Strictures and creativity: the five-paragraph essay
Monday, December 28, 2015 at 05:23AM 
Strictures and creativity: the five-paragraph essay
The five-paragraph essay is a form of essay having five paragraphs:
- one introductory paragraph,
- three body paragraphs with support and development, and
- one concluding paragraph. Wikipedia
I learned to write and taught writing myself using the five-paragraph essay as a means of structuring writing. I can't say that I use the form specifically any longer, preferring a more narrative voice, but I am I glad I was taught the form and required to use it. Despite reading that its day has passed, that teachers are stifling creativity by asking students for supporting evidence, a thesis statement, transitional phrases, and a conclusion, knowing the rules of the five-paragraph expository essay is beneficial for all writers.
Good writing is well-organized writing. By asking one's writing students to outline their thoughts, the form helps the reader navigate the topic as well. The old admonition "Tell'm what you're going to tell'm, tell'm, and tell'm what you just told'm helps to effectively structure one's ideas. Stream of conscious writing may work for avant guarde literary types, but an organized essay is a good foundation on which to build solid writing skills.
Organization does not make a compelling piece of writing without credible supporting evidence. By asking for three supporting ideas, reasons, or pieces of evidence, the five-paragraph essay form moves the writing from pure opinion to opinion that has some thought behind it. While not popular among many contemporary politicians, readers like knowing the "why" a stand is taken. Asking students to demonstrate through evidence why they might make a statement is one of the more important whole-life skills one can use - one more human beings ought to practice.
But don't strict rules of organization and evidence restrict creativity as critics suggest? Yes, when creativity is not an expectation. Other strict literary forms - the Elizabethan sonnet, the haiku, even the limerick - have not kept poets from writing original and impactful works. The PechaKucha, a presentation format that allows only 20 images to be shown each for 20 seconds, forces speakers to think qualitatively rather than quantitatively about their message. While teachers need to be careful not to over prescribe requirements of any assignment (As Chris Lehmann warns, "If you assign a project and get back 30 of the exact same thing, that's not a project, that's a recipe."), being creative within the confines of a classic writing structure, can be challenging, but is certainly possible.
The usefulness of the five-paragraph essay is not diminished by word processing, social media, or texting. Structure, organization, and creativity shaped by rules are all attributes of good writing that the form demands, when a good writing teacher demands it as well. Call me a traditionalist, even a sentimentalist, but along with attention to grammar, spelling, and other hallmarks of good writing, I hope teachers keep using this essay format as a tool. Consider how well it served this blog post.
Reader Comments (4)
I would agree with you that it's a valuable tool, and that you can communicate clearly and concisely using it. However...it becomes a problem if/when it's the ONLY tool in a writer's toolbox. If our students are required to do 8 papers in a year, and all 8 are in the standard 5-paragraph essay format, I think we are doing them a disservice.
Hi Stephanie,
Great point. No one would argue for only a single way of organizing one's thoughts. I remember also being taught a couple very good "models" for doing compare/contrast type writings. And once a writer knows the rules, a writer can knowingly break them.
Thanks for the comment,
Doug
Hi Doug,
Thanks for your analysis and perspectives of this issue. I laughed out loud when I got to the end of your post, as I was snaffued by your format.
I teach essay writing, and the problems of teaching the five-paragraph essay came across my plate earlier this year . I started to panic - have I been doing my students a disservice? I promised to transform my practice for their benefit. Then COVID hit and we switched to online learning, all of us struggling. I stuck with my traditional practice, and we all muscled through. My students managed to create a fantastic literary essay, using quotes to support their evidence, with reflective conclusions and sturdy introductions. I felt they were fully ready to move onto the next level.
My reflection on this process was that five-paragraph essays are a pillar my students can to stand on. My creative writers don't follow them. I am shocked how they can carry out the intent of the assignment without ever touching what I give them in class. My struggling writers use the same type of hook and clincher - every essay (rhetorical question), but they feel great confidence in being able to complete the task and share their thoughts.
I explicitly teach my students - use your creative writing brain in the hook, be boring when you write a topic sentence, there will be time to develop your perspective later, but you need to guide your reader. I find this balance works. By the time they hit the conclusion, they can tell me why their topic really matters.
Do you have any other tips for infusing creativity into a research essay? (I have used different formats such as infographics, but ran out of ideas there.).
Thanks, Ingrid
Hi Ingrid,
Your writing approach sounds very sound to me. My English teacher back in the late 60s stressed the 5 paragraph, 3 paragraph, and two kinds of compare/contrast formats. I believe they served me well despite not using them (consciously) much anymore. I am happy to have learned a structure on which to build.
To me the key to creativity is problem-solving. What problems cannot be solved through best practices or established solutions. You might read my book Teaching Outside the Lines. You may find it useful - or at least a non-addictive sleep aid.
All the best,
Doug