unit 1 the five paragraph essay

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Ultimate guide to writing a five paragraph essay.

Are you struggling with writing essays? Do you find yourself lost in a sea of ideas, unable to structure your thoughts cohesively? The five paragraph essay is a tried-and-true method that can guide you through the writing process with ease. By mastering this format, you can unlock the key to successful and organized writing.

In this article, we will break down the five paragraph essay into easy steps that anyone can follow. From crafting a strong thesis statement to effectively supporting your arguments, we will cover all the essential components of a well-written essay. Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned writer, these tips will help you hone your skills and express your ideas clearly.

Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering the Five Paragraph Essay

Writing a successful five paragraph essay can seem like a daunting task, but with the right approach and strategies, it can become much more manageable. Follow these steps to master the art of writing a powerful five paragraph essay:

• Understand the structure: The five paragraph essay consists of an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Each paragraph serves a specific purpose in conveying your message effectively.
• Brainstorm and plan: Before you start writing, take the time to brainstorm ideas and create an outline. This will help you organize your thoughts and ensure that your essay flows smoothly.
• Write the introduction: Start your essay with a strong hook to grab the reader’s attention. Your introduction should also include a thesis statement, which is the main argument of your essay.
• Develop the body paragraphs: Each body paragraph should focus on a single point that supports your thesis. Use evidence, examples, and analysis to strengthen your argument and make your points clear.
• Conclude effectively: In your conclusion, summarize your main points and restate your thesis in a new way. Leave the reader with a thought-provoking statement or a call to action.

By following these steps and practicing regularly, you can become proficient in writing five paragraph essays that are clear, coherent, and impactful. Remember to revise and edit your work for grammar, punctuation, and clarity to ensure that your essay is polished and professional.

Understanding the Structure of a Five Paragraph Essay

When writing a five paragraph essay, it is important to understand the basic structure that makes up this type of essay. The five paragraph essay consists of an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Introduction: The introduction is the first paragraph of the essay and sets the tone for the rest of the piece. It should include a hook to grab the reader’s attention, a thesis statement that presents the main idea of the essay, and a brief overview of what will be discussed in the body paragraphs.

Body Paragraphs: The body paragraphs make up the core of the essay and each paragraph should focus on a single point that supports the thesis statement. These paragraphs should include a topic sentence that introduces the main idea, supporting details or evidence, and explanations or analysis of how the evidence supports the thesis.

Conclusion: The conclusion is the final paragraph of the essay and it should summarize the main points discussed in the body paragraphs. It should restate the thesis in different words, and provide a closing thought or reflection on the topic.

By understanding the structure of a five paragraph essay, writers can effectively organize their thoughts and present their ideas in a clear and coherent manner.

Choosing a Strong Thesis Statement

One of the most critical elements of a successful five-paragraph essay is a strong thesis statement. Your thesis statement should clearly and concisely present the main argument or point you will be making in your essay. It serves as the foundation for the entire essay, guiding the reader on what to expect and helping you stay focused throughout your writing.

When choosing a thesis statement, it’s important to make sure it is specific, debatable, and relevant to your topic. Avoid vague statements or generalizations, as they will weaken your argument and fail to provide a clear direction for your essay. Instead, choose a thesis statement that is narrow enough to be effectively supported within the confines of a five-paragraph essay, but broad enough to allow for meaningful discussion.

By choosing a strong thesis statement, you set yourself up for a successful essay that is well-organized, coherent, and persuasive. Take the time to carefully craft your thesis statement, as it will serve as the guiding force behind your entire essay.

Developing Supporting Arguments in Body Paragraphs

When crafting the body paragraphs of your five paragraph essay, it is crucial to develop strong and coherent supporting arguments that back up your thesis statement. Each body paragraph should focus on a single supporting argument that contributes to the overall discussion of your topic.

To effectively develop your supporting arguments, consider using a table to organize your ideas. Start by listing your main argument in the left column, and then provide evidence, examples, and analysis in the right column. This structured approach can help you ensure that each supporting argument is fully developed and logically presented.

Additionally, be sure to use transitional phrases to smoothly connect your supporting arguments within and between paragraphs. Words like “furthermore,” “in addition,” and “on the other hand” can help readers follow your train of thought and understand the progression of your ideas.

Remember, the body paragraphs are where you provide the meat of your argument, so take the time to develop each supporting argument thoroughly and clearly. By presenting compelling evidence and analysis, you can effectively persuade your readers and strengthen the overall impact of your essay.

Polishing Your Writing: Editing and Proofreading Tips

Editing and proofreading are crucial steps in the writing process that can make a significant difference in the clarity and effectiveness of your essay. Here are some tips to help you polish your writing:

1. Take a break before editing: After you finish writing your essay, take a break before starting the editing process. This will help you approach your work with fresh eyes and catch mistakes more easily.

2. Read your essay aloud: Reading your essay aloud can help you identify awkward phrasing, grammar errors, and inconsistencies. This technique can also help you evaluate the flow and coherence of your writing.

3. Use a spelling and grammar checker: Utilize spelling and grammar checkers available in word processing software to catch common errors. However, be mindful that these tools may not catch all mistakes, so it’s essential to manually review your essay as well.

4. Check for coherence and organization: Make sure your ideas flow logically and cohesively throughout your essay. Ensure that each paragraph connects smoothly to the next, and that your arguments are supported by relevant evidence.

5. Look for consistency: Check for consistency in your writing style, tone, and formatting. Ensure that you maintain a consistent voice and perspective throughout your essay to keep your argument coherent.

6. Seek feedback from others: Consider asking a peer, teacher, or tutor to review your essay and provide feedback. External perspectives can help you identify blind spots and areas for improvement in your writing.

7. Proofread carefully: Finally, proofread your essay carefully to catch any remaining errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting. Pay attention to details and make any necessary revisions before submitting your final draft.

By following these editing and proofreading tips, you can refine your writing and ensure that your essay is polished and ready for submission.

Tips for Successful Writing: Practice and Feedback

Writing is a skill that improves with practice. The more you write, the better you will become. Set aside time each day to practice writing essays, paragraph by paragraph. This consistent practice will help you develop your writing skills and grow more confident in expressing your ideas.

Seek feedback from your teachers, peers, or mentors. Constructive criticism can help you identify areas for improvement and provide valuable insights into your writing. Take their suggestions into consideration and use them to refine your writing style and structure.

• Set writing goals for yourself and track your progress. Whether it’s completing a certain number of essays in a week or improving your introductions, having specific goals will keep you motivated and focused on your writing development.
• Read widely to expand your vocabulary and expose yourself to different writing styles. The more you read, the more you will learn about effective writing techniques and ways to engage your readers.
• Revise and edit your essays carefully. Pay attention to sentence structure, grammar, punctuation, and spelling. A well-polished essay will demonstrate your attention to detail and dedication to producing high-quality work.

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UMGC Effective Writing Center Secrets of the Five-Paragraph Essay

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This form of writing goes by different names. Maybe you've heard some of them before: "The Basic Essay," "The Academic Response Essay," "The 1-3-1 Essay." Regardless of what you've heard, the name you should remember is "The Easy Essay."

Once you are shown how this works--and it only takes a few minutes--you will have in your hands the secret to writing well on almost any academic assignment. Here is how it goes.

Secret #1—The Magic of Three

Three has always been a magic number for humans, from fairy tales like "The Three Little Pigs" to sayings like “third time’s a charm.” Three seems to be an ideal number for us--including the academic essay. So whenever you are given a topic to write about, a good place to begin is with a list of three. Here are some examples (three of them, of course):

Topic : What are the essential characteristics of a good parent? Think in threes and you might come up with:

• unconditional love 

Certainly, there are more characteristics of good parents you could name, but for our essay, we will work in threes.

Here's a topic that deals with a controversial issue:

Topic : Should women in the military be given frontline combat duties?

• The first reason that women should be assigned to combat is equality. 
• The second reason is their great teamwork. 
• The third reason is their courage.

As you see, regardless of the topic, we can list three points about it. And if you wonder about the repetition of words and structure when stating the three points, in this case, repetition is a good thing. Words that seem redundant when close together in an outline will be separated by the actual paragraphs of your essay. So in the essay instead of seeming redundant they will be welcome as signals to the reader of your essay’s main parts.

Finally, when the topic is an academic one, your first goal is the same: create a list of three.

Topic: Why do so many students fail to complete their college degree?

• First, students often...
• Second, many students cannot...
• Finally, students find that...

Regardless of the reasons you might come up with to finish these sentences, the formula is still the same.

Secret #2: The Thesis Formula

Now with your list of three, you can write the sentence that every essay must have—the thesis, sometimes called the "controlling idea," "overall point," or "position statement." In other words, it is the main idea of the essay that you will try to support, illustrate, or corroborate.

Here’s a simple formula for a thesis: The topic + your position on the topic = your thesis.

Let’s apply this formula to one of our examples:

Topic: Essential characteristics of a good parent Your Position: patience, respect, love Thesis: The essential characteristics of a good parent are patience, respect, and love.

As you see, all we did was combine the topic with our position/opinion on it into a single sentence to produce the thesis: The essential characteristics of a good parent are patience, respect, and love.

In this case, we chose to list three main points as part of our thesis. Sometimes that’s a good strategy. However, you can summarize them if you wish, as in this example:

Topic: Women in combat duty in the military Your Position: They deserve it Thesis: Women deserve to be assigned combat duty in the military.

This type of thesis is shorter and easier to write because it provides the overall position or opinion without forcing you to list the support for it in the thesis, which can get awkward and take away from your strong position statement. The three reasons women deserve to be assigned combat duties--equality, teamwork, courage--will be the subjects of your three body paragraphs and do not need to be mentioned until the body paragraph in which they appear.

Secret #3: The 1-3-1 Outline

With your thesis and list of three main points, you can quickly draw a basic outline of the paragraphs of your essay. You’ll then see why this is often called the 1-3-1 essay.

• Supporting Evidence for Claim 1    
• Supporting Evidence for Claim 2
• Supporting Evidence for Claim 3

The five-paragraph essay consists of one introduction paragraph (with the thesis at its end), three body paragraphs (each beginning with one of three main points) and one last paragraph—the conclusion. 1-3-1.

Once you have this outline, you have the basic template for most academic writing. Most of all, you have an organized way to approach virtually any topic you are assigned.

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The Ultimate Guide to the 5-Paragraph Essay

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• M.Ed., Education Administration, University of Georgia
• B.A., History, Armstrong State University

A five-paragraph essay is a prose composition that follows a prescribed format of an introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph, and is typically taught during primary English education and applied on standardized testing throughout schooling.

Learning to write a high-quality five-paragraph essay is an essential skill for students in early English classes as it allows them to express certain ideas, claims, or concepts in an organized manner, complete with evidence that supports each of these notions. Later, though, students may decide to stray from the standard five-paragraph format and venture into writing an  exploratory essay  instead.

Still, teaching students to organize essays into the five-paragraph format is an easy way to introduce them to writing literary criticism, which will be tested time and again throughout their primary, secondary, and further education.

Writing a Good Introduction

The introduction is the first paragraph in your essay, and it should accomplish a few specific goals: capture the reader's interest, introduce the topic, and make a claim or express an opinion in a thesis statement.

It's a good idea to start your essay with a hook (fascinating statement) to pique the reader's interest, though this can also be accomplished by using descriptive words, an anecdote, an intriguing question, or an interesting fact. Students can practice with creative writing prompts to get some ideas for interesting ways to start an essay.

