5 paragraph essay about reading

Essays About Reading: 5 Examples And Topic Ideas

As a writer, you love to read and talk to others about reading books. Check out some examples of essays about reading and topic ideas for your essay.

Many people fall in love with good books at an early age, as experiencing the joy of reading can help transport a child’s imagination to new places. Reading isn’t just for fun, of course—the importance of reading has been shown time and again in educational research studies.

If you love to sit down with a good book, you likely want to share your love of reading with others. Reading can offer a new perspective and transport readers to different worlds, whether you’re into autobiographies, books about positive thinking, or stories that share life lessons.

When explaining your love of reading to others, it’s important to let your passion shine through in your writing. Try not to take a negative view of people who don’t enjoy reading, as reading and writing skills are tougher for some people than others.

Talk about the positive effects of reading and how it’s positively benefitted your life. Offer helpful tips on how people can learn to enjoy reading, even if it’s something that they’ve struggled with for a long time. Remember, your goal when writing essays about reading is to make others interested in exploring the world of books as a source of knowledge and entertainment.

Now, let’s explore some popular essays on reading to help get you inspired and some topics that you can use as a starting point for your essay about how books have positively impacted your life.

For help with your essays, check out our round-up of the best essay checkers

Examples Of Essays About Reading

• 1. The Book That Changed My Life By The New York Times
• 2. I Read 150+ Books in 2 Years. Here’s How It Changed My Life By Anangsha Alammyan
• 3. How My Diagnosis Improved My College Experience By Blair Kenney

4. How ‘The Phantom Tollbooth’ Saved Me By Isaac Fitzgerald

5. catcher in the rye: that time a banned book changed my life by pat kelly, topic ideas for essays about reading, 1. how can a high school student improve their reading skills, 2. what’s the best piece of literature ever written, 3. how reading books from authors of varied backgrounds can provide a different perspective, 4. challenging your point of view: how reading essays you disagree with can provide a new perspective, 1.  the book that changed my life  by  the new york times.

“My error the first time around was to read “Middlemarch” as one would a typical novel. But “Middlemarch” isn’t really about plot and dialogue. It’s all about character, as mediated through the wise and compassionate (but sharply astute) voice of the omniscient narrator. The book shows us that we cannot live without other people and that we cannot live with other people unless we recognize their flaws and foibles in ourselves.”  The New York Times

In this collection of reader essays, people share the books that have shaped how they see the world and live their lives. Talking about a life-changing piece of literature can offer a new perspective to people who tend to shy away from reading and can encourage others to pick up your favorite book.

2.  I Read 150+ Books in 2 Years. Here’s How It Changed My Life  By Anangsha Alammyan

“Consistent reading helps you develop your  analytical thinking skills  over time. It stimulates your brain and allows you to think in new ways. When you are  actively engaged  in what you’re reading, you would be able to ask better questions, look at things from a different perspective, identify patterns and make connections.” Anangsha Alammyan

Alammyan shares how she got away from habits that weren’t serving her life (such as scrolling on social media) and instead turned her attention to focus on reading. She shares how she changed her schedule and time management processes to allow herself to devote more time to reading, and she also shares the many ways that she benefited from spending more time on her Kindle and less time on her phone.

3.  How My Diagnosis Improved My College Experience  By Blair Kenney

“When my learning specialist convinced me that I was an intelligent person with a reading disorder, I gradually stopped hiding from what I was most afraid of—the belief that I was a person of mediocre intelligence with overambitious goals for herself. As I slowly let go of this fear, I became much more aware of my learning issues. For the first time, I felt that I could dig below the surface of my unhappiness in school without being ashamed of what I might find.” Blair Kenney

Reading does not come easily to everyone, and dyslexia can make it especially difficult for a person to process words. In this essay, Kenney shares her experience of being diagnosed with dyslexia during her sophomore year of college at Yale. She gave herself more patience, grew in her confidence, and developed techniques that worked to improve her reading and processing skills.

“I took that book home to finish reading it. I’d sit somewhat uncomfortably in a tree or against a stone wall or, more often than not, in my sparsely decorated bedroom with the door closed as my mother had hushed arguments with my father on the phone. There were many things in the book that went over my head during my first time reading it. But a land left with neither Rhyme nor Reason, as I listened to my parents fight, that I understood.” Isaac Fitzgerald

Books can transport a reader to another world. In this essay, Fitzgerald explains how Norton Juster’s novel allowed him to escape a difficult time in his childhood through the magic of his imagination. Writing about a book that had a significant impact on your childhood can help you form an instant connection with your reader, as many people hold a childhood literature favorite near and dear to their hearts.

“From the first paragraph my mind was blown wide open. It not only changed my whole perspective on what literature could be, it changed the way I looked at myself in relation to the world. This was heavy stuff. Of the countless books I had read up to this point, even the ones written in first person, none of them felt like they were speaking directly to me. Not really anyway.” Pat Kelly

Many readers have had the experience of feeling like a book was written specifically for them, and in this essay, Kelly shares that experience with J.D. Salinger’s classic American novel. Writing about a book that felt like it was written specifically for you can give you the chance to share what was happening in your life when you read the book and the lasting impact that the book had on you as a person.

There are several topic options to choose from when you’re writing about reading. You may want to write about how literature you love has changed your life or how others can develop their reading skills to derive similar pleasure from reading.

Middle and high school students who struggle with reading can feel discouraged when, despite their best efforts, their skills do not improve. Research the latest educational techniques for boosting reading skills in high school students (the research often changes) and offer concrete tips (such as using active reading skills) to help students grow.

It’s an excellent persuasive essay topic; it’s fun to write about the piece of literature you believe to be the greatest of all time. Of course, much of this topic is a matter of opinion, and it’s impossible to prove that one piece of literature is “better” than another. Write your essay about how the piece of literature you consider the best positive affected your life and discuss how it’s impacted the world of literature in general.

The world is full of many perspectives and points of view, and it can be hard to imagine the world through someone else’s eyes. Reading books by authors of different gender, race, or socioeconomic status can help open your eyes to the challenges and issues others face. Explain how reading books by authors with different backgrounds has changed your worldview in your essay.

It’s fun to read the information that reinforces viewpoints that you already have, but doing so doesn’t contribute to expanding your mind and helping you see the world from a different perspective. Explain how pushing oneself to see a different point of view can help you better understand your perspective and help open your eyes to ideas you may not have considered.

Tip: If writing an essay sounds like a lot of work, simplify it. Write a simple 5 paragraph essay instead.

If you’re stuck picking your next essay topic, check out our round-up of essay topics about education .

Amanda has an M.S.Ed degree from the University of Pennsylvania in School and Mental Health Counseling and is a National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer. She has experience writing magazine articles, newspaper articles, SEO-friendly web copy, and blog posts.

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Writing Guides  /  How to Craft a Stellar 5-Paragraph Essay: A Step-by-Step Guide

How to Craft a Stellar 5-Paragraph Essay: A Step-by-Step Guide

What is a 5-Paragraph Essay?

There is no better way to write a short scholastic essay than using the tried-and-true 5-paragraph essay format.  It’s a simple template, consisting of an introductory paragraph, three topic paragraphs that make up the body, and a concluding paragraph.  Each section of the body covers one point to support the main idea of the essay, stated in the introduction.  It is simple, straight-forward, and by far the most common essay format used in schools.  If you have an essay to write, you can’t go wrong if you stick to the 5-paragraph essay format.  Follow this guideline, and your writing will be focused, to the point, and spot on.

How to Write a 5 Paragraph Essay

All you need to write a 5-paragraph essay is a main idea and three points to support that idea.  Once you have that, you simply introduce the main idea in the first paragraph, use the subsequent second, third, and fourth paragraphs to support that idea, and close it out with the fifth paragraph, which restates the main idea in new words.  Sounds easy enough, right?

Well, we can actually break it down even more.  So, let’s take it step by step just to make sure you got it.

Choose a Topic

Before writing, you should have a clear topic in mind. This might be one that’s assigned to you, or if you have the freedom to choose, you can pick a subject you know something about or would like to learn more about.  At any rate, it’s something you can identify and write about.

Research and Outline

Gather information about your topic and decide on the three main points or arguments you want to make in the body of your essay. This gives you a direction.  Create an essay outline to organize your thoughts and that will serve as the roadmap for your paper.  List the points in order of least important to most important.

Write the Introduction

Start the essay with a “ hook ”—an attention-grabbing statement that will get the reader’s interest. This could be an interesting fact, a quote, or a question. After the hook, introduce your topic and end the introduction with a clear thesis statement that presents your main argument or point.

Write the Body Paragraphs

Each of the three body paragraphs should start with a topic sentence that introduces the main idea of that paragraph. Follow the topic sentence with supporting details, examples, or evidence to back up your point. Each paragraph should focus on a single main idea that supports the thesis.  So, all together there should be three elements of your main idea that you can write a paragraph about.

Write the Conclusion

Summarize the main points made in your essay and restate your thesis in a new way. You can also add a final thought that will give your reader something to ponder.

5 Paragraph Essay Format

Introduction

• Hook : This is a sentence that grabs the reader’s attention.
• Brief Introduction : This should be a few sentences introducing the topic.
• Thesis Statement : This is a clear statement of your main argument or point.

Body Paragraphs 1, 2, and 3

• Topic Sentence : This is the first sentence of the paragraph:  it introduces the main idea of this paragraph.
• Supporting Details/Examples : This should consist of 2-3 sentences that provide evidence or explanations to support the topic sentence.
• Concluding Sentence :  This summarizes the paragraph and provides a transition to the next topic paragraph.
• Restate Thesis : This reminds the reader of your main argument.
• Summary : This is where you recap the main points you made in your body paragraphs.
• Final Thought : This is a concluding thought to end your essay on a strong note.

