This activity is best when students are developing their first research essay and after audience consideration has been discussed.

1. List possible introduction techniques (“hooks”) and examples of each technique where students can see them during the entirety of the activity.
2. Discuss each technique and example.
3. Students are asked if they know what technique might work best for their essay. (What technique would “hook” an audience interested in your topic?)
4. Students are given the handout and asked to list their thesis statements at the top.
5. Students then write three possible introduction statements for their topic / essay at the top of each of the hooks on the sheet. They should attempt to use three different techniques.
6. When students are finished filling in the sheet, they are handed in to the instructor who then hands them out randomly.
7. Students read the thesis on the page, then each of the possible hooks, and draw a fish on the hook that interests them the most.
8. Once they have drawn a fish, they are asked to hand it to another student who goes through the process again.
9. I usually have students trade these worksheets 3-5 times. (It is surprising how much fun they have with this.)
10. Once finished, students find the authors listed at the top of the worksheet and return the worksheet to those authors.
11. At this point the instructor can ask for students to share the hook with the most fish. (By this point most students are very willing to share!)