Five-Paragraph Essay Structure Lessons
The five-paragraph essay structure is a well-established style of composition in high school English curriculum. Consisting of an introduction, a conclusion, and three body paragraphs, the five-paragraph essay is often the first essay style that high school students are exposed to. For that reason, when teaching the five-paragraph essay style, it is important to go over the basics of essay style, structure and content.
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Introduction
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The most important aspect of the five-paragraph essay, is basic essay structure. All proper essays have an introduction, body, and conclusion. When introducing five-paragraph essays, emphasize the importance of background information and the thesis statement. Background information makes the topic clear, while the thesis statement presents a clearly stated argument pertaining to the topic.
Supporting Paragraphs
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Five-paragraph essays have three supporting paragraphs. This is one feature that is more or less unique to this style of essay. While other essay and paper styles are relatively flexible in their number of paragraphs, five-paragraph essays always contain exactly three. The reason for this is that five-paragraph essays are meant to develop an argument in very few words, and having three argumentative paragraphs helps fulfill that requirement. When teaching about supporting paragraphs, explain that each paragraph must develop some aspect of the paper`s thesis statement.
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Conclusion
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The conclusion to a five-paragraph essay should summarize the essay`s main arguments and restate the thesis statement. Unlike an introduction, a concluding paragraph breaks the thesis down into components and deals with each point individually. When teaching about conclusions, explain the importance of summarizing and paraphrasing arguments, so that students do not merely regurgitate their introduction paragraph as a conclusion.
Thesis and Support
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Explain the point of thesis statements. A thesis statement provides the main argument of the essay clearly and concisely, while the supporting paragraphs each deal with one point from the thesis statement in a more robust way. In turn, each sentence in the supporting paragraphs should develop the topic sentence of the paragraph. This structure of thesis and support is the essence of essay structure, and students should understand it well.
Argumentation
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Argumentation is the use of logic and evidence to defend an assertion. Students use argumentation in their supporting paragraphs, to properly defend the assertion in their thesis statements. For every claim a student makes, he backs his words up with a) an example or piece of evidence and b) a logical explanation of how the example provides support for assertion.
Language
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Language, in this context, refers to conventions of spelling, grammar, unity, coherence and style. Give at least one lesson on writing style, covering the basics of grammar and style. Five-paragraph essays are concise, informative and to the point. Make sure students understand this, and do not mistake essay writing for free-form explanation.
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References
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