This essay format is easy to use and gives a clear structure for presenting information.  It is especially helpful for anyone who is new to writing.  The more used to it you become, the more likely you will be to develop even longer, more complex essays over time.

5 Paragraph Essay Outline Examples

“The Benefits of Regular Exercising”

I.  Introduction

• Hook: Imagine being able to improve your mental health, physical appearance, and lifespan with just a few hours of exercise a week. You would want to do it, wouldn’t you?
• Brief Introduction: Regular exercise supports a healthy lifestyle no matter who you are. Whether you are old, young, etc…
• Thesis Statement: The benefits of exercising regularly include an improved mental well-being, improved heart health, and reduced risk of chronic diseases.

II.  Body Paragraph 1: Improved Mental Well-being

• Topic Sentence: One of the biggest benefits of regular exercise is the fact that it improves your mental health. How?
• Supporting Detail 1: First of all, exercise releases endorphins, which are natural mood lifters.
• Supporting Detail 2: Physical activity also reduces symptoms of anxiety and depression.
• Concluding Sentence: Clearly physical exercise has benefits for your brain—but what else can it do?

III. Body Paragraph 2: Boosted Cardiovascular Health

• Topic Sentence: Engaging in regular physical activity also greatly benefits the heart and circulatory system.
• Supporting Detail 1: Exercise strengthens the heart muscle, allowing it to pump blood more efficiently.
• Supporting Detail 2: Regular exercise helps regulate blood pressure, reducing the risk of hypertension.
• Concluding Sentence: Not only is it good for your mind, but exercise is also good for your body.

IV.  Body Paragraph 3: Reduced Risk of Chronic Diseases

• Topic Sentence: Besides immediate benefits, exercise plays a crucial role in preventing various chronic diseases.
• Supporting Detail 1: Physical activity reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes by improving insulin sensitivity.
• Supporting Detail 2: Exercise plays a role in weight management, which can prevent obesity-related conditions like heart disease.
• Concluding Sentence: Thus, exercise helps prevent disease.

V.  Conclusion

• Restate Thesis: The health advantages of regular exercise span from mental health to disease prevention.
• Summary: It’s good for the brain, the body, and the heart.
• Final Thought: With the knowledge of these benefits, don’t you think everyone should be incorporating regular exercise into one’s routine?

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5 Paragraph Essay Example

The Power of Reading Books

Books have changed so much throughout history:  from tablets and scrolls to paperbacks and now digital files that one can read on a screen, books have existed in many different forms.  But one thing they have always been able to do is attract the attention of readers and having staying power.  There is something magical about books that allows them to transcend both time and space.  They are more than mere physical or digital objects, more than ancient collectibles, more than artifacts:  they are repositories of human experiences, knowledge, and wisdom. Books are windows onto other worlds, windows onto other minds, windows onto other lives, windows onto new expanses.  They are a way to grow, to challenge our preconceptions, redefine our boundaries, and introduce us to unfamiliar territories. Sure, they can be for leisure, but they can also be for our edification, our education, our self-improvement.  Reading books can improve our cognitive abilities, enrich our lives, deepen our emotional depth, and fire up our creative engines.

Body Paragraph 1: Enriching the Mind

Reading enriches the mind, first of all.  It is not a passive exercise like watching TV.  Rather, it engages the cognitive functions of comprehension, visualization, and critical thinking, and forces them to work. It gets the mind to imagine, flex, think through problems, and reflect on information.  Reading is like taking your brain to the gym.  That is why readers develop good brain muscle and often have a well-rounded view of things that makes them more informed and open-minded than those who do not read.

Body Paragraph 2: Boosting Emotional Intelligence

Reading books also has a profound impact on our emotions. The world of literature, in particular, is a great way to understand in human emotions and relationships. Literature exposes readers to the innermost thoughts and feelings of characters, and gives insights into the human soul—insights that can enhance one’s emotional intelligence.  Readers of literature can learn to discern subtle emotional cues, appreciate different perspectives, and develop a heightened sense of compassion.

Body Paragraph 3: Fostering Creativity

Reading is also a great way to kindle the imagination. All books offer a spark, and the imagination gets to work growing that spark into a flame that feeds on the wood one’s imagination brings.  The imagination has the material; the book brings the fuel and fire.  Reading helps the imagination play.  This creative stimulation carries over into other aspects of the reader’s life, too.  It can inspire artistic endeavors, be the impetus for pioneering innovations, and even lead to revolutionary ideas that reshape reality.

In this age of fleeting interactions, where instant gratification often supersedes depth, books stand apart as pathways to profound engagement. Their enduring charm lies not just in the tales they tell but in the growth they offer. Books are tools for the active participation of the mind and spirit.  They enhance our imagination, our emotional development, and our creative impetus. To read is to grow.  To read well is to become strong.  Don’t you want to get reading now?

Explanation: An Analysis of the Essay

• Introduction: The essay commences by grounding the reader in history and showing that books have always been with us. This nod to the past sets the stage for the essay’s relevance in contemporary times. The introduction’s effectiveness lies in its ability to highlight books’ timeless value. The thesis also does more than introduce the main points; it acts as a roadmap, signposting the points that will be covered in the essay.
• Body Paragraph 1: The first body paragraph focuses on the intellectual nourishment derived from reading. It describes the way books facilitate mental growth. Its main point is that reading is good for the brain.
• Body Paragraph 2: The second paragraph transitions from the cerebral to the emotional. It explains why books are good for the emotions.  It pays special attention to the fact that books offer windows onto what it means to be human, to feel, and to think.  It suggests that reading literature is a great way to become emotionally educated—that books are good for nurturing empathy and providing emotional understanding.
• Body Paragraph 3: The third paragraph of the body is basically a tribute to the imaginative power that is fostered by reading books. It focuses on how reading is like a spark for the imagination’s fire.  It connects reading to other activities, like innovating and creating works of art.  It makes the case that there is a link between reading books and engaging more directly in the real world in a positive way.
• Conclusion: In its conclusion, the essay gives a thoughtful reflection, restates the main theme, goes over the main points again, and also gives a sense of why books have lasted so long. It leaves the reader with something to think about—namely that reading books actually makes you strong and helps you to grow as a person.  It essentially leaves one with what is essentially a call to action.

The entire essay guides the reader, starting with the macro view in the introduction to the subtle and detailed examination of the finer points in the body. Each paragraph flows seamlessly into the next.  The essay follows a clear structure, and presents each idea in a logical progression from introduction to conclusion.

5-Paragraph Essay FAQs

How many words should a 5-paragraph essay be.

The length of a 5-paragraph essay can vary depending on the purpose and complexity of the topic, as well as the intended audience. However, a typical 5-paragraph essay ranges from 250 to 500 words. Here’s a breakdown:

• Introduction: 50-100 words. This includes a brief introduction to the topic and the thesis statement.
• Body Paragraphs: Each body paragraph can range from 50 to 100 words. So, for three body paragraphs, you’re looking at 150-300 words in total. Each paragraph should introduce its main idea, provide supporting evidence or details, and possibly offer a transition to the next paragraph.
• Conclusion: 50-100 words. Summarize the main points and restate the thesis in a slightly different way.

Remember, these are just general guidelines. Depending on the depth of your analysis or the specific requirements of an assignment, your essay might be shorter or longer. The key is to ensure that you fully address your topic and support your thesis in a concise and organized manner.

Where is the thesis stated in a 5-paragraph essay?

In a standard 5-paragraph essay, the thesis is typically stated at the end of the introduction paragraph. It serves as a roadmap for the reader, providing a clear statement of the main argument or point you’ll be making in the essay. This positioning at the beginning of the essay allows readers to understand the central premise from the outset, setting the stage for the supporting details and arguments that follow in the body paragraphs.

Can I include quotes or citations in a 5-paragraph essay?

Absolutely! Including quotes, citations, or references can strengthen your arguments and provide evidence for the claims you make. If you’re writing an analytical or argumentative essay, it’s especially important to back up your points with credible sources. When incorporating quotes or data, make sure to properly cite them according to the style guide you’re following (e.g., APA, MLA, Chicago). However, make sure your essay doesn’t become overly reliant on quotes; your original analysis and voice should remain central.

Can a 5-paragraph essay have a title?

Yes, a 5-paragraph essay can—and often should—have a title. A well-chosen title can capture the essence of your essay, intrigue the reader, and set the tone for your content. It should be relevant to your topic and thesis, but it can also be creative or thought-provoking. If you’re writing an essay for a class assignment, make sure to check if there are any specific guidelines regarding titles.

Do I always have to stick to the 5-paragraph format?

Not necessarily. The 5-paragraph essay is a foundational structure to help novice writers organize their thoughts. However, as you advance in your writing skills or tackle more complex topics, you might find that you need more (or fewer) than three body paragraphs to adequately address your subject. The key is to make certain that each paragraph has a clear purpose and supports your overall thesis. Always prioritize clarity, coherence, and depth of analysis over strict adherence to a set number of paragraphs.

How do I choose a topic for my 5-paragraph essay?

Choosing a topic depends on the purpose of the essay. If it’s for a class assignment, you might be given a prompt or a list of topics to select from. If you have the freedom to choose, pick a subject you’re passionate about or interested in. A good topic is neither too broad (which would be hard to cover in a short essay) nor too narrow (which might not give you enough to write about). Brainstorm a list, do some preliminary research, think about what you know, and choose a topic that you believe you can present compelling arguments or insights about.

