nature. I prefer parks, ones with radios going chuckawaka chuckawaka and the delicious whiff of bratwurst and cigarette smoke.(Garrison Keillor, "Walking Down The Canyon." Time, July 31, 2000)Offer a contrast between image and reality--that is, between a common misconception and the opposing truth.They aren’t what most people think they are. Human eyes, touted as ethereal objects by poets and novelists throughout history, are nothing more than white spheres, somewhat larger than your average marble, covered by a leather-like tissue known as sclera and filled with nature’s facsimile of Jell-O. Your beloved’s eyes may pierce your heart, but in all likelihood they closely resemble the eyes of every other person on the planet. At least I hope they do, for otherwise he or she suffers from severe myopia (near-sightedness), hyperopia (far-sightedness), or worse. . . .(John Gamel, "The Elegant Eye." Alaska Quarterly Review, 2009)

The opposite of a hooker might be called achaser--a bore-you-to-death introduction that drives readers away. At best, a chaser may hint at delayed gratification. More often it provides little more than an excuse to stop reading.Here are 10 examples of such boring or baffling opening lines--chasers that you'll want to avoid when composing your own essays.According to my dictionary . . . (Avoid leads [or ledes] that quote Webster's--"the Jim Belushi of openings," according to Annie Edison in Community. "It accomplishes nothing, but everyone keeps on using it.")When you gave us this assignment to "describe in detail a place you know well," my first thought was to write about my bedroom closet. . . .(As a general rule, avoid openings that comment on the writing assignment itself.)One dark and stormy night, the ghost of General Oglethorpe grabbed me by the goolies and hurled me down the castle stairs. . . .(Don't strain too hard to shock or amaze, especially if you can't maintain that level of excitement.)Sometimes you've got to stick your neck out on a limb and keep your nose to the grindstone. . . .(Avoid clichés and mixed metaphors.)In this essay, after giving the subject a lot of thought, I am going to write about . . ..(Skip the announcements.)"Life is like a box of chocolates," my Mama used to say, quoting Forrest Gump. . . .(Don't get too cute.)Your mama . . .(Don't get belligerent.)Framed fantastically against the expansive cerulean sky was a soaring wedge of gossiping, gabbling geese, a shimmering cocaine-colored V haloed in sunlight and dusted with the durable dreams of earthbound warriors . . ..(Avoid excessivealliteration, needlessmodifiers, and Roget's Thesaurus.)Wikipedia says . . . (Challenge questionable facts and steer clear of dubious sources.)It is a melancholy object to those who walk through this great town or travel in the country, when they see the streets, the roads, and cabin doors, crowded with beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags and importuning every passenger for an alms. . . .*(No matter what else you do, never plagiarize.)

here are some opening lines that, in various ways, "whack" the reader at once and encourage us to read on.I hadn't planned to wash the corpse.But sometimes you just get caught up in the moment. . . .(Reshma Memon Yaqub, "The Washing." The Washington Post Magazine, March 21, 2010)The peregrine falcon was

brought back from the brink of extinction by a ban on DDT, but also by a peregrine falcon mating hat invented by an ornithologist at Cornell University. . . .(David James Duncan, "Cherish This Ecstasy."  The Sun, July 2008)Unrequited love, as Lorenz Hart instructed us, is a bore, but then so are a great many other things: old friends gone somewhat dotty from whom it is too late to disengage, the important social-science-based book of the month, 95 percent of the items on the evening news, discussions about the Internet, arguments against the existence of God, people who overestimate their charm, all talk about wine, New York Times editorials, lengthy lists (like this one), and, not least, oneself. . . .(Joseph Epstein, "Duh, Bor-ing." Commentary, June 2011)Before the 19th century, when dinosaur bones turned up they were taken as evidence of dragons, ogres, or giant victims of Noah's Flood. After two centuries of paleontological harvest, the evidence seems stranger than any fable, and continues to get stranger. . . .(John Updike, "Extreme Dinosaurs." National Geographic, December 2007)During menopause, a woman can feel like the only way she can continue to exist for 10 more seconds inside her crawling, burning skin is to walk screaming into the sea--grandly, epically, and terrifyingly, like a 15-foot-tall Greek tragic figure wearing a giant, pop-eyed wooden mask. Or she may remain in the kitchen and begin hurling objects at her family: telephones, coffee cups, plates. . . .(Sandra Tsing Loh, "The Bitch Is Back." The Atlantic, October 2011)There is a new cell-phone ring tone that can't be heard by most people over the age of twenty, according to an NPR report. The tone is derived from something called the Mosquito, a device invented by a Welsh security firm for the noble purpose of driving hooligans, yobs, scamps, ne'er-do-wells, scapegraces, ruffians, tosspots, and bravos away from places where grownups are attempting to ply an honest trade. . . .(Louis Menand, "Name That Tone." The New Yorker, June 26, 2006)Only a sentence, casually placed as a footnote in the back of Justin Kaplan's thick 2003 biography of Walt Whitman, but it goes off like a little explosion: "Bram Stoker based the character of Dracula on Walt Whitman." . . .(Mark Doty, "Insatiable." Granta #117, 2011)I have wonderful friends. In this last year, one took me to Istanbul. One gave me a box of hand-crafted chocolates. Fifteen of them held two rousing, pre-posthumous wakes for me. . . .(Dudley Clendinen, "The Good Short Life." The New York Times Sunday Review, July 9, 2011)What these opening lines have in common is that all have been reprinted (with complete essays attached) in recent editions of The Best American Essays, an annual collection of crackling good reads culled from magazines, journals, and websites.

