How to Start an Essay with A Quote

Photo by Tirachard Kumtanom from Pexels

Essays are the primary tools that teachers use to measure how much their students learned in the lessons. Essay writing is the opportunity for learners to express the things they picked up in past studies and share their opinions in writing. A good essay should be enticing to the readers. It should hook your readers and get their attention to make them read your article from beginning to end. Some writers start with a short story or personal anecdotes to tickle the interest of their audience. Some write their essay starting with a quote. Putting a quote is the most commonly used way to give a strong introduction. Even professional academic writing services such as essaypro and edujungles.com use this to come up with an exciting essay. You can always have them do your essay for you, or you can do and experience it yourself. If you want to start creating a good essay, here are some tips you can use on how to use a quote to start an essay:

FINDING THE PERFECT QUOTE

There are a lot of quotes you can use to create your essay. You can quote from a book, from articles, or even quote famous peoples and celebrities. But among these inspiring words, which one is the right for your essay? First, you have to know what is the main topic of your essay. You should be familiar with the issue you have at hand. Using random quotes that will not be related to the core argument of your essay will only confuse your readers. Make the quote you start the essay with a quote. It is aligned with the content of your essay. It is also helpful to find a quote that is closely related to your arguments. For example, you are doing an essay on “Injustice and Racism,” it is best to quote people who are in the movement eradicating these issues. In this example, you can quote Martin Luther King Jr., an active leader of this movement, and impact your viewers.

CONSIDER YOUR AUDIENCE

It is vital that you know your audience for you to select a perfect quote for your essay. When your target audience is millennials, it is better to get a familiar quote. If you use older people, books or articles which are not in their age range they might not see the relatability of the passage to your writing. For example, you are writing an essay about self-confidence, you can use this quote.

“It is our choice that shows who we really are, far more than our abilities.” – Albus Dumbledore.

Using this quote from Harry Potter will surely get your readers’ attention, especially when your target audience, the millennials, are all familiar with the book and character. It will show them that their beloved fairytale is applicable way beyond just their imaginations.

USE QUOTE AS A HOOK

Beginning an essay with a quote is an excellent strategy to hook your readers. There are different types of quotes you can use in your writing. There are quotes found in literature, the ones written by famous writers or poets. There are quotes from fictional books or fairytales and quotes that famous people say. You can use any of them as long they do not sidetrack the main idea of your paper. Quotes are a way to get the attention of your readers and present academic papers not dull and boring. So, use the proper quote for your paper.

AVOID LONG QUOTES

The purpose of starting an essay with quotes is to hook the reader’s attention. Writers should confuse themselves with quotes and presenting the main idea of the essay. Writers can shorten the selections they will use in their article and use the ones only necessary to make the essay exciting. Using prolonged and excessive quotes can bore your audience. Might as well use a short story as your introduction if you intend to use a long quotation. Long sections can twist the expectations of your readers. Some quotes are not too wordy but will still give an impact and excitement to your audience. Here are few examples of non-lengthy quotes you can use in your essay

“The only good is knowledge, and the only evil is ignorance.” – Socrates

“Life itself is the most wonderful fairy tale in the world” – Hans Christian Andersen

“Love all, trust a few and do wrong to no one.” – William Shakespeare

ACKNOWLEDGE THE SOURCE

In writing, just like all the phrases or selections, we borrow we must cite the sources. It is the same with using quotes in your essay. It would be best if you acknowledged the basis of your quotation, whether it came from a book or a person. As writers, we all know that misquoting someone can be a form of plagiarism but aside from avoiding this violation, crediting your sources also shows that you’re the quotes you used are valid and authentic. Readers can quickly judge when a selection is made up or original. You acknowledge your source; you’d be doing them and yourself a favor.

DON’T ITALICIZE THE QUOTES

There are specific rules in the italicization of words and phrases when it comes to essay writing. Words are italicized when they are names of books, movies, TV shows, websites, music albums, paintings, magazines, or other works of art. When using a quote in your paper, it is more appropriate to use quotation marks to state the passage you want to include.

For example:

I agree with J.K Rowling’s “What is life without a little risk?” …

This is a proper way of incorporating quotes in your writings.

So, before finalizing everything, be sure you’re familiar with the rules of writing. Whether getting an anecdote from a person or quoting them, make sure you know how to write and present it in your paper.

Now that you know some tips on using quotes to start your essay, take advantage of this learning opportunity to create an exciting piece for your readers. It may seem intimidating a first and confusing, but practicing will make your writing flawless. So, grab a pen and start writing and work your way up to become an excellent writer.