How do I transition between paragraphs?

Smooth transitions help guide your readers through your essay and enhance its flow. You can use transitional words or phrases at the beginning of your body paragraphs to introduce the main idea and show its relation to the previous paragraph. Common transitional words include “furthermore,” “however,” “in addition,” “for instance,” and “on the other hand.” Additionally, you can subtly link paragraphs by referring back to a point made in the previous paragraph or hinting at what’s to come.

How important is the conclusion in a 5-paragraph essay?

The conclusion is vital. It provides closure and reinforces your main points. A strong conclusion doesn’t just repeat what’s been said but offers a departing thought based on the content. It leaves the reader with a lasting impression or something to consider.  But at the same time, it is not the place for introducing entirely new ideas or topics; instead, focus on wrapping up and reinforcing your essay’s central argument.

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Guide on How to Write a 5 Paragraph Essay Effortlessly

Defining What Is a 5 Paragraph Essay

Have you ever been assigned a five-paragraph essay and wondered what exactly it means? Don't worry; we all have been there. A five-paragraph essay is a standard academic writing format consisting of an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

In the introduction, you present your thesis statement, which is the main idea or argument you will discuss in your essay. The three body paragraphs present a separate supporting argument, while the conclusion summarizes the main points and restates the thesis differently.

While the five-paragraph essay is a tried and true format for many academic assignments, it's important to note that it's not the only way to write an essay. In fact, some educators argue that strict adherence to this format can stifle creativity and limit the development of more complex ideas.

However, mastering the five-paragraph essay is a valuable skill for any student, as it teaches the importance of structure and organization in writing. Also, it enables you to communicate your thoughts clearly and eloquently, which is crucial for effective communication in any area. So the next time you're faced with a five-paragraph essay assignment, embrace the challenge and use it as an opportunity to hone your writing skills.

And if you find it difficult to put your ideas into 5 paragraphs, ask our professional service - 'please write my essay ,' or ' write my paragraph ' and consider it done.

How to Write a 5 Paragraph Essay: General Tips

If you are struggling with how to write a 5 paragraph essay, don't worry! It's a common format that many students learn in their academic careers. Here are some tips from our admission essay writing service to help you write a successful five paragraph essay example:

• Start with a strong thesis statement : Among the 5 parts of essay, the thesis statement can be the most important. It presents the major topic you will debate throughout your essay while being explicit and simple.
• Use topic sentences to introduce each paragraph : The major idea you will address in each of the three body paragraphs should be established in a concise subject sentence.
• Use evidence to support your arguments : The evidence you present in your body paragraphs should back up your thesis. This can include facts, statistics, or examples from your research or personal experience.
• Include transitions: Use transitional words and phrases to make the flow of your essay easier. Words like 'although,' 'in addition,' and 'on the other hand' are examples of these.
• Write a strong conclusion: In addition to restating your thesis statement in a new way, your conclusion should highlight the key ideas of your essay. You might also leave the reader with a closing idea or query to reflect on.
• Edit and proofread: When you've completed writing your essay, thoroughly revise and proofread it. Make sure your thoughts are brief and clear and proofread your writing for grammatical and spelling mistakes.

By following these tips, you can write strong and effective five paragraph essays examples that will impress your teacher or professor.

5 Paragraph Essay Format

Let's readdress the five-paragraph essay format and explain it in more detail. So, as already mentioned, it is a widely-used writing structure taught in many schools and universities. A five-paragraph essay comprises an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion, each playing a significant role in creating a well-structured and coherent essay.

The introduction serves as the opening paragraph of the essay and sets the tone for the entire piece. It should captivate the reader's attention, provide relevant background information, and include a clear and concise thesis statement that presents the primary argument of the essay. For example, if the essay topic is about the benefits of exercise, the introduction may look something like this:

'Regular exercise provides numerous health benefits, including increased energy levels, improved mental health, and reduced risk of chronic diseases.'

The body paragraphs are the meat of the essay and should provide evidence and examples to support the thesis statement. Each body paragraph should begin with a subject sentence that states the major idea of the paragraph. Then, the writer should provide evidence to support the topic sentence. This evidence can be in the form of statistics, facts, or examples. For instance, if the essay is discussing the health benefits of exercise, a body paragraph might look like this:

'One of the key benefits of exercise is improved mental health. Regular exercise has been demonstrated in studies to lessen depressive and anxious symptoms and enhance mood.'

The essay's final paragraph, the conclusion, should repeat the thesis statement and summarize the essay's important ideas. A concluding idea or query might be included to give the reader something to ponder. For example, a conclusion for an essay on the benefits of exercise might look like this:

'In conclusion, exercise provides numerous health benefits, from increased energy levels to reduced risk of chronic diseases. We may enhance both our physical and emotional health and enjoy happier, more satisfying lives by including exercise into our daily routines.'

Overall, the 5 paragraph essay format is useful for organizing thoughts and ideas clearly and concisely. By following this format, writers can present their arguments logically and effectively, which is easy for the reader to follow.

Types of 5 Paragraph Essay 

There are several types of five-paragraph essays, each with a slightly different focus or purpose. Here are some of the most common types of five-paragraph essays:

• Narrative essay : A narrative essay tells a story or recounts a personal experience. It typically includes a clear introductory paragraph, body sections that provide details about the story, and a conclusion that wraps up the narrative.
• Descriptive essay: A descriptive essay uses sensory language to describe a person, place, or thing. It often includes a clear thesis statement that identifies the subject of the description and body paragraphs that provide specific details to support the thesis.
• Expository essay: An expository essay offers details or clarifies a subject. It usually starts with a concise introduction that introduces the subject, is followed by body paragraphs that provide evidence and examples to back up the thesis, and ends with a summary of the key points.
• Persuasive essay: A persuasive essay argues for a particular viewpoint or position. It has a thesis statement that is clear, body paragraphs that give evidence and arguments in favor of it, and a conclusion that summarizes the important ideas and restates the thesis.
• Compare and contrast essay: An essay that compares and contrasts two or more subjects and looks at their similarities and differences. It usually starts out simply by introducing the topics being contrasted or compared, followed by body paragraphs that go into more depth on the similarities and differences, and a concluding paragraph that restates the important points.

Each type of five-paragraph essay has its own unique characteristics and requirements. When unsure how to write five paragraph essay, writers can choose the most appropriate structure for their topic by understanding the differences between these types.

5 Paragraph Essay Example Topics

Here are some potential topics for a 5 paragraph essay example. These essay topics are just a starting point and can be expanded upon to fit a wide range of writing essays and prompts.

• The Impact of Social Media on Teenage Communication Skills.
• How Daily Exercise Benefits Mental and Physical Health.
• The Importance of Learning a Second Language.
• The Effects of Global Warming on Marine Life.
• The Role of Technology in Modern Education.
• The Influence of Music on Youth Culture.
• The Pros and Cons of Uniform Policies in Schools.
• The Significance of Historical Monuments in Cultural Identity.
• The Growing Importance of Cybersecurity.
• The Evolution of the American Dream.
• The Impact of Diet on Cognitive Functioning.
• The Role of Art in Society.
• The Future of Renewable Energy Sources.
• The Effects of Urbanization on Wildlife.
• The Importance of Financial Literacy for Young Adults.
• The Influence of Advertising on Consumer Choices.
• The Role of Books in the Digital Age.\
• The Benefits and Challenges of Space Exploration.
• The Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture.
• The Ethical Implications of Genetic Modification.

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General Grading Rubric for a 5 Paragraph Essay

The following is a general grading rubric that can be used to evaluate a five-paragraph essay:

Content (40%)

• A thesis statement is clear and specific
• The main points are well-developed and supported by evidence
• Ideas are organized logically and coherently
• Evidence and examples are relevant and support the main points
• The essay demonstrates a strong understanding of the topic

Organization (20%)

• The introduction effectively introduces the topic and thesis statement
• Body paragraphs are well-structured and have clear topic sentences
• Transitions between paragraphs are smooth and effective
• The concluding sentence effectively summarizes the main points and restates the thesis statement

Language and Style (20%)

• Writing is clear, concise, and easy to understand
• Language is appropriate for the audience and purpose
• Vocabulary is varied and appropriate
• Grammar, spelling, and punctuation are correct

Critical Thinking (20%)

• Student demonstrate an understanding of the topic beyond surface-level knowledge
• Student present a unique perspective or argument
• Student show evidence of critical thinking and analysis
• Students write well-supported conclusions

Considering the above, the paper should demonstrate a thorough understanding of the topic, clear organization, strong essay writing skills, and critical thinking. By using this grading rubric, the teacher can evaluate the essay holistically and provide detailed feedback to the student on areas of strength and areas for improvement.

Five Paragraph Essay Examples

Wrapping up: things to remember.

In conclusion, writing a five paragraph essay example can seem daunting at first, but it doesn't have to be a difficult task. Following these simple steps and tips, you can break down the process into manageable parts and create a clear, concise, and well-organized essay.

Remember to start with a strong thesis statement, use topic sentences to guide your paragraphs, and provide evidence and analysis to support your ideas. Don't forget to revise and proofread your work to make sure it is error-free and coherent. With time and practice, you'll be able to write a 5 paragraph essay with ease and assurance. Whether you're writing for school, work, or personal projects, these skills will serve you well and help you to communicate your ideas effectively.

