Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay

The five-paragraph essay is a structure that is used for organizing; however, as both the Cal Poly Writing Center notes and Ellzabeth Guzik indicates, the structure has limitations.

“Academic Writing: Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay.” VOALLearningEnglish. Youtube.com. 4 mar. 2013.

A “news story” about the challenge international students face with regard to writing the five-paragraph essay.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PH6aXxhdhFQ

“Beyond the Five Paragraph Essay.” University Writing Center. Cal Poly Pomona. 2007 Web. 12 Apr. 2013

Addresses the basic structure and its limitations. Includes a section titled “The Essay as an Intellectual Journey” that explains the purpose of each part of the essay and reflective questions.

Link: http://www.csupomona.edu/~uwc/student/Journey5cp.shtml

“Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay.” National Writing Project. 23 Aug. 2012. Web. 12 Apr. 2013.

A discussion by authors of the book Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay and how best to address a move beyond the formula.

Link: http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/3940

“The Five-Paragraph Essay.” Capital Community College Foundation. N.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2013.

An explanation of the structure and components.

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/five_par.htm

Guzik, Elizabeth. “Welcome to College: Say Goodbye to the Five-Paragraph Essay.” N.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2013.

Guzik discusses the limitations of the five-paragraph essay and the “kind of argumentative, thesis-driven paper” that is expected in college, the purpose of the introductory paragraph, and a comparison papers developed using each type.

Link: http://www.csulb.edu/~eguzik/fivepara.html

Rao, Valli, Kate Chanock, and Lakshmi Krihnan. “Visual Guide to Essay Writing.” Sydney, AU: Association for Academic Language and Learning, 2007. James Cook University. Web. 12 Apr. 2013.

Includes graphics and explanations of the parts of the academic essay.

http://www.jcu.edu.au/tldinfo/writingskills/documents/RaoChanockVisualGuidetoEssayWriting.pdf

“Thinking Outside the Five-Paragraph Essay.” Voice of America. 14 Jun. 2012. Web. 12 Apr. 2013.

The script to the YouTube Video listed above.

Link: http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/writing-for-school/1210870.html

“Three Reasons Why the Five-Paragraph Theme is a Bad Thing.” Household Opera. 7 Dec. 2003. Web. 12 Apr. 2013.

A discussion of the limitations of the formulaic structure.

Link: http://householdopera.typepad.com/household_opera/2003/12/three_reasons_w.html