Writing Part 2 (120-180 words)General AdviceRead the question carefully, underlining the points you must deal with.Make a plan with the main ideas for each paragraph.Think of vocabulary you want to use and note it down.Write following your plan.An essay (Formal)In writing part 2, one task my be an essay in which you are asked to give your opinion on a subject. The first thing you must do is decide if you should write an opinion essay or an argumentative one. If you decide that the best thing to do is to write an opinion essay, have a look at the following scheme/ layout.An opinion essayIn an opinion essay you must give your opinion on a subject so, you must basically say if you agree or disagree with the statement. This type of essay is ideal if you feel very strongly about something and you have more than one reason for your opinion.Paragraph 1 / IntroductionPresent the topic of discussion and express your opinion. You must imagine that whoever reads your essay has no idea what the topic is. You must also show clearly that you’ll be expressing one opinion, either in favour or against.Paragraph 2Explain your first reason for your opinion. Talk about possible consequences and give examples or vice versa.Paragraph 3Explain your second reason and maybe a third one, but only if it is closely related. Mention possible consequences and give examples, or vice versa.Paragraph 4 / ConclusionSummarise your reasons and / or talk about possible consequences if nothing is done. You can also give a more personal opinion and even finish your essay with a rhetorical question.Useful language for an opinion essayIntroduction-There are people who claim/ believe/ say/ think (that)...-There is no doubt that...-I feel...-According to... /...new research,...-It is believed... / said (that)... -It is believed by experts / scientist (that)...-It seems / appears that...(Use the expressions above but introduce  the topic in your own words. Do not use the exact words in the question and say what your opinion is clearly. Although you are expressing your opinion, some of the expressions above allow you to distance yourself from the ideas).BodyParagraphs 2-3State your first / main reason like this:-I think that...-Firstly/ first of all/ to start with...-I think there are two aspects of... The first is...Give an example/ examples-For example: For instance/ -ing illustrates the way/ how...Talk about consequencesAs a result,Therefore,Consequently,In this case,The second aspect is...Secondly,Another reason why...We should also consider the fact that...Another matter/  aspect to consider...Let us not forget...ConclusionParagraph 3 or 4In short,In brief,To conclude,In conclusion,Do we really want to make our children pay for our

mistakes?An argumentative essayWhen you write an argumentative essay, you should try to keep a balance between opposing ideas. It is also very important to use connectors to organise your reasoning. And finally, don't forget to introduce your ideas, explain them, and give examples and / or talk about possible consequences.Paragraph 1 / IntroductionExplain the topic and / or problem in your own words. Assume the reader doesn't know anything about the question.BodyParagraph 2Present the positive or negative aspects of the topic / problem. Deal with each one separately and try to give an example and mention a possible consequence. Add another reason if you can and repeat the process.Paragraph 3Present opposite points of view. Deal with each one separately and try to give an example and mention a possible consequence. Add another reason if you can and repeat the process.Conclusion / Paragraph 4Summarise and give your own personal opinion whether in favour or against.Useful language for an argumentative essayIntroductionMany people think that... / It is thought that... Others believe that... I will present both points of view and express my opinion on the matter.Here, I've presented the opposing points of view and explained  that will not only talk about the differences but also give my personal opinion. You'll have to be brave in the conclusion.BodyParagraph 2On the one hand... / First of all, I should like to consider... / The first thing to be considered is... For instance, / To be specific,... Consequently,... In addition (to this), / A second benefit is... / Furthermore, we should also consider the fact that... / -ing illustrates the way... / For example,... As a result, / Therefore, ...In this paragraph I've presented a positive / negative aspect of the problem. I've then given an example and mentioned a possible consequence. Then, I've added another reason to support this particular view and repeated the process of giving an example and / or mention a possible consequence. You can also talk about the consequences first and then give an example or even more than one, but be careful with word length.Paragraph 3On the other hand, / However, there are also disadvantages. The most important of these is that... Consequently,... For instance,... The second point is that, / Secondly, / Furthermore, / In addition, ... For example,... Therefore,... / Due to the fact that... / Finally, it is worth stating that...In this paragraph you must present one or two opposing points of view and explain the consequences and / or give relevant examples.Conclusion / Paragraph 4In my opinion, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. To sum up, / On the basis of the arguments I have presented in favour / against, it can be concluded that... All in all, I personally believe...Yes, summarise and give your own personal opinion.