Meanwhile, you can save time and reduce the stress associated with academic assignments by trusting our research paper writing services to handle the writing for you. So go ahead, buy an essay , and see how easy it can be to meet all of your professors' complex requirements!

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How to Write a Five-Paragraph Essay (with Examples)

By: Author Marcel Iseli

Posted on Last updated: April 13, 2023

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Writing can be either exciting or exacting depending on one’s patience and passion, hence not everyone’s cup of joe.

That said, writing even a short, snappy five-paragraph essay can require a bit of time and attention – at least for those who are not used to it.

Luckily enough, that’s what we’re dealing with today. If you’re paying enough attention, this post’s intro should already be giving you some idea of how to start one.

Writing a five-paragraph essay

• Write the hook and thesis statement in the first paragraph.
• Write the conflict of the essay in the second paragraph.
• Write the supporting details of the conflict in the third paragraph.
• Write the weakest arguments in the fourth paragraph.
• Write the summary and call-to-action prompt in the fifth paragraph.

Determining what to include in a five-paragraph essay

While there are hundreds, even thousands, of ways to write a five-paragraph essay, there are some universal processes that we can meanwhile follow.

The overall organization of the writer’s thought matters in any kind of writing piece. So, it is necessary that you fully understand what you’re being asked to do before writing a piece.

Topic, purpose, audience, rhetorical appeal, and length

Understanding what needs to be done means knowing your essay’s topic, purpose, audience, rhetorical appeal, as well as desired length.

Topic means the subject matter entailed by your essay, such as when you are asked to write an essay about yourself or people you admire.

“Purpose” means the core intent of writing your essay, which can be done in an argumentative, expository, narrative, or descriptive way.

“Audience” refers to your target reader or readers. You would know this by answering the question “Who will read and assess my essay?”

A “rhetorical appeal” is the “persuasive act” of your essay. It demonstrates the qualities of your essay that make it worth reading and even sharing.

Meanwhile, “length” means the measurable elements in your essay, such as the number of characters, words, sentences, or paragraphs.

Knowing these five important parts should give a head start when you write an essay, no matter what kind of setting it is.

If you are writing to apply for a particular job role, you may also be required to write a cover letter for your essay by the organization.

The possibility of this particular scenario should be enough to let us realize how important writing skills are, which is why we need to deliberately learn them at school.

In some cases, students may just mindlessly think that it is okay to cut and paste texts from online sources because their teacher won’t find out anyway.

Contrary to common belief, teachers, especially the most seasoned and passionate ones actually do read their students’ work.

So, by no stretch, one might actually end up writing an apology letter for plagiarism if and when worse comes to worst.

The key to preventing this tragedy is to always bear in mind that sincerity evokes originality; when you love what you do, you can always generate fresh ideas.

Meanwhile, the key to creating a good essay is to pre-plan what you need to include as well as what you need to exclude in the writing piece.

Now, how can we manifest all the things explained above in a five-paragraph essay? Let us find out below.

Paragraph 1 of the five-paragraph essay — The “plot”

The first or introductory paragraph can be considered the “plot” of the essay. This is where you would need to write your hook and thesis statement.

The hook is what grabs your readers’ attention from the start. It should be written in such a way that it anchors or “hooks” them to what they are reading.

You can use a general or all-inclusive idea for this part to make your readers relate to what you are trying to say.

Example: 

Meanwhile, the thesis statement briefly tells your readers what your topic is all about. In other words, it explains what they need to expect from the piece.

The thesis statement is perhaps the most important element that you should never miss out on because it is what links your thoughts as a writer to your audience.

Within the intro paragraph, you could add other ideas that would link your hook to your thesis statement, depending on the impression you would like to evoke.

Paragraph 2 of the five-paragraph essay — The “plot’s conflict”

The second paragraph is where you slowly build the tension and explain your plot in more detail. We might as well call it the conflict of the story you are trying to tell.

Here, you should be able to clearly explain your strongest point of argument. For narrative essays, this is where you write the most crucial part of the experience you’ve had.

You should also introduce the setting as well as other relevant characters in this part, such as this one:

Then, you have to carefully elaborate on the most critical part of the story. If you could be more “visual” with your words, that would also help more in letting your audience connect to your essay.

In the next example, you would see a person vs. nature conflict where the character struggles with the environmental forces.

Paragraph 3 of the five-paragraph essay — The “conflict’s sidekick”

As you may figure, paragraph three is a further elaboration of your second paragraph, which is why we could simply call it the “conflict’s support.”

Here, you need to clearly establish how the current paragraph connects to the previous one and end it in such a way that it also links to the succeeding paragraph.

This is also where you give more meticulous details about the conflict to let your readers understand the “whys.”

The airbag from the driver’s side malfunctioned and deployed on its own, causing Uncle Vince to lose control. I later found out too that Uncle Vince wanted to learn how to drive so he asked my dad to teach him.

Paragraph 4 of the five-paragraph essay — The “freebie”

The fourth paragraph is where you would put the least important part of your story, at least relatively speaking.

You should put here your weakest or most irrelevant argument and example details. Or, you could also provide a different point of view to your audience.

Feel free to shift from the past to the present times in this part to pull your audience back to reality.

If relevant, you could also add some more emotional details like guilt or regret, such as the following:

Then lastly, you should be able to establish a link to your last paragraph or conclusion. The example below has a lot to do with the ending of the story, which talks about realizations.

Paragraph 5 of the five-paragraph essay —  The “farewell”

The “farewell” or conclusion part basically needs to summarize your entire essay’s key ideas. It should also be able to draw a link to the plot or intro paragraph.

In other words, the fifth or last paragraph should bear ideas that reconcile the previous paragraphs, especially the first.

If you are sick and tired of using almost the same words and phrases in your essay’s conclusion part, you had better check out other alternatives for “in conclusion” to sound less repetitive.

There are actually a lot of effective transition words for your conclusion to choose from in the English lexicon, so feel free to experiment some time.

Then, you can talk about the positive things that happened after the storm to leave a positive message to your readers.

Last but not least, you can completely end your essay with a call-to-action prompt that urges your readers to “do” something about what they have just read.

You can easily do this by answering the question “What do I want my audience to do after reading my story?” such as in the example below:

Five-Paragraph Essay — Sample Essay

To really see how all the parts above fit together, here’s a complete example essay containing all the elements elaborated on earlier.

In this essay, the topic is “the greatest challenge in my life,” and it has a narrative purpose. The target audience is the general public, while the rhetorical appeal is “pathos” or emotional.

This is a five-paragraph essay with approximately six hundred words including the title that talks about the loss of a loved one.

❡ 2 One sunny afternoon in the early nineties, I was playing catch with my neighbors Dylan, Abby, and my adorable labrador Rio. We did love playing by the road because it annoys old Miss Vacuum Lady from across the street – she nags at us all the time. As I was throwing the beanbag for Rio to catch, I noticed an unfamiliar blue Ford Explorer coming. It was running funny, so I thought the driver was just trying to do some tricks. I managed to throw the beanbag nicely, and Rio ran with all his might to catch it before it falls. A few seconds later, I heard a deafening screech and saw the blue Explorer crashing onto the maple tree outside Miss Vaccum Lady’s house. I only got scared when I realized that the car was actually trying to avoid me and that it chose to crash onto the tree instead.

❡ 3 A few moments later, I saw my mom and my other neighbors rushing outside to see what had just happened. I and my friends ran towards the car too until I heard a loud scream coming from my mom. Then all of a sudden, it came to me. My dad was in the passenger seat of that car, while his fifteen-year-old younger brother Uncle Vince was in the driver’s seat. Miraculously, Uncle Vince only had a scratch on his arm, yet my dad was neither moving nor breathing anymore – he died at that exact moment. The airbag from the driver’s side malfunctioned and deployed on its own, causing Uncle Vince to lose control. I later found out too that Uncle Vince wanted to learn how to drive so he asked my dad to teach him. 

❡ 4 Everything changed after that day. No one was there to fix our busted lights anymore. No one was there to repair the roof when it leaked. I never even got to learn to play the guitar – dad had promised to buy me one on my birthday that same week he passed. For years and years, I kept blaming myself for what had happened that I never played catch again. They say “mothers know best,” and that’s a fact. Mom helped me get through all the pain and trauma even if she was also hurting a lot deep inside. For that reason, I never hesitate to trade my life for hers.

❡ 5 True enough, losing my dad has been the greatest challenge in my life. But, as time passed by, I also realized that seeing my mom suck it all up and pretend that she was fine even if she was hurting so much more. So, I made a decision never to waste a single moment with her. I have also managed to become an advocate for an organization that helps single mothers raise their kids. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from what happened, that is parental love is definitely the most selfless act in this world. So, never miss a beat with yours while you can.

Frequently Asked Questions on “How to Write a Five-paragraph Essay”

What are some good topics for a five-paragraph essay.

Social justice issues like healthcare, education, prejudice, and violence; environmental issues like climate change, resource depletion, wildlife protection, and natural disasters; life topics like near-death experiences, hobbies, and traveling are great topics for a five-paragraph essay.

How do you start a five-paragraph essay?

To start a five-paragraph essay, a hook and thesis statement are necessary. A hook can be a reflective assumption, a quote from a famous person, or a rhetorical question, while a thesis statement is a brief explanation of the essay’s topic.

How many sentences is a five-paragraph essay?

A five-paragraph essay is made of twenty-five to forty-five sentences. This structure is made up of five hundred to around one thousand words.

Writing requires time, patience, and dedication. That said, a read-worthy piece cannot come into form mindlessly but rather meticulously.

