KEY CREATIVE WRITING SKILLS
Writing an opening and matched closing (part 1)
what it means and how to do it
This is part 1 of a 2-part series on writing openings and closings for non-fiction texts with an argue/persuade purpose. This is a key skill for GCSE English Language, and also for our Year 9 curriculum. You’ll need to write this kind of non-fiction, and you’ll need to find an interesting and creative way to start and end your piece. This guide will take you through how to do this in a general way that can be matched to different types of argue/persuade text.
Contents of this guide
How to write the closing: create a circular structure by linking back to the opening
The importance of cohesion between the opening and the body of the piece
Part 2 of the series will look at the three types of opening/closing in more detail, with examples of each.
Quick links for this skill
Other guides in the series
Part 2 - Examples of argue/persuade openings, with explanations
Why the opening and closing matter so much
In psychology, there is a concept called the primacy-recency effect. Through experiments psychologists have shown that, for any given experience, the aspects which most affect us and which we remember most strongly afterwards are the first part of the experience (‘primacy’) and the last part (‘recency’). This effect applies to your experience of a party, or your experience of a concert, or your experience of a film you watched, or whatever. It also applies to someone’s experience of reading, especially reading something short like the kind of non-fiction pieces this guide is focussed on.
Your audience (and marker) will mostly vividly experience and remember the first and last things they read in your piece, and this will have a strong effect on how they feel about the piece as a whole when they reach the end. As a result, it will have a strong effect on the mark they decide to award you. That is why having a good opening and closing is so important.
Three example questions that this guide will use
Here are three example questions which we will use for the remainder of this series.
Example question 1 – a speech about over-protective parents
“Parents today are over-protective. They should let their children take part in adventurous, even risky, activities to prepare them for later life.”
Write a speech to an audience of teenagers in which you argue for or against this statement.
Example question 2 – a letter to a head teacher about the school toilets
“The toilets in schools are one of the most over-used and under-maintained parts of the building. They should be much better looked after.”
Write a letter to a head teacher in which argue you for better toilet facilities in your school.
Example question 3 – an article about the superficiality of dating
“Dating today is more superficial than ever thanks to dating apps. Unless we change this, it will always be extremely hard for disabled people to find love.”
Write an article for a broadsheet newspaper in which you argue your point of view in response to this statement.
How to write the opening: make it interesting and indirect
The easiest way to think about a good opening is one that introduces the topic to the reader in an engaging but somewhat indirect way. Rather than coming at the topic head on, it is often effective to ’show’ your audience why your argument is valid – or why part of it is valid – rather than simply ’telling’ them what your opinion is. Having said that, you can come at it head on, too, if you’re careful – but more on this later. Generally, though, it’s both more interesting and more creative to start your argue/persuade piece with something indirect.
Three types of opening
In part 2 of this guide we will explore three types of opening that you can use in different types of argue/persuade non-fiction writing, providing several examples of each. But to help you get started and understand the concept of an opening and closing, we’ll summarise them here too. The three types are as follows:
The pop-culture reference. For this type of opening, you would choose something from popular culture – TV, films, adverts, the news, social media, YouTube, etc – that relates to your topic, and use that as a way to introduce the topic and its relevance to the modern world, before shifting into a discussion of the topic itself.
The anecdote. For this type of opening, you begin by telling a story, ideally from your own life, perhaps something you’ve made up, which shows your experience with the topic, before moving onto the broader discussion of your opinion.
The opinion. For this kind of opening, you need to set out your overall opinion in as strong and opinionated a way as possible, ideally with some kind of humorous angle, probably through hyperbole, or by saying something thoughtful and interesting. This is the kind of opening that comes at the topic directly, rather than indirectly, but it can still be effective.
If you do a pop-culture reference opening or an anecdote opening, you should not reach any kind of conclusion in the opening – that’s what the rest of the article is for - but it should hint at what you are going to go on to say. With the anecdote, you’ll often leave the story unresolved, on a kind of cliff-hanger, ready for a resolution in the closing (but more on that later). With the opinion opening, you will state your conclusion up-front, in a direct and probably provocative way, but you’ll need to argue for it in the rest of the article.
An initial example of an opening
To help make the concept of introducing the topic indirectly a bit clearer, let’s look at how we could start an article about the superficiality of dating and the difficulties it must present for disabled people, as in Example question 3, above.
First, let’s look at an example of how not to do it. This badly written opening comes at the topic very directly and states a simple but dull opinion on the topic.
A dull opening to the article about the superficiality of dating (Example question 3)
We need to do more to help disabled people find love. It’s too hard for them at the moment. It’s hard enough for able-bodied people like me to find love, but people are so prejudiced against the disabled that they must find it even harder!
