Five Paragraph Essay

The faster I write the better my output. If I'm going slow I'm in trouble. It means I'm pushing

the words instead of being pulled by them. ~Raymond Chandler

Introduction

Attention Grabber (Hook)

General Background

Summarize your points

Thesis

Strong Openings

Simon Glass was easy to hate. I never knew exactly why, there was too much to pick from. I guess, really, we each hated him a different reason, but we didn’t realize it until the day we killed him.

~Opening paragraph from Shattering Glass by Gail Giles

Why worry about openings?

Remember, it’s the appetizer course.You want your reader to be engaged. If the reader is not interested, they

won’t want to hear what you have to say.

Technique Number One

Descriptions of personal experience or use of anecdote or narrative

Make sure you allow the reader to identify with you and your story

You may refer to the story throughout the essay to provide examples

Keep them relatively short

As I walked down the street, a guy with pink hair and three nose rings asked me if I knew about the alien convention downtown…

Technique Number Two

Interesting fact, statistics, or quotation They intrigue the reader as well as introduce your

topic

The person next to you has twenty-three forms of bacteria on his or her skin.

Children that watch three or more hours of television a day are four times as likely to become obese, diabetic, or suffer a heart attack as an adult.

Technique Number Three

Open with a striking assertion The sentence is so “out-there” that the reader has

to finish the essay so that he or she can figure out what the writer is talking about

John Milton, Beethoven, and Socrates were all failures.

I have decided that I do not really have to pay attention in class.

Technique Number Four

A provocative question Make sure the question is thought-provoking Make sure you answer the question effectively Do not run a string of unanswerable questions

together (the reader will expect you to answer all of them)

When writing questions, watch your point of view – do not switch to 2nd person.

Technique Number Five

Use a rhetorical or literary device Analogy Allusion Paradox Figures of speech (simile, metaphor) Etc.

If I had to give my life a title, Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest comes to mind.

(allusion)

A few things to consider about your thesis… The summary may be before your thesis or

you may include it within your thesis. Thesis:

A + B = C Topic + impression/attitude = thesis This is the controlling idea to which everything

else in the essay should support.

Five hundred years ago, talented writers were encouraged to imitate the works of others – now such imitation invites public disgrace, professional ostracism, and lawsuits.

Supporting your thesis:The Body Paragraphs

The main course! Use examples

Make sure your examples are specific Make certain that you are explaining how your

examples support your thesis Show, don’t tell! Only use information/examples that support your

thesis Use topic sentences to introduce each topic of the

paragraphs Use transitions in your topic sentences to link your

paragraphs and examples together Use clinchers to wrap up each paragraph

(summarize) – do not transition in the clinchers!

Thoughtful Closings

This is the fifth and final paragraph, therefore the most important!

It’s the dessert portion of the essay Do not introduce new information – stay

focused

Conclusion

Restated thesis

(different words,

but the same

impression)

Summarize main points

General statement that reflects insight