The next few sentences should explain your first statement, and prepare the reader for your thesis statement, which is typically the last sentence in the introduction. Your  thesis sentence  should provide your specific assertion and convey a clear point of view, which is typically divided into three distinct arguments that support this assertation, which will each serve as central themes for the body paragraphs.

Writing Body Paragraphs

The body of the essay will include three body paragraphs in a five-paragraph essay format, each limited to one main idea that supports your thesis.

To correctly write each of these three body paragraphs, you should state your supporting idea, your topic sentence, then back it up with two or three sentences of evidence. Use examples that validate the claim before concluding the paragraph and using transition words to lead to the paragraph that follows — meaning that all of your body paragraphs should follow the pattern of "statement, supporting ideas, transition statement."

Words to use as you transition from one paragraph to another include: moreover, in fact, on the whole, furthermore, as a result, simply put, for this reason, similarly, likewise, it follows that, naturally, by comparison, surely, and yet.

Writing a Conclusion

The final paragraph will summarize your main points and re-assert your main claim (from your thesis sentence). It should point out your main points, but should not repeat specific examples, and should, as always, leave a lasting impression on the reader.

The first sentence of the conclusion, therefore, should be used to restate the supporting claims argued in the body paragraphs as they relate to the thesis statement, then the next few sentences should be used to explain how the essay's main points can lead outward, perhaps to further thought on the topic. Ending the conclusion with a question, anecdote, or final pondering is a great way to leave a lasting impact.

Once you complete the first draft of your essay, it's a good idea to re-visit the thesis statement in your first paragraph. Read your essay to see if it flows well, and you might find that the supporting paragraphs are strong, but they don't address the exact focus of your thesis. Simply re-write your thesis sentence to fit your body and summary more exactly, and adjust the conclusion to wrap it all up nicely.

Practice Writing a Five-Paragraph Essay

Students can use the following steps to write a standard essay on any given topic. First, choose a topic, or ask your students to choose their topic, then allow them to form a basic five-paragraph by following these steps:

• Decide on your  basic thesis , your idea of a topic to discuss.
• Decide on three pieces of supporting evidence you will use to prove your thesis.
• Write an introductory paragraph, including your thesis and evidence (in order of strength).
• Write your first body paragraph, starting with restating your thesis and focusing on your first piece of supporting evidence.
• End your first paragraph with a transitional sentence that leads to the next body paragraph.
• Write paragraph two of the body focussing on your second piece of evidence. Once again make the connection between your thesis and this piece of evidence.
• End your second paragraph with a transitional sentence that leads to paragraph number three.
• Repeat step 6 using your third piece of evidence.
• Begin your concluding paragraph by restating your thesis. Include the three points you've used to prove your thesis.
• End with a punch, a question, an anecdote, or an entertaining thought that will stay with the reader.

Once a student can master these 10 simple steps, writing a basic five-paragraph essay will be a piece of cake, so long as the student does so correctly and includes enough supporting information in each paragraph that all relate to the same centralized main idea, the thesis of the essay.

Limitations of the Five-Paragraph Essay

The five-paragraph essay is merely a starting point for students hoping to express their ideas in academic writing; there are some other forms and styles of writing that students should use to express their vocabulary in the written form.

According to Tory Young's "Studying English Literature: A Practical Guide":

"Although school students in the U.S. are examined on their ability to write a  five-paragraph essay , its  raison d'être  is purportedly to give practice in basic writing skills that will lead to future success in more varied forms. Detractors feel, however, that writing to rule in this way is more likely to discourage imaginative writing and thinking than enable it. . . . The five-paragraph essay is less aware of its  audience  and sets out only to present information, an account or a kind of story rather than explicitly to persuade the reader."

Students should instead be asked to write other forms, such as journal entries, blog posts, reviews of goods or services, multi-paragraph research papers, and freeform expository writing around a central theme. Although five-paragraph essays are the golden rule when writing for standardized tests, experimentation with expression should be encouraged throughout primary schooling to bolster students' abilities to utilize the English language fully.

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The Five Paragraph Essay: Developing and Organizing Your Ideas

Introduction.

Your introduction should entice your reader to read on, as well as prepare them to follow your discussion or argument by providing necessary, relevant, or helpful context, background, and/or information about your subject. This can include: names, dates, places, and key terms.

Your thesis should first present a clear statement of your argument or main idea about your subject, and second, introduce the reasoning, examples, information, anecdotes, and/or sources you will use to support or illustrate your argument.

• I believe _____ (OR _____ is true)

Body Paragraphs

Each of the three body paragraphs of your essay should include a topic sentence or sentences that clearly signal to the reader which of your “because” statements you are going to address. Next, the paragraph should present in detail the reasoning, anecdotes, examples, facts, statistics, or sources , in other words, the evidence that has led you to your statement. Remember to present your body paragraphs in a logical order.

Topic sentence for body paragraph #1 __________

Supporting points __________

Topic sentence for body paragraph #2 __________

Topic sentence for body paragraph #3 __________

Your conclusion should not only remind the reader of your topic, your thesis, and your evidence, but also should ask the reader to think more deeply about your subject by addressing its implications or broader significance. If you’re stuck, ask yourself: Why should someone care about my subject? What would be different if not for my subject? What is the influence of my subject in history? What does my subject mean for the future? How does my subject relate to everyday life? How does my subject fit into a larger discussion? What lessons can be learned from my subject?

How to write a perfect 5 Paragraph Essay

  How to Write a 5 Paragraph Essay : A Complete Guide

Essay writing can be the bane of many a student’s life.

Gone are the days when many students tried writing in big letters to fill the allotted number of pages with minimal effort quickly.

Now, it’s all constant word count checks and taking a dozen words to say what could be said in three.

Of course, it doesn’t have to be like this. When students have a clear, set structure to follow, essay writing can be a much less painful experience. Indeed, it can even be enjoyable!

In this article, we’ll outline a clear template our students can follow to produce a well-organised essay on practically any topic effectively.

Let’s get started!

THE HAMBURGER ESSAY – THE STUDENT’S FRIEND

The common 5 paragraph essay structure is often referred to as the hamburger essay . And this is a memorable way to communicate the concept to your students.

The hamburger essay structure consists of five paragraphs or layers as follows:

Layer 1 – The Top Bun: The Introduction

The uppermost layer is the introductory paragraph which communicates to the reader the purpose of the essay.

Layers 2,3, & 4 – The Meat Patties: The Body Paragraphs

These are the meat patties of the essay and each paragraph makes an argument in support of the essay’s central contention as expressed in the introduction.

Layer 5 – The Conclusion: The Bottom Bun

The bottommost layer is the conclusion, where the arguments are summed up and the central contention of the essay is restated forcefully one last time. We have a complete guide to writing a conclusion here .

Soon, we’ll take a closer look at each of these parts in turn. But, there is more to an essay than just the writing of it. There are also the prewriting and post writing stages to consider. We will look at all these aspects in this article, but first, let’s examine what our students need to be doing before they even begin to write their essays.

A COMPLETE UNIT ON TEACHING PARAGRAPH WRITING

This complete PARAGRAPH WRITING UNIT takes students from zero to hero over FIVE STRATEGIC LESSONS to improve PARAGRAPH WRITING SKILLS through PROVEN TEACHING STRATEGIES.

THE PREWRITING STAGE – DEFINING THE THESIS STATEMENT, RESEARCH & PLANNING

The thesis statement.

Every essay needs a clear focus. This focus is usually defined in a thesis statement that presents the topic of the essay in a sentence or two. The thesis statement should also include the writer’s stance on that topic.

As this will help guide the direction of the essay, it is essential that our students define their thesis statement before they begin the writing process.

Sometimes during the process of writing, we find out what we think about a given topic. The writing process can act as a kind of reflection on the merits of the various arguments, before finally revealing to us our own opinion. This is writing as a method of discovery.

Usually, though, it is more efficient for students to decide on their opinions prior to beginning to write.

Defining their thesis statement early on not only helps guide the students writing, but helps ensure their research is focused and efficient at the crucial prewriting stage.

Research & Planning

As students begin their research and gather their evidence to support their thesis statement, they should also be encouraged to pay particular attention to the counterarguments they come across.

A well-written essay does not ignore opposing viewpoints, students should be taught to preempt counterarguments where possible so as to strengthen the power of their own arguments. Good research is essential for this.

Not so long ago, research meant hours in dusty libraries being constantly shushed, but with the advent of the internet, there is now a wealth of knowledge right at our fingertips (and the end of a good Wifi connection).

While this has made research a much more convenient process, students need to be reminded of the importance of seeking out reliable sources to support their opinions. In an era of ‘fake news’, this is more important now than ever.

As students gather the information and supporting evidence for their essay, they’ll need to organize it carefully. Graphic organizers are an effective way of doing this, either on a paper printout or by using a premade template on the computer.

It can also be helpful for students to sort their collected information according to where they intend to use it in the five-paragraph outline or layers mentioned above.

Finally, while good research, organization, and planning are essential for producing a well-written essay, it’s important that students are reminded that essay writing is also a creative act.

Students should maintain an open mind when it comes to the writing process. They should allow their thoughts and opinions the room to develop over the course of writing their essay. They should leave the door open for including new thoughts and ideas as the writing progresses.

The Writing Stage: Introduction, Body Paragraphs, & Conclusion 

The introduction.

A good introduction paragraph serves a number of important functions. It:

• Grabs the reader’s attention and interest, known as the hook
• Orientates the reader to the essays central argument, the thesis statement
• Outlines briefly the arguments that will be explored in support of the thesis statement.

To become an effective writer, it is important that our students learn the importance of grabbing the reader’s attention, as well as keeping it. Opening with a ‘hook’ or a ‘grabber’ is a great way to achieve this.

There are a number of techniques students can use here. Let’s take a look at some of the more common ones.

• The Surprising Fact – this can intrigue the reader to want to find out more, especially if it challenges some of their existing assumptions on a topic.
• The Quotation – a carefully selected quotation can be a great way to secure the reader’s attention and there are many curated quotation collections freely available online to help get students started.
• The Joke – this opening should be used judiciously as for some topics it may not be an appropriate way to open. In the right context however, humor can be a great way to engage the reader from the outset.
• The Anecdote – anecdotes are a great way to personally connect with the essay’s topic. They are a helpful way of climbing down the ladder of abstraction when exploring more theoretical arguments. They assist the reader in relating universal themes to their own lives.

Practice Activity 1:

To encourage students to develop strong opening paragraphs in their essays, it can be helpful to isolate writing opening paragraphs.

In this activity, provide your students with a list of essay topics and challenge them to write four different opening paragraphs for their essay, one each for The Surprising Fact , The Quotation , The Joke , and The Anecdote as listed above.

When students have completed their four paragraphs, they can then share with each other in groups and discuss which worked best and why.

This activity will help students to remember the different types of opening and how they work. It will also give them a feel for which openings work best for different types of essays.

We’ve already discussed what a thesis statement is and what it is intended to achieve, but where does it fit into the overall shape of the introductory paragraph exactly?

While there are no hard and fast rules here, thesis statements work well towards the end of the introductory paragraph – especially as the paragraph’s final sentence.

Readers are often hardwired to look for the thesis statement there. It connects the arguments that follow in the body paragraphs to the preceding sentences and contextualizes the essay for the reader.

THE BODY PARAGRAPHS

Now we get to the ‘meat’ of our essay. Each of the body paragraphs will explore one of the arguments supporting the thesis statement as laid out in the introduction.

