How to write a good creative five paragraph essay?
An essay is a piece of writing on a particular subject. The essay may present an idea, expression, or emotion. Moreover, it can also initiate a debate and can propose an argument. An essay can be from 500 words to 5000 words. Before getting started with tips to write a 5 paragraph essay, it is vital to discuss how to prepare for writing an essay.
Structure of a Paragraph Essay Writing
An essay’s structure is based on three main components:
- an introduction,
- a body,
- a conclusion,
- and reference or bibliography list.
Misconceptions about Essay writing
The general misconceptions about essay writing are:
- One is that long and complicated words make an essay look formal and impersonal.
- Another is that you can write an essay in the tone of the conversation. It has to be a bit formal.
How to Write an Essay?
Essay writing is a common practice in academics and the business world also. Below are the eight primary considerations while planning an essay.
STEP 1: Choose the Type of Essay
The first step is to choose the type of essay you want to write. The four main categories of the essay are descriptive, narrative, persuasive, and expository essays:
- Descriptive Essay. Such essays require the writer to write every detail. The reader should feel that he was there on the location with you, whether it is a concrete topic or an abstract one.
- Narrative Essay. A narrative essay is written in a straightforward and orderly manner. Usually, based on personal experiences, such essays are an experience with a point to tell.
- Persuasive Essay. A persuasive essay convinces the reader of a particular point of view. The three main fundamentals of writing a persuasive essay are appeal to ethics, appeal to emotion, and the appeal to logic and reason.
- Expository Essay. An expository essay is usually on “how to” and requires a step-by-step guide to complete a particular process like making peanut butter sandwiches.
The sub-categories include argumentative essays, problem-solution essays, compare & contrast essays, and informative essays. Now you can read about how many paragraphs should be in an essay.
STEP 2: Brainstorm the Topic
The second step is to brainstorm the topic, deeply think about the topic, and pen down everything that comes to your mind regarding the specific topic. Choose the best topic from the list that is neither too broad or narrow.
STEP 3: Research the Topic
Thirdly, research the topic thoroughly. You can use online search engines and libraries for this purpose.
STEP 4: Select a Writing Style
After brainstorming the topic and doing research, the fourth step to select a writing style to write an essay. The popular writing styles are;
- APA (American Psychological Association): Usually used for psychology research papers and social science essays, this is second among the most used writing styles. It uses the author-page number citation style.
- Chicago Manual of Style / Turabian: is further divided into two writing styles notes-bibliography an author-date citation style.
- MLA (Modern Language Association): This is the most practiced writing style in colleges and high schools, particularly for language arts and humanities essays. It uses the author-page number citation style.
STEP 5: Select a Thesis Statement
The fifth step is to select a one-line thesis statement for your essay. It should be concise, clear, positive, and should take a stand. Use the content to prove your thesis.
STEP 6: Create an Outline
To maintain the flow, create an outline of the essay. Plan all the paragraphs roughly, including smooth transitions between paragraphs. Planning before writing will help you to end up with a persuasive essay. Now let’s move on to writing an essay.
STEP 7: Start Writing an Essay
After creating a draft:
- Start building your essay.
- Begin with a strong start but don’t make it too lengthy. Also, avoid dragging the introduction.
- Load the paragraph statements with evidence, quotes, examples, and statistics.
- The topic sentence tells the reader what the paragraph is about, so make it the focus.
- Write a complete sentence that expresses a complete thought and conveys a clear idea.
- Use transition words to make everything go with the flow. If possible, keep the list of transition words by your side to add the variety. Again, don’t overload the transition words.
- Revise for simplicity, clarity, structure, and consistency.
- In the end, re-read the content and make the changes if required.
STEP 8: Editing and Proofreading:
Editing is an essential aspect of the writing process. Once you have completed your essay, it is significant to proofread it and edit the unnecessary content. Moreover, check the citation and references.
If you doubt any detail, recheck them. Also, read the essay loudly once; it will help you analyze how your essay sounds like.
STEP 9: Add bibliography and citation
Add bibliography and citation at the end to avoid any plagiarism. If you have added quotes in your essay, add direct references.
What are the defining features of a Good Essay?
If you want to analyze, if your essay is worth reading and practical, then make sure it has the following defining features:
- It should address a topic.
- Your essay should answer the question/thesis statement by the end.
- It should take the shape of an argument. Moreover, the argument should have a claim to make, a reason to tell, and evidence to prove the claim and reasoning. To make a sentence look like an argument, you can use simple statements like; it should not be forgotten that another essential aspect to consider is that it is essential to keep in mind that.
5 Paragraph Essay Writing Tips
As you have already plan your essay, it will be straightforward to put your ideas into each paragraph accordingly:
The First Paragraph. It is based on the introduction of the topic. Also, it sets the tone and provides direction for the whole essay. Moreover, the introductory paragraph should hook the reader and reveal the thesis statement. It should also have a hint of conclusion. So the summary of the first paragraph is that it:
- Introduces the main idea.
