Five Paragraph Essays: A Blessing or a Curse
I 'd like to say that my style as a writer has come a long way. However I would not argue I still may have much farther to go as well. My Sophomore year of high school was the golden year for five paragraph essays, what I mean is I was constantly writing essays in a five paragraph format, and looking back on I see that as a blessing as well as a curse. It was a gift because to write a five paragraph essay became extremely easy for me. Yet, it was a cure because to write in any other form became much more difficult. So, it comes as no surprise that my two rhetorical analysis papers were originally written in five paragraph essay form. Also, I was never a fan of revising, so when it came to making changes I either did the bare minimum or made no changes at all. However, this time around I made very drastic changes to both Paper one and Paper two. Within this reflection I would like to discuss how this literary condition limited my writing for both my first and second papers. I would also like to discuss the changes I made to both papers to break free from the chains of 5 paragraphs.
First of all, for Paper one I had a lot of ideas I wanted to discuss. However I struggled with how to organize these ideas, and so I resorted back to my security blanket of five paragraphs. For instance, when I first wrote Paper one I had four different rhetorical topics I wanted to discuss, kairos, present tense language, intrinsic proofs, and extrinsic proofs, but I limited myself to only three body paragraphs, forcing me to combine intrinsic and extrinsic proofs into one paragraph. This also limited the amount of detail I could provide for each idea. During the revising process I attempted to keep the st...
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...in Paper one, I changed the arrangement of my paragraphs as well to have my newly organized ideas flow more seamlessly. Overall I feel the changes I made strengthened my Paper as a whole.
In conclusion, I am glad that I took the time to revise my papers. I was stuck in a five paragraph essay mindset and I feel it really hurt the overall outcome of my Papers. I also don 't think I would have realized this issue if I hadn 't gone back into each paper and attempted to make changes. I believe the restructuring of my papers, and the additional information and analysis I was able to put in because of the new and improved structure, made my papers stronger and more organized. So, as I stated early, the five paragraph essay form is a blessing and curse; a curse because I can easily get stuck in one way of writing, but a blessing because it gives me a good place to start.
In an excerpt of Unteaching the Five-Paragraph Essay," Marie Foley reveals how the Five-Paragraph Essay formula contradicts writing instructor's most basic goals. Foley shows that the formula deters from generating individual thinking. In today's society, essays are used by millions of people in order to express their different ideas. The Five-Paragraph Essay formula was originally developed to help retain the efficiency and clarity of the essay. Foley, however, believes that this process eventually separates the student from his or her written expression and should be used only as a first step tool for beginning student writers. Foley insists that the formula blocks discovery, squelches authenticity and undermines the reader's need for coherence. Foley shows that patterns of organization and more natural thinking can benefit the student.
“Unteaching the Five Paragraph Essay” by Marie Foley demonstrates how a five paragraph essay formula disturbs the thought process of the students and limits what they can write. A five paragraph essay is an introduction with the main idea, with three supporting topics showing the relationship to the main idea, and a conclusion summarizing the entire essay. Foley argues that this formula forces students to fill in the blank and meet a certain a word limit. She noted that this formula was intended for teachers in the education system to teach an overcrowded class how to write. While it is beneficial for the first-time students learning how to write. In the long run, this standard destroys any free style writing, new connections between a topic,
The five-paragraph essay is perhaps the only kind of essay many students hear about. Argumentative essays, research papers, and even book reports have a tendency to fall into that formula strictly and allow for little flexibility. This can be a tedious and boring process, as John Warner’s fervent argument insists. However, Kerri Smith demonstrates a stronger argument with her defense of the five-paragraph essay by emphasizing throughout that it is simply a building block for more elaborate essays and by using credible influencers that prove her point effectively.
In English 1102, I was exposed to a variety of different genres, including, argumentative research paper, an annotated bibliography, an analytical paper, and a workplace specific piece. Entering this class the majority of papers I had written were all analytical, and in this class we went above and beyond the basic 5 paragraph essay. Though each paper had a different genre and style, I learned that each project was similar in composition.
