The Five-Paragraph Essay: An Attempt To Articulate

Duane C. Nichols

Department of English Kansas State University Manhattan, Kansas

OW a favorite word in our pro- fessional jargon, articulation crops

up at most joint conferences of high school and college English teachers. Judging from speakers' inflections, I think we are to rejoice if we have articulation, but mostly we don't and speakers urge us to get some. It is a kind of coordination between high school and college programs, a sequence of work that avoids duplication and makes the transition from high school to college easier. Some articulation does exist, but the English Journal and my students frequently remind me that we need to prepare students in high school for the kind of writing they are expected to do in college. Constantly freshmen demonstrate some proficiency at the per- sonal sketch, at the informal and humor- ous essay, and at the lumping together of platitudes to please an audience of foggy-minded adults. They also are quite well trained in mechanics (we used to count comma splices and fragments by the linear inch but now we seldom find them) and have all done some writing. Upon being asked, most freshmen can

say all the right things about unity, co- herence, force, and other abstractions without being able to demonstrate them in practice. It is not the fault of their high school education that they don't understand the essence of an essay. They recognize no connection between essay as Montaigne used it and a trial or test run of one of their own ideas. Ap- parently we must explain the concept of essay sooner and better than we have been doing.

What follows is a simplified break- down of an essay-almost any essay- that has helped freshmen gain this in-

sight at Kansas State University. Until this fall this was no more than another teaching gimmick for me. Finding it useful, participants in our NDEA Insti- tute have been writing back for copies to use in high school. I was even more surprised to find a copy on a bulletin board in a scholarship hall, a copy adver- tised as "The Easy Way With Comp I." It does serve as an abstract of an exposi- tory theme, the kind of writing fresh- men do most.

Essentially, this is nothing more than

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a plan for a five-paragraph essay that can be expanded or contracted and applied to almost any kind of exposition or argumentation. The number five is not sacred or magic. In examining some 3,000 freshmen final examinations from three universities, however, I was amazed to find that about 93 percent of the A papers had five paragraphs. Surely no cause-effect relationship exists between the number and the grade, but essay topics assigned for class themes, final exams, and English proficiency tests seem naturally to call for such a pattern. One paragraph each for the introduction and conclusion and three paragraphs in the body explaining the thesis.

Not because they have not been told but because they haven't yet caught on, most of my freshmen do not under- stand the function of an introduction in exposition. This is strange because they do know what an introduction in a speech must do, and the same usually applies in writing. In the following out- line of an introduction, the things marked with an asterisk are necessary to the function of a beginning. A reader deserves to know these things about a paper almost as soon as he begins to read it. They should appear either ex- plicitly or implicitly. They need not appear in this order, and often they can be combined into one sentence.

I. Introduction "*A. The purpose of the paper and a

clear statement of the problem it undertakes to solve or the idea it tests.

B. Background of the problem (an adequate history of the subject to make the paper's situation intel- ligible to the reader).

"*C. Scope and limitation of the paper (what the essay is and is not in- tended to cover).

D. Definitions of terms necessary to an understanding of the paper.

E. Acknowledgements (the identifi-

cation of sources or inspiration if one wishes to avoid footnotes).

"*F. Plan of procedure of the essay (method of approach statement).

"*G. Statement of the thesis of the pa- per.

Most of these things are best done by implication. Even the least sophisticated freshmen think "The purpose of this paper is. .. ," "This essay is limited to . . .," and "It is the thesis of this paper that... " are too mechanical. They want something more subtle. It is better, however, to have the blatant statement than to have nothing at all.

Each term English teachers find that, after reading introductions to the first papers, they have no clear idea of the purpose of the papers. Sometimes I can't even see that the purpose was to fulfill the assignment. But this stated purpose need be nothing fancy. Simply, by the time a reader finishes the first paragraph he should have some idea of the subject to be covered and what he is supposed to get out of reading it.