While we are focused on the 5 paragraph essay here, longer essays will usually be constructed in exactly the same manner, they’ll just include more body paragraphs to cover the extra level of detail.

Generally, each body paragraph will open by stating the argument, with subsequent sentences supporting that argument by providing evidence along with some further explanation. Finally, a statement or phrase will help transition to the next paragraph.

The PEEL Paragraph Writing Process

The acronym PEEL can be a very useful tool to help students to understand how to organize each of their body paragraphs.

P oint : start the paragraph by expressing the central argument

E vidence : support the central argument of the paragraph by providing evidence or reasons. Evidence may come in many forms including facts and statistics, quotations from a text or other authority, reference to historical events etc.

E xplanation : explain how the evidence provided supports the paragraph’s central argument.

L ink : provide a transition into the next paragraph by linking this argument and the central thesis to the next point to be made.

Practice Activity 2:

Just as students isolated the opening to their introductory paragraph for practice purposes, in this activity they’ll isolate a single argument on a chosen essay topic.

When they have chosen a topic and selected a single argument related to that topic, they can begin to write one body paragraph using the PEEL structure outlined above.

This activity works well when several students write on the same argument. When each has completed their paragraphs, they can then compare the results with each other.

It can be a fascinating experiment that allows the students to see just how diverse different treatments of the same argument using the same PEEL formula can be – there is freedom within the discipline of the structure!

THE CONCLUSION

The purpose of the conclusion is to close the circle of the essay. It is a chance for the writer to restate the thesis statement, summarize the main arguments, and tie up any loose ends as the writer drives home their point one last time.

At this stage of the game, no new arguments should be introduced. However, students should revisit the previous arguments made in the body paragraphs and it is acceptable to offer up a new insight or two on these.

The student should take care here to make sure they leave no doubt in the reader’s mind that the essay question is fully answered. One useful way of doing this is by incorporating words and phrases from the essay question into the conclusion itself.

To help students grasp the underlying structure of a concluding paragraph, the following sequential structure is useful to keep in mind:

• Starts with a closing phrase such as In conclusion , There is no doubt , Finally etc
• Restates the main thesis statement
• Summarizes the main point of each of the body paragraphs
• Leaves the reader with something to think about.

Practice Activity 3:

Again, here we will isolate the concluding paragraph for focused practice.

Students select a topic they know well, decide what they think about that topic, write down a few key arguments, and then begin writing a concluding paragraph to an essay on that topic.

Students should use the template above to structure that material.

You could also include an element of peer assessment here by having students swap their paragraphs with each other, before offering each other feedback.

The Post Writing Stage: Editing & Proofreading YOUR 5 paragraph ESSAY

The final stage of writing a five-paragraph essay is perhaps the least glamorous of an unglamorous process, but no less essential for it – the editing and proofreading.

Often, our students overlook this stage. After completing the process of research, planning, and writing their five-paragraph essay, they let themselves down at this final, crucial stage.

Frequently, students fail to adequately edit and proofread their work not just because of laziness, but because they are unsure of exactly what this process entails.

To avoid this, ensure students understand that editing and proofreading involve reading through and correcting mistakes in the following areas one after the other:

• Text Organisation: title, headings, layout etc
• Sentence Structure: coherence, grammar , sentence variety etc
• Word Choice: suitable word choices, avoid repetition etc
• Spelling and Punctuation: accuracy in both areas.

Practice Activity 4:

Once students have completed their essays, appoint each a partner to work with and each then edits and proofreads the other person’s work.

Sometimes students struggle to gain the necessary distance from their own work to adequately edit and proofread it, this exercise overcomes that issue while giving them an opportunity to gain some valuable editing and proofreading experience that will benefit them in future.

CLOSING THE CIRCLE

So, there you have it – how to write a five-paragraph essay from start to finish. As with anything, the more practice students get, the quicker they will improve.

But, bear in mind too that writing essays is hard work and you don’t want to put students off.

The best way to provide opportunities for students to develop the various skills related to essay writing is to isolate them in the manner apparent in the activities described above.

This way, students can soon sharpen up their skills, without learning to dread the word ‘essay’ itself!

Teaching Resources

Use our resources and tools to improve your student’s writing skills through proven teaching strategies.

Five Paragraph Essay exampleS (Student Writing Samples)

Below are a collection of student writing samples of 5 paragraph essays.  Click on the image to enlarge and explore them in greater detail.  Please take a moment to both read the 5 paragraph essay in detail but also the teacher and student guides which highlight some of the key elements of this structured model of essay writing here.

Please understand these student writing samples are not intended to be perfect examples for each age or grade level but a piece of writing for students and teachers to explore together to critically analyze to improve student writing skills and deepen their understanding of 5 paragraph essay writing.

We would recommend reading the example either a year above and below, as well as the grade you are currently working with to gain a broader appreciation of this text type.

5 PARAGRAPH ESSAY VIDEO TUTORIALS

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How to Write a Five Paragraph Essay

Last Updated: April 4, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Jake Adams and by wikiHow staff writer, Danielle Blinka, MA, MPA . Jake Adams is an academic tutor and the owner of Simplifi EDU, a Santa Monica, California based online tutoring business offering learning resources and online tutors for academic subjects K-College, SAT & ACT prep, and college admissions applications. With over 14 years of professional tutoring experience, Jake is dedicated to providing his clients the very best online tutoring experience and access to a network of excellent undergraduate and graduate-level tutors from top colleges all over the nation. Jake holds a BS in International Business and Marketing from Pepperdine University. There are 8 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 526,372 times.

Five paragraph essays are a common assignment throughout your school career, especially in high school and college. Since any subject can include a five paragraph essay, you’ll want to be good at writing them. Luckily, five-paragraph essays are really easy to write if you know the expected format and give yourself the time you need to write it. To write your five paragraph essay, draft your introduction, develop three body paragraphs, write your conclusion, and revise and edit your essay.

Drafting Your Introduction

• For example, you could phrase your hook like this: Nature’s life cycle is often used as a metaphor to convey ideas about the passage of life.
• If you are writing a persuasive essay, don’t include your stance in your hook.
• Don’t say “In this essay” or “I am going to show.” Instead, use the “show, don’t tell” technique using descriptive language.
• It’s often easiest to come up with your hook after you write the rest of your essay. If you’re struggling to come up with one, use a basic placeholder and then create a better hook when you revise your essay.

• Don’t reveal your main points yet.
• For example, you could say something like this: While spring compares with birth, summer can symbolize maturity, with fall and winter showing a descent toward death.

• This sentence depends on what type of paper you’re writing. If it’s an argumentative paper, introduce both sides of the argument. In an informative paper, mention the central idea and focus.
• As an example, you could narrow your topic like this: Writers often use nature metaphors in their work to show themes about life, such as the blossoming of youth.

• For example, your thesis could read like this: In the poem “Raspberries,” the author shows youth through the ripening berries, summer blossoming, and blushing color of the fruit.
• Each of the three examples provided in the thesis will become the topic of a body paragraph. For the example thesis, you would have body paragraphs about ripening berries, summer blossoming, and the blushing color of the fruit.

Developing Three Body Paragraphs

• You should include three body paragraphs, one for each supporting point.

• Your topic sentence is like a mini-thesis for just that paragraph.
• Use a quote related to your thesis and analyze it in the body paragraph. If you use a topic sentence, put the quote next.
• For example, your topic sentence could look like this: Ripening berries show youth in the poem “Raspberries” by reaching maturity and becoming ready for picking.

• Each paragraph should contain two to three examples or pieces of evidence.
• If you use research, cite your sources in the appropriate format that your instructor specifies.

• Include two to three sentences of commentary for each example or piece of evidence.
• Depending on the type of evidence or examples, it’s often best to alternate your evidence and commentary throughout the paragraph. For example, provide one example, then provide the commentary.

• For example, you could wrap up your paragraph like this: As the girl plucks the ripe raspberries from the bush and eats them, her actions represent her own youth and readiness to be “plucked” by someone.

Drafting Your Conclusion

• For example, you could restate your thesis like this: The poem “Raspberries” provides an allegorical representation of youth through a metaphor of ripening berries, summer blossoming, and blushing color of the fruit.
• If you're a beginning writer, it's okay to start your conclusion with "In conclusion." However, if you're an advanced writer, avoid starting your conclusion with statements like “In conclusion,” “To conclude,” or “In the end.”

• Use an authoritative tone as you restate your arguments so that your reader walks away knowing that you are correct.

• Include a call to action.
• Provide a warning about what could happen if your stance is ignored.
• Create an image in the reader’s mind.
• Include a quote.
• Make a universal statement about life.

Revising and Editing Your Essay

• Always reread your sentence to make sure that the word processor is suggesting the right word. If you’ve misspelled a word that is similar to another word, then it’s possible that your spell check could suggest the wrong spelling, such as “then” instead of “than.”

• Look for errors that your spell checker missed.
• If you can, ask someone else to proofread your paper. They will usually spot errors that you overlooked.

• Combine choppy sentences.
• Breakup long, convoluted sentences into shorter sentences.
• Rewrite fragments and run-on sentences.

• If you have cited sources, make sure that you include a reference page in the style chosen by your instructor.

Expert Q&A

• Never plagiarize an essay, which means copying someone’s work or ideas without giving them credit. Your teacher will deny you credit for the essay, and you may also get a discipline consequence. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 1

You Might Also Like

• ↑ Jake Adams. Academic Tutor & Test Prep Specialist. Expert Interview. 20 May 2020.
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/five-paragraph-essay/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/college-writing/
• ↑ https://www.bucks.edu/media/bcccmedialibrary/pdf/FiveParagraphEssayOutlineJuly08_000.pdf
• ↑ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4789530/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.fas.harvard.edu/pages/ending-essay-conclusions
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/proofreading/proofreading_suggestions.html
• ↑ https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/the_writing_process/proofreading/steps_for_revising.html

About This Article

To write a five paragraph essay, start with an introductory paragraph that includes a hook to capture your audience’s attention, and a thesis that explains the main point you’re trying to make. Then, use the next 3 paragraphs to explain 3 separate points that support your thesis. As you explain each point, use evidence from your research or examples in the text you’re discussing. Finally, conclude your essay with a paragraph summing up the points you’ve made and telling the reader how those points support your thesis. For tips on how to revise your essay to improve the flow and formatting, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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What Is A Five-Paragraph Essay & How Do You Write One?

• What Is A Five-Paragraph Essay?
• How To Write One
• Essay Outline

If you’re a student in the US, there’s a good chance you’ll be asked to write a five-paragraph essay at some point in your academic career. In fact, you’ll probably be asked to write one several times in your academic career. By the time you graduate, you may have written these essays so many times that you groan at the mere mention of them. We can’t blame you for that, but there’s a reason why so many teachers require them.

The five-paragraph essay is a perfect introduction for learning how to research, structure, and write a succinct and effective essay. Once you master the style, you can move on and become an expert at so many other styles of writing. The five-paragraph essay is foundational, so if you’ve been assigned one, breathe easy. You’re doing important work, and this handy guide to writing a five-paragraph essay will help make the writing process a breeze.

What is a five-paragraph essay?

The five-paragraph essay is primarily used in academic writing, and it’s one of the first styles of essay most students are taught. Within the framework of the five-paragraph essay, students can practice persuasive writing, compare and contrast two ideas, or even write researched informative pieces.

