The Role of the Five-Paragraph Essay 1

Straitjacket or Helping Hand: Which is It?

The Role of the Five-Paragraph Essay in the Classroom

Sarah Tohill

Franciscan University of Steubenville

The Role of the Five-Paragraph Essay 2

The Role of the Five-Paragraph Essay in the Classroom

One of the most prevalent types of writing assignments in high schools across the nation

is the five-paragraph essay. Nearly every high school teacher insists that five paragraphs,

containing an introduction, three points and a conclusion, is the paradigm of essay writing.

However, many college professors, as well as a few high school teachers, condemn this format

calling it “rudimentary, unengaging, and useless.” (Salazar 2012) It is a straitjacket that

constricts the students’ ideas to a narrow, inorganic form. On the other hand, teachers who deal

with students just learning to write praise the format for allowing the students to grasp the

essential skills involved in excellent writing. By using the five-paragraph format, the students

learn how to support their points with evidence, how to organize their points in various ways,

and focus on word choice.

So then why is there such a vehement outcry against this format, without a revolution of

teaching writing accompanying it? Perhaps this is because teachers are far too set in their ways to

change. Perhaps it is because some teachers truly do want to torture their students with this

format, as many students seem to believe. Or perhaps the five-paragraph essay does have

redeeming qualities that would make its deliberate extinction a case of “throwing the baby out

with the bathwater.”

In order to be able to distinguish the baby from the bathwater, the best way to go about

this task is to describe the baby. The first step in teaching this format most often begins with the

five-sentence paragraph. In this form, the writer begins with a topic sentence, which is followed

by three supporting sentences, and ends with a concluding sentence. From this, students learn

how to follow a similar form in the five-paragraph essay. Here, the writer begins with an

introductory paragraph, which is followed by three body paragraphs, and ends with a concluding
The Role of the Five-Paragraph Essay 3

paragraph. Within the introductory paragraph rests the essential thesis statement, which the

reader can generally find again in the concluding paragraph.

On first glance, there does not seem to be anything inherently wrong with this structure.

In fact, many critics of the five-paragraph essay would agree that the problem does not lie

directly in the format. However, there are still some who wish to abolish the form since it

“promotes a low-level summary that nobody really cares about.” (Salazar 2012) To them,

because the writing that high school students produce using this form is often stilted,

unthoughtful, and lacking energy, the form itself is the cause. Thankfully, there are relatively few

voices that cry for an absolute extinction of the five-paragraph essay. As Elizabeth Rorschoch

(2004), an experienced educator, summarized the issue, “the problem is not with the structure

itself but rather the false sense of security it provides students and teachers alike.” She claims

that “this structure is responsible for teachers forgetting how to read and for students missing

opportunities to think.”

This idea of “missing opportunities to think” resounds throughout many of the objections

to the five-paragraph. Rorschoch (2004) found an example of this in an English learning

classroom, where a student wrote an essay on various types of dreams that the teacher praised.

However, in the first draft of the essay the student, following the exact formula for the five-

paragraph essay, failed to connect the examples of dreams, as well as to develop her thoughts on

the dreams. Subsequent drafts of the essay only resulted in cosmetic fixes; the teacher never

pushed the student to connect and deepen her ideas. Rorschoch (2004) observes that to the

student, “once she has organization, her troubles are over.”

Continuing this theme, one major concern of teachers for the five-paragraph essay lies in

the danger of a strict structure to students’ creativity. In the five-paragraph form, “creativity and
The Role of the Five-Paragraph Essay 4

voice take a backseat to structure.” (Boldt 2012) According to one high school teacher, the

“worst offense” of the five-paragraph essay is that when using it student writers often forget that

the essay needs to be interesting. “The five-paragraph essay’s inherent prioritization of structure

over style can have long-term damaging effects on students who never learn to move beyond it,

but teaching the form provides a foundation upon which students can scaffold their writing as

they grow intellectually.” (Boldt 2012)

Here lies the key to the problem of the five-paragraph essay. When teachers present this

structure to students as rigid, with only three body paragraphs that are only three to five

sentences each, and each only contains one point, the critics’ worst fears become reality, and

students do not develop their ideas and lose their creativity. Writing at its finest is a discovery

process; a way of learning. While learning structure is invaluable to writers, they also need to be

able to create their own structure around the ideas.

