ENGL 402

5-1-14
The Five-Paragraph Essay
A Proposal for a New Pedagogy
Stephen Portsmouth

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction1
Description of Current Situation 2
Methodology.. 2
Results.... 3
Recommendation4-5
Conclusion.......... 6
Works Cited 7

Abstract
The purpose of this report is to analyze the usage of the five-paragraph essay and to recommend
pedagogical adjustments. The five-paragraph essay hinders students more than it helps them.
Research was conducted using scholarly journal articles and an interview with a university
professor. There are both benefits and costs of using the five-paragraph essay. The costs
outweigh the benefits. New teaching techniques have been recommended to better aid students in
higher education and the professional realm.
The Five-Paragraph Essay: A Proposal for a New Pedagogy

Introduction
The five paragraph essay has been a staple in the American education system for years. Today
the five paragraph essay is not only found in middle schools and high schools, but is also
commonplace in higher education because it has been so deeply engraved in students minds.
While the five paragraph essay is appropriate in lower education levels, due to its function as a
beginning writing tool that is easy for teachers to quickly grade, it stifles the formation of
arguments backed by students own creative and critical ideas.

This limitation of original and critical thinking has now come to extend to the professional realm,
which actually harms these now-professionals as they are incompetent without clear, laid out
instructions. To help educational aids across America better serve their students in the
professional world, adherence to the five paragraph essay must be abandoned in higher
education.

In this report, I will first address my
research of the current situation as it
manifests in the education system and
ultimately the work force. Second I will
review the qualifications and credibility of
the research sources. Third, I will
recommend a new pedagogy for high
school and college level teachers to help
students break away for the narrow-
minded thinking produced by the five
paragraph essay in ways that will not
hinder their ability to efficiently teach and
grade papers. Lastly, I will go over costs
and benefits of breaking away from the
five paragraph essay.


This report has five sections:
1) Review of Current Situation
2) Methodology
3) Results
4) Recommendation
5) Conclusion
Outline of Five-Paragraph Essay
Current Situation
The five-paragraph essay has been in existence for many years (Nunally 68). Currently the five-
paragraph essay is being taught across the country, and many see it as a national phenomenon
(Nunally 68).

Before describing my plan, I will first highlight some factors that I believe are caused by the
usage of the five-paragraph essay. There are three main reasons I believe the five paragraph
essay should be abandoned.
1) The rigid format of the five-paragraph essay limits student creativity, as they are
forced to adhere to strict guidelines laid out by one individual educator, who at
times may not be qualified to dictate such decisions.
2) The format limits critical thinking, a skill that is a necessity in their other subjects.
Students will also struggle to form their own opinions regarding the materials
covered in class.
3) Students will struggle to work independently of clear cut instruction. Higher
Education and the professional are frequently devoid of clear cut instructions,
which may even be termed micro-managing.

Methodology
My research involves both primary and secondary sources, both coming from experts in the field
of English pedagogy. A comprehensive list of works consulted can be found on the last page of
the report.

I will be using multiple secondary sources in the form of articles found from credible
databases including The NCTE - National Council of Teachers of English, specifically
articles authored by teachers associated with the National Writing Project, Auburn
University, Saginaw Valley State University, and more. I have chosen to use the articles
because they were readily available through the WSU library databases and because they
are written by educators.
I also am conducting an email interview with Washington State University Professor, Dr.
Aaron Moe, who currently teaches English 368: 19
th
Century American Literature,
English 402- Technical and Professional Writing, and English 472: Ecological Issues in
American Nature Writing. In the past, Dr. Moe has taught English 101: Introductory
Writing and English 298: Research and Writing, Honors. I have chosen to interview Dr.
Moe because he is passionate about the issue of the five-paragraph essay, and it was he
who originally brought the issue to my attention.

Results
After thorough research, I acknowledge that the five-paragraph essay has both pros and cons.
Below you will find a list of both the pros and the cons of using the five-paragraph essay.

Pros
Quick and efficient grading for teachers with many students. This also allows teachers to
assign more essays throughout a course.
Students are provided with a foundation for essays and argumentative writing including
an understanding of what an introduction, thesis, body paragraphs, transitions, and
conclusions are and how they should be used.
Essay writing becomes less intimidating for beginning writers.
Students learn how important unity, cohesiveness, and development are in writing
(Nunally 67).
Standardized test scores, including the SAT, and the College Board look favorably upon
five-paragraph essays, and the usage of the format yields higher scores (Smith 16).
Understanding the five-paragraph essay improves students success at the college level
(Smith 16).
Cons
The five-paragraph format does not exist anywhere outside of the classroom (Miller 99).
Students become trapped inside the five-paragraph format and struggle to articulate their
ideas without adhering to the format (Moe). This effectively stifles student creativity.
Other patterns of writing consider the Kairos, or timing of the argument which can help
lead readers to epiphanies (Moe).
Students fail to consider the purpose and audience of their argument (Miller 100), or as
Dr. Moe puts it: students lack rhetorical awareness.
Dependence on prescribed instructions will limit critical thinking skills and harm students
in the higher education and the professional world where clear instructions are rarely
provided. Clear instructions exist only in the working-class and the five-paragraph essay
enforces the deficit between classes. (Brannon 18).
Using an arbitrary pattern can make learning to write more difficult for many students
(Brannon 17).
Adherence to the five-paragraph format limits students ability to experiment with
language (Brannon 17).





