Formal Writing: The 5 Paragraph Essay

Rules To Keep In Mind: Rule 1: Voice You need to make a decision when you write, do not play both sides of an argument unless the genre demands it Never us personal pronouns such as : "I," "me," "my," "we," or "us.” these are informal Never use 2nd person pronouns like “you” as this seems like you are making unfound assumptions about your reader Instead of writing “I think that Spiderman is awesome.” write “Spiderman is awesome.” You are supposed to be an expert on your thesis try to sound like it. I think sounds unsure. Never write the phrase in this essay I will ……like Nike just do it….you wouldn’t call someone and say during this phone call I will say Do not use the phrase “in my opinion,” we know it is your opinion you wrote the essay, we hope.

Rule 2: Diction: The words you chose Never use contractions: Not I'll : it is I will not can’t it is can not No colloquialism or Slang: some one does not lose it ..they became upset Avoid non standard English… its not alot it is a lot No abbreviations it is not tv its television

Rule 3: Transitions Each sentence must connect to the next as if your are connecting trains or dominoes Edit to make sure there is a reason for each sentence Paragraphs need to connect to each other for this we use transition words: found here: http://www.smart-words.org/linking-words/transition-words.html Transitions are what determine whether your piece flows or not

Rule 4: Dictionary and Thesaurus usage Do not use these to add big words they weaken your position if used improperly Straight forward, direct language is better

Pre-writing: You must make a brain storm. In which you collect as much data as you can on your topic If you do not have enough information, you need to change topics and start the process again If you are happy with your base information, you need to select and organize your information from your brain storm You then need to create an outline or plan of what you intend to prove in your essay in bullet form

Pre-writing: continued You would then proceed to a rough copy: Be sure to follow your outline When the rough copy is done seek out editing and self editing until it is polished, which means no word is there without a purpose. Final step is to publish your writing

Form of the five paragraph essay: The literary or five paragraph essay is the basic form of essay writing. The other forms of essay such as argumentative, persuasive or personal essay are created by slightly changing the basic form There are three parts to a literary or five paragraph essay. 1) The introduction 2) 3 body paragraphs. ( longer essays call for more body paragraphs) 3) The conclusion

Introduction The purpose of the introduction is to inform your reader of your position on the argument you are presenting The introduction has three main parts 1) Universal statement or hook: general statement connected to the specific topic to entice your reader to read the essay 2) Thesis: State clearly the main idea you have E.G for or against, relevance to society…this is the answer to any question you are being asked 3) The mapping or directional statement: indicate three supporting ideas

Body Purpose: Provide support for the thesis(main idea) All Paragraphs must only explore 1 idea only Support is relevant and accurate details which prove your topic There are 4 parts to the Body paragraph 1) Topic Sentence: States the main idea of the paragraph 2) Expert: fact or quote that supports the topic sentence 3) Explanation: Which explains how your quote or fact supports your topic 4) Conclusion of the paragraph: connects your topic to your thesis

Conclusion The Conclusion has three part which must be included 1) Repetition of Thesis: Repeated as if the thesis is now proven 2 )Repetition of Mapping Statement: Shows how it was proven 3) New Universal: Final thought that extends outward from the essay….food for thought statement connected to topic