The Five-Paragraph Essay
Select a limited subject.
Decide what you are trying to prove (your precise opinion).
Establish a criteria for what you are writing about.
Before you write!!!
Criteria is a list of items.
If you are evaluating a movie, for example, you would make a list of items (criteria) to judge the movie’s quality. For example:
Acting
Costumes
Script
Music
Special Effects
A paper based on criteria is an easier paper to write!
What is criteria? Criterion?
Criterion is one item off the criteria that you will focus on. Once you select an item, you need to create another criteria for that item.
Let’s say you select acting. What is the criteria for evaluating just acting in a movie?
Casting
Realism
Line Delivery
Camera Presence
A paper based on criterion is harder to write because you have less choices for your main points!
Criterion ?
Motivator: Grabs reader’s attention. Aka “Hook”
Thesis Statement: Limited Subject + Precise Opinion
Blueprint: Three main points in the paper A-B-C
Paragraph One: The Introduction
Transition (a brief reminder of the previous paragraph) & Topic Sentence (topic of current paragraph)
Specific Support = point OR “PIE”
illustration
explanation
SS = PIE
SS = PIE
Paragraph Two, Three, and Four The Central Paragraphs or the Body of the essay!
One of the largest obstacles in our writing is providing enough details so our readers can understand us.
A specific support, written in the PIE format, helps you be detailed in your writing!
Make a point.
Give an illustration or example of your point.
Give an explanation to the reader as to why the illustration proves your point!
What do you mean PIE?
Leonardo DiCaprio’s acting in the movie Titanic is sophomoric at best (This is the point) In most of the scenes, DiCaprio tries too hard to portray a happy-go-lucky Irish immigrant. At times his scampering about the ship leads one to believe he will break into song at any moment as if he were in a bad Disney musical (This is the illustration). Just because an actor is “on top of the world” and wildly popular, it does not mean that the actor can play any part that comes along. (This is the explanation)
A sample specific support
Reworded thesis statement.
Reworded motivator aka the clincher!
The conclusion paragraph