The Five-Paragraph Essay

copyright 2008 by Gary L. Pullman

Many high schools and colleges teach students to write a five-paragraph essay in which:

1. an introductory paragraph (a) captures the reader's interest, (b) introduces the essay's topic, and (c) ends with a thesis sentence that contains a three-point plan of development;
2. body paragraph 1 (a) starts with a topic sentence based upon the first point in the thesis and (b) uses specific details to support and develop the topic sentence;
3. body paragraph 2 (a) starts with a topic sentence based upon the second point in the thesis and (b) uses specific details to support and develop the topic sentence;
4. body paragraph 3 (a) starts with a topic sentence based upon the third point in the thesis and (b) uses specific details to support and develop the topic sentence;
5. and ends with a concluding paragraph that (a) restates the thesis sentence in words other than those in which the thesis was stated originally (in the introductory paragraph) and (b) provides an appropriate closure to the essay.

Essays Made Easy uses this three-point thesis, five-paragraph essay format, because it helps to organize the writer's thoughts and provides a clear-cut, effective way of supporting and developing the writer's ideas.

In our next post, we will consider a sample essay that follows this format.

Essays Made Easy: Mission Statement

copyright 2008 by Gary L. Pullman

The title of this blog expresses its purpose. Essays Made Easy is designed to take the frustration, annoyance, pain, and suffering out of writing high school and college essays. No, we won't write the essays for you. Instead, we will do something much better. We will teach you how to write essays yourself, using simple, but effective, principles, patterns, and templates that guide you through the writing process. Essays Made Easy is short on theory, but it is long on technique and practice. We will use simple, time-tested approaches to writing that literally walk writers through the writing process (prewriting, or planning; writing; and revising). Links to related posts on such matters as grammar, spelling, punctuation, usage, and style will supplement the main posts concerning rhetoric and composition. From the moment you start using Essays Made Easy, essay writing will get easier. The more you use Essays Made Easy, the easier and easier writing essays will become. Ultimately, our goal is to make Essays Made Easy obsolete--at least, as far as you are concerned. If you've just found us, come back often, because we're just starting Essays Made Easy, and we will be adding helpful new instruction frequently.