Join us again next time for some more interesting writing and other language-related hacks that can help you walk more easily through life.

Hey fellow Linguaholics! It’s me, Marcel. I am the proud owner of linguaholic.com. Languages have always been my passion and I have studied Linguistics, Computational Linguistics and Sinology at the University of Zurich. It is my utmost pleasure to share with all of you guys what I know about languages and linguistics in general.

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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.

• How To Write an Essay
• How to Write a Great Essay for the TOEFL or TOEIC
• Write an Attention-Grabbing Opening Sentence for an Essay
• How to Write and Format an MBA Essay
• How to Structure an Essay
• How to Help Your 4th Grader Write a Biography
• Definition and Examples of Body Paragraphs in Composition
• What Is Expository Writing?
• What an Essay Is and How to Write One
• Paragraph Writing
• 3 Changes That Will Take Your Essay From Good To Great
• An Introduction to Academic Writing
• Tips on How to Write an Argumentative Essay
• The Five Steps of Writing an Essay
• How to Write a Solid Thesis Statement
• The Introductory Paragraph: Start Your Paper Off Right

2 A Review of Essays and Paragraphs

Learning Objectives

• Write a clear thesis statement that unifies your essay
• Organize sentences around a topic sentence in a body paragraph
• Create smooth transitions in a paragraph

Download and/or print this chapter: Reading, Thinking, and Writing for College – Ch. 2

Basic Essay Structure

Most likely, if you’re a first-semester college student, the last time you had to write an essay was in high school. High school essay writing typically emphasizes the five-paragraph essay: introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. If you’ve been out of high school for a while or if you struggled with essay writing in high school, this chapter will help you review this basic structure, which can serve as a foundation for your college-level essays.

The skills that go into the five-paragraph essay are indispensable. The outline below in Figure 3.1 is probably what you’ve been taught about essay structure. The introduction starts general and gradually narrows to a thesis, which readers expect to find at the very end of that paragraph. In this format, the thesis uses that magic number of three: three reasons why a statement is true. Each of those reasons is explained and justified in the three body paragraphs, and then the conclusion restates the thesis before gradually getting broader. This format is easy for readers to follow, and it helps writers to organize their points and the evidence that goes with them. That’s why you learned this format.

Figure 3.1 The traditional five-paragraph essay structure

All that time you spent mastering the five-paragraph form in Figure 3.1 was not wasted. In a college-level writing class, though, you’ll be expected to move beyond this basic formula. The video below explains the basic five-paragraph essay structure and how you will be expected to develop a more sophisticated approach to writing for your college classes.

As the video explained, the body paragraphs in your essays are supposed to develop your thesis, and the thesis, as you may recall, is the “main idea” or “main claim” of your essay.  For college-level writing, though, the thesis usually does more than simply announce the main idea of your essay. A good thesis is an original idea or opinion that you’ve developed by studying, reading, and thinking critically about your topic. A good thesis statement conveys your purpose for writing and previews what’s coming in your essay. In addition, a college-level thesis meets these criteria:

• A good thesis is non-obvious. High school teachers needed to make sure that you and all your classmates mastered the basic form of the academic essay. Thus, they  were mostly concerned that you had a clear and consistent thesis, even if it was something obvious like “sustainability is important.” A thesis statement like that has a wide-enough scope to incorporate several supporting points and concurring evidence, enabling the writer to demonstrate his or her mastery of the five-paragraph form. Good enough for high school! When they can, high school teachers nudge students to develop arguments that are less obvious, more original, and more engaging. College instructors, on the other hand, always expect you to produce something more sophisticated and specific. They also want you to go beyond the obvious and offer your original thinking about a topic. To write a good thesis, therefore, most writers revise their thesis statements as they work on their essays. Writing about a topic helps them discover more interesting, specific points to make about the topic. A good thesis reflects good critical thinking and an original perspective. 
• A good thesis is arguable . In everyday life, “arguable” is often used as a synonym for “controversial.” For a thesis, though, “arguable” doesn’t mean highly opinionated, and the goal of an academic essay isn’t necessarily to convert every reader to your way of thinking. Rather, a good thesis offers readers a new idea, a new perspective, or an opinion about a topic. The need to be arguable dovetails with the need to be specific:  only when we have deeply explored a problem can we arrive at an original and specific argument that legitimately needs 3, 5, 10, or 20 pages to explain and justify. In that way, a good thesis sets an ambitious agenda for a paper.
• A good thesis is specific . You don’t want to set too ambitious an agenda, though! Some student writers fear that they won’t have enough to write about if they present a specific thesis, so they attempt to cover too much. A thesis like “sustainability is important” may seem like a great thesis because one could write all of the reasons for why it’s important, but the vague language invites a superficial discussion of a complicated topic. A thesis like “sustainability policies will inevitably fail if they do not incorporate social justice” limits the scope of the discussion, which in turn means that the essay itself will provide a more in-depth discussion of sustainability policies. It could even be more specific: which sustainability policies?

How do you produce a thesis that meets these criteria?  Many instructors and writers  find useful a metaphor based on this passage by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. [1]

There are one-story intellects, two-story intellects, and three-story intellects with skylights. All fact collectors who have no aim beyond their facts are one-story men. Two-story men compare, reason, generalize using the labor of fact collectors as their own. Three-story men idealize, imagine, predict—their best illumination comes from above the skylight.

The biggest benefit of the three-story metaphor is that it describes a process for building a thesis. To build the first story, you first have to get familiar with the complex, relevant facts surrounding the problem or question. You have to be able to describe the situation thoroughly and accurately. Then, with that first story built, you can layer on the second story by formulating the insightful, arguable point that animates the analysis. That’s often the most effortful part: brainstorming, elaborating and comparing alternative ideas, finalizing your point. With that specified, you can frame up the third story by articulating why the point you make matters beyond its particular topic or case.

For example, imagine you have been assigned a paper about the impact of online learning in higher education. You would first construct an account of the origins and multiple forms of online learning and assess research findings about its use and effectiveness. If you’ve done that well, you’ll probably come up with a well considered opinion that wouldn’t be obvious to readers who haven’t looked at the issue in depth. Maybe you’ll want to argue that online  learning is a threat to the academic community. Or perhaps you’ll want to make the case that online learning opens up pathways to college degrees that traditional campus-based learning does not. In the course of developing your central, argumentative point, you’ll come to recognize its larger context; in this example, you may claim that online learning can serve to better integrate higher education with the rest of society, as online learners bring their educational and career experiences together.

To outline this example:

• First story : Online learning is becoming more prevalent and takes many different forms.
• Second story : While most observers see it as a  transformation  of higher education, online learning is better thought of an  extension  of higher education in that it reaches learners who aren’t disposed to participate in traditional campus-based education.
• Third story : Online learning appears to be a promising way to better integrate higher education with other institutions in society, as online learners integrate their educational experiences with the other realms of their life, promoting the freer flow of ideas between the academy and the rest of society.

Here’s another example of a three-story thesis: [3]  

• First story : Edith Wharton did not consider herself a modernist writer, and she didn’t write like her modernist contemporaries.
• Second story : However, in her work we can see her grappling with both the questions and literary forms that fascinated modernist writers of her era. While not an avowed modernist, she did engage with modernist themes and questions.
• Third story : Thus, it is more revealing to think of modernism as a conversation rather than a category or practice.

Here’s one more example:

• First story : Scientists disagree about the likely impact in the U.S. of  the light brown  apple moth (LBAM) , an agricultural pest native to Australia.
• Second story : Research findings to date suggest that the decision to spray pheromones over the skies of several southern Californian counties to combat the LBAM was poorly thought out.
• Third story : Together, the scientific ambiguities and the controversial response strengthen the claim that industrial-style approaches to pest management are inherently unsustainable.

A thesis statement that stops at the first story isn’t usually considered a thesis. A two-story thesis is usually considered competent, though some two-story theses are more intriguing and ambitious than others. A thoughtfully crafted and well informed three-story thesis puts the author on a smooth path toward an excellent paper.

Basic Paragraph Structure

Think back to when you first learned to write paragraphs. Maybe you learned that paragraphs are supposed to have a certain number of sentences, or maybe you learned an acronym for what a paragraph is, such as the P. I. E. paragraph format (P=point, I=information, E=explanation). Some students learn to write paragraphs that follow certain patterns, such as narrative or compare/contrast. Whatever you learned about paragraphs, you probably remember that paragraphs need to include a topic sentence, supporting information, smooth transitions from one sentence to the next, and a concluding sentence. Take a moment to review these elements of all paragraphs.

Topic Sentences

The main idea of the paragraph is stated in the topic sentence. A good topic sentence does the following:

• introduces the rest of the paragraph
• contains both a topic and an idea or opinion about that topic
• is clear and easy to follow
• does not include supporting details
• engages the reader

For example:

Development of the Alaska oil fields threaten the already-endangered Northern Sea Otters.

This sentence introduces the topic and the writer’s opinion. After reading this sentence, a reader might reasonably expect the writer to go on to provide supporting details and facts about what the threat is. The sentence is clear and the word choice is interesting.

Here is another example:

Many major league baseball players have cheated by “corking” their bats.

Again, the topic and opinion are clear and specific, the details (what is corking? which players?) are saved for later, and the word choice is powerful.

Now look at this example:

I think everyone should be able to take a pet, especially service pets, to work because they provide comfort, and the potential problems they might cause can be eliminated if companies develop good policies.

