The Five Paragraph Essay

1
The Five Paragraph Essay
2
Overview

• Five paragraphs
• Paragraph 1 Introduction
• Paragraphs 2,3,4 Body Paragraphs
• Paragraph 5 Conclusion

3
Introduction

• Three sentences
• Sentence 1 General statement about the topic of
  your essay or the work you are discussing
• Sentence 2 Statement that relates to sentence 1
  and mentions title and author
• Sentence 3 Thesis statement

4
Thesis Statement

• Your answer to the question posed
• Your opinion stated as fact (no I)
• Contains three points, one for each body paragraph

5
Body Paragraph 1

• Topic Sentence contains point number one from
  your thesis
• Lead-in and quote give concrete evidence to
  support your topic sentence
• Commentary Statements (2) explain how that quote
  proves your topic sentence
• Conclusion summarizes, makes final point

6
Body Paragraph 2

• Transitional phrase connects this paragraph to
  previous paragraph
• Topic sentence includes transitional phrase and
  indicates point number two from your thesis
• Paragraph continues with quote, commentary, and
  conclusion

7
Body Paragraph 3

• Same as body paragraph 2
• Uses point number three from your thesis

8
Conclusion

• First sentence restates your thesis (try to put
  it in different words)
• Sentence 2 summarizes body paragraph 1
• Sentence 3 summarizes body paragraph 2
• Sentence 4 summarizes body paragraph 3
• Sentence 5 is a general statement that summarizes
  entire essay

9
Dos and Donts

• Always use present tense
• Never use contractions
• Always use third person
• Use the proper term for the literary work you are
  discussing
• Never use slang or conversational language