Master

the

Five Paragraph Essay

​This formula is the cornerstone to effective writing. It's all you need to write a five paragraph essay. But it can also be scaled to write college papers, and even entire books. Once you master the five paragraph essay you will have unlimited writing potential. So buckle up and let's get started.

 

There are three main components to a five paragraph essay:

  • THESIS
  • Body
  • Conclusion

​The five paragraph essay is deceptively simple. Don't be fooled or intimidated. Let's unpack this beast by writing an essay about plants.

 

Step One: Construct the THESIS

 

The THESIS is the point of the essay. It's the reason you're putting pen to paper in the first place. It is a statement that you will support. Begin constructing the THESIS by making a statement:

 

Plants are neat.

 

The THESIS in a five paragraph essay will consist of a statement with three supporting facts for that statement.

 

Why are plants neat?

 

  • Plants are food
  • Plants clean the air
  • Plants look nice

You know you have an easy THESIS when you can quickly find supporting evidence. Now it's time to complete the THESIS:

 

Plants are neat because they are food, clean the air, and look nice. 
​
The THESIS is a miniture outline of the entire body of the essay. A good THESIS will make writing a five paragraph essay a breeze.

 

Step Two: Create the Outline 

Here is the outline for a five paragraph essay. Each numbered bullet point will represent a paragraph:

  1. Introduce the THESIS (statement plus three facts)
  2. First supporting fact
  3. Second supporting fact
  4. Third supporting fact
  5. Summary/Conclusion (restatement of THESIS)

Now plug our THESIS on plants into the outline:

  1. Plants are neat because they are food, clean the air, and look nice.
  2. Plants are food
  3. Plants clean the air
  4. Plants look nice
  5. Plants are neat because they are food, clean the air, and look nice.

​
If it seems a little too formulaic, a bit too mathematical and a wee tad boring that's because ... IT IS! Like building a house, the creativity comes after the framing.
​

 

Step Three: Build the Introduction Paragraph

The most basic Introduction Paragraph in a five paragraph essay will have the following:

  1. Rhetorical hook
  2. Bridge sentence
  3. THESIS

The purpose of the first paragraph is to attract the reader's attention. Rhetoric is a very effective device to capture attention and has been used for thousands of years. Common forms of rhetoric used in the first sentence of the first paragraph are an anectdotal story or a quote. Anectdotes are powerful but if you don't naturally have one, quotes are easier to produce.

 

*Writing hack*

Google "plant quotes" and find one you like. Even if you know a quote from memory, it is always smart to Google it and make sure you don't misquote or attribute a quote to the wrong person. This one will do:

 

“My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece.” - Claude Monet

 

Now introduce this quote. This is where you, the wordsmith, use your creativity. It took me two sentences to construct my rhetoric device (Claude Monet's quote):

 

The highly esteemed painter, Claude Monet, is best celebrated for his contribution to French Impressionism. And yet, reflecting on his life’s work the famous artist had this to say: “My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece.”

 

I found it intersting that a famous painter would highlight his garden over his paintings. Hopefully my readers will too!

 

Now we need to relate this quote to our THESIS with a Bridge Sentence.

 

It took some time to think about this, and I tried a few different sentences. I realized that part of why I found Monet's quote surprising is because of how little I take the time to think about just how neat plants really are.

 

 

Bridge Sentence:

So ever busy with our lives, it’s easy to take plants for granted and forget just how wonderful they are.

 

 

We already established our THESIS, so now we just need to plug it all into our introduction outline:

  1. Rhetorical Opener
  2. Bridge sentence
  3. THESIS
  1. The highly esteemed painter, Claude Monet, is best celebrated for his contribution to French Impressionism. And yet, reflecting on his life’s work the famous artist had this to say: “My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece.”
  2. So ever busy with our lives, it’s easy to take plants for granted and forget just how wonderful they are.
  3. Plants are neat because they are food, clean the air, and look nice.

Our first paragraph is done! Better news yet, the first paragraph is the hardest of the five.

 

The reason we write it first is not because it is the first paragraph that will be read. The reason we write the introduction paragraph first is because if we find it nearly impossible to write, we will quickly learn whether there is likely something wrong with our THESIS. And if our THESIS is not good, then our entire outline is not good, and there is no point in wasting time writing out the essay if we end up changing our THESIS.

 

Reminder: The THESIS drives the entire five paragraph essay.

 

 

Step Four: Construct the body

 

As previously mentioned, a five paragraph essay will have one THESIS with three supporting facts. Each supporting fact will be a paragraph. And each supporting fact will have evidence to back it up. Often these will have citations, especially if this is an academic paper.

 

The easiest way to develop the body of the essay is to make an outline:

Plants are food. (Now prove it):

  • They are abundant in nutrients
  • Eating plants are recommended by scientists and doctors
  • People who eat just plants live longer according to some scientific studies

Plants clean the air. (Now prove it):

  • Through photosynthesis plants turn carbon dioxide into oxygen
  • Without plants the air would not be breathable by most living creatures

Plants look nice. (Now prove it):

  • Claude Monet says so (another rhetoric device known as argument by authority)
  • Plants are used as decoration both by Mother Nature
  • People pay a lot of money for flowers because they look so nice

Alright. Now using a little creativity you can turn these bullet points into paragraphs:

Plants are food. They are abundant in nutrients. In fact, some scientists and doctors believe that plants are the best possible food that people can eat in order to maintain great health. Studies show that people who abstain from meat and eggs and only eat plants live longer.