The second item has to do with adapt- ing to an audience. Too frequently the beginning writer assumes, if he thinks about it at all, that each member of his audience has the same information the writer has. If, for example, he writes of the striking effect on guests of the scenery at the Eustace P. Barbell Dude Ranch, we might find nothing in the paper indicating the nature of that scenery, be it mountain, prairie, or desert. Or, in another paper, we might be reading about how excited high school students in Someplace Else act on Big Red Day. We may, on the basis of our experience, guess what kind of day that is, but if the writer never tells us, we may guess incorrectly. The place to set the scene and offer background is in the introduction.

The idea of scope and limitation is apparently difficult to teach. Our pupils often are perfectly willing to give a

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history of the world with 16 examples in 300 words. One wav to avoid the prob- lem is to force them to set a physical limitation in the introduction. If, for

example, in a brief paper on chauvinism in his home town, the writer tries to

explain all instances of chauvinism, he'll not get done. He has to decide to con- centrate on one, two, or three cases while letting the reader know somehow that the paper does not attempt a total analysis. The easiest way to do this is to tell the audience, directly or indi- rectly, that the essay confines itself to the most obvious or most interesting or most important cases. Then the writer cannot be marked down or judged in-

competent for not covering everything his title might include.

Scope and limitation can easily be worked into the method of approach statement which is no more than a sen- tence or part of a sentence indicating the main topics covered in the body and the order in which they appear. This trick has the obvious advantage of pre- paring the reader for what is coming and of enabling the author to cut down

considerably any kind of inter-paragraph transition in the body. It also gives the reader an idea of what the writer thinks is important and offers, early in the

paper, a check on the soundness of that writer's ideas.

The plan of procedure, as well as the limitation, may be subordinated with effect in the thesis statement. "Because of A, B, and C, X is true." Immediately the reader knows that the writer con- fines himself only to an investigation of A, B, and C. We know also that the writer is trying to demonstrate X, the truth of which is his thesis. We can

legitimately expect him to take up the subject in the order of A, B, and C. And if we, as readers, are paying attention, we can judge the writer's sense of values

by the things he has chosen as A, B, and C. If we were not English teachers hav- ing to read papers, think of how often

we need read no further. Think of the trivia we could avoid in published ma- terial were we to have that trivia identi- fied at the end of the introduction.

Why is it that our student writers can grasp so clearly the concept of a topic sentence or topic idea in para- graphing but have so much trouble see-

ing that an essay also has a topic idea or sentence or thesis? Our staff spends at least half a period early in the first semester of composition explaining that an essay-a poem, a chapter, a book- ordinarily makes one major point. That an essay explains one thing or proves one

thing or describes it or tells about it. Even then many students do not under- stand, and a major problem of most bad papers is either lack of focus on a topic or an excessively broad major point that cannot be explained in 300-500 words. If a student grasps the idea of a thesis in the same way he understands a topic sentence, the rest of his training is practice and embellishment. He knows how to give his prose direction. While a thesis need not always take the form of a proposition, each essay should have a thesis and in most instances it should be at the beginning of the paper.

Let's look at some introductory para- graphs embodying these ideas. They were written by freshmen for an audi- ence of their classmates. In the first one the student was being very explicit, apparently lacking confidence in his readers' ability to get the point:

(1) Education is important. (2) Each of us should realize why he comes to college in order to get the most out of it. (3) The thesis of this essay is that I really did not come to college to get an education. (4) The method of approach is to consider in order pressure from my parents, my desire to be socially ac- cepted, and my desire to make a good living. (5) These are the real reasons I came to college.

In spite of the drawbacks, at least we

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know what is going on when we finish reading this opening paragraph. Its pur- pose is clear enough. We know the major point. We know that, in the body, the first paragraph will talk about in- fluence of parents on this writer, the second will treat his desire to follow the crowd, and the third his desire to be trained for a good job. While we

may question his motives we still must admit that we know what they are. On the basis of the fourth sentence alone we can decide whether the essay is going to make much sense. It also seems clear that his audience, having recently made a similar decision, has adequate back- ground to be able to follow the paper. The paragraph's weakness-the overt

signalling-gets in the way of the continuity.

