Lesson 19: The 5 paragraph Essay

Alright class, here is the promised post about moving away from the standard 5 paragraph essay format (if you don't remember, I mentioned this in Lesson 12). Pretty much from grade school through high school (and maybe even your freshman English class), you were taught to write essays in this way:

1. Introduction Paragraph: Hook, background, thesis statement.
2. Body Paragraphs: (transition) Topic sentence, quote/paraphrase/summary, commentary, repeat two and three depending on paragraph length, concluding sentence (transition).
3. Conclusion Paragraph: Restatement of argument/summary of most important points, restatement of thesis, leave the reader with something to think about.

Does this sound familiar? I have written countless essays that follow, roughly, that format. I even had a high school teacher count the sentences in the body paragraph to make sure I only had one sentence after a quote. It was pretty confining and limited my creativity and ability to write a really great paper.

So, let's move away from this traditional essay format. One word of caution: as with many other rules in English, you have to know the rules before you can break them. If you cannot write well using this format, the odds are, you won't be able to with another either.

Alright class, this will be all for today. Think about the strengths and weaknesses of the standard essay. What are some other formats available? We'll discuss this next time.

Lesson 12: Revising Tips, continued...again

Alright class, here are more tips to keep in mind as you work on revising your writing. After looking over the content of your paper, the next thing you need to worry about is organization.

Having good organization is important because no matter how good your content is, if you don't have it organized in an effective way, people won't understand it as well. A traditional essay should have an introduction paragraph, a few body paragraphs, then a conclusion paragraph. As I will talk about during another class, this format, though the norm, is not required or the most effective at times. But we'll talk about that later.

Now, within the introduction paragraph, you should start out with an attention grabber, or "hook," then give enough background information for the reader to understand your topic. End with your thesis, which will most likely be the last sentence of the introduction. For your body paragraph, you'll have a topic sentence, a source (either a quote, paraphrase, or summary), your commentary on that source, repeated until you have sufficiently proven your point. Then you will end with a concluding sentence. For your conclusion paragraph, you will recap your paper, restate your thesis, and then generally leave the reader with something to think about, some action you want them to take, depending on the type of paper you're writing.

Now, these rules, as previously mentioned, aren't set in stone. But it's a good format to start off with. When you write a first draft, you don't have to worry too much about your organization if you don't want to. It is often easier to get your ideas onto paper (or the computer screen) if you just focus on content. Then make sure that your sentences and paragraphs are organized in a way that will add to, not take away from, your content.

Just like how you have to organize your time well to get the most of it, you have to organize your paper well to get the most out of every word. Well, work on this portion of your revision of your paper, and next time we'll discuss some more revising tips.