Doctorate Students Writing Class

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Doctorate Students Writing Class

• Steve Peterson
• stristi_at_yahoo.com
• Week 4
• 5-paragraph Essay
• Writing an Introduction
• Examples of Purpose Statements

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Writing the 5-Paragraph Essay
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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.

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Writing the 5-Paragraph Essay

• There is nothing special about the 5-paragraph
  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.

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The Format
The format you use is quite straightforward

• Introductory paragraph
• Supporting paragraph 1
• Supporting paragraph 2
• Supporting paragraph 3
• Concluding paragraph

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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.

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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.

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The Format

• Concluding Paragraph
• This paragraph completes the essay usually by
  summarizing what has been written.

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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.

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The first step is to choose a topic. For example
Smoking is bad.
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Purpose Statement and Plan
Now youre ready to put together your main idea
and support ideas, which we will call the
Purpose statement, and plan, respectively.
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Purpose Statement and Plan
TIP Your purpose statement is usually the
last sentence of your introductory paragraph.
Your Purpose statement should have two things

• A primary subject.
• A definite opinion.

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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.
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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 . . .
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Purpose Statement
Smoking is an awful habit.
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Purpose Statement
We have our primary subject, smoking . . .
Smoking is an awful habit.
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Purpose Statement
And our definite opinion, its an awful habit.
Smoking is an awful habit.
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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.

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Plan
Since we are writing a five-paragraph essay,
lets choose 3 supporting points.
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Plan

• Smoking is dirty
• Smoking makes you smell bad.
• Smoking damages your health.

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Plan
Now lets put them together
Smoking is dirty, it makes the smoker smell bad,
and it damages the smokers health.
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Purpose Statement and Plan
Now lets 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
smokers health.
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Purpose Statement and Plan
Now lets 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
smokers health.
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Introductory paragraph
Now that we have the main idea, and how we will
develop it, lets start to build our whole
introductory paragraph.
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Introductory Paragraph
Your introductory paragraph should do two things.
First, catch the readers 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.
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Introductory paragraph

• There are four parts to this paragraph
• Motivator
• Transition
• Purpose Statement
• Plan

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Motivator
The idea of the motivator is to . . .

• Catch the attention and interest of the reader
• Stimulate the readers curiosity.

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Motivator
An effective motivator might use . . .

• An Interesting Story
• A Surprising Fact or Idea
• An Opposite Opinion
• A Quotation
• A Rhetorical Question

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Motivator

• An Interesting Story
• -the main point of your story should be related
  to the rest of your essay.

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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.

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Motivator

• A Surprising Fact or Idea
• Example
• Soon there will be more divorces in the United
  States than marriages.

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Motivator

• An Opposite Opinion
• -In such an introduction, your purpose statement
  contradicts what many or most people believe.

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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.

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Motivator

• A Quotation
• This is likely to catch the readers attention.
  You can then continue by agreeing or disagreeing
  with this quote. Make sure the wording of the
  quote is accurate.

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Motivator

• Quotation
• Example
• Marriage is the tomb of love.

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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.

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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.

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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 1950s, letting women know
that a cigarette was as important a part of a
womans clothing as her dress.
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Motivator