Here's the way another freshman wrote about the same thing, implicitly embodying the important things in his

opening:

(1) Again this fall a higher percent- age of the spring high school graduating class makes the pilgrimage to college. (2) As one of the flock caught up in the mass migration, I suddenly find myself won- dering why I am here. (3) We all have heard all about the importance of higher education and I, falling into the usual clich6, have stated boldly that I came to college to get an education. (4) Honest investigation of my motives, however, leads me to believe that pressure from my parents, a desire to be with my friends, and a need to be trained for a good job brought me to college.

Wordy and metaphorical though he may be, this student begins with a generality broad enough that his audience can understand it and then narrows quickly to a statement including himself within the generality. Finally it centers on why he came to college. As the reader follows from the general to the particular, the essay's purpose becomes obvious. While many things probably influenced this

person to come to college, he limits the discussion to three reasons, reasons he should be able to explain fully in a short paper. Its scope is clear as is the writer's area of responsibility. Finally, the fourth sentence mentions in order the topic ideas of the three paragraphs we can expect to find in the body. Hence, that fourth sentence combines topic limita- tion, plan of procedure, and thesis in a tight package.

When a young writer can see that an introduction has certain jobs to do and that conveniently nearly every topic of exposition or argumentation can be begun in essentially the same manner, he no longer merely tacks on an intro- duction. In fact, after finishing the intro- duction he has practically written the essay. All that remains is expansion. Further, a student easily can modify or improvise upon this basic idea as the occasion demands.

The body of a five-paragraph essay is so simple and so standard that its im- portance is sometimes missed. In out- line form, of course, it looks like this:

II. Body A. First main point

1. Sub-point 2. Sub-point 3. Sub-point

B. Second main point 1. 2. 3.

C. Third main point 1. 2. 3.

Since, however, most of our students neither read nor write outlines, they have to be told something about it. Most of them understand basic algebra, and perhaps an analogy is an appropriate start. Consider IIA in the paper intro- duced in the second example above. The writer's parents put pressure on him to go to college. We know that is the topic

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idea of the first paragraph of the body, and a student writing such a paragraph has a number of choices in developing it. Perhaps he chooses to explain why his parents wanted him to go to school. The parents must have had three reasons in some kind of order of importance. Perhaps he chooses to present three ex-

amples of the pressure. He might give a reason or an example or both. At any rate, IIA is true because of 1 - 2 - 3 under it. 1 plus 2 plus 3 equals A. The same addition applies in each paragraph of the body. Taken together the sub-

points prove, illustrate, explain, describe, or define-as the case may be-the topic idea of the paragraph. Sometimes this

algebraic Mickey Mouse works as an explanation of paragraph organization when all else has failed.

To move ahead to the essay's con- clusion. Conclusions are horribly hard to write, a fact that accounts for the

tendency of beginning writers constantly to tack on a moral. One would think our pupils were either modern Aesops or journeymen preachers. To avoid end-

ing with a moral or to avoid being didactic, our essayists have several options. In outline form a possible con- clusion looks like this:

III. Conclusion A. Summary of main points B. Conclusions C. Recommended action, if appro-

priate D. Significance of the conclusions

(the "So-Whatness" of it all)

Summation is a bugaboo. Many better students, writing a short essay, think the main points too obvious to reiterate. Many teachers find the summary nothing more than a verbatim lifting of topic sentences from earlier paragraphs. Rea- sonably one can justify very brief sum- mations in short papers, and I think we need them. The reader is about to put the paper aside and an author should

want his reader to remember what he has read. Some kind of pulling together of supporting points is helpful. Perhaps it need be nothing more than a "because" clause introducing the conclusion state- ment. "Because of , and

, it follows that must be the case." Logically a summary can be subordinated to the main idea of the

paper which, in the conclusion, follows after it.

