As a parent of five children (three now in high school), I've helped brainstorm and edit my fair share of essays. In particular, I've spent an inordinate amount of time helping tackle the five-paragraph essay. So I thought I would take a moment to share my tips for other parents and students who are facing this challenge now.
In most cases, you're probably writing this essay for a class or contest. If you've gone through the previous six steps, you should have a pretty strong essay. Congratulations and good luck!
- For the introductory paragraph, try hooking the reader with a provocative sentence followed by a supporting idea or two that leads into the concluding sentence that more times than not will be your thesis.
- For the three body paragraphs, pick one main idea for each that will be your opening sentence followed by supporting evidence, examples, and explanation. Then, conclude each paragraph in a way that helps transition to your next paragraph all the way to the conclusion.
- For the conclusion paragraph, connect the dots from the previous body paragraphs to end on a strong note that makes it clear that you've proven your opening thesis, whether you're making a persuasive argument or just explaining the positives and negatives of a certain activity—and letting your readers draw their own conclusions based off their preferences.
This course guides beginning and intermediate writers through elements of how to write a personal essay, helping them identify values expressed in their stories and to bring readers into the experiences described. Writers learn how to avoid the dreaded responses of "so what?" and "I guess you had to be there" by utilizing sensory details, learning to trust their writing intuitions, and developing a skilled internal editor to help with revision.
How to Write a Five-Paragraph Essay That Works
This step is so important to writing essays that I continue to use outlines to this day for articles and blog posts, which are usually a lot more complicated than five-paragraph essays. But for your five-paragraph essay, here's a good outline to complete:
You chose your subject. Then, you dive into your research by looking for any and all information related to your subject. For this step, you want to collect more than you'll need, because it's a lot easier to discard excess than to drum up new material out of thin air—especially if you find yourself backed up against a deadline at the last minute. (Hey, I've been there.) Collect all the information you can, and then.
You may have a list of subjects already provided. But if you have to choose your topic, pick one that can support a guiding thesis with three supporting pieces of information that can each support their own paragraphs. For instance, you might think the United States will take home the most medals at the next Summer Olympics. Can you identify three main ideas to support that claim? Or you might want to write a compare-and-contrast essay on why one restaurant is a more family-friendly spot than another. Again, can you identify three main reasons to support your thesis?
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How many words is a 5 paragraph essay you may wonder? Typically, they are around 250 to 500 words long. The format’s plasticity allows students to experiment with various essay styles. Persuasive, Arguntative, Expository, Narrative, and Cause and Effect essays can all be written in this format.
The 5 paragraph essay format is the most common essay a student can be faced with. The name is a result of the five paragraph structure: one introductory paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph. Because of the layered structure, you might have also heard this type of essay being called a hamburger essay, one three one, or a three-tier essay.
- Definition — adds a personal interpretation of the term or phrase, along with the official one paraphrased from the dictionary.
- Descriptive — adds as many details as possible to illustrate the research problem.
- Narrative — tells a story with vivid examples.
- Argumentative & persuasive — the difference between these academic projects is that the writer only has to mention and explain his or her personal position towards the analyzed problem in an argumentative essay. While in a persuasive essay, it is also important to defend your position and convince readers of your truth.
- Compare & contrast — shows the differences & similarities between several subjects.
- Cause & effect — explains the reasons for something to happen and the consequences of these actions.
- Literary analysis — picks the specific literary text like a poem or essay and evaluates/criticizes it.
What Is a 5 Paragraph Essay?
While sometimes it is enough to answer a question, in other cases, a student has to conduct in-depth research and offer more solutions to the problems discussed.
The 5 paragraph essay is considered to be the standard essay writing assignment. Once you have learned how to write it, you are prepared to tackle any other one. Keep reading the detailed guide from the EssayPro team to perfect your writing skills to the level of an experienced essay writer.
The most challenging assignment is the one written during a standardized test. The type of essay may define the topic and the thesis. It means that some essays are better off with narrow and serious topics, while other essays are better suited to students who might write creative stories full of jokes. The various types of essays include:
The format of the 5 paragraph essay is simple for the first sight. It includes traditional parts of academic papers: engaging introduction, full body, and interesting conclusion. Notice, If you change the structure, your paper will have no reason to be called ‘five-paragraph essay’.