To make this opening much more interesting, we could come at the topic indirectly, using the anecdote. Here’s an example using a (definitely made-up) story from my own life to ‘show’ my opinion on the topic.
A more interesting opening to the article about the superficiality of dating (Example question 3)
My record streak for unreciprocated swipe-rights on Tinder is thirty-seven. The app doesn’t track these things, thank God, but I do – in my heart. All thirty-seven came on one dark and stormy night, emotionally-speaking at least. With each unreciprocated swipe, each minor rejection, I thought I’d hit rock bottom, the Mariana Trench of self-loathing, only to discover that, in fact, self-loathing has no bottom. It was nearly enough for me to give up on the whole damn thing. And I don’t just mean Tinder, I mean love. I felt that hope died that night.
This opening uses the anecdote as a way to introduce the difficulty that dating presents for able-bodied people. This anecdote helps to ‘show’ the reader why dating is difficult for everyone. From here, it could then develop into a discussion about how much harder it must be for disabled people to date on Tinder or similar dating apps, and so on. This is a much more effective way to begin the article than the more direct example used earlier.
We’ll look at more opening types and lots more examples in part 2 of this guide.
Let’s look at closings first, though.
How to write the closing: create a circular structure by linking back to the opening
The best way to finish your piece (after you’ve written your main content) is to come back to whatever you were saying at the start – to link it back to the opening, in other words. This will create a circular structure for your piece, and it will help to bring it to a neat and satisfying conclusion. The reader will remember that you started the piece in this way, and so they will feel as if it’s coming to an end. For this reason, the type of closing you use will be generally be matched to whatever type of opening you used e.g. you’ll close with an anecdote or a pop-culture reference or a call back to the strong opinion you expressed at the start.
Here's an example of how the anecdote could be used to close our article about the superficiality of dating.
A closing linked to the example opening to the article about the superficiality of dating (Example question 3)
I didn’t give up on Tinder (or love) after my dark night of the soul, though I felt sure I would. In fact, when I woke up in the morning I found I’d had a middle-of-the-night match, and suddenly hope lived. That’s the thing about hope – it’s hard to kill. So let’s all hold onto the hope that these problems can be solved, and that love finally can be accessible to all.
You should be able to see that this closing combines some concluding remarks about love being accessible to all with a callback to the anecdote used in the opening. This would round off the article nicely, bringing it full circle and leaving the reader feeling satisfied. We’ll look at lots more examples of closings in part 2 of this guide.
The effect the text type has on your opening/closing
The question you have to answer will specify which type of text you have to write (an article, a speech, a letter, a leaflet or an essay - for more on these text types see the guide to writing argue/persuade non-fiction) and this will affect both what opening/closing you choose, as well as how you write that opening/closing. In this section of the guide, we’ll run through what effect the text type might have.
The text type affects the opening type you choose – some are more suitable for certain text types than others
Although all three opening types can be used for pretty much all the types of text you’ll be asked to write, some are more suited to certain text types than others. They feel more natural in those texts than they do in others.
The pop-culture reference works best in articles and speeches, though it can be used in letters and essays too, and even leaflets (just about).
The anecdote works well in articles, essays, speeches and letters, but not so well in leaflets.
The opinion works best in letters and leaflets, though it can be used in articles, essays and speeches too.
The text type affects the style of your opening and closing
The primary difference that the text type will have on your opening and closing is on the way you actually write it. Although you can use essentially the same idea for the opening/closing in different text types, you need to match the style of the writing to the text type you have been asked to write. If you look at the examples in the second part of this guide, you’ll be able to see that they are written slightly differently - this is perhaps clearest if you look at the examples for the letter text type, but you should also be able to see it fairly clearly in the speech examples too.
However, to illustrate this right away, let’s look at an example of how the same opening could be used for two different types of text. In the examples below you will see two versions of the anecdote opening for the question about over-protective parents (Example question 1 above).
In the first example, you’ll see a version of this anecdote written for a speech (as per the question). In the second, you’ll see the same opening but written for an article instead of a speech. The content of the two versions is basically the same, but there are some differences in the way they are written, underlined in the two versions.
Speech example of ‘the anecdote’ opening
Like many of you, I grew up in Southend, and once, when I was about nine I saw a car driving through Friars Park. It was this rusty Vauxhall Nova, driven by some youths, and it literally drove over the hill in the park, its tyres churning up the sodden April grass. My friends and I practically had to dive out of the way. We were appalled! A car in our park! It simply wouldn’t do. Aged nine, my friends and I had a keen sense of injustice, so we decided to investigate and bring the reprobates responsible to justice. For the remainder of the day, we walked the mean streets of Shoeburyness, searching for that rusty Vauxhall Nova. With little thought to our own personal safety, we trudged through the backstreets and estates, even climbing over the railway line at one point in our nine-year-old zeal for justice. This is how childhood ought to be – a giddy, joyous, outside time, spent adventuring around the neighbourhood, untethered and autonomous – but this doesn’t seem possible anymore, not for your generation.
