How to Write a Five-Paragraph-Long Essay
When you're first learning how to write essays, you may wonder about the value of knowing how to write a basic five-paragraph essay. In actuality, forming a thesis, supporting it with evidence and summing up your thoughts at the end is a skill you'll use throughout your life, if not literally on paper. You will use it in shorter forms during job interviews, in pitching ideas to clients and even in constructive arguments with your significant other.
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Instructions
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Form a solid introduction as your first paragraph. Try to think of something catchy that draws in your audience. You can quote a famous text or movie, or ask the reader a direct question that makes him think. End this first paragraph with your thesis. Basically, a thesis declares the subject for the entire essay and is the statement you will support in the next several paragraphs.
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Support with your initial piece of evidence in the first paragraph. Think about this (and the following) defending paragraphs as a mini-essay in themselves. Begin with a transitional sentence and support it with two to three more sentences. For example, if you're defending why art should be kept in schools, your first point could be that it promotes creativity, and creativity leads to getting better jobs when you're older. Conclude your first paragraph with a sentence that sums up this starting point.
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Continue to support your thesis with a second example. Carrying on with the theme of defending art classes in school, your next point could be that it's a stress-reliever for students. Begin this paragraph with a transitional sentence from your first paragraph, and then explain how artistic endeavors alleviate stress. Follow up with a statement that ties all of these points together.
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Finish your supporting paragraphs with a third piece of evidence. Let's assume your third defense for keeping art in school is that it provides more jobs to teachers. Flow your second supportive paragraph into the third by providing a statement mentioning both, such as "No one feels stress more than a teacher out of work." Wrap up this third point by illustrating how it thoroughly supports the intention of your thesis.
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Sum up all of your defenses in a concluding paragraph. The conclusion is your chance to shine and sell everything you were trying to emphasize throughout your entire essay. Begin again with a transitional sentence and then restate the three points you made in your paragraphs. Make sure you vary your sentence structure, however, so it doesn't sound like you're just repeating yourself. Finish up with a final statement that ties everything together.
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Tips & Warnings
Make an outline of your ideas to help get you started.
Some teachers teach that the "thesis" can appear anywhere in a paragraph. While this is true, most students will find that warning distracting. Take it from an educator: the 5-paragraph essay is a mechanical device. You want to have fun with mechanical devices? Play video games. Keep the 5-paragraph essay simple.
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