If you’re like a lot of students, you might remember learning the five-paragraph essay using the “hamburger method.” With this method, the parts of the essay are listed just like a hamburger, with the introduction and conclusion acting as “buns” around the detail paragraph “toppings.” Now that we’ve stimulated your appetite right along with your writer’s brain, grab a snack and let’s break down the steps to writing a flawless five-paragraph essay.

How to write a five-paragraph essay

The good news about writing a five-paragraph essay is that it has an easy-to-follow format. It’s clear from the title alone that the process will involve writing five separate sections, each with its own guidelines and specifications. From there, the trick is infusing creativity and your own unique writing style into the essay format.

Before we get to that, let’s talk about the different parts of the typical five-paragraph essay.

1. The introduction

Every five-paragraph essay begins with a thesis statement and an introductory paragraph. The thesis statement is a single sentence that clearly summarizes what the essay will be about , including your opinion on it if you’re writing an argumentative or persuasive piece.

Once you have a clear thesis written, the rest of your introduction should include:

• Basic context or information about your intended topic (if necessary).
• A brief mention of the main points to be expanded on in the body of the essay.

Save the most significant information for the body paragraphs, but offer a preview of the points you intend to make in order to entice readers to read more. When put together, a strong introduction will look something like this:

There’s a lot of debate about which food category hot dogs fit into, but it’s clear from the evidence that a hot dog is a type of sandwich. Hot dogs are an incredibly popular food in America. The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council estimates that we consume about 20 billion hot dogs a year. With that kind of devotion, it’s easy to see why people feel so passionate about which food category their beloved hot dogs fit into. But many experts, restaurateurs, and even the dictionary classify hot dogs as sandwiches, and it’s time to end this heated food debate once and for all.

Review the three main types of thesis statements here.

2. Three body paragraphs

The support for your thesis comes in the form of three separate body paragraphs. These paragraphs are where you include relevant details, expert quotes, citations from books or other resources, and any other information you need in order to convey your full argument or knowledge to the reader. Each of your body paragraphs should include the following:

• A topic sentence that clearly defines what the paragraph is about.
• Transition words (like first, lastly, additionally, however, etc.) to help guide the reader.
• Details that specifically support and expand on the thesis.
• Pertinent data, properly cited sources, quotes and/or relevant anecdotes.
• At least five sentences, though higher level writing may call for more.

Remember that each body paragraph should focus on one main argument or supporting detail. Including three body paragraphs means you have three separate paragraphs to write about three separate supports for your thesis. Finally, make sure the information you include is relevant. These paragraphs should be succinct and informative and not include tangential information.

Here’s a sample body paragraph:

To begin, hot dogs fit the dictionary definition of the word sandwich. Sandwich is defined as “two or more slices of bread with a layer of meat, fish, cheese, and whatever other filling you’d like between them.” A hot dog is a grilled or steamed sausage, usually made of pork or beef, which qualifies as a layer of meat. They can also have toppings, such as condiments or cold vegetables, just like other kinds of sandwiches might. Hot dogs are served on buns, which are a type of split sandwich roll. In many delis, other types of sandwiches are served on split rolls. Since they are served on the same bread as many sandwiches, hot dogs are clearly a type of sandwich.

When it comes to research and citations, do your essay justice by reading this tips on how to avoid plagiarism.

A five-paragraph essay outline

Now that you know the parts of a five-paragraph essay, it might help to see them in action. Here’s an outline format you can use to plan your own essays, filled in with examples of a thesis statement, topic sentences for your body paragraphs, and the main parts of a strong conclusion.

Introduction

• Thesis statement: There’s a lot of debate about which food category hot dogs fit into, but it’s clear from the evidence that a hot dog is a type of sandwich.

Body paragraph #1

• Topic sentence: To begin, hot dogs fit the dictionary definition of the word sandwich.
• Supporting detail: Sandwich is defined as “two or more slices of bread with a layer of meat, fish, cheese, and whatever other filling you’d like between them.”
• Supporting detail: A hot dog is a grilled or steamed sausage, usually made of pork or beef, which qualifies as a layer of meat.
• Supporting detail: Hot dog buns are split rolls, similar to the ones used for deli sandwiches.

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Body paragraph #2

• Topic sentence: Secondly, hot dogs meet the legal definition of sandwiches in many places.
• Supporting detail: Mark Wheeler, a food safety specialist with the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), says the organization defines a sandwich as “a meat or poultry filling between two slices of bread, a bun, or a biscuit.”
• Supporting detail: In New York state, tax law lists “hot dogs and sausages on buns” as types of sandwiches.
• Supporting detail: Additionally, tax law in California clearly includes “hot dog and hamburger sandwiches” served from “sandwich stands or booths.”

Body paragraph #3

• Topic sentence: Finally, most Americans agree that hot dogs are sandwiches.
• Supporting detail: In a poll of 1,000 people conducted by RTA Outdoor Living, 56.8% of respondents agreed a hot dog is a sandwich.
• Supporting detail: Many fast food chains that serve primarily burgers and sandwiches, like Five Guys burgers and Shake Shack, also sell hot dogs.
• Supporting detail: Lexicographers at Dictionary.com have also declared that hot dogs officially meet the criteria to be included in the sandwich category. (Curious? Read the article here for this and other great food debates explained .)
• Restatement of thesis: Hot dogs are a unique kind of food, but the evidence makes it clear that they are indeed a type of sandwich.

Refine your writing with this review on run-on sentences.

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The Death of the Five Paragraph Essay: Reading and Writing the Modern Essay in Middle School

Introduction and rationale.

Mark Twain Elementary School is a Chicago Public School located on the southwest side of the city. The student population served by the school is roughly 83% low income and ranges from grades pre-K to 8th grade. The population is also roughly 84% Latino and 12% White. Students that are diverse learners account for roughly 10% of the student population, and roughly 16% of the students in the school receive additional supports as part of Twain’s bilingual program. 1 This three-week unit is designed for about 130 sixth grade general education students to be taught towards the end of the school year after several cycles of essay writing and wide reading across a variety of genres appropriate for sixth grade students . Many of these students are not proficient writers as they enter sixth grade and struggle to compose writing that reflects the language of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS).

This unit will complement the work that is expected of students in other units throughout the school year. This unit will come after a unit I wrote titled Playing with Poetry which has students write a variety of original poems, deeply exploring writer’s craft. My students and I will consider how prose writers make similar craft decisions after introducing students to the genre characteristics of profile and personal experience essays. Students will read two of each type of essay, discussing the craft choices that authors make along the way. Finally, mirroring seminar as closely as possible, students will have the choice to write a profile or personal experience essay.

For each unit I write, my school requires a series of essential questions and enduring understandings to frame each unit of study for my students. This creates a sense of shared inquiry and a focused approach when starting new instructional units. The essential questions and enduring understandings for this unit are provided. Both the essential questions and enduring understandings would be posted in my classroom and be continually revisited as the unit is taught.

Essential Questions

• What are the genre characteristics of a profile and personal experience essay?
• What should we look for in the writing of professional authors of profiles and personal experience essays to influence our own writing?

Enduring Understandings

• Both profiles and personal experience essays are types of creative nonfiction writing. A profile is shortened form of a biography that uses interview, anecdote, observation, description and analysis to make a public point about an individual. A personal experience essay is autobiographical in nature; the reader should have a good idea about the inner thoughts and feelings of the person based on the personal/conversational tone that the writer takes.
• In the writing of others, we should be alert to the author’s craft. This means that writers think of the choices they can make to get their writing to look or sound a certain way. Some craft choices that writers can make in literary nonfiction relate to word choice, imagery, description, essay structure, use of anecdotes, and constructing a public point in a seamless manner.

Content Objectives

The five paragraph essay.

The title of this unit is The Death of the Five Paragraph Essay: Reading and Writing the Modern Essay in Middle School. The five-paragraph essay is a common structure that is taught to students to help them organize their ideas and to make arguments. In this type of essay, the introduction serves as a funnel of thinking that ends with the thesis statement. The thesis statement acts as an umbrella statement that controls the content of the essay; many times, the thesis outlines three topics to be argued or explored in each of the body paragraphs. Each of three body paragraphs explores one point that is directly tied to the thesis of the introduction. In each body paragraph, relevant facts or figures are explored in the order they were presented in the thesis statement in the introduction. The last paragraph of the essay, the conclusion, seeks to go in the reverse direction of the introduction. It starts narrow by revisiting the thesis and leaving the reader with something to think about related to the topic addressed. 2 Many argue that this structure can be useful as a mode of writing, but others make compelling claims that have caused me to reconsider the practice in my classroom. In seminar, Professor Brantley recalled being taught the five-paragraph format in the form of a keyhole as a freshman in high school. She described learning the practice as being useful in a limited way and suggested to proceed with instructional caution when teaching it as a form. 3 This structure can be useful as a temporary scaffold to help writers.

In the book Why They Can’t Write , John Warner, makes a compelling argument that has caused me to reconsider my reliance on this practice. Warner is a college professor, and his argument is that the students that he has had have gaps in their writing because they were taught incorrectly. He contends that there are several reasons why students write in a manner that is deficient, but the heart of his argument is that students are “conditioned” to perform “writing-related simulations,” which pass temporary muster but do little to help students develop their writing abilities.” 4 Warner contends that the five paragraph structure disengages students from the writing process because of its lack of authenticity. He argues that it creates passive learners that are looking to follow rules instead of thinking critically and making the types of choices that writers struggle with while crafting writing. This is problematic, as the form does not allow for students to engage in productive struggle; all the roadblocks have been removed and the process of writing becomes an exercise in slot-filling the proper information. Warner’s argument boils down to this: students deciding on the form and organization an essay should take is a form of deep learning. Zinsser (2006) says it a couple of different ways when he notes, “every writer must follow the path that feels comfortable” and “good writing is good writing, whatever form it takes.” 5 Teachers shouldn’t rob students of the chance to compose for authentic audiences, to figure out what path is comfortable and to deliberate over what form their writing should take. Teachers need to build student toolboxes with knowledge of craft choices for them to write like authors.

Literary Nonfiction Writing

In the Reading for Writing: Modeling the Modern Essay Seminar, the Fellows and Seminar Leader discussed the qualities of good writing. During our discussion, we developed a short list of attributes that we felt were traits of good writing: does it make me change my mind? Does it challenge my thinking? Is it crafted to make me feel a certain way? Does the writing use a form that is clear and easy to follow? Has the language the author used been worked to sound nice? Is it engaging? 6 Zinsser (2006) makes several observations about good writing that confirm the short list that Fellows devised in seminar. He observes that good writing is intentional in bearing information and presents it with “vigor, clarity and humanity.” 7 Zinsser firmly believes that nonfiction is the vehicle for most people learning how to write because it allows students and young people to write about their own lives and interests. He also observes the importance of motivation, saying that it is “at the heart of writing.” 8 By writing about their own life and interests, students may be easily motivated to embark in sustained writing.