Of course, the experience in making such papers is more useful, so there are special platforms which propose writing services. In any case, you have all in your hands. Do your best and follow all recommendations for having success.
If you know several tips about making 5 paragraph essay, you will be much more successful in this task. So use these pieces of advice, execute each step, and your paper will be awesome. This is how you should write a five-paragraph essay:
Five paragraph essay is a unique format in writing, but it also requires an outline. Such blueprint is very useful because it allows the writer to make a relevant plan and keep it the proper way.
What is a Five Paragraph Essay?
The amount of sentences is not as important, as the amount of paragraphs. But usually, each section includes 2-5 sentences, where the author should seesaw between long and short sentences. It helps to keep the rhythm of the text.
But don’t be misunderstood. No matter its size such a task requires even more efforts than a traditional essay. The point is you have to work hard on the exact sentence because each one is under the spotlight. Besides, according to its small length, the author must create a proper structure and make a lot of edits. Sometimes editing requires much more time than writing.
The key to success with 5 paragraph essay is keeping proper structure and other writing requirements. So you should use the following structure:
Writing a five paragraph essay is one of the most difficult tasks that students face. It is required to state your own opinion on a particular issue so that the scientific nature of the work is preserved. In fact, the author of the essay has to balance on the thin line between the artistic and scientific style of presentation.
In order to understand how to implement the listed requirements, look at the free examples of 5 paragraph essays.
This type of work reflects the ability to protect own thoughts and theses. It improves analytical skills and trains research skills. Developed skills are necessary for passing tests for graduate students: TOEFL, SAT, IELTS, ACT. The student should argue and sum up the conclusion in one paragraph. 5-paragraph essay implies ensuring the relevance of the topic by the student. He must support the proof, using reliable data and information.
- An introduction with a convincing thesis in the last sentence
Five Paragraph Essay Topics for Middle School
Body paragraph is ready! The same should be done with the first and second point. It should be understood that the first paragraph provides a scheme for the body paragraphs and eliminates the need to create transitions between sections.
- Writer’s name
- Title
- Publication city
- Date
- Consist of 5 sentences
The paragraphs begin with a sentence that include strong argument and proof. Each paragraph contains a separate argument, which is a reference point for the thesis. The paper should include three arguments for or against the problem under investigation. These arguments must prove the thesis.
All you need to do is to take all the points from your introduction, discussing them in a separate body paragraph. Here are the main tips you may need:
For example, if you are asked to write about racial discrimination, you can start your introduction with a strong statement like ‘Why should people with different skin color be treated worse? They have two hands and two legs, as anyone else”.
Usually students are not able to write a nice 5 paragraph essay simply because their tutors don’t provide all the necessary requirements and forget that students are not professional writers. Do you want to know whether there is a way to solve problems of homework and other tasks? Yes, there is! You can turn to a writing service and hire a professional writer, who is able to deal with all sorts of subjects and topics.
You will surely need these skills in future, especially if you decide to take tests like SAT, IELTS, TOEFL and ACT. Knowing how to write a 5 paragraph essay is a solid part of any admission process, so if you want to complete it properly, get familiar with samples online and follow our simple guidelines.
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Then you can add a hook sentence, which aims to engage the reader and make him want to learn more. Depending on the topic of your essay, its seriousness and target audience, a hook can be:
This essay is assigned to detect whether you are able to interact with the audience, support your thesis, complete a research and choose strong arguments. You should also be able to summarize data, distinguishing the most important features. Such assignment helps to improve analytical, writing and reading skills.
- Argumentative to provide arguments on a topic, taken from reliable sources
You may be surprised to know that a 5 paragraph essay consists of five paragraphs, which follow a clear structure. The first one consists of one or two sentences, a thesis statement, and three sentences, which explain what will be discussed in your essay.
- Argumentative to provide arguments on a topic, taken from reliable sources