How to Teach Writing Five Paragraph Essays
The five-paragraph essay is the most basic form of essay writing. This method of writing essays is typically taught in high school and first-year college writing classes. The five-paragraph essay consists of one introduction paragraph, three body paragraphs and one conclusion paragraph. Each part of the essay has its own specific guidelines, and it is vital that students understand these parts before they start writing.
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Instructions
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Paragraph 1: Introduction
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Focus on explaining to students that the job of the introduction is to hook the reader and make her want to read more.
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Discuss types of “hooks” with your students, including quotes, important statistics or facts, or anecdotes, among others.
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Tell students to provide basic background information about the subject in the introduction.
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Discuss thesis statements. The thesis should be one sentence of the introduction – most often the last sentence. Make sure that students understand that they need to have a strong thesis before writing the essay and that all essays need a clear thesis statement. The thesis should tell the reader exactly what the essay will discuss.
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Show your students lots of examples of successful and unsuccessful introductions and thesis statements. This will help them see what they should and should not do.
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Set up a workshop day where students bring in just the introduction for an essay that they plan to write. Have students evaluate one another’s introductions and provide feedback. This will help students get on track early on in writing an essay.
Paragraphs 2, 3 & 4: Body
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Remind students that the body is the heart of an essay. It is where students provide support for the thesis statement and the bulk of their information.
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Discuss paragraph length and other logistics. Paragraphs should be about 4-6 sentences, give or take a sentence. Each paragraph should discuss only one main idea.
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Discuss keeping the body focused on the thesis statement. Students can sometimes get lost in the body of an essay, particularly if they have a weak thesis. Make sure that students understand that every word of the body should directly relate to the thesis.
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Help students learn to stay focused in the body by explaining the importance of having a topic sentence in each body paragraph. A topic sentence is sort of like a mini thesis for each body paragraph that is directly derived from the thesis. Topic sentences typically focus on just one aspect of the thesis and help keep the body paragraph focused on just one main idea.
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Bring examples of thesis statements and body paragraphs. Have students discuss whether or not the body effectively supports the thesis. This will likely generate lots of class discussion.
Paragraph 5: Conclusion
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Discuss the importance of not introducing any new information in the conclusion. Help students understand that the conclusion is the end of the essay, so the reader should not be left hanging.
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Focus on the purpose of the conclusion: to sum up the essay’s main points and to leave the audience with a parting word.
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Remind your students that the thesis statement should be restated in the conclusion. It does not have to be restated word-for-word, but it should be there in some form.
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Tips & Warnings
Set up several workshop days to help students with all aspects of essay writing. Have students bring in various parts of the essay and then the entire essay when they are finished. Put students in groups and have them evaluate one another’s essays.
Offer as much help as you can to students who are just learning to write essays. Knowing how to write an effective essay is highly important because they will have to do it beyond first-year writing courses.