While literary nonfiction can be traced as far back as Montaigne, there was a surge of interest in literary genre as the 20 th century progressed. 9 Zinsser (2006) traces this evolution from a focus on fiction towards literary nonfiction. He notes that historically, at the start of the 20th century that Americans had access to fiction by means of the “Book-of-the-Month Club” that would send out fiction to individuals. World War II slowed this demand for fiction, as the war effort and the advent of the television introduced people to “new places, and issues and events.” The Book-of-the-Month crowd then wanted nonfiction, and other mediums like magazines needed to follow suit; Zinsser argues that nonfiction became the new “American literature.” 10

The Writer’s Toolkit for Literary Nonfiction Writing

A study of literary nonfiction requires careful attention to heighten student awareness of the craft choices that authors make. This type of writing may have students focusing on topics, people and events that they are intimately familiar with and can write about with great volume and little research. As I was drafting my own literary nonfiction piece for seminar to workshop, I found character sketches to be easy to write given the individuals that I was writing about were so vivid in my memory. This may not be a skill that students know they have and may require practice before expecting them to be able to incorporate them into a piece. Norquist (2018) notes that character sketches should not be dry or just descriptive, they can also entertain or praise the subject; character sketches can capture “facts, traits, idiosyncrasies and accomplishments of a subject... [as well as capture] the subject's personality, appearance, character or accomplishments.” 11 A link to a template is provided in the teacher resource section that can be modified to support all the different aspects that students might want to consider as they grapple with crafting descriptions of individuals in their writing.  

Another craft element that is relied on heavily in drafting literary nonfiction is the use of description. Ferriss (2007) recalls a quote from John McPhee [a writer known for his literary nonfiction and a teacher that Ferriss had] who observed, “A thousand details add up to one impression.” 12 This line speaks to the power of building detail to capture the essence of an individual. Literary nonfiction relies on anecdote, description and reflections to build an impression of topic. In this respect, writing literary nonfiction may be markedly different from the type of writing that is usually expected from students. Rather than follow a traditional narrative progression, literary nonfiction relies on a variety of organic structures that often deviate from or interrupt a continuous sequence of events. These details, when carefully crafted by means of word choice, description, and positioning, have the effect of a reader assembling a puzzle that ultimately reveals a cohesive picture of a person, place or memory.

An additional genre convention that we focused on in seminar was that literary nonfiction should have a public point. Ferris (2007) quoted a similar observation from McPhee while in his class, “A piece of writing needs to start somewhere, go somewhere, and sit down when it gets there.” 13 In seminar, we discussed several professional essays as well as essays that were produced by Fellows and workshopped. In our discussions, we noticed that there were times that it was difficult to identify a public point. Sometimes the group noted there were multiple public points. 14 At any rate, it is important to address this concept with students before they begin to write. Without a public point, the reader is left with a piece that essentially just a narrative. Getting back to the advice that McPhee dispenses and what we also touched on in seminar, the public point should not feel tacked on to a piece. Professor Brantley observed that one goal to avoid in drafting would be to tell a narrative and then attach a moral or lesson to the end. This predictable structure doesn’t allow for the extended focus and connection that McPhee is calling for in his observation. As noted in seminar, the public point should help students to recognize that they are no longer writing for just the teacher, that the writing they are engaging in should be able to exist beyond the classroom. 15 By envisioning a larger audience, students engage in critical reflection to weave a public point into a piece.

One element of craft that literary nonfiction has in common with the craft choices that poets make is the use of highly worked and reworked language that could be considered writing for the ear. In seminar, many of the professional pieces as well as the pieces that Fellows developed worked with language to create a sense of rhythm and poetic cadence at the paragraph and sentence levels. Many students that I have taught over the years associate looking for this in poetry, but do not actively look for it as much in prose. Zinsser (2006) advises the following when considering the craft of capturing voice in writing: avoid “breeziness and condescension and clichés.” 16   Zinsser goes on to give an example from E.B. White that uses economy and careful diction choices to serve as an example of how to avoid pitfalls in voice:

I spent several days and nights in mid-September with an ailing pig and I feel driven to account for this stretch of time, more particularly since the pig died at last, and I lived, and things might easily have gone the other way around and none left to do the accounting. 17

Then Zinsser reimagines that same opening if someone is “breezy” and attempting to achieve a casual tone but instead “littered the path with obstacles, cheap slang, shoddy sentences and windy philosophizing:”

Ever stay up late babysitting for a sick porker? Believe you me, a guy can lose a heckuva lot of shut-eye. I did that gig for three nights back in September and my better half thought I’d lost my marbles. (Just kidding, Pam!) Frankly, the whole deal kind of bummed me out. Because, you see, the pig up and dies on me. To tell you the truth, I wasn’t feeling in the pink myself, so I suppose it could have been yours truly and not old Porky who kicked the bucket. And you can bet your bottom dollar Mr. Pig wasn’t going to write a book about it! 18

The difference between both paragraphs would be evident even to my students. One is windy, folksy, and filled with clichés while the other gets the reader to think about the relationship between the individual and the pig with plain and economical language and formal grammar. Zinsser suggests reading a piece aloud to see whether writing sounds more like the first paragraph than the second; if it sounds like the second paragraph, revise to simplify it. 19

Personal Experience Essays

Personal experience essays are an interesting genre to explore with students, as it is a form that can be explored with increasing sophistication as a student progresses in school. In primary grades for instance, it is not uncommon for teachers to focus on teaching a beginning, middle and end to tell a personal story. It may include a picture to further illustrate characterization and setting. In the intermediate/middle school grades, students learn about the parts of plot, how to craft characters and settings that create imagery for the reader. By high school, the chronological nature of story-telling can be inverted, use of anecdote is encouraged, and the writing may take on more of a reflective tone. By the time a student is in high school, mastering this genre of writing is critical as many colleges and universities pose prompts that require students to engage in this type of writing to either be admitted or gain financial aid awards. It is extremely beneficial to explore the different craft choices that are available to a writer in this genre in discussions of professional pieces to select texts that might serve as appropriate models.

In his book On Writing Well , Zinsser (2006) makes several key observations about the personal experience essay, which he refers to as memoir.  He notes the importance of not writing to please others. Given the personal nature of the writing, Zinsser argues that writing about oneself should not require ‘permission,’ that the details associated with the “people, places, events, anecdotes, ideas, [and] emotions” should be written about with confidence and pleasure. He later observes that that memoir writing takes us back to intense periods of our lives; these intense periods provide the reader a “window into a life” rather than a complete summary of a life. He continues to argue that this type of writing is pieced together; which speaks to many of the craft choices that authors must make when writing in this genre. Zinsser makes a special point to highlight the importance of details like sounds, smells, songs, as well as men, women and children that have been part of an individual’s life as sources of detail to weave into a memoir. The act of writing a memoir requires the writer to make many editorial choices of what details to include, to elaborate, or to distill. In addition to detail, the tone of this type of writing balances a tension of narrating a story from the past while maintaining an older, potentially wiser voice looking back in time. Zinsser sums up this tone best by asking the following question: “what did that man or woman learn from the hills and valleys of life?” 20 Addressing this question while writing a memoir requires a writer to weave detail and reflection in careful ways.

Examples of Craft in Personal Experience Essays

In seminar, we have read several essays that would qualify as personal experience essays. We explored some of the decisions that authors made in their writing that speak to the effort that must be invested to negotiate narrating the past event and reflecting on it within the same piece. For example, one text that we read for seminar was Frederick Douglass’s “Learning to Read.” In this literacy narrative, we learn about how Douglass navigates a system that actively attempted to prevent him from learning how to read. In reading about his experiences, we learn about Douglass’s life as a slave as well as the impact of slavery as an institution on several types of individuals. This includes learning about his mistress, who starts off as a kindly individual that supports his desire to learn to read only to become one of his largest obstacles. 21 Through Douglass’s use of anecdote describing this individual, the reader can learn how slavery impelled individuals who had the capacity to do good towards others to instead attempt to actively harm someone, just because he was a slave:

My mistress was, as I have said, a kind and tender-hearted woman; and in the simplicity of her soul she commenced, when I first went to live with her, to treat me as she supposed one human being ought to treat another…. Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me. When I went there, she was a pious, warm, and tender-hearted woman…. Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities. Under its influence, the tender heart became stone, and the lamblike disposition gave way to one of tigerlike fierceness. 22

This character sketch uses metaphor to get the reader to think about slavery’s impact on both the enslaver and enslaved in a nuanced way. Saying her tender heart became stone and comparing her change from lamblike to being tigerlike shows that institution of slavery harmed more than the slaves. When thinking of slavery, most people tend to focus on the physical or emotional harm done to slaves. In this instance, Douglass demonstrates the insidious nature of slavery. By sustaining this system, slavery corrupted someone who would otherwise do good towards others.

Another aspect of personal experience essay that is a significant craft decision in the Douglass essay is his description of the white boys that he encounters and befriends to learn how to read. Besides demonstrating his ability to navigate an oppressive system, Douglass’s use of anecdote paints a picture of the class structure between slaves like Douglass and poor whites while also playing with language when he makes the following observation:

As many of these [white children] as I could, l converted into teachers. With their kindly aid… I finally succeeded in learning to read…. I used also to carry bread with me, enough of which was always in the house, and to which I was always welcome; for I was much better off in this regard than many of the poor white children in our neighborhood. This bread I used to bestow upon the hungry little urchins, who, in return, would give me that more valuable bread of knowledge. 23

The language and description that description that Douglass uses here is specific and carries deep meaning. In this section of the text, Douglass almost feels pity for the white children who have less to eat than him as a slave. He selects the word “urchins” to describe them, meaning that they appeared poor and dressed poorly. Douglass’s narration of how he took advantage of their hunger to satisfy his own literary hunger demonstrates the layers of power that slaves had to navigate to survive. His diction choice of the word “bread” carries multiple meanings in this passage. For the white children, the bread is very literal. It is much-needed food to satisfy hunger. Douglass has a similar hunger, but his was a hunger for knowledge. His actions in the passage dictate that the hunger he felt to learn was as urgent as the poor white boys to eat. Douglass’s deep desire to learn despite his circumstances are evident because of use of language. This passage provides a lot of nuance beyond the general conceptions that many individuals have about slavery.

Another personal experience essay that we explored in seminar is “On Dumpster Diving.” In this essay, the author of the text builds the reader’s technical knowledge of going into dumpsters to look for food and valuable materials. There are elements in this essay that demonstrate powerful craft choices the author made that help the reader to visualize the narrator’s life experiences. This essay, while technical and extremely informative, also uses the first person. 24 By making that choice at the start of the essay, Eigher invites the reader along on his journey into his dumpster world and that reader is encouraged to think about his lifestyle from the author’s perspective.

I am a scavenger. I think it a sound and honorable niche, although if I could I would naturally prefer to live the comfortable consumer life, perhaps- and only perhaps- as a slightly less wasteful consumer, owing to what I have learned as a scavenger…. I have learned much as a scavenger. I mean to put some of what I learned down here, beginning with the practical art of Dumpster diving and proceeding to the abstract. 25

Looking at this text, Eigher anticipates that the reader probably has stereotypes of individuals who go into dumpsters. In the opening of the text, he works to paint himself in a noble light. The idea is that if there is something to learn from an individual that goes into dumpsters, then there is something to learn and value from everyone. He also values living simply. In this respect, Eigher’s ideas harken back to individuals like Whitman who celebrates the common man and Thoreau who values living simply. He is elevating an activity that the reader doesn’t anticipate ever seeing elevated; it forces the reader to reassess the action of diving in dumpsters. He equates it in the next paragraph as “something of an urban art.” 26 This elevation of his action is very engaging before he goes into what a dumpster diver needs to know.

Eigher also uses humor effectively. In paragraph 8, he focuses on what separates the “bohemian type” from the “professionals,” who are defined by eating from the dumpsters. 27 Implicit in this comparison, he posits himself as a professional which helps to establish himself as a credible figure to speak about dumpster diving as an art. Eigher comes back to the professionals at the end of the essay who do not dumpster dive like him and makes a public point.