 

Plants clean the air. Through the process of photosynthesis plants convert carbon dioxide from surrounding air into oxygen. Without plants there would not be enough oxygen in the air for most living creatures to survive, including people.

 

Plants look nice. Just as the prolific painter Monet alluded to, plants are beautiful. They are Mother Nature’s decorations. Plants come in every sort of shape, color and size imaginable—and many produce breathtaking flowers. In fact, the global floral industry is now a $100 billion-plus industry, illustrating the importance we place on their esthetic attributes.
​
The body of the paragraph is the hard labor, the grunt work, and now it is complete.
​

 

Step Five: Write the Summary/Conclusion

 

Hopefully the reader found the first paragraph interesting enough to read the main body of the essay. You, the writer, have fed the reader a lot of information. At this point, it is important to provide the reader with a summary to help them digest what they have just read. Also, if the purpose of the essay is to pursuade the reader to commit some sort of action, then that recommendation is a great way to close the essay.

 

Somewhere in the Summary/Conclusion Paragraph you will want to repeat the THESIS. Some people will suggest paraphrasing the THESIS, while others will prefer a more technical type of essay that simply restates the THESIS word for word.

 

In this example I chose to paraphrase the THESIS:

 

Plants are neat because you can eat them, breathe in their fresh air, and marvel at their beauty.
​

The easiest way to construct a summary of the essasy is to be conversational. Read the introduction and three body paragraphs over a few times and think best how to summarize. What is the essence of the essay. As with the Introduction Paragraph, the Summary/Conclusion Paragraph requires some creativity.

 

I realized while writing this essay is that there are many reasons why plants are neat that go beyond being food, cleaning air and looking nice. We use trees to build houses and furniture. We use cotton to make shirts and jean denims. Plants are also used as medicine. Really, plants are neat because they are so useful in general. I can't think of anything that is more useful than plants.

 

I decided that I have really taken plants for granted all of my life. So my advice for the reader (and myself) is to take time to appreciate plants.

 

Here is the Summary/Conclusion Paragraph:

 

It would be hard to think of much else that serves so many important purposes as plants do. Plants are neat because you can eat them, breathe in their fresh air, and marvel at their beauty. So next time you remember to, go find a plant and take a moment to appreciate it.  
​

 

 

Final Step: Read, Edit, Read, Edit ... & Write the Title

 

At this point you have written a five paragraph essay! The hard work is over.

​

Now you need a title. The best way to come up with a title is to read over your entire essay. While you are reading over your essay, you will likely notice misspellings, gramatical errors or sentences that do not sound or look right. As you read, edit and make your essay as perfect as you can possibly make it.

 

And while you read, edit, read, and edit, if you're fortunate a title that captures the essence of the essay will come to you. If by the end of the editing process you have not come up with a title, do not panick. Choose the most boring, neutral, simple title you can imagine. If something more clever and effective at grabbing the reader's attention comes to you, you can always change the title up until the deadline. Title's rarely make or break the essay, but you do need one.

Here are a few titles I came up with for my five paragraph essay on plants:

  • Plants are Neat (restating the THESIS)
  • Go Hug a Tree (a clever take on 'tree hugger' that summarizes my actionable advice at the end of the essay: take time to appreciate plants)
  • Plants are Neat and You Can Too! (rewording the title of a funny book I read by Stephen Colbert: "I am America and You Can Too!"

I personally prefer the second title. We're done!
​

Go Hug a Tree

 

The highly esteemed painter, Claude Monet, is best celebrated for his contribution to French Impressionism. And yet, reflecting on his life’s work the famous artist had this to say: “My garden is my most beautiful masterpiece.” So ever busy with our lives, it's easy to take plants for granted and forget just how wonderful they are.  Plants are neat because they are food, clean the air, and look nice.

 

Plants are food. They are abundant in nutrients. In fact, some scientists and doctors believe that plants are the best possible food that people can eat in order to maintain great health. Studies show that people who abstain from meat and eggs and only eat plants live longer.

 

Plants clean the air. Through the process of photosynthesis plants convert carbon dioxide from surrounding air into oxygen. Without plants there would not be enough oxygen in the air for most living creatures to survive, including people.

 

Plants look nice. Just as the prolific painter Monet alluded to, plants are beautiful. They are Mother Nature’s decorations. Plants come in every sort of shape, color and size imaginable—and many produce breathtaking flowers. In fact, the global floral industry is now a $100 billion-plus industry, illustrating the importance we place on their esthetic attributes.

 

It would be hard to think of much else that serves so many important purposes as plants do. Plants are neat because you can eat them, breathe in their fresh air, and marvel at their beauty. So next time you remember to, go find a plant and take a moment to appreciate it.  ​