Doctorate Students
Writing Class
Steve Peterson
stristi@yahoo.com
Week 4
“5-paragraph Essay”
“Writing an Introduction”
“Examples of Purpose Statements”
Writing the 5-Paragraph Essay
A Concise, Clear Presentation of
Your Ideas
When you present your ideas in an essay in
English, you should use the style of writing
that suits this language.
The five-paragraph essay helps you to do
that by stating your idea at the beginning,
giving clear support, and then re-stating
your idea at the end.
Writing the 5-Paragraph Essay
 There
is nothing special about the 5paragraph essay except that it is a clear way
of showing us how to write using the
western structure of writing. The main goal
of learning about the 5-paragraph essay is to
teach us the western structure of writing.
 Most essays will not be exactly 5
paragraphs long, some will be shorter and
others longer.
The Format
The format you use is quite
straightforward:
 Introductory paragraph
 Supporting paragraph #1
 Supporting paragraph #2
 Supporting paragraph #3
 Concluding paragraph
The Format
 The
Introductory Paragraph
• The introduction is always the first
paragraph in an essay. It will always
contain the purpose statement which is
usually located at the end of the
introduction. This is the most important
sentence in the essay. The rest of the
essay will be related to this sentence.
The Format
 The
Supporting Paragraphs
• This is called the Body of the essay.
These paragraphs explain, define, clarify
and illustrate the purpose statement.
Each paragraph consists of a topic
sentence, several supporting sentences
and a concluding sentence. The number
of paragraphs depends on the length of
the assignment. We will learn more
about these in another class.
The Format
 Concluding
Paragraph
• This paragraph completes the essay
usually by summarizing what has been
written.
The Format
 Purpose
Statement and Plan
• When beginning to write an essay the
first thing you must do is write a purpose
statement. You must also know the main
supporting points for the purpose
statement. This is what we call the plan
for the essay.
The first step is to choose a topic.
For example:
Smoking is bad.
Purpose Statement and Plan
Now you’re ready to put together
your main idea and support ideas,
which we will call the “Purpose
statement,” and “plan,” respectively.
Purpose Statement and Plan
Your Purpose statement
should have two things:

A primary subject.

A definite opinion.
TIP
Your purpose statement is
usually the last sentence of your
introductory paragraph.
Purpose Statement
A Purpose Statement should have a
primary subject that can be written
about in the space that you have.
For example, “Love” is not a very
good subject for a 5-paragraph
essay, because it is too broad.
Purpose Statement
The Purpose Statement should have
a definite opinion because we can
not say much about facts; they are
either true or not true.
So, we create a sentence like . . .
Purpose Statement
Smoking is an awful habit.
Purpose Statement
We have our primary subject,
“smoking” . . .
Smoking is an awful habit.
Purpose Statement
And our definite opinion, “it’s
an awful habit.”
Smoking is an awful habit.
Plan
 The
plan lets the reader know how you will
develop your idea.
 Try to avoid sentences like, “I will write
about ….” or “I will prove my argument in
this way . . . .”
 It can be very effective if you put your
purpose statement and plan together in one
sentence, though this is not necessary.
Plan
Since we are writing a five-paragraph
essay, let’s choose 3 supporting
points.
Plan
 Smoking
is dirty
 Smoking makes you smell bad.
 Smoking damages your health.
Plan
Now let’s put them together:
Smoking is dirty, it makes
the smoker smell bad, and
it damages the smoker’s
health.
Purpose Statement and Plan
Now let’s put the Purpose Statement and
Plan together:
Smoking is an awful habit,
because it is dirty, it makes the
smoker smell bad, and it damages
the smoker’s health.
Purpose Statement and Plan
Now let’s put the Purpose Statement and
Plan together:
Smoking is an awful habit,
because it is dirty, it makes the
smoker smell bad, and it damages
the smoker’s health.
Introductory paragraph
Now that we have the main idea, and
how we will develop it, let’s start to
build our whole introductory
paragraph.
Introductory Paragraph
Your introductory paragraph should do
two things. First, catch the reader’s
attention so that the reader will be
interested in your topic. After the reader
has read the introduction they should
want to continue to read what you have
written. Second, It should also tell
him/her what the main idea of your paper
is.
Introductory paragraph
There are four parts to this paragraph:
 Motivator
 Transition
 Purpose
 Plan
Statement
Motivator
The idea of the motivator is to . . .
 Catch
the attention and interest of the
reader;
 Stimulate the reader’s curiosity.
Motivator
An effective motivator might use . . .
•
•
•
•
•
An Interesting Story
A Surprising Fact or Idea
An Opposite Opinion
A Quotation
A Rhetorical Question
Motivator
 An
Interesting Story:
-the main point of your story should be
related to the rest of your essay.
Motivator
My nephew, a middle school student,
indulged in computer games last year. When
his classes were over he would rush out of the
classroom and go into the internet bars which
were located near his school. Though he got
great joy from the computer games, he failed
in the National Exam this summer. He is now
full of pain and regret.
Motivator
 A Surprising
Fact or Idea:
Example:
• Soon there will be more divorces in the
United States than marriages.
Motivator
 An
Opposite Opinion
• -In such an introduction, your purpose
statement contradicts what many or most
people believe.
Motivator
 Example
of Opposite Opinion:
• Recently, many articles have been written
that oppose people having the freedom to
own their own gun. They say this freedom
increases the level of crime and lowers the
sense of safety and security. Despite these
facts, I believe every person should have
the freedom to buy and use a gun if they
choose.
Motivator
 A Quotation:
• This is likely to catch the reader’s
attention. You can then continue by
agreeing or disagreeing with this quote.
Make sure the wording of the quote is
accurate.
Motivator
 Quotation:
Example:
“Marriage is the tomb of love.”
Motivator
 A Rhetorical
Question:
• A rhetorical question asks a question that
the body of the essay will answer and
discuss. The purpose of a rhetorical
question is to cause the reader to think
more deeply about the topic that will be
written about in the essay.
Motivator
 A Rhetorical
Question:
Example:
What are the key factors in having a
successful marriage? Marriage is an
important part of the lives of many people.
It is important to know what the key factors
of a successful marriage are.
Motivator--Smoking
Look at the following example related to
smoking. This is a combination of “Opposite
Opinion” and “Telling a story”.
There she was, Mary Jones, looking
absolutely stunning in her long black dress,
beautiful eyes, and cigarette lying on her red
lips. This wonderful actress was the image of
feminine beauty in the 1950’s, letting women
know that a cigarette was as important a part of
a woman’s clothing as her dress.
Motivator