The 5-Paragraph Essay Structure is a common organization pattern for many types of essays. As its name indicates, this structure consists of five parts:
1. Introduction
2. Body Paragraph 1
3. Body Paragraph 2
4. Body Paragraph 3
5. Conclusion
By following this order, you can clearly present your ideas. Let’s examine each part of the 5-Paragraph Essay Structure in more detail.
Beginning your essay with an introduction provides context and direction for your ideas. The main parts of an introduction include:
Attention-getter (also called a hook) – a device to catch your readers’ interest right away. You could use a relevant quotation, vivid description, surprising fact, related anecdote, insightful statement, or interesting question for readers to consider.
Background details – information to put the attention-getter into context. You may explain the attention-getter in more detail and show its broader significance.
Discussion of main subject – identify the paper’s main subject and show how it relates to the attention-getter. This discussion will introduce readers to your key ideas and direction for the essay.
Thesis – a one-to-two sentence statement that indicates the central idea of your paper and provides a roadmap for readers to follow as they proceed to the body paragraphs. Typically, in a true 5-paragraph essay, the thesis will consist of a claim, or position, on your topic that names the 3 key points you will discuss in support of your thesis. In other words, these 3 points become the 3 body paragraphs to follow. For example:
Sample thesis: Paying tipped employees less than minimum wage is a custom that is rooted in America’s racist past, is still a form of oppression to this day, and needs long-overdue legislation to be eliminated.
In this sample thesis, we can see that the main topic or issue of the essay is the custom of “tipped employees” being paid “less than minimum wage.” We can also assume that 3 main points will be discussed: the custom’s racist roots, how it oppresses people to this day, and how legislation will solve the problem. The writer of this thesis now has a map of how to structure the essay, with 3 body paragraphs discussing each of these points.
Sample thesis: Printed textbooks should no longer be required in higher education as they are typically filled with outdated information, are much too expensive, and are unnecessary thanks to the availability of e-Books and educational apps as superior replacements.
In this sample thesis, the topic and position taken by the writer are clear: printed textbooks place in higher education (topic) and the opinion that they should NOT be required any longer (position). The 3 reasons why are clear as well: they are outdated, expensive, and unnecessary. The writer can use the 3 body paragraphs of the 5-paragraph essay to make these points and present evidence for each point.
Each body paragraph should address one main idea that develops and supports your thesis. The main parts of a body paragraph include:
Topic sentence – the first sentence of a body paragraph that indicates the primary subject of the paragraph. The topic sentence should be your own words. Avoid placing a quotation or citation in the topic sentence. Also, do not list multiple ideas in the topic sentence. Each body paragraph should focus on developing a single idea (not several ideas at once) to clearly convey your point. For example:
Sample topic sentences: If we continue with the sample thesis on college textbooks used in the previous section, the first body paragraph will have a topic sentence that deals only with Point 1: College textbooks are often filled with outdated information. Body paragraph 2 will only discuss the second support point mentioned in the thesis, and it will have a topic sentence that reflects that: Textbooks are too expensive for college students who already struggle with the cost of education. Then, Body paragraph 3 will have a topic sentence to reflect only supporting point 3: E-books and educational apps are suitable replacements for printed texts, and, when used together, they become a superior option, deeming textbooks obsolete.
Discussion of one main idea – include important background information and descriptions readers will need to understand the topic.
Support – facts that strengthen your point, quotations, statistics, interviews, relevant personal examples, etc. Remember to cite any information from outside sources.
Significance – a discussion of the importance. How does the previously mentioned support strengthen your main idea? What does it show readers? This section allows you to explain how the support connects to your main idea and the overall thesis of your paper.
Transition – a statement that wraps up the paragraph and serves as a bridge to the next body paragraph. The transition could foreshadow an upcoming topic, indicate how the information in the current body paragraph is similar to the next main idea, or show how the essay will flow in another direction.
The conclusion wraps up your paper and shows the significance of your main idea. The main parts of a conclusion include:
Review of main ideas – rephrase (but do not simply repeat) your thesis and main points.
Overall significance – emphasize the importance of your ideas.
Final impression/message – leave readers with a final impression or message about your topic.
While the 5-Paragraph Essay Structure is a useful way to organize your ideas, do not feel constricted by the format. If needed, you can add more than three body paragraphs to support your thesis. Perhaps you have five supporting points rather than three, or perhaps you need more than one body paragraph to fully support an idea. For longer papers, writing more than three body paragraphs becomes necessary to fill the page requirement. The 5-Paragraph Essay Structure should be perceived as a guide rather than a constraint; this guide can be modified to suit your unique topic and ideas.
Guide created by: C. Jones 5/24/2021
Revised by: J. Brown 1/18/2024
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