The five paragraph essay

[EricH]

I am very familiar with the 5- paragraph essay, but I'm starting to get away from it now. I still do it a lot for my English class, but not 100% of the time.

Mom, I think that you forgot that the pronouns--except for "one"--are forbidden also.

[Jeff K.]

I was taught the 5 Paragraph Essay in middleschool, and used it freshmen year. Then began to stray away from it sophomore year. Teachers don't really require it anymore, heck SAT doesn't really require it either. A well written 4 paragraph essay should get you a pretty decent score. The only thing that's good about the 5 Paragraph Essay is that it teaches you to organize your thoughts. 1 Introduction, 3 body for support, and Conclusion. My last term paper, the requirement was to have 6 body paragraphs. My essays nowadays have some sort of an introduction, just something to open up, and then anywhere from 2 to 10 body paragraphs with examples and whatnot, and then just a conclusion or some sort.

[Tristan Lall]

I considered writing this post in the form of a 5-paragraph essay. I decided that that was a waste of my time. Why? Because strict adherence to some arbitrary stylistic convention doesn't always serve a useful purpose. (For example, can you spot the telltale signs of informal writing in the previous few sentences?)

Even when writing an essay, there are other ways to go about it. Your primary objective, as an essayist, is to convey an opinion regarding a topic, in a format that is appropriate to the audience. If this objective is served by making like Shakespeare, and busting out a sonnet, then why not? Similarly, there are (potentially) occasions where the driest, most sedate writing style is appropriate. But the key is not to teach writing in a formulaic way, but to teach an understanding of what it takes to engage your audience with the written word.

Originally Posted by KarenH

Here's how to tighten the academic thumbscrews: My son's current English teacher has forbidden students to use first person, second person, or contractions in their essays for the rest of the school year. I think that's a much stricter standard than is actually being followed in most professional writing these days.

Originally Posted by EricH

Mom, I think that you forgot that the pronouns--except for "one"--are forbidden also.

Seriously? He/she seems to have completely misunderstood the necessity of making this stuff readable. Using third person to the exclusion of all else is like playing tennis with your feet cuffed together; you can still hit a decent opening serve, but you fall flat on your face when you try to do anything creative. Actually, perhaps worse still, it makes you sound like Mr. Data—but that was for intentional comic effect, rather than an actual attempt to sound erudite.

Although there are numerous examples of good essays which make liberal use of personal pronouns, I'll point instead to something with which everyone ought to be at least a little familar. Consider any one of Bill Clinton's speeches. Though he might not be universally adored from a political perspective, he's widely considered one of the best public speakers of our generation. And what does he do to great effect? He interjects personal anecdotes to illustrate points. He uses familiar situations as analogues for whatever topic he's actually supposed to be discussing. There's no absolute reason why that's inadmissible in an essay—all sorts of great writers do it. The key is, as always, to do it in a sensible way.

I fail to see how you're supposed to learn just what this "sensible way" is, if you're not allowed to attempt to use it. (And the key word is "attempt", because sometimes it goes badly.) In the interests of disclosure, I was once (in grade 8) taught the 5-paragraph essay as well. It took one or two assignments to get the hang of it—I'd been writing much as I do here, until that point. But all that it was good for was cementing the idea that you're supposed to keep referring and relating to your overarching theme, throughout the piece. It should quickly become apparent that the essence of the essay is not the rigid format, but rather that you're always striving to get the point across to the audience. If you spend an extra sentence or two somewhere, elaborating on a salient point, what's the harm? You make the essay better, and you're reprimanded, not rewarded, because of some alleged violation of "the rules"? What kind of FUBAR pedagogy is that?

I'm not sure of the proportion of malice and stupidity that causes the 5-paragraph essay to be the format of choice for some high school classes. But I'm actually rather relieved that many have replied that they're not forced to waste perfectly good words on essays that are inappropriately structured for the intended purpose. Write creatively, and treat it as a learning experience. Get a feel for what makes sense in a given context, and figure out how to write that way. That's what education is for.