Even though the topic and opinion are evident, the sentence is not focused or specific. It’s not likely that the writer could provide enough support to argue that every place of employment, from McDonald’s to a law office, should allow any kind of pets, from service dogs to parakeets. Furthermore, the writer is also offering two points that need to be discussed:  pets provide comfort and pets don’t cause problems. Most likely, each of these points needs to be addressed in a separate paragraph.

The writer could revise the topic sentence into two topic sentences:

• Being able to bring a dog or cat to the office can be comforting to people who work at a desk from 9:00-5:00.
• Specific policies and practices can eliminate some of the problems that might occur if employees are allowed to bring pets to the office.

These two paragraphs might appear in an essay arguing that people should be able to take their pets in public more often. The topic sentence would clearly support such a thesis, which would need many more paragraphs of support.

Typically, you should place the topic sentence at the beginning of the paragraph. In college and business writing, readers often lose patience if they are unable to quickly grasp what the writer is trying to say. Topic sentences make the writer’s basic point easy to locate and understand.

Developing the Topic Sentence

The body of a paragraph contains supporting details to help explain, prove, or expand the topic sentence. Often, in attempting to support a topic sentence with plenty of supporting details, writers discover that they need two paragraphs to support one point. For example, consider the following topic sentence, which might appear in an essay about reforming social security.

For many older Americans, retiring at 65 is not option.

Supporting sentences could include a few of the following details:

• Fact: Many families now rely on older relatives for financial support.
• Reason: The life expectancy for an average American is continuing to increase.
• Statistic: More than 20 percent of adults over age 65 are currently working or looking for work in the United States.
• Quotation: Senator Ted Kennedy once said, “Stabilizing Social Security will help seniors enjoy a well-deserved retirement.”
• Example: Last year, my grandpa took a job with Walmart because he was forced to retire early.

The personal example might be something the writer wants to expand upon in a separate paragraph, one that tells a short story about the grandfather’s decision to go back to work after retiring. The point, however, would be expressed in the topic sentence from the previous paragraph.

Sometimes, though, the topic sentence presents one idea but in presenting the supporting details, the writer gets off topic. A topic sentence guides the reader by signposting what the paragraph is about, so the rest of the paragraph should relate to the topic sentence. Can you spot the sentence in the following paragraph that does not relate to the topic sentence?

Health policy experts note that opposition to wearing a face mask during the COVID-19 pandemic is similar to opposition to the laws governing alcohol use. For example, some people believe drinking is an individual’s choice, not something the government should regulate. However, when an individual’s behavior impacts others–as when a drunk driver is involved in a fatal car accident–the dynamic changes. Seat belts are a good way to reduce the potential for physical injury in car accidents. Opposition to wearing a face mask during this pandemic is not simply an individual choice; it is a responsibility to others.

If you guessed the sentence that begins “Seat belts are” doesn’t belong, you are correct. It does not support the paragraph’s topic: opposition to regulations. If a point isn’t connected to the topic sentence, the writer should tie it in or take it out. Sometimes, the point needs to be included in another paragraph, one with a different topic sentence.

Concluding Sentences

A strong concluding sentences draws together the ideas raised in the paragraph and can set the readers up for a good transition into the next paragraph. A concluding sentence reminds readers of the main point without repeating the same words.

Concluding sentences can do any of the following:

• summarize the paragraph
• draw a conclusion based on the information in the paragraph
• make a prediction, suggestion, or recommendation about the information

For example, in the paragraph above about wearing face masks, the concluding sentence summarizes the key point: responsibility to others. The next paragraph in the essay might begin by stating something like, “Not all face masks, however, will protect people to the same degree.” The topic sentence connects the new point (which face masks are best at protecting others) with the point made in the previous paragraph (wearing face masks is a way to protect others).

Transitions

In a series of paragraphs, such as in the body of an essay, concluding sentences are often replaced by transitions. Transitions are words or phrases that help the reader move from one idea to the next, whether within a paragraph or between paragraphs. For example:

I am going to fix breakfast. Later, I will do the laundry.

“Later” transitions us from the first task to the second one. “Later” shows a sequence of events and establishes a connection between the tasks.

A transition can appear at the end of the paragraph or at the beginning of the next paragraph, but never in both places.

Look at this paragraph:

There are numerous advantages to owning a hybrid car. For example , they get up to 35 percent more miles to the gallon than a fuel-efficient, gas-powered vehicle. Also, they produce very few emissions during low speed city driving. Because they do not require gas, hybrid cars reduce dependency on fossil fuels, which helps lower prices at the pump. Given the low costs and environmental benefits of owning a hybrid car, it is likely that many people will buy hybrids in the future.

Each of the bold words is a transition. Transitions organize the writer’s ideas and keep the reader on track. They make the writing flow more smoothly and connect ideas.

Beginning writers tend to rely on ordinary transitions, such as “first” or “in conclusion.” There are more interesting ways to tell a reader what you want them to know. Here are some examples:

These words have slightly different meanings so don’t just substitute one that sounds better to you. Use your dictionary to be sure you are saying what you mean to say.

Paragraph Length

How long should a paragraph be? The answer is “long enough to explain your point.” A paragraph can be fairly short (two or three sentences) or, in a complex essay, a paragraph can be a page long. Most paragraphs contain three to six supporting sentences, but a s long as the writer maintains close focus on the topic and does not ramble, a long paragraph is acceptable in college-level writing. In some cases, even when the writer stays focused on the topic and doesn’t ramble, a long paragraph will not hold the reader’s interest. In such cases, divide the paragraph into two or more shorter paragraphs, adding a transitional word or phrase.

In an essay, a research paper, or a book, paragraphs separate ideas into logical, manageable chunks. Effective writers begin a new paragraph for each new idea they introduce. If paragraphs are still a mystery to you, or if you struggle to determine when to begin a new paragraph or how to organize sentences within a paragraph, you’re not alone. Saying what a paragraph is may not be that difficult, but writing a good paragraph is. When writing a first draft of an essay, it’s highly unlikely that you will write perfect topic sentences, strong support, and excellent concluding sentences for each paragraph or that you will organize all of the information in your essay so that it’s unified around specific topic sentences. That’s why good writers revise. They know that they will need to delete, add, and re-word each of their paragraphs so that they present their ideas in a clear and forceful manner.

Key Takeaways

• Most college writing requires you to go beyond the basic five-paragraph essay structure.
• A thesis statement needs to be sophisticated and focused.
• Topic sentences express the main idea of the paragraph and usually appear at the beginning of a paragraph
• Support for the topic sentences include details, examples, quotes, statistics, and facts.
• Concluding sentences wrap-up the points made in the paragraph.
• Transitional words and phrases show how ideas relate to one another and move the reader on to the next point.
• The thesis and paragraphs in a first draft of an essay will always need to be revised
• Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr., The Poet at the Breakfast Table (New York: Houghton & Mifflin, 1892). ↵
• The metaphor is extraordinarily useful even though the passage is annoying. Beyond the sexist language of the time, it displays condescension toward “fact-collectors” which reflects a general modernist tendency to elevate the abstract and denigrate the concrete. In reality, data-collection is a creative and demanding craft, arguably more important than theorizing ↵
• Drawn from Jennifer Haytock, Edith Wharton and the Conversations of Literary Modernism (New York: Palgrave-MacMillan, 2008). ↵

Reading, Thinking, and Writing for College Classes Copyright © 2023 by Mary V. Cantrell is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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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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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.

Our helpful admissions advisors can help you choose an academic program to fit your career goals, estimate your transfer credits, and develop a plan for your education costs that fits your budget. If you’re a current UMGC student, please visit the Help Center .

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Writing a 5-Paragraph Essay Outline: A Beginner’s Guide

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Beloved by teachers, dreaded by students of all ages, the five-paragraph essay is an enduring part of every English class. You’ll usually get your first one of these assigned to you in upper elementary school, but get ready because that probably won’t be your last. One of the key components to writing a five-paragraph essay is developing a solid outline.

What Is a 5-Paragraph Essay?

On its face, the five-paragraph essay is a pretty straightforward form. It’s exactly what it says on the tin: an essay made up of five paragraphs. Those five paragraphs consist of an introduction paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. Even with that paragraph breakdown, you can still generally think of it as three main parts of an essay (intro, body, conclusion).

How To Write a Basic 5-Paragraph Essay Outline

Your process should always start with an outline. Even if you have limited time , creating a very basic outline will benefit your writing. Aside from the immediate sense of accomplishment that comes with getting some words on paper, an outline essentially gives you the skeleton for your essay. If you have a good outline, the actual writing of the essay will mostly involve filling in the muscles and organs of that skeleton.

Introduction: Get the Reader Interested and State Your Thesis

Your introduction serves two main purposes: grabbing the reader’s attention and stating your thesis. In your outline, you’ll mostly focus on the latter. Your thesis statement is the thing that will drive the rest of your essay, so spend some time thinking about it.

Once you have an idea for your thesis statement, write it out in one simple sentence. You can change the wording (or even the thesis in its entirety) later on, but get that main idea out of your head and onto the paper.

Outside of the thesis, write down any general ideas that immediately come to mind. If you can’t think of anything beyond the thesis in the outlining phase, don’t worry about it.

I. (Intro)  Thesis Statement: In the pantheon of all cuisine, burgers are the best food in the world.       a. Brief history of the burger      b. Origin of the word burger

Body Paragraphs: Build Your Argument and Support Your Thesis

Your body paragraphs will build out and support your essay’s thesis. The foundation of each body paragraph is a topic sentence . Think of each topic sentence as its own small thesis sentence, while the rest of the sentences in the body paragraph build on the topic sentence.

