A 5 paragraph essay is a typical assignment that you will do throughout the school, mostly in high school, colleges, and universities. Since every course or subject can require a five-paragraph essay, you need to excel at writing them. Luckily the five-paragraph essay template is easy to compose. When you start writing your standardized test essay, you should first decide what kind of essay you are required to write.
There are many different types of 5 paragraph essays, including narrative, comparative, argumentative, expository, persuasive, literary, and many more. The kind of essay will, therefore, determine your topic and thesis.
Topic Examples For A Five-Paragraph Essay
One of the main things to do in the beginning is to pick a great 5 paragraph essay topic. Here is a brief list of 5 paragraph essay topics you can take a look at to elaborate and develop from. You can always seek out more 5 paragraph essay ideas.
- Can we learn from the mistakes of other people?
- How can the government reduce crime?
- Is using animals for tests an ethical practice?
- Who should receive capital punishment?
- What are the benefits of permitting same-sex marriages?
- Why should education be made completely free?
The 5 paragraph essay format for standardized tests is either persuasive or literary. Here are the tips that will help you on how to write a five-paragraph essay:
Writing A Good Introduction Paragraph
The first paragraph of a five paragraph essay is the introduction, and it must accomplish some specific goals: capture your reader’s interest, introduce your topic, and make a claim or express an opinion in a thesis.
Start with a hook. The hook should capture the audience’s attention, so it’s good to choose a creative way to introduce your topic. The hook sentence should be a generalized statement about your topic that gives your readers the basic idea about your paper’s topic
The second sentence should tell the reader more about your problems while remaining generalized. You should provide essential background information and define your question.
Continue offering the background information, but begin to see the focus of your essay start to take shape.
Things To Note When Writing An Introduction Paragraph
- The paragraph should be 3 to 5 sentences long
- It predetermines your essay’s entire structure
- The first sentence should hook the reader
- The last sentence is the thesis statement
- The first sentence/hook may be a shocking fact, quote, rhetorical question, joke, or real-life experience.
For example, if the essay topic is, “Can we learn from the mistakes of other people?” You may introduce the first sentence as follows: “In life there are no mistakes, only lessons.”
Body Paragraphs Of A Five Paragraph Essay (5 to 7 Sentences Each)
Keep the following in mind when writing body paragraphs:
- Include your strongest point in the first paragraph
- Include the weakest point in the second paragraph
- Add another strong argument in the final body paragraph
You should also:
- Write three points, and you want the reader to see them as being healthy.Beginning with your strongest point will show your readers that your stance is right, and ending the second strongest point will create reliable support for your argument. This means that your weak points need to be in the middle.
- Begin each body paragraph with a topic sentence.A topic sentence of a five paragraph essay states your point and connects it back to the thesis. This will show the audience why your location supports the idea you presented in your thesis. The topic sentence controls the rest of your body paragraphs, just like your argument controls the whole essay.
- Depending on the topic of your 5 paragraph essay, you may pull evidence from a text or do some research that you did about the issue. Alternatively, you can use examples to back up the points, especially when writing your class essays.
Your commentary is where you show the reader how your examples support your points and connect them back to the topic sentence and the argument. Explain in your own words how your evidence proves your ideas to make your stance correct. However, the commentary is essential to a successful essay.
Writing A Conclusion
The final paragraph summarizes your main points and reasserts your main claim. It should point out all your principal points, but you should not repeat certain examples, and leave a long-lasting impression on the reader.
You should start the conclusion with the ideas you covered in your thesis. Don’t just copy-and-paste the thesis. Instead, rewrite your it with the weight of your argument behind it. Your readers have now read all of your points, and the examples and your thesis should reflect this.
Include a review of how each of your body paragraphs supported your thesis, reminding your reader of your arguments. You should write at least two sentences that explain briefly what you’ve said. Avoid introducing new information. Providing further details in the thesis can result in lost points in the whole essay. This will cause the reader to walk away with a lot of questions instead of confidence in your ideas.
In conclusion, you should only be restating what you’ve already said. Tie up your essay with a concluding sentence. Your concluding sentences should leave your reader with a long-lasting impression of your topic. Use the statement to make sure that your readers keep thinking about your essay even after they have finished reading it. The following are great ideas for writing a good concluding sentence
Once you complete the first draft of your essay, it’s a good idea to re-visit the thesis statement in your first paragraph. Read your article to see if it flows well, and you might find that the supporting items are persuasive, but they don’t address the specific focus of your thesis. Rewrite your thesis sentence to fit your body and summary more precisely, and adjust the conclusion to wrap it all up nicely.
5 Paragraph Essay Example
Now that you have mapped out how to write a basic five paragraph essay, it’s always a good idea to take a peek at 5 paragraph essay examples. An example of a five paragraph essay can really open your eyes to how it is actually done, and might make things way more simple. And if you need a 5 paragraph essay of your own, make sure to get plagiarism free essay writing help.What does a 5 paragraph essay look like? is definitely a common question, so here’s your answer!