You should be able to see that this version has been written for an audience of teenagers (as per the question) who are actually in the room with the speaker and who grew up in the same area. It has been written to address that audience directly (‘you’). This would not be possible in an article, so the article version needs to be written without the direct address or the assumption about who the audience is. However, being a written mode text rather than a spoken mode text, the article version allows for a slightly more direct opening, as you’ll see.
Article version of the same ‘the anecdote’ opening
When the rusty Vauxhall Nova crested the hill in Friars Park, its wheels churning up the sodden April turf, my friends and I practically had to dive out of the way to safety. We were both shocked and appalled. A car. In our park! It simply wouldn’t do. Aged nine, as we were back then, my friends and I had a keen sense of injustice, so we decided to investigate and bring the reprobates responsible to justice. For the remainder of the day, we walked the mean streets of Shoeburyness, searching for that rusty Vauxhall Nova. With little thought for our personal safety, we trudged through the backstreets and estates, urged ever onwards by our nine-year-old zeal for justice, even climbing over the railway line at one point. This is how childhood ought to be – a giddy, joyous, outside time, spent adventuring around the neighbourhood, untethered and autonomous – but this doesn’t seem possible anymore.
The differences are often quite subtle, and they are hard to generalise, though we do offer some specific suggestions in the guide to writing argue/persuade writing. But the important thing is that you think about what type of text you’re writing and try to match the style to that type of text as best you can.
In part 2 of this guide we’ll look at the three opening types in much more detail, and offer several examples of each type of opening, for different text types, which will give you a bit more of an idea about this.
The importance of cohesion between the opening and the body of the piece
Cohesion is the term for how well sentences and paragraphs feel stuck together in a piece of writing, how naturally they flow into one another. This is something that students often struggle to do well, especially when transitioning from the opening into the body of their piece. They will start with this really interesting, quirky opening and then they’ll write an argument paragraph that seems to have nothing to do with the opening. This is understandable, but it’s something you need to avoid.
The easiest way to understand this is through an example. We’ll use a variation of the same example opening we used in the previous section of this guide, first showing a version that lacks cohesion, and then showing some ways that greater cohesion can be achieved.
You should be able to skim it and focus on the end of the first paragraph and the start of the second - that’s where the cohesion is needed.
An opening followed by the first opinion paragraph that lacks cohesion
When the rusty Vauxhall Nova crested the hill in Friars Park, its wheels churning up the sodden April turf, my friends and I practically had to dive out of the way to safety. We were appalled! A car. In our park! It simply wouldn’t do. Aged nine, my friends and I had a keen sense of injustice, so we decided to investigate and bring the reprobates responsible to justice. For the remainder of the day, we walked the mean streets of Shoeburyness, searching for that rusty Vauxhall Nova. With little thought to our own personal safety, we trudged through the backstreets and estates, even climbing over the railway line at one point in our nine-year-old zeal for justice.
Parents today are over-protective. It’s hard to say exactly why – what caused the change – but its clear now that that something has changed… etc.
These two paragraphs don’t feel connected. There is a lack of cohesion. The first paragraph finishes and then the next one starts, but there’s no link made between them, so it feels really clunky to read. You need to avoid this.
A more cohesive version of the transition between these paragraphs
… With little thought to our own personal safety, we trudged through the backstreets and estates, even climbing over the railway line at one point in our nine-year-old zeal for justice.
In the 21st century, these kind of childhood adventures don’t seem possible anymore because parents today are so over-protective. It’s hard to say exactly why – what caused the change – but it’s clear now that something has changed… etc.
Just adding an extra clause to the start of the first sentence like this can help with cohesion. This version doesn’t feel so clunky to read.
Or we could add a whole transition paragraph, like in this final example. This version is also highly cohesive.
An even more cohesive version of the transition from the opening to the first opinion paragraph of a piece
… With little thought to our own personal safety, we trudged through the backstreets and estates, even climbing over the railway line at one point in our nine-year-old zeal for justice.
This is how I remember my childhood. As a giddy, joyous, outside time, spent having adventures. This is how childhood ought to be, but it doesn’t seem possible anymore.
Parents today are over-protective. It’s hard to say exactly why – what caused the change – but it’s clear now that something has changed… etc.
In the next guide in this series, we will look in more detail at the three types of opening outlined above, with several new examples of each type of opening type to help you understand them better.