Five paragraph essay
The five-paragraph essay is a structured writing format widely used in educational settings to help students develop their writing skills. It consists of five distinct paragraphs: one introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and one concluding paragraph. The introduction serves to engage the reader and presents a thesis statement, which outlines the main topic and focus of the essay. Each body paragraph is dedicated to a specific argument supporting the thesis, typically arranged from the strongest to the weakest. In addition, these paragraphs should include various elements such as examples and transitional phrases to ensure coherence and flow.
The conclusion summarizes the essay's main points and reiterates the thesis in a fresh way, providing a sense of closure. After completing the essay, writers are encouraged to edit for grammatical accuracy, clarity, and logical consistency, ensuring that their arguments are well-articulated and free of unnecessary detail. This format fosters clarity and discipline in writing, making it a valuable tool for learners aiming to improve their expressive capabilities.
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Five paragraph essay
The five-paragraph essay is a basic format for writing essays. As its name implies, the five-paragraph essay consists of five paragraphs. These paragraphs include one introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and one concluding paragraph. Each paragraph has specific objectives and should contain certain elements for the essay to be effective. Once the first step of the writing process has been completed and the essay is written, the writer should check the essay for errors and other problems.
Overview
The five-paragraph essay is a common writing format among students. Teachers often use the five-paragraph essay to measure students’ basic writing skills. Other writing formats exist, but the five-paragraph essay is valuable for students looking to improve their writing skills.
The five-paragraph essay consists of five paragraphs—one introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and one concluding paragraph, in that order. These paragraphs are commonly referred to as the introduction, the body, and the conclusion. To ensure an effective essay, each of the five paragraphs should achieve specific objectives and contain certain elements.
The first paragraph of the essay, the introduction, opens the essay. The introduction has two principle objectives: it should grab the reader’s attention and also tell the reader what the essay is about. A writer may use one of five different patterns to hook the reader. These patterns include historical review, anecdote, surprising statement, famous person, and declaration. In the historical review pattern, the writer should briefly review the history of the topic. This way, the reader will better understand the topic. A writer using the anecdote pattern should provide an anecdote, or a brief story, related to the topic. The anecdote should be a small episode, not a full, drawn-out story. As for the surprising statement pattern, the writer includes a statement that surprises the reader in some way. For instance, the statement may delight, disgust, or shock the reader. In the famous-person pattern, the writer brings up a famous person, such as a celebrity. The writer may include something the famous person said or did. For the declaration pattern, the writer uses a declarative statement that tells the reader in a straightforward way what the topic of the essay is.
To achieve the second objective of the introduction, the writer must include a thesis statement, which includes one or two sentences that tell the reader what the essay is about. The thesis statement also helps the writer narrow the focus of the essay. It should remain flexible when the writer is composing the essay so that the writer is not limited. In this sense, the writer may rewrite the thesis statement if necessary.
Besides grabbing the reader’s attention and presenting the thesis statement, the introduction should also transition into the body of the essay. This is achieved through a transitional hook, which moves the reader to the body. The last sentence of the introduction should contain this transition hook.
The next three paragraphs of the essay, or the body, discuss the topic at length. Each paragraph of the body should contain an argument related to the thesis statement. The first body paragraph usually contains the strongest argument. Generally, the second body paragraph includes the second strongest argument, and the third contains the weakest argument. The first sentence of the first body paragraph should include a reverse hook, which points back to the transitional hook from the introduction. Each of the three body paragraphs should include the reverse hook, the argument, significant examples, and a transitional hook (the last sentence), which will ensure that each body paragraph transitions or flows from one to the next. When writing the three body paragraphs, the writer should be sure to stay focused on the thesis, vary the sentence structure, avoid repetitious words, and avoid beginning all the sentences the same way.
The fifth and last paragraph of the essay, or the conclusion, should summarize the essay and bring it to a close. The conclusion should restate the introduction and the thesis statement, but with originality. It should also summarize the main arguments made in the essay. Lastly, the final sentence of the conclusion should be a statement that gives the essay a sense of finality.
After the writer has completed the essay, he or she should edit the essay, fixing any problems. The writer should check for spelling and grammar errors and correct them. He or she should also check for any sentences that are in the passive voice and change them to the active voice. For example, the sentence “The telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell” is in the passive voice because “was invented” is a passive verb. To switch this sentence to the active voice, the writer should change it to “Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.” The writer should also examine the essay for logic, ensuring that thoughts makes sense and flow from one to the next and that there are no gaps in logic. Lastly, the writer should make sure the essay does not contain too much detail; a concise essay is always best. Once the writer has corrected all these problems, the essay is complete.
Bibliography
Capital Community College Foundation. “A Proper Introduction.” Capital Community College Foundation. Capital Community College Foundation. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. <http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/intros.htm>
Capital Community College Foundation. “The Five-Paragraph Essay.” Capital Community College Foundation. Capital Community College Foundation. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. <http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/five‗par.htm>
Capital Community College Foundation. “The Thesis Statement.” Capital Community College Foundation. Capital Community College Foundation. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. <http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/composition/thesis.htm>
Study Guides and Strategies. “The Five Paragraph Essay.” Study Guides and Strategies. Study Guides and Strategies. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. <http://www.usca.edu/asc/pdf/writing%20room/actpasverbs.pdf>
University of South Carolina Aiken Writing Room. “Verbs in Active vs. Passive Voice.” University of South Carolina Aiken Writing Room. University of South Carolina Aiken. Web. 24 Sept. 2014. <http://www.studygs.net/fiveparag.htm>