In an article titled “The Music of Form,” Peter Elbow (2006) describes this phenomenon

of the structure and form of writing. To explain the relation between writing and time, he speaks

directly to his readers, imagine an ant on a painting. The ant can only see the part of the painting

under its feet, and then only a bit beyond that. In order to be able to see the rest of the painting, it

must take the time to travel across the painting, experiencing the rest of the painting as it

traverses the expanse of canvas. Compare that, Elbow says, to the experience of a human

viewing the same painting. To a human, the painting is one scene that is possible to observe with

a single glance.

When reading, the reader can observe only what is under him and a bit beyond that, just

like the ant on the painting. Often readers attempt to be able to escape the constraints of time by

creating “signposts” such as headings, subheadings, chapter titles, etc. By using these, the reader
The Role of the Five-Paragraph Essay 5

“flies” above the page to be able to view the entire bulk of information at once. Yet these

“signposts” can only be effective for so long. At some point the reader’s wings tire and he must

fall back into the pages and experience time again, word by word.

Throughout this article, Peter Elbow (2006) emphasizes the experience of writing through

time, and the resulting importance of flowing energy in a piece of writing. This energy he finds

exemplified within music. In music, the driving force is not the notes, but the rhythm. In writing,

rhythm is also the driving force of a piece. Without the energy of the rhythm of words, words

forming sentences, sentences forming paragraphs, and paragraphs flowing with the ideas, the

reader becomes bored and feels no desire to continue reading. In order to accomplish capturing

this energy, Elbow names freewriting as one method, though not the only route to capture

energy. An absolutely essential practice when writing, however, is reading writing aloud. This

“helps us experience the inherent temporal or even aural dimension of any text; it gives us a

vivid feeling of words operating through time.”

Elbow (2006) does not discount the use of devices such as titles in order to orient the

reader. Contrary to this, he uses these devices in his article. “Signposts” such as titles, headers,

and theses “can powerfully compensate for how texts are trapped in the glue of time.” As Elbow

concludes, he emphasizes that though he focuses on the dynamic way of writing, there must be a

balance between the two types of writing, and it is possible for both to exist in the same piece of

writing. To clarify, he declares: “My goal is to enrich and complicate our teaching of

organization in writing.” There must be a “both” “and” approach. (Elbow 2006)

Though these writers acknowledge that the five-paragraph essay does not by itself ruin

writing, they do not name the benefits of learning the five-paragraph essay. Two different

teachers individually wrote articles defending the five-paragraph essay, and both focus on
The Role of the Five-Paragraph Essay 6

different aspects of teaching this form. One focuses on a more rigid structure when initially

teaching her students. These students in her classroom are remedial students who arrive in her

classroom not even being able to write a paragraph. Despite this, this teacher manages to bring

the students to the point of writing four or more pages at the end of the school year. All this she

accomplishes with the structure of the five-sentence paragraph and the five-paragraph essay.

To respond to the criticism of others who condemn her method as overly strict, this

teacher, Byung-In Seo (2007), notes that her students are incapable of organizing their ideas in

the first place. As a result, freewriting would not benefit their writing, as these students need to

have more direct guidance to learn how to organize their thoughts. It is “important for them to

learn and apply organizational skills to their writing before any creativity could be explored.” An

analogy that Seo uses to explain this is the process of building a house. Before any of the

creative decorating can take place, first the foundation, walls and roof must be built. In the same

way, writers need to have a strong foundation with structure before they have the ability to apply

their creativity without also collapsing the house. (Seo 2007)

The second author, Kerri Smith (2006), focuses less on the need for students to gain the

ability to organize their ideas. Instead, her focus rests on the flexibility of the five-paragraph

essay. While many students view the form as rigid and unforgiving, Smith presents it as “simply

a mode of organization,” thus a form that is malleable. However, in order to reach the point of

being able to manipulate structure, Smith teaches that student must be completely comfortable

with the five-paragraph essay, and that “students who know the five-paragraph essay intimately

are more prepared to take on the challenge of college-level writing.” By learning the “boring”

basics first, the students then equipped to move to the “fun” parts of writing, where they can

bring in their creativity to the structure. (Smith 2006)

