Writing the Perfect Five Paragraph Essay

Throughout the high school and college years, the Five Paragraph Essay is an assignment you will likely familiarize yourself with. This type of essay is primarily used in History and English courses, and for some is a greater challenge than longer essays due to the limitations in content. Proving a point in strictly three body paragraphs tends to be more difficult than having an unlimited body to provide evidence. However, once you are comfortable with the composition of the essay, the assignment is greatly simplified.

1. The Introduction Paragraph

An Intro Paragraph consists of three main parts. These are the Topic, the Main Idea, and the Thesis.

Topic: The topic of an Intro does NOT refer to the specific essay subject. You should be addressing a broader idea than the Thesis. For example, if the thesis is arguing abortion, the topic could be explaining the value of life. The topic is generally stated in one of four forms: a rhetorical question, statistic, quotation, or statement. For example, a quotation for maturity could be "Chaos in the world brings uneasiness, but it also allows the opportunity for creativity and growth." A strong topic can draw a reader in, which as a writer is your primary goal.

Main Idea: A main idea is a continuation of the topic. You should aim for the main idea to be AT LEAST five sentences expanding on the original topic. A proper main idea for the quotation used above could include cliché real life examples. In this case, a possibility could be how difficult decision making encourages growth.

Thesis: This is where you state your specific argument. Let me just note that your thesis should definitely be developed BEFORE your topic. You have to know what you are arguing for, otherwise you are simply rambling. So let's say we're writing an essay for a novel, and the subject is a character's development. We would first create a thesis we can argue for, and then expand to a topic/main idea. The examples from the topic/main idea sections would fit a thesis which argues HOW the character grows. A thesis should be very specific, down to every detail. A fitting thesis would be "_______ grew out of his dependency on _______ by making his own difficult decisions." The main idea is incorporated, and a bold statement is made. The next step is backing up your bold statement in your body.

2. The Body Paragraphs

A body paragraph is much less complicated than the introductory paragraph. There are three main parts of a body paragraph, however they are very straightforward. There is a topic sentence, the evidence which backs the topic sentence, and finally the analysis which explains how the evidence relates back to the thesis. A five paragraph essay will have three of these.

Topic Sentence: This is a brief sentence to explain the subject of the following paragraph. This should be based around the evidence you are about to present.

Evidence: Your evidence is the muscle on your argument. If you present a thesis without evidence, you have no argument. This should be very concise, and relating to the thesis.

Analysis: You must explain to the reader why your evidence is significant. Not doing so will make your evidence useless. Instead of simply throwing all of the information you've got and letting your reader figure it out, you have to summarize why the evidence supports your thesis.

3. The Conclusion

This is typically the simplest part of an essay. You will present no new information; only your closing thoughts and a restatement of your thesis.

Restatement of Thesis: This is basically your thesis repeated in different words to re-illustrate your point one last time.

Closing Thoughts: This is your last chance to express the significance of your argument. State just what makes your argument so bulletproof, and why the evidence you presented makes you undeniably correct (arrogant, I know, but a good essay gives you the right to be.)

Though different educators will teach variables of the Five Paragraph Essay, the basic outline is generally the same.

Thank you for reading!