• In your outline, write out that topic sentence in its simplest form.
• Under the topic sentence, list out your supporting information, evidence, or other ideas that expound on the topic sentence.
• Repeat that for each of the three body paragraphs.

You can, of course, reorganize your actual essay later, and deciding whether to lead with your strongest or weakest argument is a completely personal choice. 

II. (Body Paragraph 1)  Topic Sentence: The burger is a highly versatile food that can suit nearly anyone’s diet or tastes.      a. Vegetarian/vegan options for patty      b. Bread variations for the buns      c. Nearly endless options for toppings

Conclusion: Restate Your Thesis and Think Outside of Your Essay

Conclusions are hard for a lot of people to figure out, but try not to overthink it. The easiest way to start is to restate your initial thesis using context from your body paragraphs. Write that in your outline as a single sentence.

From there, think about how the thesis and the contents of the essay might affect an actual person. That might even include a call to action for the reader. Jot those ideas down under your concluding sentence.

V. (Conclusion) Concluding Sentence: In conclusion, the burger is the best form of sustenance for nearly everyone thanks to its versatility, accessibility, and cultural importance.      a. The next time you bite into a burger, consider the history and necessity it represents.      b. Something about burgers and creativity

5-Paragraph Essay Outline Template

The more you practice outlining essays of any type , the easier the outlining and writing processes will become. Use a simple essay outline template to create a few outlines, then the process will become habitual. 

5 Paragraph Essay Outline printable 2022

Tips for writing your 5-paragraph essay outline.

Beyond that basic structure, there’s not much to the five-paragraph essay. You just kind of have to do it, but that can be easier said than done.

Stay Loose With Your Outline

You (probably) aren’t getting graded on your outline, so try to stay as loose as you want with it. Don’t worry about punctuation, spelling, full sentences, or even full thoughts. Don’t be afraid to get a little goofy with it either. It’s often normal to omit articles ( the and a/an ) in outline points. All of that will come when you actually write your essay.

The same applies to any writing flourishes. Your outline is a bare room in a home. All the metaphors, transitions , and creative parts of the writing are the furniture and decor that you’ll eventually put in that room.

Avoid Plagiarism by Noting Citations in Your Outline

One of the biggest problems in essays is plagiarism, intentional or otherwise. To avoid even accidental plagiarism , cite your sources directly in the outline. This doesn’t have to be the exact MLA format for citations . For example, if your argument came from a book, you can write down the book title and author name next to that argument in the outline.

Change Your Thesis if You Want To

The thesis in your outline is not set in stone. You’re allowed to change your thesis at any point in your writing process. Maybe you discover a different angle to approach the essay, or maybe you just realize there isn’t enough information to support your thesis. Maybe you just find your thesis boring. Whatever the case, it’s okay to change, modify, or reword your thesis if you feel like it will help your essay.

Write More Than One Essay Draft

One of the most beautiful things about the five-paragraph essay is: You aren’t graded based on how many drafts you write. Your first draft doesn’t have to be your final draft. Write two, three, seven drafts (if you have the time and energy). That means that you can always change and improve your essay until it’s exactly what you want it to be.

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5: The Five Paragraph Essay (5¶E)

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• 5.1: 5¶E – What is the 5 Paragraph Essay?
• 5.2: 5 Paragraph Essay Discussion
• 5.3: The 5¶E in College – Will You Use It or Not?

Structuring the Five-Paragraph Essay: Examples of Five-Paragraph Essays

• Examples of Five-Paragraph Essays

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This  grammar  review site includes detailed terms, interactive exercises, handouts, PowerPoints, daily Twitter practice, videos, teacher resources, and more!

Sample of a Persuasive / Argumentative Five-Paragraph Essay

A cat is a man's best friend.

This model essay is a good example of an Argumentative (or Persuasive) Essay. 

• A Cat is a A Man's Best Friend Compare & Contrast / Argument (Persuasive) Essay

SAMPLE PROCESS ESSAY

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Video: basic essay structure, video: paragraph structure, five paragraph format, developing your essay.

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Five Paragraph Essay

Paragraph 1: Introduction

• Catch the reader's attention
• Provide relevant background information
• End with your thesis statement

Paragraph 2: Body Paragraph

• Start with a topic sentence
• State your claim and provide supporting evidence

Paragraph 3: Body Paragraph

Paragraph 4: body paragraph, paragraph 5: conclusion.

• Restate the thesis
• Provide a quick summary of the main points
• End with a concluding statement

Creating an Introduction

• The Introductory Paragraph from UC Santa Barbara

Developing a Thesis

• How To Write a Thesis Statement from Writing Tutorial Services, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, Indiana University
• Thesis Statements from Kansas University Writing Center

Creating a Conclusion

• Writing Conclusions from Writing Tutorial Serivces, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, Indiana University
• Writing Effective Conclusions from Writing Center, University of Richmond

Using Quotations

• Using Quotations from University of Toronto
• How to Use Quotation Marks from Purdue Online Writing Center (OWL)

Quoting,Paraphrasing,Summarizing

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• Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing From Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL)
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• Importance Of Reading Essay

Importance of Reading Essay

500+ words essay on reading.

Reading is a key to learning. It’s a skill that everyone should develop in their life. The ability to read enables us to discover new facts and opens the door to a new world of ideas, stories and opportunities. We can gather ample information and use it in the right direction to perform various tasks in our life. The habit of reading also increases our knowledge and makes us more intellectual and sensible. With the help of this essay on the Importance of Reading, we will help you know the benefits of reading and its various advantages in our life. Students must go through this essay in detail, as it will help them to create their own essay based on this topic.

Importance of Reading

Reading is one of the best hobbies that one can have. It’s fun to read different types of books. By reading the books, we get to know the people of different areas around the world, different cultures, traditions and much more. There is so much to explore by reading different books. They are the abundance of knowledge and are best friends of human beings. We get to know about every field and area by reading books related to it. There are various types of books available in the market, such as science and technology books, fictitious books, cultural books, historical events and wars related books etc. Also, there are many magazines and novels which people can read anytime and anywhere while travelling to utilise their time effectively.

Benefits of Reading for Students

Reading plays an important role in academics and has an impactful influence on learning. Researchers have highlighted the value of developing reading skills and the benefits of reading to children at an early age. Children who cannot read well at the end of primary school are less likely to succeed in secondary school and, in adulthood, are likely to earn less than their peers. Therefore, the focus is given to encouraging students to develop reading habits.

Reading is an indispensable skill. It is fundamentally interrelated to the process of education and to students achieving educational success. Reading helps students to learn how to use language to make sense of words. It improves their vocabulary, information-processing skills and comprehension. Discussions generated by reading in the classroom can be used to encourage students to construct meanings and connect ideas and experiences across texts. They can use their knowledge to clear their doubts and understand the topic in a better way. The development of good reading habits and skills improves students’ ability to write.

In today’s world of the modern age and digital era, people can easily access resources online for reading. The online books and availability of ebooks in the form of pdf have made reading much easier. So, everyone should build this habit of reading and devote at least 30 minutes daily. If someone is a beginner, then they can start reading the books based on the area of their interest. By doing so, they will gradually build up a habit of reading and start enjoying it.

Frequently Asked Questions on the Importance of Reading Essay

What is the importance of reading.

1. Improves general knowledge 2. Expands attention span/vocabulary 3. Helps in focusing better 4. Enhances language proficiency

What is the power of reading?

1. Develop inference 2. Improves comprehension skills 3. Cohesive learning 4. Broadens knowledge of various topics

How can reading change a student’s life?

1. Empathy towards others 2. Acquisition of qualities like kindness, courtesy

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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 »

Writing » Grade 6 | Common Core State Standards Initiative. (accessed July 16, 2019).

http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy/W/6/.

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).

http://www2.sandhills.edu/academic-departments/english/essaybasics/keyhole.html.

“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).

White, Ralph. "Character Sketch Template." Columbia Fiction Foundry. August 24, 2014.

(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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Why the Five-Paragraph Essay is a Problem Now—and Later

Belief #1: The five-paragraph essay is a problem now

Current common approaches for teaching writing are simultaneously too punishing and not nearly challenging enough. Part of the problem is how “rigor” is viewed in education. “Rigor” means “strictness” and “severity.” It is an artifact of a different time and a different mentality toward schooling. It remains popular mostly as a way to invoke days of yore that are supposedly better than today. . . . When students say a class was “hard,” they often mean “confusing” or “arbitrary,” rather than stimulating and challenging. (2018, 142)

We would add the following to the list of arbitrary and confusing approaches to teaching writing: rules that demand paragraphs will contain five (or nine or whatever) sentences; the topic sentence will always be first in each paragraph; and the thesis or claim must always be directly stated in the introduction. These rules do not represent excellence in writing. On the contrary: in many cases, adhering to them wrings the goodness out of writing. The writer is punished by being shoehorned into a form. Peter Elbow, noted writing researcher, argues that “the five-paragraph essay tends to function as an anti-perplexity machine” (2012, 308). Katherine Bomer agrees, adding, “There is no room for the untidiness of inquiry or complexity and therefore no energy in the writing” (2016, xi). Not only is energy drained from the writing when students practice mechanized thinking, but students also lose the valuable practice of generating and organizing ideas. When the form is predetermined, much of the writer’s important decision-making has already been stripped, which is one reason Penny is now encountering so many college students who believe they cannot solve their own writing problems.