Now I hardly pick up a thing without envisioning the time I will cast it aside. This is a healthy state of mind…. Between us [the wealthy and Eigher] are the rat-race millions who nightly scavenge the cable channels looking for they know not what. I am sorry for them. 28

Eigher’s tone is important here. He is getting at the idea that if the reader was going to feel pity towards him for dumpster diving, that the pity was misdirected. That there are multiple parties to feel pity for in the essay, the government workers, the middle class, the parents of college students, but not the dumpster divers. This leads someone to think about the value of material goods and consumerism. If Eigher is comfortable with his lot in life, who is the reader to judge? His experience lets us into his world to understand, but the message he is hoping to communicate is carefully controlled at the end. He doesn’t want pity; he is okay. The public point is powerful because it is surprising; it goes against society’s conventions about what and individual should have to lead a comfortable life.  

The profile as a genre is interesting because of its intense focus on one subject. Nordquist (2018) defines profile as “a short exercise in biography --a tight form in which interview, anecdote, observation, description, and analysis are brought to bear on the public and private self.” 29 Students are introduced to biography in fifth grade at our school. One of their research projects in fifth grade is to write a short biography of someone that they admire, so they possess some of the requisite skill needed to write a profile. But further unpacking Nordquist’s definition, students do not enter sixth grade with the knowledge to be able to weave interview, anecdote, observation, and description in ways that differentiate biography and profile. In discussing the readings before students write, it will be important to focus discussion on how profile is like biography, but that it requires a weaving of elements and progression that was not expected in earlier grades. Yagoda (2000) observes that the writer of a profile should approach the task as if he were “continually circling around the subject, taking snapshots all the way, until finally emerging with a three-dimensional hologram.” The area that students need to demonstrate growth is how to take those “snapshots.” 30 Rather than write a paragraph that follows the structure of topic sentence, evidence, explanation, evidence, explanation and concluding sentence, the area in which students will grow will be directly related to discussing how authors use interview, anecdote, observation and description to string together snapshots to profile an individual. Conducting interviews with the subject of a profile can be particularly useful in gathering material to use in a piece.

Another interesting metaphor for the process of writing a profile is comparing it to the work that an artist would engage in when creating a profile from a silhouette. Jessee (2009) writes that silhouette artists select the prominent features of a subject in profile by cutting around the curves and using contrasting paper to highlight the portrait outline; she notes, “writers take a similar approach, though they fill out their character sketches with quotations, events, and opinions, in addition to a physical description of their subject. 31 The introduction section of the Norton Reader makes several key observations of profiles as a writing genre: the writer must seek to “discover special characteristics or qualities” of the subject, including “vivid details, humorous stories…[and] recalling idiosyncratic stories and sayings.” 32 When reading profile, teachers need to unpack how the author is highlighting the prominent features of the person and for what purpose. As we have explored in seminar discussion with both personal experience essays and profiles, teachers must get students to think about the public point of the piece.

Examples of Craft in Profiles

We read several profiles to prepare for seminar that shared anecdotes, observations/descriptions that circled around the subject well enough to create strong images in the reader’s mind. One powerful example of a writer circling around his subject in a profile is the essay titled “Under the Influence” by Scott Russell Sanders. In this essay, Sanders is profiling his father who struggles with alcohol addiction. He creates a complex image of his father in the piece by describing how he would slip away into the barn to drink and deny that he had consumed any alcohol. 33 Consider the image that Sanders creates from a carefully developed description in the second paragraph of the piece:

In the perennial present of memory, I [the author/son] slip into the garage or barn to see my father tipping back the flat green bottles of wine, the brown cylinders of whiskey, the cans of beer disguised in paper bags. His Adam’s apple bobs, the liquid gurgles, he wipes the sandy-haired back of a hand over his lips, and then, his bloodshot gaze bumping into me, he stashes the bottle or can inside his jacket, under the workbench, between two bales of hay, and we both pretend the moment has not occurred. 34

In this passage, the reader is instantly put into a moment that the narrator of the text has experienced with his father that highlights his father’s problems and how they impacted their relationship. A significant portion of the essay explores all the ways that the father’s overconsumption of alcohol impacted their relationship. 

A few paragraphs further in the text, Sanders steps out of narrating episodes of his father directly to share a critical observation of the language we use regarding alcohol.

Consider a few of our synonyms for drunk : tipsy, tight, pickled, soused, and plowed; stoned and stewed, lubricated and inebriated, juiced and sluiced; three sheets to the wind, in your cups, out of your mind, under the table; lit up, tanked up, wiped out; besotted, blotto, bombed, and buzzed; plastered, polluted, putrefied; loaded or looped, boozy or woozy, fuddled, or smashed; crocked and shit-faced, corked and pissed, snockered and sloshed. 35

The connotation of these words tends to make light of being drunk. They suggest that it is not that big of a deal, that individuals may be too carefree when it comes to consuming alcohol to the point of being drunk. Besides creating rhythm in this paragraph by including several words that use either internal rhyme or consonance to create rhythm, his use of punctuation forces the reader to read this section in a very deliberate manner. The connected yet halted manner that the reader is forced to read this passage induces the reader to engage in careful reflection. Sanders wants the reader to consider the usage of these words and crafts one elaborate sentence to force the reader to evaluate each word. The variety of language registers that he juxtaposes, ranging from “inebriated” to “shit-faced,” create strong images in the reader’s mind. The reader begins to picture individuals that would speak in each of those registers, suggesting the pervasive nature of alcoholism. To make sure the reader comes to a specific conclusion, Sander’s makes his point crystal clear for the reader when he writes, “no dictionary of synonyms for drunk would soften the anguish of watching our prince [his dad] turn into a frog.” 36 The pain the narrator feels in this line is palpable.

To create another image of his father for the reader, Sanders compares his father to the subject of the poem, “My Papa’s Waltz.” In that poem, the speaker is scooped up by his father who had been drinking; they engage in a drunken waltz. 37 In discussing the poem, individuals speculate about whether the scene is loving, violent, or a mixture of both. The uncertainty and tension in the poem amplifies the anecdote that Sanders shares immediately before the poem when he writes, “in his good night kiss we smelled the cloying sweetness of Clorets, the mints he chewed to camouflage his dragon’s breath.” 38 The images in the poem and anecdotes are powerful and speak to the weaving that is at the heart of the craft choices that the author makes in this piece.

This was not the only profile that was read in seminar that demonstrated craft decisions that painted nuanced images of a subject. We also read an excerpt from An American Childhood by Annie Dillard. Dillard reflects on multiple facets and anecdotes about her mother, making interesting craft choices such as capturing some of her mother’s favorite quotes. Consider the opening of the excerpt, as Dillard drops the reader right into anecdote that captures her mother’s idiosyncratic nature as her husband listens to a baseball game.

Just as Mother passed through, the radio announcer cried-with undue drama- “Terwilliger bunts one!” “Terwilliger bunts one?” Mother cried back, stopped short. She turned. “Is that English?” “The player’s name is Terwilliger,” Father said. “He bunted.” “That’s marvelous,” Mother said. “‘Terwilliger bunts one.’ No wonder you listen to baseball. ‘Terwilliger bunts one.’” 39

She then proceeds to use that statement at times that are random, testing microphones, pens, typewriters, whispering it in people’s ears, and speaking it in response to others speaking foreign languages. This dialogue and her subsequent actions reveal the mother’s quick wit and off beat nature. This dialogue also shows that the mother seems to relish catching people off guard by doing or saying the unexpected. The mother clearly appreciates unique language and craft; so much so that she elevates the jargon of baseball because she likes the way the language sounds. The craft of the dialogue is revealing.

In another instance, Dillard uses an observation to deftly reveal more about her mother.

She dearly loved to fluster people by throwing out a game’s rules at whim- when she was getting bored, losing in a dull sort of way, and when everybody else was taking it too seriously. If you turned your back, she moved the checkers around on the board. When you got them all straightened out, she denied she touched them…. 40

This observation again serves to reveal how the author’s mother enjoyed ignoring social convention and enjoyed acting mischievously. When teaching adolescent writers, it is important to point out passages like the one above. If a student was writing about her mother as Dillard is writing, she would most likely say that her mother “messed with people.” In this instance, Dillard’s writing can act as a model for how developing an observation of a person can show us more about a character rather than just telling us directly. It creates a strong image in the reader’s mind about the mother’s character.

Dillard’s profile of her mother could also be used to consider the idea of a public point. In the essay, Dillard’s reverence for her mother’s independence shines, “she [Dillard’s mother] respected the rare few who broke through to new ways...she questioned everything… hers was a restless mental vigor...torpid conformity was a sin.” 41 In using this language to describe her mother, the author shows that while her mother’s antics may have caused frustration in the moment, she admires her mother’s independence and even admits by the end of the essay that her mother’s actions were in part to teach her children how to take a stand. By loading up the end of the profile with favorable quirks, the reader’s final perception of the author’s mother is generally favorable. She seems like a woman who was ahead of her time.

By thinking about craft elements carefully, teachers can pull out passages like the ones above and heighten student awareness of the tools that authors use to create the snapshots that ultimately paint a picture of an individual in the reader’s mind. By focusing on specific sections and thinking about the choices that the author made, student writers can begin to make similar choices in their own writing.

Teaching Strategies

Writers workshop.

Writers Workshop is an instructional approach that is intended to create the conditions necessary for students to read as a writer and explore the craft choices that authors make so that students can make similar choices when writing independently. It is important to briefly note that teaching writing is not easy; there are many components that need to be taught to foster effective writing. Research also indicates that there is a high prevalence of writing disabilities in many students that we teach; researchers found writing disabilities to affect between 6.9% and 14.7% of students and to exist with and without reading problems. 42 The range of student abilities that often exist within a classroom should push teachers away from whole group instruction to consider ways to give more targeted and specific feedback to each writer to meet instructional needs. Writers Workshop is an instructional approach that seeks to give targeted feedback that is appropriate to each learner. There is also some language that might be helpful when working with students in a Writers Workshop. Kissel and Miller (2015) suggest that teachers think about their questioning carefully before they confer with student writers, advocating for student choice in writing topics, locations and partners to write with in class. 43 These are all important conditions to think about as one organizes the structure of the workshop in a classroom.

The general way that I set up my Writers Workshop is that I highlight one writing habit or practice I want students to learn, they practice the habit or element of craft, they share what they learn, and then I look for that habit to appear in their writing products as I confer or assess student writing. My thought is to teach the writer, not just teach new modes of writing. There is a link in the resource section to an article that explores the types of questions that can be used to confer with students. The author argues that there are four questions that work in almost all scenarios: 1. How is it going? 2. Can you say more about that? 3. Would you consider trying ________ technique? 4. Are you ready to try this? 44 Given the nature of open-ended questions, students must explain their thinking about craft. This is putting the student in a position to make authentic writing decisions.

Character Sketch

Both profiles and personal experience essays make use of the character sketch. Many students do not think about characters in ways beyond describing their appearance. Students need to be taught different ways the elements of a character could be described to create images in the reader’s mind while reading. In the resource section below, there is a link to a graphic organizer that is extremely helpful for teachers to get students thinking about the aspects of the characters that they are writing about. The graphic organizer has students think about several areas such as: physical description, background information, character trait information, significant events that shaped a character, potential stereotypes about the character, relationships that character has, the essence of the character, and the motivations and ambitions of the character. 45 As we read profiles in class, students will use this template to think about how the character is crafted in the text. My goal is to get students to see that authors rely on a lot of different means of description to paint a full picture of a character.

