Your essay should start with an introductory paragraph. There are actually many different ways to begin an essay; therefore, the format of the introductory paragraph is flexible. Often, essays begin with a general introductory statement. This statement could be an anecdote, description, striking statistic, a fact that will lead to your thesis, etc. Beginning this way, you will use the first few sentences to prepare, or "lay the groundwork" for your thesis, and use the last sentence of the first paragraph to present your thesis. However, your thesis statement can be anywhere in your introduction. In a longer essay, you can even wait to present your thesis until the second paragraph or later. Also for a longer essay, you should begin to introduce a few supporting ideas in the first couple of paragraphs. These supporting ideas should be the topics that you will discuss in full in your body paragraphs. For a short essay, presenting supporting ideas during the introduction is optional.
Your second paragraph generally begins the body of the paper. (For a longer paper, the body of the paper may not begin until the third paragraph or later). This paragraph should begin with a topic sentence that introduces the first supporting idea (the support for your thesis). You should use the middle of the paragraph to discuss your support, give examples, and analyze the significance of these examples. Your last sentence of the body paragraph could be used to draw a conclusion for that supporting idea, or to transition into the next paragraph.
Your next two body paragraphs should follow the same format as your first body paragraph. They should each have a separate topic sentence and supporting ideas, but the three paragraphs should work together to prove your thesis. If you are writing a longer paper, you will have more than three body paragraphs, but they should all follow this format.
The form of your conclusion, like your introduction, is flexible. One good way to conclude a paper is to begin the last paragraph with a statement that reflects on what has been stated and proved, without repeating it exactly. Then you should briefly restate your key points to gently remind the reader how well you proved your thesis. Your conclusion should end with a statement or idea that leaves a strong impression and provokes further thought.Five Paragraph Essay Sample
The Hazards of Moviegoing
By John Langan
From College Writing Skills with
| Introductory paragraph (Thesis) | I am a movie fanatic. When friends want to know what picture won the Oscar in 1980 or who played the police chief in Jaws, they ask me. My friends, though, have stopped asking me if I want to go out to the movies. The problems in getting to the theater, the theater itself, and the behavior of some patrons are all reasons why I often wait for a movie to show up on TV. |
| First supporting paragraph | First of all, just getting to the theater presents difficulties. Leaving a home equipped with a TV and a video recorder isn't an attractive idea on a humid, cold, or rainy night. Even if the weather cooperates, there is still a thirty-minute drive to the theater down a congested highway, followed by the hassle of looking for a parking space. And then there are the lines. After hooking yourself to the end of a human chain, you worry about whether there will be enough tickets, whether you will get seats together, and whether many people will sneak into the line ahead of you. |
| Second supporting paragraph | Once you have made it to the box office and gotten your tickets, you are confronted with the problems of the theater itself. If you are in one of the run-down older theaters, you must adjust to the musty smell of seldom-cleaned carpets. Escaped springs lurk in the faded plush or cracked leather seats, and half the seats you sit in seem loose or tilted so that you sit at a strange angle. The newer twin and quad theaters offer their own problems. Sitting in an area only one-quarter the size of a regular theater, moviegoers often have to put up with the sound of the movie next door. This is especially jarring when the other movie involves racing cars or a karate war and you are trying to enjoy a quiet love story. And whether the theater is old or new, it will have floors that seem to be coated with rubber cement. By the end of a movie, shoes almost have to be pried off the floor because they have become sealed to a deadly compound of spilled soda, hardening bubble gum, and crushed Ju-Jubes. |
| Third supporting paragraph | Some of the patrons are even more of a problem than the theater itself. Little kids race up and down the aisles, usually in giggling packs. Teenagers try to impress their friends by talking back to the screen, whistling, and making what they consider to be hilarious noises. Adults act as if they were at home in their own living rooms and comment loudly on the ages of the stars or why movies aren't as good anymore. And people of all ages crinkle candy wrappers, stick gum on their seats, and drop popcorn tubs or cups of crushed ice and soda on the floor. They also cough and burp, squirm endlessly in their seats, file out for repeated trips to the rest rooms or concession stand, and elbow you out of the armrest on either side of your seat. |
| Concluding paragraph | After arriving home from the movies one night, I decided that I was not going to be a moviegoer anymore. I was tired of the problems involved in getting to the movies and dealing with the theater itself and some of the patrons. The next day I arranged to have cable TV service installed in my home. I may now see movies a bit later than other people, but I'll be more relaxed watching box office hits in the comfort of my own living room. |
Outline for a Five-Paragraph Essay
| Title: ____________________
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Sample Outline for a Five-Paragraph Essay
This is in relation to "The Hazards of Movie going"
| Title: The Hazards of Moviegoing
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To define the essay briefly, one can say that it is a piece of writing usually short (3 to 10 pages), written in prose, and that may be on any subject. The essay is generally based on other people's statements. In the essay you can include your personal opinion, and some examples to illustrate your point of view. It is written about one topic, just as a paragraph is. However, the topic of an essay is too long and too complex to discuss it in one paragraph. Therefore, you must divide the topic into several paragraphs, one for each major point. In general, essays have three basic parts: introduction, body and conclusion.
- The Introduction
It is the first section of your essay. This makes it extremely important, because first impressions are often lasting ones. It consists of two parts: a few general statements about your subject to attract your reader's attention, and a thesis statement, that states the specific subdivisions of your topic and/or the "plan" of your paper. The introduction then, begins with remarks to interest people. As it progresses, it should present general ideas or facts to orient the reader. Then, it will narrow its focus, and move from general to specific facts smoothly and logically.
- The body Paragraphs
They are the longest section of you essay. In a short essay there are usually three body paragraphs, each one considering in detail one aspect of the essay's controlling idea. This is called a three-point essay. At the beginning of each of your support paragraphs, there is a topic sentence that tells what the rest of your text is going to be about. This sentence should direct your readers back to the controlling idea and indicate which aspect of it you are going to discuss. Once you present your topic, you need details and facts to support it. It is not enough to state your position; your reader needs to be convinced that your point of view is valid an accurate. There is not any rule that determines how long a body paragraph should be. The more relevant detail you can bring in to support each of your topic sentence, the clearer your points will be.
- The Conclusion
The ideas in this part must be consistent with the rest of your essay. In it, you should restate the controlling idea. This restatement is usually more effective when it is located at the beginning of the conclusion. It reminds your public about the major points you were trying to make, and it indicates your essay is about to end. Many writers like to end their conclusion with a final emphatic sentence. This strong closing statement will make your readers think about the implications of what you wrote. You do not introduce your points in your conclusion.
www.exampleessays.com www.lotsofessays.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJg138YlwvA&feature=fv "Essay" lecture: http://share.gogo.mn/35237611226676783
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