Although it was once a promising source of income for American retirees, the Social Security program is slowly becoming more of a problem than a solution. The program has morphed into promising more money than it can deliver, and promising that money especially to people who did not earn it. Because of the top-heavy design of the Social Security system, it is now necessary to implement a program that can continuously support itself over the generations, provide a sufficient amount of financial support, and make sure the money is going into worthy hands. Creating a mandatory private pension system would not only give those who are responsible with their money a chance to be supported through their whole retirement, a private pension system would be self-supporting over time unlike the Social Security system.
Unlike the Social Security system, a universal pension system would provide retirees enough money to live on month-to-month no matter how long they live after retirement. While there are multiple designs to private pensions, the general idea is that employees pay a certain amount of each paycheck into the company’s pension fund (Tuchman, “Pension Plans Beat”).. This money is pooled with funds earned by the company, and then a certain amount is sent to all retired employees every month (Tuchman, “Pension Plans Beat”). Unlike with Social Security, everyone who is receiving checks used to give some of their money to the pension fund while they were employed (Inquisitr, “Social Security Disability”). As everyone put in their fair share, and as the corporation is responsible for filling in the gaps, there is enough money in a private pension fund for the hardworking employees. If retirement funds switch to mandatory private pensions, then everyone who earned the money is guaranteed enough money to retire with, no matter how long their retirement is.
As a system designed to provide a guaranteed retirement to all hardworking employees, a mandatory pension plan would only provide money to people who have earned it. One of the reasons that Social Security has become a financial failure is that American taxpayer money is being used without permission as a charity to people who, in many cases, are committing fraud in order to obtain free money. There are currently 8,942,584 people receiving disability benefits through Social Security, and not all of these people truly have disabilities that prevent them from working (Inquisitr, “Social Security Disability”). Says Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, “probably a third of everybody on disability, there’s no way they’re disabled…it’s nauseating” (Inquisitr, “Social Security Disability”). Social Security was originally designed as a retirement system, giving hardworking employees a clear shot at retirement by setting aside a small portion of every check. Now, instead, hardworking citizens are being forced to give their supposed retirement money to people feigning disabilities for free cash. It is time for retirement funds to get back to their roots. Retirement funds must shed their charitable elements in order to properly work as what they were designed to be: a strong body of hardworking employees supporting the well-deserved retirements of their predecessors.
Finally, a mandatory system of private pensions would provide what Social Security cannot: self-sufficiency. Currently, the Social Security program is struggling to keep up with every check that it promised to write, even with new money coming in from taxpayers every month (Inquisitr, “Social Security Disability”). The argument has rung out many times to increase the Social Security tax on paychecks, but this would only be spending more in order to earn back just as much. The reason Social Security is failing is that people are receiving the benefits without paying the costs. Within a mandatory private pension plan, every individual would put in their allotted amount, and take out their allotted amount after retirement. This design is a closed system, with no money leaking out to people who don’t deserve it. Therefore, the private pension system would be able to sustain itself, doing what it was designed to do. For a self-sustaining retirement system, it is necessary to use a design for hardworking Americans and by hardworking Americans. Unlike Social Security, a mandatory private pension system would provide sustainability.
When it was initially designed, Social Security was meant to provide a well-deserved retirement to hardworking Americans. A certain amount was taken from each worker’s check, and given back month by month upon the completion of their life’s work. A mandatory private pension system is simply tracing back to the program’s roots, doing what Social Security failed to do. With a change from the Social Security system to a mandatory system of pensions managed by each employee’s place of employment, America would be able to provide a guaranteed retirement to everyone who has earned it. By not providing free money to non-workers who commit fraud in order to qualify for disability benefits, private pensions keep the money in the pot. By charging each employee their fair share while they are employed, private pensions ensure that there will be enough for everyone at their point of retirement. By only including those who produce an income, private pensions keep to the roots of American retirement, rewarding those who work hard with a retirement that they can count on to be there when they need it. The instatement of universal private pension systems throughout American promises what Social Security cannot: a secure retirement fund that can sufficiently support each and every hardworking member no matter the length of their retirement.
How Does the Grading Rubric for a 5 Paragraph Essay Look Like?
When you write a 5-paragraph essay, your aim is to score good grades. Here’s what the grading rubric entails:
- Focus – Did you prove your thesis effectively and meet all the objectives?
- Organization – Is there a smooth transition from one paragraph to the next? Are the paragraphs logical? Did the writer follow the outline of a 5-paragraph essay and other general essay writing standards?
- Conventions – Is the essay easy to read? Does it contain any spelling, grammar, or punctuation mistakes? Are some sentences wordy?
- Style – Does the essay comprise of high-level vocabulary and creativity?
- Content – Did the student stay factual and logical when defending arguments? Are the arguments powerful and convincing?
Final Say On The 5 Paragraph Essay
When writing a five paragraph essay, be sure to stick to the format of each section. That means writing a strong introduction and developing your arguments well through the body paragraphs. Be conversant with the rubric mentioned above, as well, and don’t forget to ask for a professional essay writing help, if needed. You can get high quality custom essay writing from our professional essay writers. They are up to any task, so your schoolwork won’t stress you out anymore.