Close Reading and Assessment

To help students decide whether they want to write either a profile or a personal experience essay, students need to read a couple of profiles and personal experience essays to think about the choices that authors make. There are a few sections that I have flagged in the research above that I will stop and discuss with my students from the content research above. In the Yale course, English S120E: Reading and Writing the Modern Essay, there are several different types of writing that students explore in readings and conversation: Personal Experience, Profile, Cultural Criticism, Review, Op-ed, Expert Knowledge, Description of a Place, Writing for the Ear, and others.  From these readings, students are expected to write four different types of essays to workshop with peers: a personal experience essay, a profile, a cultural criticism/political argument, and a review to have workshopped by peers. This structure is valuable and can be modified in a few ways to suit different instructional contexts. For the purposes of this unit, the genre conventions of personal experience essays and profiles will be discussed and explored with students. To encourage autonomy and motivation, I am going to allow students the opportunity to choose the genre that they want to write in to demonstrate mastery.

Teacher Resources for Literary Nonfiction

• https://www.newyorker.com/contributors/john-mcphee John McPhee was recommended in seminar as an author that writes employing a variety of literary nonfiction styles. His methods for organizing essays include drawing them. He likes to think of his essays as having a shape and being able to clearly identify that shape before writing. He also expects his students at Princeton to be able to identify the shape that their pieces take as a form of reflection before conferring with them. He released a book called Draft No. 4: On the Writing Process in 2017 that offers many helpful suggestions for writers from his experience as a teacher and writer.
• https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/16/arts/writers-writing-easy-adverbs-exclamation-points-especially-hooptedoodle.html Elmore Leonard was considered by Stephen King to be the great American author. This list contains ten pieces of advice to would-be writers, including his famous advice that, “if it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”
• http://fictionfoundry.alumni.columbia.edu/character_sketch_template This leads to a template that could easily be modified by a teacher to support students in developing a character sketch of an important person to describe in a piece of literary nonfiction. It has many characteristics that go beyond a character’s appearance.
• https://jerryjenkins.com/how-to-write-an-anecdote/ This leads to helpful writing advice on how to craft an anecdote. It also includes a couple of examples.
• http://www2.sandhills.edu/academic-departments/english/essaybasics/keyhole.html This website is helpful for understanding the structure of a basic five paragraph essay with a link to samples. The process is compared to the shape of an old-fashioned keyhole.
• https://movingwriters.org/2016/11/07/the-only-four-questions-youll-ever-need-to-ask-your-writers/ This article provides helpful advice to think about what to ask students as you confer with them about their writing. The author argues convincingly that there are four key questions that work in almost all conferences that a teacher will have with students.

Personal Experience

• https://owlcation.com/academia/How-to-Write-a-Personal-Essay This resource is helpful in outlining different organizational approaches for students as well as ways to narrow to a good topic)
• https://www.thoughtco.com/personal-essay-or-statement-1691498 This resource gives an overview of genre characteristics, links to several personal experience essays, and a sense of what a personal experience essay can reveal about the writer.
• https://www.thebalancecareers.com/writing-a-compelling-profile-of-a-person-2316038 This resource gives several pieces of advice to consider when drafting a profile of a person.
• https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a638/frank-sinatra-has-a-cold-gay-talese/ This is a link to a famous profile titled “Frank Sinatra Has a Cold.” This profile demonstrates many elements of craft and can be helpful to read as a professional model. This is not appropriate for student readers.

Appendix: Implementing District Standards

The language of the CCSS pays careful attention to author’s craft with an eye towards building craft in student writing. The Reading for Writing: Modeling the Modern Essay Seminar emphasized several connections between reading and writing. In seminar, Fellows explored the craft that many writers employ across a variety of nonfiction genres. When thinking about the compositional choices that authors made in texts we read, we identified and discussed them in seminar with an eye toward thinking about our own writing. Consider the language of one of the English Language Arts CCSS for sixth grade: CCSS.RI.6.3 Analyze in detail how a key individual, event, or idea is introduced, illustrated, and elaborated in a text [e.g., through examples or anecdotes]. 46 The work of seminar in this case closely mirrored the work that I am entrusted to engage in with my students. In seminar, this had Fellows reading creative nonfiction, discussing passages with peers, and thinking of the craft choices that the author has made.

Another CCSS that is relevant to this unit is RI.6.5: Analyze how a particular sentence, paragraph, chapter, or section fits into the overall structure of a text and contributes to the development of the ideas. 47 This standard aligns perfectly with the type of reading of both profiles and personal experience essays that needs to occur to heighten student awareness of author’s craft, so that they in turn can make similar craft decisions in their own writing. This standard encourages the practice of pulling out key sections from the text to discuss author’s craft.

The final CCSS that I think is extremely important to my instructional approach in this unit is CCSS W.6.9b:  Apply grade 6 Reading standards to writing literary nonfiction [e.g., "Trace and evaluate the argument and specific claims in a text, distinguishing claims that are supported by reasons and evidence from claims that are not"]. 48 This writing standard is written as a substandard, but it is important because it dictates a couple of key instructional elements that should be happening. The first observation looking at the standard is that there is a connection between the Reading and Writing standards; the standards are calling for the application of the Reading standards in writing. This means that students should be reading with an eye towards writer’s craft. The second implication of the standard is that literary nonfiction should not only be read, but it should also be produced by students. Literary nonfiction is not the typical five paragraph essay that many English Language Arts teachers still teach to write nonfiction text. In my classroom, the language of the standards dictates my instructional approach.

Reference List

Brantley, Jessica. Reading for Writing: Modeling the Modern Essay seminar, Yale National

Initiative, New Haven, July 8-16 2019.

Coker, David L., Kristen D. Ritchey, Ximena Uribe-Zarain, and Austin S. Jennings. “An

Analysis of First-Grade Writing Profiles and Their Relationship to Compositional

Quality.” Journal of Learning Disabilities 51, no. 4 (July 2018): 336–50.

doi: 10.1177/0022219417708171 .

"Character Sketch Template." Columbia Fiction Foundry. (accessed July 16, 2019).

http://fictionfoundry.alumni.columbia.edu/character_sketch_template .

Dillard, Annie. "from An American Childhood." In The Norton Reader: An Anthology of

 Nonfiction , 98-103. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2016.

Douglass, Frederick. “Learning to Read.” In The Norton Reader: An Anthology of

Nonfiction , 404-408. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2016.

Eighner, Lars. "On Dumpster Diving." In The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Nonfiction , 55-

64. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2016.

"English Language Arts Standards » Reading: Informational Text » Grade 6." English Language

Arts Standards » Reading: Informational Text » Grade 6 | Common Core State Standards

Initiative. (accessed July 16, 2019). http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/RI/6/.

"English Language Arts Standards » Writing » Grade 6." English Language Arts Standards »

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Ferriss, Tim. "Writing with the Master – The Magic of John McPhee." The Blog of Author Tim

Ferriss. December 11, 2014. (accessed July 13, 2019). https://tim.blog/2014/12/11/john-mcphee/#comments.

Goldthwaite, Melissa A., Joseph Bizup, John C. Brereton, Anne E. Fernald, and Linda H. 

Peterson. The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Nonfiction . New York: W.W. Norton & 

Company, 2016, Introduction, page liv

Jenkins, Jerry B. "How to Write an Anecdote That Makes Your Nonfiction Come Alive." Jerry

Jenkins | Proven Writing Tips. April 18, 2019. (accessed July 13, 2019).

https://jerryjenkins.com/how-to-write-an-anecdote/.

Jessee, Amy. "Strategic Stories: An Analysis of the Profile Genre" (2009). All Theses. 550.

(accessed July 13, 2019). https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/550

King, Stephen. "Stephen King on Why He Loves Ahnuld and Hates Celine." EW.com. February

1, 2007. (accessed July 13, 2019).

https://ew.com/article/2007/02/01/stephen-king-why-he-loves-ahnuld-and-hates-celine/.

Kissel, Brian T., and Erin T. Miller. 2015. “Reclaiming Power in the Writers’ Workshop.”

Reading Teacher 69 (1): 77–86. doi:10.1002/trtr.1379.

Leonard, Elmore. "Easy on the Adverbs, Exclamation Points and Especially Hooptedoodle." The

New York Times. July 16, 2001. (accessed July 13, 2019). https://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/16/arts/writers-writing-easy-adverbs-exclamation-points-espec ially-hooptedoodle.html.

Marchetti, Allison. "The Only Four Questions You'll Ever Need to Ask Your Writers." Moving

Writers. November 07, 2016. (accessed July 16, 2019).   https://movingwriters.org/2016/11/07/the-only-four-questions-youll-ever-need-to-ask-   your-writers/.

Nordquist, Richard. "A Profile in Composition." ThoughtCo. (accessed June 20, 2019).

https://www.thoughtco.com/profile-composition-1691681 .

Nordquist, Richard. "Character Sketch in Composition." ThoughtCo. (accessed July 13, 2019).

https://www.thoughtco.com/character-sketch-composition-1689746.

Sanders, Scott Russel. “Under the Influence,” In The Norton Reader: An Anthology of

Nonfiction , 87-97. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2016.

"The Keyhole Essay." (accessed July 16, 2019).

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“Twain,” Chicago Public Schools, (accessed June 18, 2019).

http://schoolinfo.cps.edu/schoolprofile/schooldetails.aspx?SchoolID=610206

Warner, John. Why They Can't Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities.

Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2018. https://muse.jhu.edu/ (accessed July 15, 2019).

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(accessed July 13, 2019). http://fictionfoundry.alumni.columbia.edu/character_sketch_template.

Yagoda, Ben. About Town: The New Yorker and the World It Made . New York: Scribner, 2000.

Zinsser, William. On Writing Well . New York: HarperCollins, 2006.

• “Twain,” Chicago Public Schools School Report Card
• "The Keyhole Essay."
• Brantley, Jessica. Reading for Writing: Modeling the Modern Essay seminar
• Warner, John. Why They Can't Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay and Other Necessities , 28-31.
• Zinsser, William. On Writing Well, 99
• Ibid, 96-98
• Nordquist, Richard. "A Profile in Composition.”
• Ferriss, Tim. "Writing with the Master – The Magic of John McPhee."
• Zinsser, William. On Writing Well, 232-233
• Zinsser, William. On Writing Well, 134-146
• Frederick Douglass, “Learning to Read,” 404-408.
• Lars Eighner, "On Dumpster Diving," 55-64.
• Nordquist, Richard. "A Profile in Composition."
• Yagoda, Ben. About Town: The New Yorker and the World It Made .
• Jessee, Amy. "Strategic Stories: An Analysis of the Profile Genre"
• Goldthwaite, Melissa A., Joseph Bizup, John C. Brereton, Anne E. Fernald, and Linda H. Peterson, Introduction, page liv.
• Scott Russel Sanders, “Under the Influence,” 87-97.
• Annie Dillard, "from An American Childhood," 98-103.
• Coker, David L., Kristen D. Ritchey, Ximena Uribe-Zarain, and Austin S. Jennings. “An Analysis of First-Grade Writing Profiles and Their Relationship to Compositional Quality.”
• Kissel, Brian T., and Erin T. Miller. “Reclaiming Power in the Writers’ Workshop.”
• Marchetti, Allison. "The Only Four Questions You'll Ever Need to Ask Your Writers."
• Nordquist, Richard. "Character Sketch in Composition."
• "English Language Arts Standards » Reading: Informational Text » Grade 6."
• "English Language Arts Standards » Writing » Grade 6."