[KTorak]

In all my honors level english classes, they stressed the basic format of thesis statment/outline, then your supporting paragraphs, and closing with a conclusion. Basically, a no less than 5 paragraph essay. In my college class, we go by word counts, but use the same format. So I'll find myself writing 5 paragraph essays for 500 words and 7-8, or more for 1000 words plus.

In both classes, we are encouraged to follow the 'rules' for use of numbers, remove all contractions, and to follow those other basic grammatical rules. However, only in my honors level classes was the usage of "you" forbidden. In college, we are allowed to use it without penalty. However, "I" is forbidden unless the essay warrants it, such as an essay about yourself.

[JoeXIII'007]

At the Run, we were taught the 5 paragraph thing up to about last year, and then we just practiced strong thesis writing, and in my AP class we're being stressed the importance of answering the AP essay question correctly and completely.

Personally, I hated with a passion the 5 paragraph essay, I prefer to be more liberal in writing a thesis paper, while still conservative by getting to the point.

[raymaniac]

Up to seventh grade I was told to write five paragraph essays, but sense eighth grade I have been writing essays with actual thesises (thesises? thesi? whatever the plural form of thesis is) (which still tend to be about 5 paragraphs, but not always). Some times the teacher will also give their own random format.

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by raymaniac

...writing essays with actual thesises (thesises? thesi? whatever the plural form of thesis is)...

Theses.

[Daisy]

In my high school, it is pounded into our heads that you never ever right a five paragraph essay. You make a strong intro, and strong mid paragraphs dealing with your thesis, and proof from inside the text, with a strong conclusion. The rule under most circumstances, at least in a test area, is 650 words. Under IB conditions, for the english portion, the word could is between 1500-2000. The Extended Essay, on topic of choice, is 4000 words.

Daisy

[indieFan]

Originally Posted by Daisy

In my high school, it is pounded into our heads that you never ever right a five paragraph essay. You make a strong intro, and strong mid paragraphs dealing with your thesis, and proof from inside the text, with a strong conclusion.

My eleventh and twelfth grade history teacher had a phrase he used

"Claim-Proof"

which says it all. My eleventh and twelfth grade English teacher appended it to say

"Claim-Proof D**n It".

The English teacher also told the class a story one day about how he was taking an essay test to get his credential. Instead of writing a standard five paragraph essay, he just started writing to answer the question. He didn't finish his essay, but he got full credit because he showed the graders that he knew what he was doing. Clearly, I haven't forgotten that story; and, I would think of it every time I had to answer an essay test question.

Funny the things that one remembers from high school teachers after graduating over ten years ago.

indieFan

[mathking]

The point of teaching the five paragraph essay is actually not to tie you to a rigid format. It is to teach you how to write coherently. The five paragraph format can easily be 6 paragraphs, 7 paragraphs or more. It can also be five sections rather than paragraphs. If you get into the habit of starting with a strong introduction, elaborating on the points you make in your introduction and writing a strong conclusion your writing will get better. This is very important when you start taking blue book exams in college under strict time constraints. Learning to use a basic format helps save time as well as making for better writing. The need for good writing is particularly important for those of you who want to become engineers and scientists. In the marketplace of ideas, it is not the best ideas which win. It is the ideas which are communicated most effectively that win. As a whole, scientists and engineers are not noted for exceptional writiing skill. So learn how to write a coherent, structured essay. It will make you a better student and a better engineer.

[MChapman]

All through middle school I was to do the 5 paragraph essay. (Intro, 3 supporting body paragraphs, and the conclusion) I'm in my senior year of high school and i'm still using it, and in my english class its a mandatory! However its not that bad, but in some of my other classes two or three paragraphs was enough. My english teacher is also very strict about the no contractions rule, but i'm not a bad writer so I just stick to what I usually do and it works.

[Jeremiah Johnson]

I too ditched the 5-paragraph essay format early. It allowed me more freedom to write. Once you hit college they're not going to let the 5-paragraphs slide anyways so my advice to the younger people would be to change earlier and not get addicted to writing short essays like that.

[Pavan Dave]

My AP English Teacher says to start new paragraphs as they feel naturally to you. But my APUSH teacher says that we need 4 paragraph, no more no less.
Pavan.