Five Paragraph Essay

This kind of writing is known by a number of names, and is found in a variety of forms, but all share the same basic structure, and will be referred to here as "five-paragraph essay" for reasons which will become clear below. The five-paragraph essay is an "old-fashioned," "hierarchical," rather structured writing style, from the European traditions of logical debate and journalism. But don't let your biases fool you; it is a really useful tool for documenting alternative, experiential education as well.

Its basic thrust is that, when placing an argument, or when demonstrating or explaining a concept, the reader will understand the point better when specific examples are given in support of the main topic. In terms of Friends World education (and the Freire model) this can be seen as making the reader's learning process personally relevant. A concept that the reader can visualize specifically, in terms of his own knowledge and experience, is often easier to grasp than the same concept in simple, abstract form.

The name "five-paragraph essay" isn't totally accurate, but is true in the sense that writing of this kind generally has at least five sections of one kind or another. These sections could be sentences (within a paragraph), paragraphs (in an essay), or chapters (in a book). This is the basic idea, in outline form:

	I. Main, general point
		A. specific point
		B. specific point
		C. specific point
	II. Summary/conclusion

Needless to say, you can have any number of specific points, and you can have points-within-points, just like any outline. Here is one with sentences in it, instead of blank phrases like the one above:

    I. Friends World offers a unique education, for a number of 
       reasons.
        A. Its learning emphasizes the experiential.
        B. Its mission statement emphasizes social awareness and 
           action.
        C. Its governance tries to include as many people as possible, 
           through
            1. student representatives
            2. community meetings
            3. world conferences.
        D. Through a system of Centers in various countries, it gives 
           a global focus to education.
    II. Although some of these qualities are found individually in 
        other schools, Friends World is the only college program which 
        combines them all.

It is not too hard to imagine each line expanded into a paragraph of its own, with even more specific discussions and examples. This process is the simplest way of transforming an organized set of ideas like an outline into a piece of readable prose.

It is also possible to construct an essay by working from the bottom up, that is, to with the specifics and using the relationships between them to make a central point. For example, you could pick several specific experiences from an Area Studies segment and make them into the A-B-C points of the essay.

    I.  Group field trip to Mongolia (theme: past vs. present)
        A. visit to Ulan Baatar: third-world urban issues
        B. visit to birthplace of Genghis Khan:  influence of his empire 
            on world history
        C. Lamaist monastery: role of religion in rural life, shamanist 
            links between past and present, suppression under Stalinist 
            rule.
	D.....etc.
    II. New perspectives on the people and the nation gained by looking at
        sites from a historical perspective.

It it sometimes easier to create a progressive flow between ideas when you base them on things that you actually did or saw. The chronological connection becomes the basis for (but is not the same as) a conceptual one.

Another basis for a "bottom-up" essay could be to ask yourself a set of questions that reflects what you've learned. As before, the answers to these questions can become the paragraphs of your essay.

So a list like:

What are the causes of the decline of the Scottish Gaelic language?
What are the spiritual links to language and music in Scotland?
What commonalities are there between Scottish Gaelic language and Scottish Gaelic music?

becomes:

    I. Spirituality in the history of Scottish language and music
        A. Causes of the decline of the Scottish Gaelic language
            1. suppression by old Scottish monarchy
            2. suppression by England, esp. after 1745
            3. socioeconomics, young people leaving communities
        B. Spiritual links to language and music
            1. church helped to keep language alive
            2. Gaelic-speaking monks coverted much of Northern 
               Europe to Christianity
            3. suppression of music and dance by various branches of
               Scottish Church
            4. Gaelic hymn chanting; possibly related to North
               African Christian styles
            5. links in oldest songs to bird-worship; druidism
        C. Language and Music: common ground
            1. rhythmic similarities in some cases
            2. history of suppression
            3. various spiritual links
            4. modern revival movements, politicized
    II. Conclusions

Although you could also use questions from your advisor, a book, or some other source, answering your own questions will bring an element of personal relevance into the essay, because the questions you answer will be those that you feel are important enough to ask.

For exploratory, broad research and learning, this "bottom-up" type of essay (where the main point is derived from the specifics) is useful. More traditionally, essays set out to determine the truth of a particular premise, and the specifics are derived from the main point (as with the "FW is unique" essay above).

Workshop Discussion Sparks

The role of prose essay writing as the dominant style in academic writing
Strengths and weaknesses of this kind of writing

Inspired and Creative

Work out ways of combining essay writing with other, perhaps more innovative forms.

Rigorous Training

Start simple. Make "five-sentence paragraphs" before setting out on a "five-paragraph essay."

AAAAAGGGHHHH!

If the problem is organization, have a look at the outlining section, remembering that other ways of thinking are also important in prose writing (see PARAGRAPH FLOW (D.1.b), INTEGRATION (C.5), and BUBBLE NETWORKS (G.2)).
One problem that a lot of us have with this format is that it was stuffed down our throats for much of our lives, to the extent that a lot of students have very negative feelings towards it. You may just decide to concentrate on other forms of documentation. But since this, after all, a really effective way to get a point across, you might try it anyway. Set up some kind of situation where there is no pressure on you. Maybe only show it to people you really trust, or whatever.

See Also

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