Hook suggestion--scene

Drop the reader into a scene. Use sensory details (imagery using the five senses) to describe a scene, giving him an immediate sense of time and place.

Hook example  

A video about defensive driving drones from the TV at the front of the darkened classroom. It’s warm, and several of the teenagers have drifted off to sleep. Others quietly text their friends, their cell phones glowing between their cupped hands.

Hook suggestion--anecdote

Start with an anecdote. An anecdote is a short story. It can be a story about your own experience or someone else’s experience. Use an anecdote to make a point.

Hook example:

The other morning, my brother Danny--who just got his license last month--was driving me to school.  Danny’s cell phone started beeping and he checked the incoming text message, dropping the toast he was eating and nearly driving off the road in the process.

Hook suggestion--quote

A quote is a passage that you use in your own writing that was originally written or spoken by someone else. Indicate a quote by putting quotation marks around it and acknowledging its source.

Hook example:

“We were were always together, but not as much after she got her license,” Gayle Bell says. “If I could bring her back I’d lasso the moon.” Bell’s 16-year-old daughter, Jessie, rolled her car into a ditch and died in 2003. At the time of the accident, Jessie had been talking to her boyfriend, Ben, on her cell phone.

Transition into topic

Today over 40 percent of teens between the age of 13-15 carry their own cell phones. Secondary schools are finding it increasingly necessary to establish no cell phone use in the halls  and classrooms. Over 30 percent of teenage car accidents can be attributed to cell phone use.

Claim example

Cell phones in the hands of teenagers disrupt learning, can be dangerous, and are simply not necessary.

Complete Introductory Paragraph

    “We were were always together, but not as much after she got her license,” Gayle Bell says. “If I could bring her back I’d lasso the moon.” Bell’s 16-year-old daughter, Jessie, rolled her car into a ditch and died in 2003. At the time of the accident, Jessie had been talking to her boyfriend, Ben, on her cell phone.Today over 40 percent of teens between the age of 13-15 carry their own cell phones. Secondary schools are finding it increasingly necessary to establish no cell phone use in the halls  and classrooms. Over 30 percent of teenage car accidents can be attributed to cell phone use. Cell phones in the hands of teenagers disrupt learning, can be dangerous, and are simply not necessary.