However, though John Warner’s argument is strong, Kerri smith’s argument is stronger. In Kerri Smith’s article “In Defense of the Five-Paragraph Essay,” She claims that the five-paragraph essay should stay taught in schools as a guideline for a well-structured essay. She explains the five-paragraph essay as an “introduce-develop-conclude structure” that even great expository writing follows this structure (Smith 16). She purposefully communicates to her audience this idea to show that this structure gives students the knowledge and capability to write a professional essay. The five-paragraph essay includes the three key points to have a well-structured and organized essay. By mentioning that other great writers use this form of structure, she creates a stronger argument as to why the five-paragraph essay is important to education. She continues her article by explaining her early stages of writing and how she was taught; over time, her teachers would show her new ways to improve her writing which, in the end, she was told to think “of those five paragraphs simply as a mode of organization” (Smith
Essays are not just the standard five paragraphs and then done style that was taught to students in grade school. The article “The Sixth Paragraph: A Re-Vision of the Essay” by Paul Lynch, explains quiet well how essays are typically taught and why. It is basically because it is easy to grade and even easier to write. Even when talking about writing or giving an example to a person it’s quite typical to start using the five paragraph format. While writing the standard essay the guidelines are quite specific. BE precise, stick to the topic, and stay impersonal. However, the author states that this made her realize that essays can be confining instead of teaching. So instead the author decided to listen to her students and quit focusing on the
I have always had troubles writing the introduction of papers. The introduction is the base and sets the mood of the whole paper. I believe it is the most important paragraph in the paper. But once I develop the introductory paragraph, I find the rest of the paper easier to write. In order for me to better myself in writing introductory paragraphs, I just have to get more in touch with my creative side. After the rough draft, the students of the class would bring their papers to the course and would get into groups to peer review the papers. This would helpful to receive the views of our peers to help edit our assignment. After the peer review of the rough draft, the next step of the writing process was the revision. The revision was when we take the information and opinions from the groups and corporate them into our papers. Also, for the revision, you would offer work days for you to proof read our paper before we had to type our final copy. This was extremely beneficial for us to get your opinion on our paper d...
We would do research on a subject or a person, and write about them. We, once again, were not allowed to be unique in our writing or think creatively or critically. This is the time when I was taught the five paragraph essay. As stated in Gray’s article, the five paragraph essay is detrimental to students’ writing. This format for writing is damaging because it doesn’t allow students to express their own ideas about a topic. It does not allow for any creativity or uniqueness in a paper. In tenth grade, I wrote many papers for my English class, but I never once got an A on them. I was led to believe that my writing was weak because I could not relate to what I was writing about. I did not have any emotional connection to the research papers I had to write, and it made it harder for me to write them. I had grown up not being allowed to think critically, and therefore, my papers in high school lacked creativity and deeper
I found that I needed to completely re-do my paper. The thesis in the rough draft was unclear, thus, I wrote a clearer more concise thesis. The rough draft I completed seemed to be all over the place, and nowhere pacific. I needed to make the changes in my commentary essay, because the draft was rushed, full of grammar errors, and not clear to the reader. Sometimes, as a writer, you have to keep going back to the drawing board. I had a bit of difficulty with this particular essay, however, with the revisions in place, I feel more confident.
In the beginning of the year I was not a strong writer; the first three essays we wrote I consecutively received a 4,5--, and 3 on the AP scale. The main reason why I scored low on all of these essays is mainly due to the fact that I needed to use a deeper thought process as well as eliminate the use of any absolutes I was using. Rhetorical analysis is the place where I have excelled the most because I
In the beginning of English 101 I was what you call a novice writer a person who only wrote what they felt was required. However, certain techniques that I learned in English 101 made me realize that writing was not about filling requirements; it’s about speaking out, exploring and proving a point. “Writing is an exploration. You start from nothing and learn as you go.” (Trimble, 17) In John Trimble’s quote he tries to point out that writing is something that you grow with and learn as you go along. I believe this growth was achieved with a technique that was introduced to me by my professor called repetitive revision. What I found out was that revision of your essays helps in recognizing your mistakes and enhances the flow of your essays. By providing me...
Recently, I have been writing quite a few essays and papers throughout my college experience. This entails, but not limited to, English, History, and Economics. My style of writing and methods have generally remained the same throughout the process. In this assignment, I will be discussing how I prepare to start a paper, what my thoughts are through the process, and my strengths and weaknesses of what my final drafts look like.
Writing is an excellent practice because the benefits gained are essential to an individual’s success in a job, or just conveying their ideas through words. Within the semester we have written three major papers, and have rewritten two of those papers. In each paper I discovered new ways to get information, and have gained more experience in sculpting a paper. Obtaining this new knowledge of how to present my ideas in different writing styles will help me expand my range in how I can write, and essentially allow me to be better prepared for upcoming jobs following my college education. I can safely say that with the papers from this semester and their mistakes that dealt with minor grammar errors, awkward sentence structures, and oversimplifying
It was a task that took a significant amount of time and effort, but was truly an excellent learning experience. I found it intriguing how much the original essay can improve or modify over time; moreover, how different ideas flow through your brain each second. The revision of my essays taught me an enormous deal about writing and was genuinely pleasurable to do.
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