We agree with John Warner’s notion that approaches taken by writing teachers are “not nearly challenging enough” (2018, 142). The form does the thinking for the student, and the student simply plugs in and follows. Without an understanding of options, students can’t imagine how a different form might better engage an audience or how changing the structure might better communicate their ideas. Teachers in high school rarely (if ever) meet across content areas to consider how often students are writing the exact same formulaic essays. The teachers at our schools never met to have these discussions. Students need numerous opportunities to study the various forms an essay can take, and they need repeated practice experimenting. This is not our only objection, however. The lack of student decision-making and agency is compounded when students are constrained by the teacher’s choice of subject and the lack of an authentic audience for their writing. We like how novelist Lily King explains the problems with standardized essays about books:

While you’re reading [the book] rubs off on you and your mind starts working like that for a while. I love that. That reverberation for me is what is most important about literature. . . . I would want kids to talk and write about how the book makes them feel, what it reminded them of, if it changed their thoughts about anything. . . . Questions like [man versus nature] are designed to pull you completely out of the story. . . . Why would you want to pull kids out of the story? You want to push them further in, so they can feel everything the author tried so hard to create for them. (2020, 271)

Night has fallen and is swirling and twirling around me. Gold chains hang across his neckline like trophies against a prize. The fine oil paintings and white pillars line sunken walls. It is a life filled with artificial riches, swishing like change in a pocket of hope. And the noises it made rustled in our dreams.

Abby writes with verve and authenticity. Jillian, the same age, is sitting in a first-year college classroom without the skill set to make the decisions expected of her. And we know this: students get to Abby’s level of essay writing when they’ve experienced a lot of practice in struggling with generating ideas and organizing their thinking. The road to excellence is rife with trial and error. It is up to us to entrust our young writers to wrestle with their decisions. Doing so matters now. And later.

Penny Kittle teaches freshman composition at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. She was a teacher and literacy coach in public schools for 34 years, 21 of those spent at Kennett High School in North Conway. She is the co-author (with Kelly Gallagher) of   Four Essential Studies: Beliefs and Practices to Reclaim Student Agency , as well as the bestselling  180 Days .

Penny is the author of  Book Love  and  Write Beside Them , which won the NCTE James Britton award. She also co-authored two books with her mentor, Don Graves, and co-edited (with Tom Newkirk) a collection of Graves’ work,  Children Want to Write .  She is the president of the Book Love Foundation and was given the Exemplary Leader Award from NCTE’s Conference on English Leadership. In the summer Penny teaches graduate students at the University of New Hampshire Literacy Institutes.  Throughout the year, she travels across the U.S. and Canada (and once in awhile quite a bit farther) speaking to teachers about empowering students through independence in literacy. She believes in curiosity, engagement, and deep thinking in schools for both students and their teachers. Penny stands on the shoulders of her mentors, the Dons (Murray & Graves), and the Toms (Newkirk & Romano), in her belief that intentional teaching in a reading and writing workshop brings the greatest student investment and learning in a classroom.

Learn more about Penny Kittle on her websites,   pennykittle.net   and   booklovefoundation.org , or follow her on   twitter .

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Chapter 4: Structuring, Paragraphing, and Styling

4.10 A review of the five-paragraph essay

Julie A. Townsend

A review of the five-paragraph format

Many writers will be able to detail the five-paragraph format.

• The introduction previews the entire essay.
• The thesis statement goes at the end of the introduction and describes what the three body paragraphs will be about.
• The body paragraphs discuss each topic described in the thesis statement in detail.
• There should be transitions between each body paragraph.
• The conclusion repeats key points made in the essay and could be the introduction re-worded in a different way.

These are sample answers from writers who describe what they have learned about the five-paragraph format. The five-paragraph format is a reader-friendly organizational structure that writers can rely on if they need to get information quickly and formally across to a wide audience. For instance, the five-paragraph format might be useful when writing a report to a supervisor with the purpose of explaining progress on a project. The introduction gives the most important information at the beginning and each paragraph is clearly related to one topic. The conclusion leaves the reader with a summary and a possible call to action.

Problems with the five-paragraph format

Donald Murray in his article “Teach Writing as a Process Not a Product”argues writing should be taught as “…the process of discovery through language. It is the process of exploration of what we know and what we feel about what we know through language. It is the process of using language to learn about our world, to evaluate what we learn about our world, to communicate what we learn about our world” (4). However, when writers use writing to discover more about a topic, the five-paragraph format can be limiting because of the following:

• Writers usually decide on the three main body paragraphs before they start drafting.
• With three large topics to change from, writers are less likely to dig deep into a specific topic.
• Writers may use the five-paragraph format in ways that avoid detail and make their essays indistinguishable from other essays on the same topics.

For instance, a writer might want to discuss communication on social media. They decide before they start writing that their three main topics will be Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. By the time they write a few details about Facebook, they move on to Instagram. There is not enough space for the writer to get into details and differentiate ideas on their topic and to describe observations, experiences, and research in depth. When writers start with three main topics, it’s also hard to find the space to teach the reader something new.

Discover with writing

Writing is an opportunity to share unique experiences with readers. If writers feel like they are not sharing anything valuable through their writing, they should reconsider their stance on the assignment or schedule a meeting with their instructor so that they can orient themselves more meaningfully to the assignment. Often, five-paragraph format writing is uninspired. Writers race to jot down what they know on three loosely related subjects so that they can finish the essay. The writer is not learning through the writing and neither is the reader. The main problem with the five-paragraph format is that it discourages writers from discovering what they could write on one focused and specific topic.

When to use the five-paragraph format

Published essays, in any genre, that use the five-paragraph organization are very rare. It might be interesting for writers to pay attention to how published material that they read on their own time is organized. Because first-year writing is a context where writers are encouraged to learn and teach through their writing, the five-paragraph format might not be the best choice for organization. However, when writers are in situations that demand them to relay information quickly, the five-paragraph format can be useful. Formulaic writing is not uninventive or inherently bad. Different genres use various kinds of formulaic writing, and it’s important for writers to adhere to conventions and pay attention to how essays are organized in the genre they are writing in.

Works Cited

Murray, Donald. “Teach writing as a process not product.” The Leaflet, vol .71, no.3 (1972), pp. 11-14.

ENG 100/101/102 at Cleveland State University by Julie A. Townsend is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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81 Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay

As a simplified template, the five-paragraph essay ( 5PE ) makes organizing feel manageable for the student, and in many cases the 5PE makes grading feel easier for the teacher than if the teacher were having to navigate an anticipated, formulaic organization. By beginning with an introduction paragraph, three supporting paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph that summarizes the argument, the 5PE is predictable and provides every student with the same roadmap for organization.

And yet in writing, as in life, oversimplified, quick-fix solutions don’t always work well. The reality is that the 5PE isn’t a realistic structure for communicating effectively with all audiences you’ll write for in other college classes or real-world situations after college. Consider these five reasons for reconsidering whether or not to use a 5PE:

• 5PEs revolve around a thesis , but not all academic or professional writing assignments need a thesis statement. Some might require a less argumentative controlling idea, a tagline, or another form of argument that your teacher will discuss with you. In other words, not all compositions are purely thesis driven. Consult with your instructor to clarify what they expect in terms of central message development and how that will structure the piece you write.
• 5PEs flatten any argument . Any issue you write about will be complex, and any argument you make about an issue will necessitate exploring many dynamic viewpoints and facts. Oftentimes, three paragraphs isn’t enough to touch on every angle of an issue. You may need more paragraphs and more points than you can reasonably fit into five paragraphs.
• 5PEs limit creativity . Making meaning is hard to do when you’re limited in terms of how you can package it. Or as Associate Professor of English Quentin Vieregge asks, “What fun is it to write when you have no choices, when the shape of your words and thoughts are controlled by an impersonal model that everyone uses, but only in school” (211)? When you allow yourself to compose beyond the 5PE structure, you open yourself up to a world of creative possibilities.
• 5PEs lack flow . In the next section, we’ll touch on organically structured essays that aid the reader in moving through a text. Ideally, you want the relationships among your paragraphs to give a clear sense of connection, to flow well, and to build reader interest. These organizational aims are difficult to achieve when you’re constantly pointing back to a singular idea rather than letting ideas naturally build off of one another.
• 5PEs fail to transfer . When writing a lab report for a biology course, for example, a 5PE organizational scheme probably won’t suffice for the purpose of that assignment nor will a 5PE help you write a strong memo for a business class. Scientists don’t cram their study findings into five quick paragraphs nor do journalists whittle down every feature to five tidy parts. The point is that 5PEs don’t transfer easily into many real-world writing contexts, so limiting yourself to this organizational approach precludes you from practicing organizational development skills that will benefit you in future writing contexts.

At this point, you might be thinking to yourself, “Is it ever okay to use the five-paragraph essay?” The answer depends on a range of factors related to your rhetorical situation (audience, purpose, context), and, of course, you’ll want to consult with your instructor about their preferences, but rest assured that the 5PE isn’t an inherently flawed way of composing. It’s simply one way of composing that won’t transfer to every rhetorical context you’ll encounter.

As it happens sometimes, students who know they have permission to try new approaches to organizing will lean back into the comfort and safety of the 5PE because it feels familiar and reliable. If your instructor has encouraged you to break free from the 5PE approach but you’re struggling to let the 5PE go, remember the dining metaphor in Chapter Two . College essays should be crafted in ways that make them inviting to read and pleasurable to partake in—like a good conversation.

Reading and Writing in College Copyright © 2021 by Jackie Hoermann-Elliott and TWU FYC Team is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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