The Role of the Five-Paragraph Essay 7

When teaching in the classroom, there is assuredly a balance between the “boring” basics

and the “fun” creative and complex aspects of writing. While some students arrive in the

classroom without being able to organize their ideas, there are students who have a natural gift

for writing. These students need to have freedom to explore other types of writing so that they

are not bored to the point of hating writing. This is not to claim, however, that remedial writers

should never touch creative writing. On the contrary, these students should also have the

opportunity to freewrite and write other types of pieces, such as poetry and short stories. In fact,

utilizing these types of writing can assist them in their academic writing as they grow in their

organizing skills.

By creating a balance in the classroom of creative, expressive writing and the five-

paragraph essay, the teacher is able to maintain an environment in which students have the

confidence to write, as well as the structure in which they are best able to improve their writing.

When utilizing creative and expressive writing, students are naturally more likely to be

encouraged to write, simply filling pages with their thoughts and ideas. However, this type of

writing does not lend itself to providing a structure in which students are able focus on being

able to organize their writing. The five-paragraph essay has the ability to fill this gap, as the

students step up to the challenge of working within the form to mold their ideas into an

understandable format.

Many different teachers assert that it is harmful for the students to learn how to fit their

ideas into one single format. However, while students do need to be able to work within other

forms, this does not render the five-paragraph essay useless. A worthy comparison within

literature and writing is the sonnet. This type of poem has a strict structure of fourteen lines in

iambic pentameter and a definite rhyme scheme. Within this definition of the sonnet there are the
The Role of the Five-Paragraph Essay 8

two main types; Italian and English, each with their own specific rhyme scheme. Would any

writing teacher advocate that it would be harmful for students to learn how to work within this

structure? They certainly would not. While there always would be exceptions to the rule, the

majority of students would greatly benefit from learning how to work within the sonnet structure.

If and when they master the sonnet, the students will have a greater mastery over language than

what they would have gained from creating their own poetic structure.

Just as in the context of writing a sonnet, students benefit from utilizing the five-

paragraph essay to learn basic skills of writing. In this structure students are able to learn how to

organize their ideas in a structure that guides them to support their ideas with points, and to have

their points all directly support their main topic. Even within the structure, the students learn

various ways in which to organize their points, such as most to least important and vice versa,

and chronological, if it applies. Especially if the students have identified energy in writing, they

are more likely to rise to the occasion of manipulating their writing to contain energy within the

strict structure. This requires an understanding of how words operate in their writing, in

particular the importance of transitions. All this is especially essential to writing research papers,

as college research papers require the same skills students learned in the five-paragraph essay. In

fact, any college paper will involve the basic skills that students learn through the five-paragraph

essay during middle school and high school.

Throughout all the articles and essays written on the five-paragraph essay runs the same

theme: the strict format of the five-paragraph essay either helps or harms students’ writing. In the

face of the widespread criticism of the essay, the proponents of the five-paragraph essay agree

with the criticism that it harms the students when the five-paragraph essay is taught as an

unbreakable form. The proponents offer an alternative approach to the five-paragraph essay. This
The Role of the Five-Paragraph Essay 9

approach starts with the unbreakable form, at least for students who struggle with organizing

their ideas, then scaffolds their writing so that they become capable of manipulating their writing

in different forms. A college professor, Thomas Nunnally, draws an accurate comparison of the

five-paragraph essay to a junior tennis racket or a bicycle with training wheels. Both items are

essential for learning basic skills and familiarity, yet in order to progress they must be discarded

so that the user can apply their skills and confidence to the “real” thing.

