The purpose of a hook is to reel your reader into your paper. What are the best hooks, in my opinion? Narrative hooks. Why? Because they tell a story. No matter how old and wise and mature we get, it is still hard to resist a descriptive, action-packed story. Of course, you aren't writing a full story for your hook. A good narrative hook will only be about three to five sentences for your five paragraph essay. Too much less might not intrigue the reader whereas too much more would overwhelm your purpose: to explain who your most influential person has been.
We read two hooks from actual student papers to get a good idea of what our hooks should look and soundlike. They used dialogue, action words, no "puke" words, a variety of sentence structures, and they gave a sense of setting. All in three to five sentences. Bravo!
Now it's your turn.
