The five paragraph essay

[sanddrag]

Were you taught to write classic "five paragraph essay" or were you taught to write your essays in some other fashion. Which do you prefer? Which is better?

Personally, in high school (10th grade mostly), they pounded the "five paragraph essay" into us and made us learn how to construct an excellent one. Then when I went to college, it was probably not even the second week, my english teacher says "you will not write a five paragraph essay in this class. That is garbage. I don't know why they teach that in high school. That isn't how real writers write."

So, what has your experience been?

[Lil' Lavery]

All through elementary and middle school it was 100% 5 paragraphs, but in High School they have discouraged it (especially in AP classes, but due to the 40 minute AP time limit on essays, they typically cannot be much longer than 5 or 6 paragraphs).

[fimmel]

ive always had to write 5 paragraph essays. im currently a 10th grader

[Donut]

Grade school strictly enforced the 5 paragraph essay, often marking you off for doing it in any other format (if not automatically failing you). In high school I found that it was highly encouraged my freshman through junior year, and was sometimes required. My senior English teacher has told us the 5 paragraph essay can be used on occasion for some things, but that we need to learn to expand beyond these because, as Sanddrag said, they are usually "garbage".

[Dorienne]

I don't even recall the five paragraph essay thing. Perhaps they did drill it into our skulls in middle school, but in high school, nope. I don't even remember that, haha. But I write how I write, and apparently that does me fine. =]

[Andrew Blair]

We were definently given the drill in middle school, but not as a rule in High school- especially not in honors classes.

I believe that the entire concept is to introduce and familarize students with a well structured, organized essay setup. Not to be used forever as a fit all solution, but just as a training example/template to squeeze and twist until it fits your needs. Perhaps that's the bit of explanation not taught in high school, and students are getting the wrong impression as they move into higher education? I'd imagine, if professors are already familiar and warn their classes not to attempt one.

[Billfred]

I was raised on the five-paragraph essay. When I got to college, the format expanded to longer papers (generally more meat in the middle).

[Graham Donaldson]

Same here. All through middle and up to now (I'm currently a sophomore in HS), it's been 5 paragraph essays for me.

[Eric W. Jones]

I think it is really encouraged, but I've never used that format. I always take more than five paragraphs to say what I'm going to say. Really, the five-paragraph format limits what the writer can say and encourages them to write towards a word or sentence goal, not to get their message across. People should be able to say what they are going to say in whatever format they choose, as long as it complies with MLA standars, if that's the format that the school uses (most do, I think).
Sometimes a writer needs to go into such detail that one paragraph per point is not enough. In order to give proper examples, you really need to have two or even three paragraphs per subject.
On the other end of the spectrum, an essay does not always warrant five paragraphs. Four or even three may be appropriate, depending on the question posed for the essay. It is often painful to read a wordy five paragraph essay that is saying something that could be said in three.

Sorry I got so wordy there. This sort of thing bugs me.

[sciguy125]

I don't recall when or how strictly, but I was taught to use the 5 paragraph format at some point. I rarely use it rigidly any more. I usually start out with the format, but end up making up my own format as the paper develops. This is mostly dependent on the subject, of course. For one thing, engineering reports have a fairly defined format. Also, my philosophy class called for essays with a more sophistocated format.

[KarenH]

I never even heard of a five-paragraph essay until after I became a homeschool mom. Even though I'm the English major, I first heard of this format from my friend the psychology major who now teaches writing classes.

How the emphases change in education! When I was in high school, "creative writing" was the way to go. I think this resulted from 1960s ideology: "Let it all hang out."

Although essay writing can be tedious, kids graduating from high school today have a better chance than I did of knowing how to write something that demonstrates structured thinking. Developing your thoughts, supporting your statements, and communicating your ideas to your readers are very difficult skills to master, even for students who love to write. Most students, therefore, need plenty of practice in these areas.

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.

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by KarenH

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.

With the exception of the no contractions rule, that's pretty much how my HS was. Gosh, I'm thinking reading a paper/book/etc without contractions would be quite tiresome.

[artdutra04]

Ahh yes, the five paragraph essay.

Then again, starting in my sophomore year I stopped listening to them. I wrote how I wanted to write, and how I could best get across my ideas on paper. I thought the five-paragraph essay was too overused and trite, as well as too restrictive, and overall a bad influence on my writing, so I ditched it. It may have been great in elementary or middle school, but I hated in in high school.

My English teacher did not mind the change; actually my grades went up (and have stayed there) after I stopped following the five-paragraph model. I guess my new style of writing works, because I scored a 710 on the writing section of my last SAT.

[Donut]

Originally Posted by Eric W. Jones

People should be able to say what they are going to say in whatever format they choose, as long as it complies with MLA standars, if that's the format that the school uses (most do, I think).

I don't know how common MLA is in high school, as I've never even heard of it until my senior English class this year.

No 1st or 2nd person is a usual rule for essays here, with the excpetion of personal narratives of course.

[Alexa Stott]

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.

That's how it has been for me since 8th grade. We could not use pronouns, contractions, and were discouraged from writing dialogue until we were properly taught how to use it.

We've been taught the "five paragraph" essay for a long time, probably since about 6th or 7th grade. Now that we're in high school, we do about one or two Writing On Demands. Our English tests usually include a writing portion at the end where we have to write a 5 paragraph essay on the book we just read.