Recommendation
The five-paragraph essay is favorable in the teaching of primary students because it introduces
students to the fundamental elements of writing. The format also teaches young students how to
organize their thoughts in a unified and coherent way. The five-paragraph essay is effective only
in basic writing and when utilized by writers who possess a rhetorical awareness and the skills
necessary to articulate ideas in a thought-out and well-timed manner. Below are suggestions for
teachers at the high school and college level to help students break away from a rigid format and
become creative, rhetorically-aware writers who produce papers that are manifestations of
critical-thinking.
Encourage students to utilize other patterns for essay construction.
Teach students the importance of the rhetorical situation.
Teach students that their own ideas are the most important features in their essays and
that an idea can be laid out in multiple paragraphs.
Construct open-ended prompts for students that force students to critically think and plan
out their essays in any way they please.
Increase the teaching of the pre-writing process and encourage students to brainstorm.
Show students examples of successful essays that do not utilize the five-paragraph but
still successfully bring ideas to fruition.

Example of Essay Prompt
Here is an example of an essay prompt that requires students to formulate their own ideas
and use their own creativity and critical-thinking skills to produce an essay that brings
their own ideas to fruition. The prompt comes from Dr. Hegglunds English 419: 20
th

Century Novel, at Washington State University.

Your first three assignments have worked through analyses of how narrative works: beginning
with an intensive discussion of Atonement, then through your "keyword" analysis of Howards
End or To the Lighthouse, and finally in your comparison of novel-to-film adaptation in either
The Big Sleep or The Quiet American. This assignment asks you to draw on your skills in
narrative analysis by thinking about how novels can be a meaningful literary form to address
questions of cultural identity and community. You should therefore choose one of the following
prompts, use the questions in the prompt to arrive at your own thesis, and then write a paper that
argues this thesis with support from the novel in question.
1. In Wide Sargasso Sea, whose narration is more important in conveying the story:
Antoinette's or Rochester's? Why do you think Rhys divides the narration between the
two? How does the split narration give us insight into the many cultural divides (between
genders, between races, between nationalities) in the novel?
2. In Jane Eyre, Rochester's first wife is presented as a "madwoman" who embodies a
certain "wildness" and "savagery" commonly associated (in the English view) with the
Caribbean. How does Rhys offer another account of Antoinette's personal crisis?
Drawing on specific episodes and conversations in the novel, discuss how Rhys offers us
other possible ways to view Antoinette other than as a culturally-determined
"madwoman."
3. In The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, why do you think Daz chooses Yunior as the
primary narrator of the novel? And why does he not reveal that Yunior is the narrator
until the narrative is well underway? What kinds of insights does Yunior add to the story
of Oscar and his family? And what kinds of limitations does Yunior's perspective have?
4. Daz's novel obviously contains plenty of dark moments, culminating (spoiler alert!) in
Oscar's death. Is it possible, however, to argue that the novel has a happy ending?
Consider the way that Daz arranges plot events to suggest something other than
bleakness for the novel's remaining characters? What does Daz accomplish in the novel's
conclusion that informs the impression that the novel leaves on us?
Again, your paper should not simply answer these questions one by one; you should use the
prompts to formulate your own original ideas about the novel (in other words, your thesis). As
always, your paper should draw upon specific examples to support your argument.


Conclusion
While there are many in the world of academia that support the five-paragraph essay, those
academics represent elementary and lower level education. Those active in higher education and
the professional realm do not support the five-paragraph essay because the costs of adhering to
the five-paragraph format greatly outweigh the benefits of adhering to the five-paragraph format.
You have just read a list of both the costs and benefits of adherence to the five-paragraph essay
format. The benefits are almost exclusively for lower educational levels while the costs impact
American higher education and the workplace.

Thank you for your time and the opportunity to better the writing and thinking skills of American
students and workers. Your input is valuable to me so please do not hesitate to reach me at
[email protected] or by appointment.

Works Cited
Brannon, Lil, Jennifer P. Courtney, Cynthia P. Urbanski, Shana V. Woodward, Jeanie M.
Reynolds, Anthony E. Iannone, Karen D. Haag, Karen Mach, and Lacy Arnold. "The
Five-Paragraph Essay and the Deficit Model of Education." The English Journal 98.2
(2008): 16-21. JSTOR Arts and Sciences IV. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
Chadwick, Jocelyn A. "Green Pens, Marginal Notes: Rethinking Writing and Student
Engagement." The English Journal 101.5 (2012): 15-16. JSTOR Arts and Sciences IV.
Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
Miller, Jeanette. "Speaking My Mind: Persistence of the Five-Paragraph Essay." National
Council of Teachers of English 3.2 (2010): 99-100. JSTOR Arts and Sciences IV. Web. 1
Apr. 2014.
Moe, Aaron M., PhD. "The Five-Paragraph Essay." E-mail interview. 5 Apr. 2014.
Nichols, Duane C. "The Five-Paragraph Essay: An Attempt To Articulate." The English Journal
55.7 (1966): 903-08. JSTOR Arts and Sciences IV. Web. 3 Apr. 2014.
Nunnally, Thomas E. "Breaking the Five-Paragraph-Theme Barrier." The English Journal 80.1
(1991): 67-71. JSTOR Arts and Sciences IV. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
Seo, Byung-In. "Speaking My Mind: Defending the Five-Paragraph Essay." The English Journal
97.2 (2007): 15-16. JSTOR Arts and Sciences IV. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.
Smith, Kerri. "Speaking My Mind: In Defense of the Five-Paragraph Essay." The English
Journal 95.4 (2006): 16-17. JSTOR Arts and Sciences IV. Web. 1 Apr. 2014
West, Kimberely. "The Ill Effects of the Five Paragraph Theme." The English Journal 90.1
(2000): 57-60. JSTOR Arts and Sciences IV. Web. 1 Apr. 2014.