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Structuring the Five-Paragraph Essay: Home

• Examples of Five-Paragraph Essays

"Five-Paragraph Essays"

Structuring the five-paragraph essay.

I. INTRODUCTION

A. Begins with a sentence that captures the reader’s attention

1) You may want to use an interesting example, a surprising statistic, or a challenging question.

B. Gives background information on the topic.

C. Includes the THESIS STATEMENT which:

1) States the main ideas of the essay and includes:

b. Viewpoint (what you plan to say about the topic)

2) Is more general than supporting data

3) May mention the main point of each of the body paragraphs

II. BODY PARAGRAPH #1

A. Begins with a topic sentence that:

1) States the main point of the paragraph

2) Relates to the THESIS STATEMENT

B. After the topic sentence, you must fill the paragraph with organized details, facts, and examples.

C. Paragraph may end with a transition.

III. BODY PARAGRAPH #2

B. After the topic sentence, you must fill the paragraph with organized details, facts, and examples.

IV. BODY PARAGRAPH #3

3) States the main point of the paragraph

4) Relates to the THESIS STATEMENT

V. CONCLUSION

A. Echoes the THESIS STATEMENT but does not repeat it.

B. Poses a question for the future, suggests some action to be taken, or warns of a consequence.

C. Includes a detail or example from the INTRODUCTION to “tie up” the essay.

D. Ends with a strong image – or a humorous or surprising statement.

Proofread with SWAPS

Proofreading with SWAPS

S entence Structure:

• Be sure that every sentence in paragraph supports the topic sentence.
• Avoid run-on sentences.
• Avoid sentence fragments.

W ord Usage:

• Be sure you have used the correct words (homophones)          eg: there/they’re/their or to/too/two
• Avoid slang words
• Avoid pronoun overuse

A greement:

• Be sure that subjects and verbs agree in number (singular/plural)
• Keep verb tense consistent (present, past, future)

P unctuation:

• Be sure that all sentences have ending punctuation.
• Use commas after items in lists except for the last item.
• Use a comma before a coordinating conjunction.

S pelling & Capitalization:

• Check for spelling errors (manually or with a computer program)
• Begin each sentence with a capital letter.
• Check homophones.
• Capitalize proper nouns.
• Be sure apostrophes are used in contractions and possessives

Downloadable Worksheet: Choosing and Narrowing Your Topic

• Worksheet - Choosing and Narrowing Your Research Topic

What is a Thesis Statement?

The final sentence in your Introduction paragraph should be your  Thesis Statement. 

Begin your paragraph wi th a single, clear and concise sentence stating the Topic  of your essay; then, g ive your reader a roadmap for the main points you will use to support your thesis . Include the limits of your argument.  End by summing up your  essay’s main idea or argument with your Thesis Statement .

More help with Thesis Statements is available on  this page from Rasmussen College Library . 

SAMPLE INTRODUCTORY PARAGRAPHS with HIGHLIGHTED THESIS STATEMENT

 All countries are unique. Obviously, countries are different from one another in location, size, language, government, climate, and lifestyle. Some countries, however, share some surprising similarities. In this case, Brazil and the United States come to mind. Some may think that these two nations have very little in common because they are in different hemispheres. On the contrary, the two countries share many similarities.

• Next: Examples of Five-Paragraph Essays >>
• Last Updated: Apr 30, 2024 3:07 PM
• URL: https://monroecollege.libguides.com/5_Par_Essay
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ENGL000: Pre-College English

ENGL000 Study Guide

Unit 5: writing a multi-paragraph piece of writing, 5a. outline the basic structure of a five-paragraph essay.

• What is the basic structure of a five-paragraph essay?
• What are some of the similarities between the structure of a paragraph and the structure of a five-paragraph essay?

At this point, you have had a lot of practice organizing and supporting your ideas to write good paragraphs. These paragraphs will be the building blocks for almost all of the other writing you will do both in your time in college and in the professional world. While there will be some new things to learn, much of what you do in writing a longer essay is identical to what you have been doing to write a paragraph. You will still want to use those same three prewriting steps: idea generation, idea focus, and idea organization. Also, you will still be considering the four keys to good writing we have discussed throughout this course. 

The basic structure of a five-paragraph essay is:

• Introduction paragraph that ends in a thesis statement
• Body paragraph #1 (about the first main supporting idea)
• Body paragraph #2 (about the second main supporting idea)
• Body paragraph #3 (about the third main supporting idea)
• Conclusion paragraph

To review, see:

• Expanding the "Corner Store" Essay

5b. Compose an effective thesis statement

• What is the purpose of a thesis statement?
• Where is a thesis statement located?
• What are the three parts of a thesis statement?

An introduction should grab the reader's interest and preview what the essay will be about. A thesis statement will let readers know what to expect in the essay. It will act as a transition between the introductory material (which should guide readers toward the topic without giving away the main ideas) and the body paragraphs (which should provide evidence, explanation, and examples supporting the main ideas).

A thesis statement should be located at the end of the introduction. A five-paragraph or otherwise relatively short essay (with no more than four main ideas) should contain the topic, the message, and a plan of development (the main ideas). Please note that the first two of these three parts (topic and message) are familiar as the two parts of a topic sentence. A thesis statement acts as an essay map, letting readers know what to expect in a multi-paragraph essay in the same way a topic sentence lets readers know what to expect in a paragraph.

• Thesis Statements
• Thesis Statement Writing Activity

5c. Explain how to craft effective introductions and conclusions

• Why are introductions important?
• What should an introduction do?
• What should an introduction not do?
• What are some ways to go about writing an introduction?
• What are the three things you need to know about writing a conclusion?

The introduction is the first paragraph (or series of paragraphs, in longer essays) of a multi-paragraph essay. Introductions are very important because you grab the readers' attention and get them interested in continuing to read. Introductions can be tricky to write because while you want to get readers interested in your topic, you have to be careful not to give away any of the main ideas or examples that belong in the body paragraphs of the essay. There is no single right way to write an introduction, and in fact, it is probably a good idea to try a few different ideas and write a few other drafts so you can decide what you like best. 

Some of the different approaches you might consider include:

• introduce your topic on a broad or general note;
• introduce your topic using contrasting ideas;
• introduce your topic with an anecdote (a short story);
• introduce your topic with a startling statement or statistic; or
• consider the approach used in shaping the essay to determine how to begin the introduction. For example, if the approach to the essay is focused on developing the definition of a word, describing its etymology – the history of the word – can be a good way to write the introduction.

Conclusion paragraphs are often very short. They should restate the thesis (that is, the main three ideas discussed in the essay) and contain some kind of closing statement – maybe about what you learned or how you might go forward. The last thing you need to know about a conclusion is that it should NOT contain any new information or statements that might raise new questions.

• Introductions
• Writing Introductions Activity
• Conclusions

5d. Explain how to apply three keys of good writing to a multi-paragraph piece of writing

• What are some of the additional considerations you must make when writing a multi-paragraph essay (as opposed to a single paragraph)?
• What is a content transition, and how is it helpful?

In a multi-paragraph essay, you must think about unity, support, and coherence on two levels. You still need to think about staying on topic within paragraphs with all paragraph content supporting the topic sentence; however, you now also need to think about staying on topic and supporting the thesis statement in all of the paragraphs in the essay. In addition, with a longer essay, you will need more evidence and examples to support each of the three main ideas previewed in the thesis statement. Lastly, you will think about coherence on two levels. You need to have ideas in a logical order and use transitions to connect ideas within paragraphs. You will also need to put the big ideas of the essay in a logical order and use transitions to move readers smoothly from one paragraph to another.

In particular, this will create the need for a third piece in the topic sentences of a multi-paragraph essay: a transition. Using transitions like "first" or "in addition" is perfectly fine, but you might also consider using content transitions that you learned about in Unit 3. Content transitions are particularly nice when writing longer pieces because they can help prevent repetition. In a longer essay where you need to think about showing connections within and between paragraphs, content transitions give you a little more variety and choice as to how you go about showing relationships between ideas.

• Unity, Support, and Coherence

5e. Explain how to compose a five-paragraph essay

• What are the key components of a five-paragraph essay?

A five-paragraph essay should open with an introduction that includes a hook that gets readers interested in reading the rest of the essay and that ends with a thesis statement that previews what the rest of the essay is about (including the three main ideas in the order they will be discussed). Plan to do some prewriting and consider writing a few different drafts that approach the introduction differently to determine what you like best. 

From there, each of the three body paragraphs should detail one of the three main ideas previewed in the thesis statement. Each of the three body paragraphs should:

• open with a topic sentence that states the main idea that will be explored;
• include a transition that moves readers from the paragraph before into the new material;
• generally have three supporting ideas for the main idea it explores (it can be helpful to utilize a question-based approach by moving back and forth between general statements that raise questions and specific statements that answer them); and
• contain transitions within to help readers smoothly move from one idea to the next

The final paragraph will be a conclusion, which should restate the three main ideas, contain a closing thought, and not contain any new ideas or overly general statements that raise new questions. 

After writing the entire essay, go back through it slowly to proofread for sentence-level issues. Make sure words are spelled correctly and that you are using the correct version of any confused words; every sentence contains a subject, verb, and if it contains a dependent word, a complete thought; that sentences containing more than one clause are using proper connective language and punctuation (and that there are no run-ons/comma-splices); all writing is consistent with no parallelism, verb tense, or point of view issues; writing is specific and vivid; and that there are no diction problems. 

• Model Essay: The Decision to Start College
• Five-Paragraph Essay Writing Activity
• Writing a Five-Paragraph Essay
• Sentence-Skills and Formatting Checklist

Unit 5 Vocabulary

This vocabulary list includes terms you will need to know to successfully complete the final exam.

• thesis statement

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Beyond the Five Paragraph Essay

DOI link for Beyond the Five Paragraph Essay

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Love it or hate it, the five-paragraph essay is perhaps the most frequently taught form of writing in classrooms of yesterday and today. But have you ever actually seen five-paragraph essays outside of school walls? Have you ever found it in business writing, journalism, nonfiction, or any other genres that exist in the real world? Kimberly Hill Campbell and Kristi Latimer reviewed the research on the effectiveness of the form as a teaching tool and discovered that the research does not support the five-paragraph formula. In fact, research shows that the formula restricts creativity, emphasizes structure rather than content, does not improve standardized test scores, inadequately prepares students for college writing, and results in vapid writing. In Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay, Kimberly and Kristi show you how to reclaim the literary essay and create a program that encourages thoughtful writing in response to literature. They provide numerous strategies that stimulate student thinking, value unique insight, and encourage lively, personal writing, including the following: Close reading (which is the basis for writing about literature) Low-stakes writing options that support students' thinking as they read Collaboration in support of discussion, debate, and organizational structures that support writing as exploration A focus on students' writing process as foundational to content development and structure The use of model texts to write in the form of the literature students are reading and analyzingThe goal of reading and writing about literature is to push and challenge our students' thinking. We want students to know that their writing can convey something important: a unique view to share, defend, prove, delight, discover, and inspire. If we want our students to be more engaged, skilled writers, we need to move beyond the five-paragraph essay.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter chapter 1 | 9  pages, combating formulaic writing, chapter chapter 2 | 12  pages, establishing a routine of thoughtful reading and writing, chapter chapter 3 | 34  pages, reading like a writer, chapter chapter 4 | 18  pages, writing and discussion in support of thinking, chapter chapter 5 | 13  pages, writing to explore, chapter chapter 6 | 20  pages, writing as an authority, chapter chapter 7 | 28  pages, writing with mentors.

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