Every essay obviously has an introduction and a conclusion. When you look at the middle you’ll find a number of paragraphs.



When students first essays learn to write, they’re often taught some type of the “five paragraph essay.” The five paragraph essay typically makes three related points, each featuring its own body paragraph. Although this type or form of rigid essay structure can be helpful for very first time writers, it easily becomes predictable and boring. That’s why we’d like to present a model that is different of writing. About this page we provide some advice that is general how you can craft essays that are organic and natural. While structure is very important, we provide guidelines which can be flexible and fit the bill.

Basic Parts

What’s important is that there’s no set rule as to how many paragraphs you can use for just about any area of your essay. In a long essay, your introduction might take up two or three paragraphs. In a essay that is shorte.g., 3-4 pages) it’s a good idea to help keep your intro and conclusion sweet and short. You can also have as many middle paragraphs as you love.

Easily put, as long as you introduce your topic, argue your case persuasively, and offer some closure, how many paragraphs is wholly irrelevant.

In fact, writing an essay is a little like crossing a stream. Think about the paragraphs because the stepping stones that let you arrive at one other side high and dry:

In the event that stream is wide, you’ll need more stepping stones. The same is true for an essay: the longer the essay, the greater amount of paragraphs need that is you’ll.


Don’t overthink your introduction. There’s no need to cram all kinds of things to your introduction. Just introduce the topic and your argument:

A quotation or surprising fact), assume that your topic is interesting enough to grab your reader’s attention in other words, instead of coming up with some artificial hook ( e.g. Focus your effort on explaining the research question or problem that drives your quest. Exactly why is your topic significant? Why should people care? In the event that you answer the “why?” question, your reader shall care enough to keep reading.

The thesis is a statement that is succinct of overall argument. It will come in the end for the introduction. You have more flexibility where you place the thesis if you introduction is multiple paragraphs long.

Some teachers advice their students to generate three points for their thesis. That is generally a idea that is terrible. What invariably eventually ends up happening is you wind up writing three mini-essays that are only loosely connected.

That you come up with ONE coherent argument that ties together everything in your essay while you can have sub-points, the most important thing is.

If it requires you a couple of sentences to totally express your argument that’s no issue: a thesis doesn’t need to be only one sentence long.

Body Paragraphs

The middle paragraphs form the body of one’s essay. These paragraphs are a little like vases: they keep the contents of one’s essay, plus they are available all sizes and shapes:

Like vases, paragraphs tend to be more narrow at the center. That’s where you’ll find the specifics associated with argument, the quotations and also the facts.

The end and beginning of a paragraph are often more general in scope. The opening sentence (the sentence that is topic indicates what the paragraph is mostly about. In addition it connects the paragraph from what came before.

The trick with writing paragraphs is always to remind your reader associated with argument that is general. However, there’s no have to conclude every paragraph with a directory of what came before. Just be sure you paragraphs transition nicely from a single to another location.

Lastly, each paragraph should make just one single point. If it’s just a different aspect of the same point, start a new paragraph if you’re starting to say something new, even!

The problem with conclusions is avoiding repetition that is needless. Don’t let your reader zone out whenever you zoom out.

Try to explain why your findings matter. Point out those nuances and complexities that your thesis only hinted at, but that can now be fully understood. Provide observations that maintain your conclusion interesting and fresh.

Now you involve some basic idea about how to structure your essay, take time to study our more in-depth lessons in the various parts of the essay (introductions, paragraphs, conclusions). And, if you’re still not convinced that the five paragraph essay is typically a bad idea, have a look at John Warner’s book Why They Can’t Write: Killing the Five-Paragraph Essay along with other Necessities, or read his blog post about the subject.

Thank you with this resource that is outstanding which includes helped my community college writing students making use of their coursework. I do have a comment about the five-paragraph essay (5PE).

I wish to suggest that this format should not be written off automatically. The 5PE can act as “training wheels” for many writers that are hesitantand certainly for students in developmental writing courses present in many community colleges). The formulaic nature for this structure that is rigid help some writers understand both the function of necessary essay elements as well as the intent behind organization on paper projects.

In addition, the 5PE may also offer some students a format from which they could find initial success with early writing projects. This format can help some students produce a well-organized piece of writing in other words. (as well as for some writing that is developmental, this could be the first occasion they will have encountered success written down.)

Although I agree totally that students needs to be encouraged to go beyond this structure, the 5PE can allow some struggling students to see themselves as college writers. This could easily result in student growth; they could feel much more comfortable taking greater risks and making more sophisticated rhetorical choices inside their writing.

Again, I many thanks because of this much-appreciated resource that is beneficial.

Thanks, Eileen, for your thoughtful is essay-911.com safe feedback. You’re right that the five paragraph essay could be a fantastic first step. My hope is that they will once move on they’re willing to test out their writing. Personally, i did son’t realize till second year of university that i really could split a single point up into multiple paragraphs. I once wrote a 10 page paper with only two body paragraphs! That’s the downside among these rigid methods of writing essays. ??

page top