Writing a 5 paragraph essay can be a difficult task if you are unsure how to begin, especially if the topic. Writing an essay can be made into an easier process by creating an outline to organize the information that will be in the essay. There are three basic parts of an essay, an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.
Introduction
The introductory paragraph is an important part of the essay. An introduction explains to the reader what they are about read and what the essay is about. The introduction needs to have a topic statement, which is similar to the title of the essay (example can be found here – teenage pregnancy essay). The topic sentence needs to be a short explanation of the main focus of the essay. For a 5 paragraph essay, there needs to be 3 supporting topics to support the main idea of the paper. Each of the three topics should be briefly stated in the introduction. After the supporting topics are written in the introduction, there should be a conclusion sentence. It is not necessary to have a conclusion sentence but creating one will allow the essay to transition to the nest paragraph smoothly. This is an example of what an outline for the introduction for an essay could look like:
Introduction
- Topic Statement
- Supporting Topic 1
- Supporting Topic 2
- Supporting Topic 3
- Conclusion Statement
Body
The body of the essay is where the supporting topics of the essay are discussed. Each supporting topic needs to have its own paragraph where the supporting information and ideas for the supporting topics can be discussed. Creating an outline allows this process to be much easier to properly organize the information of the essay. In each paragraph there needs to be a supporting topic statement and the information and ideas to uphold the supporting topic. It is often a good idea to include a conclusion statement at the end of each paragraph. This is because the topics of the essay will transition easier and more clearly. An example of an outline for the body of the paragraph could look like this:
Supporting Topic #1
- Supporting Topic Statement
- Supporting Information and Ideas
- Conclusion Statement
Supporting Topic #2
- Supporting Topic Statement
- Supporting Information and Ideas
- Conclusion Statement
Supporting Topic #3
- Supporting Topic Statement
- Supporting Information and Ideas
- Conclusion Statement
Conclusion
The conclusion of the essay is a vital part of the paper. The conclusion is the writers’ opportunity to leave the reader with the final thoughts of the essay. The conclusion is very similar to the introduction. It needs to restate the topic statement, supporting topics, and a conclusion statement. The outline for the conclusion is very similar to the outline for the introduction:
Conclusion
- Topic Statement
- Supporting Topics 1
- Supporting Topic 2
- Supporting Topic 3
- Conclusion Statement
Writing an essay can be very simple and stress free is the proper formats are fallowed. Creating an outline is a great technique to use in order to properly organize the information in the essay.
Sources:
“Essays in General” The Everything to Improve your Writing Book pgs 117-143 By Pamela Rice Hahn, 2008 Adams Media, Avon, Massachusetts
