Learning to write an essay is never an easy task. The reason for this is that many individuals truly struggle with how to articulate their organized thoughts onto the blank sheet of paper, which is their canvas. The key to essay writing is organization. That being said, how does one conceptualize the organization of their sophisticated thoughts? The key to essay writing organization is actually creating a roadmap of what your main points are and where you want to go, (“The Five Paragraph Essay”). In order to write the academic standard five paragraph essay, it is usually best to make a five paragraph map of what your thesis statement is, your topic sentences to your body paragraphs (usually three in total), and then your concluding paragraph, (“The Five Paragraph Essay”)/ Once you master this, this model can be expanded for larger papers that you have later on.
The thesis statement is the single most important part of your essay because it outlines your point of view and what you are going to discuss in your essay. Let’s take the perspective that you think that puppies are adorable. When considering writing your thesis, think of three reasons why you think that puppies are adorable. Believe it or not, thesis writing, regardless of the intellectual degree of the topic is this simple. Thus, if I wanted to write about adorable puppies, I would argue, “Adorable puppies are better than kittens because they are less shy, have better noses, and have fluffier fur. Each point of my argument within my thesis statement is one of my three body paragraphs to my five paragraph essay. Additionally, the thesis sentence is restated in the topic sentence of my concluding paragraph as well, (“The Five Paragraph Essay Series”). If you get your thesis statement, that is half the battle to writing your dream essay.
Now returning to my argument about why adorable puppies are superior to kittens, each one of my body paragraphs is going to have a topic sentence about each of my arguments about why puppies are better, (“How to Write a Five Paragraph Essay). For example, I will write three topic sentences to include: Adorable puppies are less shy than kittens, Adorable puppies have better noses than kittens, and Adorable puppies have fluffier furs than kittens. Within each one of my body paragraphs, I would talk about my topic sentence and explain why I believe this argument to be true, (“How to Write a Five Paragraph Essay). For example, in the body paragraph about fluffier fur, I would elaborate about the fur of a Welsh Corgi puppy versus a French Bull Dog, and so on. This would take up the four sentences that are usually required of a body paragraph.
One other issue that people struggle with when writing essays is knowing where to begin and end the essay. Returning back to our thesis statement, the thesis statement is going to be the end of your introductory paragraph and be rephrased at the beginning of your concluding paragraph. When writing your introductory paragraph, you want to zero your reader into your main argument. Thus, with our puppy example you could discuss how long you have been exposed to puppies and why puppies are so beloved and then hit your main argument. The reverse is true for your concluding paragraph. You would start zeroed in on your argument, which is your restated thesis and then zoom back out about puppies in general and end with a phrase stating, puppies will be inspiring many for years to come.
The important thing to remember when writing your essay is to focus and take a deep breath and get your main argument written on paper. Do not be afraid to roadmap and your essay will basically write itself regardless if you are talking about adorable puppies or econometrics.
Works Cited
“How to Write a Five Paragraph Essay.” BookRags. 2016. Web. 7 April 2016.
“The Five Paragraph Essay.” Olympia. 2016. Web. 7 April 2016.
“The Five Paragraph Essay Series.” Study Guides and Strategies. 2016. Web. 7 April 2016.