Students sometimes are surprised to learn that their English teachers equivo- cate. In one sense we use conclusion to mean that section of an essay that ends it. In the other we talk about the con- clusion reached in testing the idea. They are two quite different things. Essentially IIIB (conclusions) is the thesis of the paper, the controlling generalization re- peated at the end in order to leave the main point fresh in the reader's mind as he puts the paper down. We probably want the writer to rephrase or recast the thesis sentence at the end, especially in a short paper, to avoid a mechanical repetition. But IIIB is the same thing as IG. To continue the algebraic analogy, the whole idea of an expository paper may be phrased: IIA + TIB I- IC - IG. IG also equals IIIB. Or IG (IIIB) is true because of IIA and IIB and IIC. IG (IIIB) may best be illustrated by IIA, IIB, and IIC.

But isn't this also too mechanical? Those who have read this far may think that this is just another formula and, to a degree, it is. When we have given the reader that rephrased thesis, we really are not done. After all, the intro- duction in such a scheme is highly analytic and it makes the points of the presentation quite clear. The conclusion should be synthetic. It should answer questions the essay likely raises. If an essay's conclusion is reliable, valid, or true, so what? What difference does it make? What can the reader himself con- clude from his new knowledge? A good conclusion goes beyond mere summation

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and reiteration. It gives a synthesis, a

pulling together to complement the in- troduction's analytical division. Without

offering a moral platitude or without

making an irrelevant value judgment, it can be very effective if it briefly ex-

plains the significance of the thesis. It can explain ramifications of the dis-

coverv beyond the immediate context. A reader then may find more point to what he has just seen than if the writer leaves him hanging in the air. The tying of loose ends, the anchoring of the thesis to something outside itself, is much more interesting and, indeed, more im-

portant than bare summary. The kinds of essays we assign, in both

high school and college, are highly artificial things, the assignments often

arbitrary. Perhaps they bear no relation to reality. Obviously any writing or

speaking occasion the student encounters outside the classroom will require much more than three or four hundred words. We justify our assignments, however, by arguing that the techniques of well- ordered explanation are the same in or out of the classroom. Only the length changes. I think this is true. Also sub- ject to expansion is this five-paragraph outline. The length of the body is

directly proportionate to the limitation of the topic.

Such a formula has drawbacks as a

teaching device. A young and not overly alert writer may try to cram any topic from any form of discourse into this frame. Recently, while examining a

fictional narrative in class, one of my literal-minded students criticized it for not having a method of approach state- ment. This is the same as attacking Mary Roberts Rinehart for not naming the bad guy on the first page. The same student may wrongly conclude that any paper following this organization is

automatically good. Appropriate primar- ily in exposition or argumentation, and even there it must be modified to fit the

writing occasion, this system does con- tain within it the essence of generally acceptable essays. Without really think-

ing about it, E. B. White and John Ciardi include these characteristics in their prose. Our students, not being Whites or Ciardis, have to be taught to think about it.

The better writers readily can im-

provise upon this theme and should. For them the device has value mainly as a

point of departure. In following such a system writers usually discover that the original analysis may not work, that in working out the topic they reach a conclusion different from that of the outline. In doing so they test their ideas as did Montaigne. Perhaps this is one means of showing good and bad writers, as Geraldine Allen so cogently urges (English Journal, 53, November 1964, 607-09), what kind of writing will be

expected of them in freshman English. Simultaneously they must be allowed and encouraged to transcend the for- mula. Another means of articulation but not, of course, the only one.

The Able Student in a City School System (Continued from page 891)

but it is there that the most imaginative programs are being put into operation in an attempt to find solutions. If we can salvage from the heap of former

drop-outs young people with brains and

talent for future leadership roles in our

society, programs like these I have de- scribed will have been worth all the time and money they have cost.