- Develop and answer the thesis statement.
- List the three arguments to support your thesis statement and divide the argument one per paragraph.
The Second, Third and Fourth Paragraphs. Focus on the already listed arguments and utilize the second, third, and fourth body paragraphs should include one idea, supporting evidence, and examples. At the beginning of each paragraph:
- Write the topic sentence.
- Include an argument to support that the topic sentence is correct.
- Use quotes, facts, statistics, and examples to support your argument.
The ending of each paragraph and transition should be smooth. Use the same process for writing the third and fourth Paragraphs.
The Fifth Paragraph. It is the concluding paragraph. It should summarize the essay, which is often difficult, to sum up. Don’t use phrases like to conclude, in conclusion, to sum up, or summarize as they fit in oral presentations.
In the fifth paragraph, restate the thesis statement and link it with the body of the essay. Avoid giving any new information in the concluding paragraph. Also, don’t give statements like, this is my approach, there might be others, etc., as it undercuts one’s authority.
5 Paragraph Essay Example
- Introductory Paragraph (hook the reader, thesis statement). Bullying is abuse that may not leave visible bruises but leaves deep scars on the soul. It is the aggressive behavior of a person who believes that he can dominate others. It can happen in any place like school, college, office, social media platforms, or any public place.
- Second Paragraph. There are multiple types of bullying including, verbal bullying, physical bullying, cyberbullying, and psychological bullying. A mean comment, taunts, physical and emotional teasing, or anything that makes others uncomfortable are few examples of bullying.
- Third Paragraph. Parents, teachers, and other authoritative people can play a significant role in preventing bullying. As a parent or teacher, if you feel any weird behavior (low self-esteem, silence, concentration, deceit, etc.) in your child, talk to them and ask if everything is OK. Make them comfortable if they hesitate to share but don’t be judgmental. Give them time and tell them that you are always there to listen, and they can share anything with you.
- Fourth Paragraph. Educate yourself and your children about the anti-bullying laws and take a stand if you observe someone bullying your fellow, sibling, or anyone in your circle being bullied. It is also vital for an institution to be vocal about bullying and give students a platform to complain in case of victimization. Moreover, the offenders should be punished severely to set an example for others.
- Fifth paragraph/ Conclusion. Bullying is unacceptable and un-ignorable in any case. Being a parent or teacher, it is your responsibility to educate your children not to bully anyone and how it can affect them for a lifetime. Make them realize that bullying someone is not a joke anyway and is disrespecting. Also, empower them to stand for themselves. Take action if anyone tries to bully them or anyone in front of them.
Basic Paragraph Structure
Besides the structure of the essay, it is essential to consider the paragraph structure. Each paragraph should have at least five lines/sentences:
- The topic sentence/ key sentence.
- 3-4 supporting sentences,
- And a concluding sentence.
Qualities of a Well Written Essay
Writing is an art, and it can be improved by practice. Following are the qualities of a well-written essay:
- Focus: There should be a clear central idea for an essay. Moreover, each paragraph should also have an exact key point and a topic sentence. Also, it should make sense to the reader.
- Development: Use examples, facts, details, and descriptions to support the critical point of every paragraph. Every paragraph should have a start and an end key point, then transition word to shift to the next argument.
- Unity: Though every paragraph should have a crucial point, it should be relevant to the essay’s central idea.
- Coherence: Make sure that each paragraph makes a sentence and sticks together. The transition between paragraphs should be smooth and should have a flow.
- Correctness: Recheck your essay to make it error-free. Make sure it has no spelling or grammatical errors. You can take assistance from apps to check the grammar and sentence structure. Also, check references and readability.
Practical Principles for Essay Writing
We start writing essays at a very early stage. Usually, our teachers tell us about the essay structure (also if you reword your essay), but they don’t tell us about practical writing principles.
According to our research, the following are the practical principles:
- Clarity,
- Simplicity,
- Brevity,
- Human expression.
Clarity. The first and foremost useful principle is that your essay’s topic, content, and thesis statement should be precise. Everything that you write should have a purpose and scope.
Simplicity. Don’t think that using complex terms, phrases, and words makes your essay or writing skills high-end. Excellent and useful content should be understandable to all kinds of readers. If you are writing a technical essay, make sure to break the concepts to make them simple to understand.
Brevity. Prolonging and dragging the essay will isolate the reader. Keep it as long as it should be. Avoid repetitions, unnecessary information, and complicated terminologies. Long sentences will not convince the readers, but logic will make your content precise and to the point.
Human Expression. While writing on issues linked to particular human emotions, express and hold your emotions according to the possible reactions you might get. Focus on what the reader wants to hear and expect.
Conclusion
Essay writing is a hard art, which can be mastered by practicing. Students usually get panic after getting the assignments and end up in surrender without even trying. Trust us, and it is not that difficult.
You can quickly write a persuasive essay by following the mentioned-above details. However, the essay writing structure might not be new for you, but we hope the components, tips, and practical principles will guide you in writing a persuasive 5 paragraph essay.