The classic five paragraph essay is an important form to be aware of, though it should be considered as only one option for writing an essay. Please remember that a clear articulation of your ideas is the primary goal in any academic essay. Learning a classic “structure” should not be seen as a crutch or formula that guarantees success every time. Writing is never that easy!
A basic essay structure is:
- Introductory paragraph
- Body Paragraphs
- Concluding section
- In many expository and argumentative essays, the introductory paragraph identifies a thesis statement (your argument. The introduction will lead into your argument by indicating the general topic of the essay and its relevance before drawing to a close with your more specific argument. (See Rules of Thumb, p. 78 for more elaborate discussion of the thesis.)
- Typically, body paragraphs offer a topic sentence that supports this thesis. Here is where creativity is illuminated. There are many rhetorical strategies to choose from such as Description, A vs. B, Narration, Cause and Effect, and Exemplification (DANCE).
- The concluding section does more than restate the thesis. Concluding paragraphs/sections draw together the discussions raised in the body paragraphs to a logical close.
Online sources that explore this classic five part essay structure are:
The Purdue Online Writing Lab’s(OWL) description of expository essays:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/02/
The Purdue Online Writing Lab’s description of argumentative essays:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/05/
Additionally, the CUNY’s Baruch College Writing Center has compiled online writing sources at a variety of campuses: http://writingcenter.baruch.cuny.edu/online-resources/writing-guides/structure-organization/
Topics on this site include:
The University of Toronto’s Writing Introductions and Conclusions
And, Dartmouth College’s Considering Structure and Organization
By reviewing these different resources is that you can see that there is a pattern to what is expected. You are not “reinventing the wheel” each time you sit down to write an essay. That is what a healthy understanding of essay structure should provide: a starting point to enable you to get information down rather than a rigid set of rules to prohibit original thought, which is ultimately, the goal of academic writing.
