5 Paragraph Essay

5 Paragraph Essay A Step By Step Guide

5 Paragraphs • Introduction • Body Paragraph #1 • Body Paragraph #2 • Counter Argument #3 • Conclusion

THESIS STATEMENT • WHAT IS YOUR THESIS STATEMENT?

Your Thesis Statement is the “trunk” of the tree that will be your essay • A thesis statement is the LAST sentence of your introduction and is only ONE sentence. • Your thesis will be what supports your entire essay • A thesis statement presents your opinions or thoughts on a subject or an issue. • You cannot write an essay without one. A thesis statement must contain a subject + an sub point for each body paragraph • A thesis statement answers the topic question (the one you created or the one presented to you by the instructor). • ***** Thesis statement should never contain the following: In my opinion, I think, I believe, etc.******

INTRODUCTION (PARAGRAPH 1) • FIRST YOU NEED A HOOK! • A hook is a statement or a few that interests and orients the reader on the topic of your paper • You can use a quote from the story, a quote someone said that relates to your topic, statistic but it MAY NOT be a question • THE HOOK DRAWS THE READERS INTEREST!

INTRODUCTION(Paragraph 1) • Once you have stated your hook, you want to TRANSITION into Flowers for Algernon and your topic. • Provide a sentence that links your hook to you TAG (title, author, genre) • Example: Society has become a shallow place. If an individual does not fit into societies form of the normal person ,then they are treated differently. But, does society treat those who are different in a negative or positive way? An in depth look into the treatment of individuals in today's society is the overarching questions that Daniel Keyes provides in the short story Flowers for Algernon. Where is the transition from the hook to the TAG?

INTRODUCTION • TAG (TITLE, AUTHOR, GENRE) of what novel or short story you are writing about! • Provide three-four sentences of background information of the story that RELATES to your topic. • Example: Society has become a shallow place. If an individual does not fit into societies form of the normal person ,then they are treated differently. But, does society treat those who are different in a negative or positive way? An in depth look into the treatment of individuals in today's society is the overarching question Daniel Keyes provides in the short story Flowers for Algernon. The main character, Charlie, has a very low intelligence and has always wanted to be smart. A surgery has been created to increase intelligence and Charlie has been chosen to receive that surgery. The surgery , however, causes Charlie’s intelligence to deteriorate but before it does, he is able to experience a life as a genius. Where is the background information?

INTRODUCTION • The last sentence of your introduction is your thesis. • Make sure that it is ONE sentence. • Society has become a shallow place. If an individual does not fit into societies form of the normal person ,then they are treated differently. But, does society treat those who are different in a negative or positive way? An in depth look into the treatment of individuals in today's society is the overarching question Daniel Keyes provides in the short story “Flowers for Algernon”. The main character, Charlie, has a very low intelligence and has always wanted to be smart. A surgery has been created to increase intelligence and Charlie has been chosen to receive that surgery. The surgery , however, causes Charlie’s intelligence to deteriorate but before it does, he is able to experience a life as a genius. Even though Charlie experienced what it is like to feel smart, he is better off before the surgery because ______a_____, and ________b________. ¶ 1 Note: Make sure that your 2 sub points in your thesis are in the order of your paragraphs ¶ 2

Topic sentence • Topic sentence is about introducing the main idea of a paragraph- your first topic sentence should be your first sub point in your thesis • It relates the paragraph to the essay's thesis and it also signals to the reader what your paragraph will be about • Should set up ideas that inform the reader what points you will be addressing • It is ONE sentence and it is the FIRST sentence of each body paragraph • Example: Many fast-food chains make their profits from adding a special ingredient called “secret sauce" to their foods. all sentences in the paragraph must relate in some way to fast food, profit, and “secret sauce":

Review • First you have your topic sentence in each body paragraph • Each topic sentence corresponds to each sub point in your thesis • Your topic sentence is one sentence • It is the first sentence in each paragraph • Your paragraph will only discuss the information you provide in your topic sentence

BODY PARAGRAPH • After you have written your topic sentence, you want to transition into you quote • You want to link your topic sentence to your quote with one-three sentences • Example: (TS) In the beginning, when Charlie is ignorant and unaware, he does not get hurt. (Transition into quote) Charlie works at a factory as the janitor and believes that two men at the factory named Joe Carp and Frank Reilly are his friends, when they are actually making fun of him. Charlie tries to figure out what is happening when he is getting teased, but it is hard to understand: “Quote” (55).

BODY PARAGRAPH #1 • You have your topic sentence-first sub point in thesis • Transitional sentence(s) into quote • Next task, choosing a quote! • You are looking for a quote that supports your topic sentence and thesis- should be an example that defends your thesis (Everything links back to your thesis- it is the trunk of your essay!!)

ANALYSIS: The roots of the tree: it’s what holds up the thesis or “trunk”… The Interpretation! • For each quote you want to have A MINIMUM of two sentences of commentary for each quote. (That does not include the transition into the next quote) • Commentary IS NOT summarization • It comes from your own brain. Your ideas! • HOW DO YOU WRITE COMMENTARY?? • The goal of the commentary is to SHOW how your quote supports your thesis • Your task is to show how out of the entire story, why does this particular quote best support your thesis

Example • Thesis for the quote below: Yet, what Charlie takes for granted is that ignorance is sometimes bliss because people who are ignorant don’t get hurt, are not always lonely, and are hard working. • Example: “Sometimes somebody will say hey look at Joe or Frank or George, he really pulled a Charlie Gordon. I dont know why they say that but they always laff…Ernie lost a package. He said Ernie for godsake what are your trying to be a Charlie Gordon. I dont understand why he said that. I never lost any paciges (51). • What would we write as commentary for this quote? Why is ignorance a good thing in order to not get hurt?

Example Commentary for the previous quote • Remember DO NOT summarize the quote • Answer the why and how question for each quote • How does this quote support your thesis • Why is it important • Commentary for the previous quote might include: Because of Charlie’s ignorance, he did not get hurt by his “friend’s” comments. His ignorance acted as a shield to protect him from the words these men stated on a daily basis. His ignorance allowed him to stay happy on a daily basis

Your turn to practice • Write down a specific quotation from the story that supports your thesis. • Underneath the quote write the phrase this shows________. Answer the why question- why is this quote important • Then, think and write down, how does this support your thesis

Chunk 2 • You have completed the interpretation for you first quote. • After your first set of sentences that interpret the quote, you need a Lead In to your 2nd chunk/2nd quote. • (commentary from first quote/chunk 1) • Because of Charlie’s ignorance, he did not get hurt by his “friend’s” comments. His ignorance acted as a shield to protect him from the words these men stated on a daily basis. His ignorance allowed him to stay happy on a daily basis. Later in the story, Joe and Frank invite Charlie to a party and Charlie becomes aware of their teasing for the first time. Transition

Concluding sentence • ONE sentence • Final statement of the paragraph • Summarizes the main idea of that specific paragraph • It DOES NOT introduce ideas in the next paragraph • Restate –NOT word for word- the topic statement and sum of the two examples you have provided in the paragraph

5 Paragraph Essay