Nunnally (1991) praises the five-paragraph essay for teaching students “unity, coherence,

and development.” Yet as much as he acknowledges and praises the merits of the five-paragraph

essay, he finds many aspects in his student’s essays that attest to the flaws of the form. This is

why he comes to the conclusion that the five-paragraph essay is indeed a valuable tool to teach

students how to write, but that teachers need to reach beyond merely settling for good five-

paragraph essays, but excellent writing. Yet he does sympathize with writing teachers for the

daunting task he has set before them, and tells these teachers that even if they only have the

ability to teach their students how to write five-paragraph essays, that is better than not being

able to write controlled and organized essays. “I’d rather have students enter my classroom

dancing ever so stiltedly than thinking that formless flailing about is artistic achievement.”

(Nunnally 1991)

Perhaps then, the five-paragraph essay truly deserves a place in the classroom. Teachers

have a reason for choosing to teach students to use this format: it takes students by the hands

through the daunting and challenging process of writing. Gradually, teachers must guide the

students through the process of releasing this helping hand once they have gained the skills and

confidence to travel on their own through the wonderful world of writing.

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Teacher Implications

Researching for this paper has profoundly impacted my view of the five-paragraph essay

in the classroom. I had never thought deeply about how I had experienced the format in my own

education, particularly the way in which it was presented. Looking at my own experiences with

the five-paragraph essay, I am better able to evaluate how to synthesize my experience with

research in order to clarify my own ideas of how I would approach this in my own classroom.

First of all, I have witnessed how the five-paragraph essay format has perhaps negatively

impacted my own creativity. However, I also realize that using this format has given me the

necessary skills to tackle college writing. As a result of these experiences, I know that in my own

writing classroom I will teach my students the five-paragraph essay, and have them practice it

throughout the year, until they show mastery in the format.

However, because of my research I am now more aware of the pitfalls of the five-

paragraph essay, namely; lack of understanding of the connection between format and ideas,

tendency to “fill in the blank”. These I would remedy by both providing freewriting exercises

and low-stakes writing assignments, as well as feedback focused on the content as well as the

form, and thinking critically about ideas and how they relate to each other. I would also

explicitly teach the class the relationship between form and content, emphasizing the flexibility

of form to ideas, while not discounting the value of shaping writing to a certain form.

In the beginning of the year, I would start by focusing on organizing ideas. As the

students progressed to using the five-paragraph format well, I would allow individual students to

break from the form if they recognized that their ideas would benefit from breaking the format.

Throughout this process, I would require the students to create outlines for each assignment. The
The Role of the Five-Paragraph Essay 11

outlines provided would provide opportunity for feedback and allow me to choose to push the

students out of the strict five-paragraph format, if I thought that they needed to do so.

Most of all, I would create in my classroom an environment in which students would be

comfortable to first understand and then organize their ideas. Once they lose their fear of

critically thinking about the relationship between ideas, I would push them to play with words

within the five-paragraph format, ensuring that they focus on capturing an audience’s interest.

This would be one of my main focuses throughout the year, especially as they grow in mastery of

the format, as boring the audience is one of the worst mistakes an author can make.
The Role of the Five-Paragraph Essay 12

Works Cited

Block, J. (2016). Reimagining school writing. Retrieved from

https://www.edutopia.org/blog/reimagining-school-writing-joshua-block

Boldt, J., & Flanagan, N. (2012). Should we teach the five-paragraph essay? Retrieved from
http://blogs.edweek.org/teachers/teacher_in_a_strange_land/2012/10/should_we_teach_t
he_five-paragraph_essay.html?r=1153441619&preview=1

Elbow, P. (2006). The music of form: Rethinking organization in writing. College Composition
and Communication, 57(4), 620-666.

Nunnally, T. (1991). Breaking the five-paragraph-theme barrier. The English Journal, 80(1) 67-
71.

Rorschach, E. (2004). The five paragraph theme redux. The Quarterly, 26(1), 16-19, 25.

Salazar, R. (2012). If you teach or write 5-paragraph essays - stop it! Retrieved from
http://www.chicagonow.com/white-rhino/2012/05/if-you-teach-or-write-5-paragraph-
essays-stop-it/

Seo, B. (2007). Defending the five paragraph essay. English Journal, Vol. 97 (No. 2), 15-16.

Smith, K. (2006). In defense of the five paragraph essay. English Journal, Vol. 95 (No. 4), 16-
17.