Types of Essays: Writing a Five-Paragraph Essay

One of the most basic essay formats required of beginning level English students is the five paragraph essay. Whether it's an online class or intro to composition, students are often expected to master the five-paragraph essay before moving on to more complex types of academic writing. The nice thing about this type of essay is that they can be written about almost anything once you understand the format.

Getting Started

As with any type of academic writing, the key to writing a good five-paragraph essay is planning. You start by choosing a topic. Unless you want to do lots of research, it's good to start with a topic that you are already familiar with. You will need to be able to make three points about your topic. Choosing a hobby or sport is always a good option. For example, one good topic might be natural disaster hazards of southern Illinois. Once you choose the topic, you will write an introductory paragraph for your essay. For my topic, the introduction might go something like this:

Living in southern Illinois definitely has its perks. My house is within four hours drive of five other states and six major cities. The area has lots of outdoor activities and is generally a pleasant place to live. However, there are downsides to living in southern Illinois. The worst part is that the area is subject to many natural disaster hazards.

Though this is an overly simple example, the point of the introduction paragraph is to let your reader know what you are going to talk about and then lead them into the middle paragraphs.

Middle Paragraph Structure

In a five-paragraph essay, there are three middle paragraphs which all have the same basic structure. Each paragraph begins with a topic sentence that relates to the final sentence of your introductory paragraph. In the example above, the final sentence was, " The worst part is that the area is subject to many natural disaster hazards." So each of the second, third and fourth paragraphs should start with a sentence that describes the natural disaster hazards of southern Illinois. For example, I might start my second paragraph by saying, "Some people are surprised to find out that southern Illinois is prone to earthquakes."

The rest of that paragraph is spent explaining my topic sentence for that paragraph. This is where I would mention that southern Illinois is crossed by the Wabash Valley Fault Line and is in the New Madrid Seismic Zone. Fun facts that relate to topic should also be included, like the fact that in 1811and 1812, there were 3 major earthquakes that rocked southern Illinois including one that temporarily reverse the course of the Mississippi River.

Each of these three paragraphs follow the same basic template, introducing a type of natural disaster, since that was the topic, and then explaining how it applies.

Tying It Up

The final part of your five-paragraph essay is the conclusion paragraph. In this paragraph, you tell the reader again what you explained in paragraphs two, three and four. In my essay on southern Illinois natural disaster hazards, I might say, "Earthquakes, tornadoes and floods are all natural disaster hazards in southern Illinois." This paragraph is usually the easiest to write because it generally needs just three or four sentences to recap the information in the middle paragraphs.

Writing a five-paragraph essay is pretty easy once you know the template.