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.