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Writing 5-Paragaph Persuasive Essays

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A how-to Guide about Structuring Persuasive Essays

Over past few years, I've read thousands papers (really!) from college students and have noticed some common structural problems. Because of this pattern, I've decided to create this lens. The objective of this lens is to provide developing writers with ideas how to structure their persuasive essays as well as explain the various parts of essays, such as introduction, thesis statement, topic sentences, analysis, conclusion, and so forth. Also, if there are questions or you would like more information about a specific topic, add a comment in the "Reader Feedback" section.

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Table of Contents

This section provides information about writing that can help you organize your essay.

How to Write Papers

A detailed description of the process of writing persuasive essays

Thesis Statement: Whenever writing an essay, begin with the thesis. This is the sentence that explains the focus of the paper. What is the focus of the essay? This should be explained in one sentence and placed at the end of the introduction.

After this sentence is written, writers should check their thesis statement against the assignment question. Does the thesis statement answer the professor's question and/or assignment focus? This is a step that many writers forget to take. If the thesis does not answer this question, then refocus the sentence before writing any more of the essay. For example, if the objective of the essay is to choose which type of educational system a writer prefers, such as homeschooling or public education, then the writer should tell clearer tell the readers what they prefer. Note the focus in the following thesis statement.

All students should be involved with some type of extracurricular activity or volunteer experience.

Does this help answer the professor's question? No, it does not. Therefore, the thesis statement should be written.

Introduction: There are a few ways to structure an introduction. However, introductions should provide readers with background information about the topic. For example, what should a writer know before reading the essay? In the case of homeschooling versus public education, what should readers know about this topic before reading the theses? At the end of the paragraph, add the thesis statement that explains the specific focus for the essay.

The Body of the Essay: Once the thesis is written, decide on three main points that the paper will cover. In persuasion essays, tell readers three points that help support the thesis. Be specific. Each of these points will become a topic sentence. When forming a topic sentence, there are a few points to keep in mind. First, does the topic sentence help to further explain the thesis statement? If not, revise the focus of the topic sentence. Next, does the topic sentence explain the focus of the paragraph? If not, then revise the topic sentence. The following is an example of how this paragraph may appear.

Topic sentence: This explains the focus of the paragraph.
Discussion: Explain the topic sentence. What does this mean?
Example: This can be where the research is often embedded in the paragraph. In other persuasive essays, this is the section where a personal example is added.
Analysis: Analysis is quite important. Tell readers what the example shows. Do the details help support of contrast the topic sentence? Why?
Concluding Sentence: How does it help explain the topic sentence? Pull the ideas back to the main idea of the paragraph.

One point that confuses many students is the difference between a topic sentence and a detail; a topic sentence explains the focus of the paragraph whereas a detail, such as information from a source, helps to support or contradicts the topic sentence.

Conclusion: Once the body of the paper finished, briefly summarize the key points in the conclusion. This is a writer's chance to remind a reader of important details. When finishing the conclusion, the last sentence is important. For example, what message should a reader remember? Adding this sentence here helps to bring the ideas together and to create a more polished conclusion to the paper.
Important!

If you had to look elsewhere for the information, sit down now to include the citation!

Common errors that students make include:

1) copying information from a source but forgetting the quotations and/or

2) forgetting to include citations after a source.

Use your own words and always cite sources!

Integrating Sources

Integrating Citations

Many students have difficulty integrating sources in their papers. When using sources, it's important to be specific so that readers clearly know where the information was found. Thus, being vague, such as by noting it has been said, makes readers wonder if a writer really completed the research or is just making it up as they are going along. As well, integrating a source is important because it 1) lets readers know where the information was found and 2) improves the flow of your essay. Here are few examples of how to integrate a source in your paper.

- According to Jane Doe, researcher at the Doe Institute, " ...
- The Doe Foundation discovered ...
- Jane Doe, author of How to Integrate Sources, notes ...

The above information also needs to follow the MLA, APA, or Chicago guidelines. Your professor will know which guidelines the essay should follow. If you're not sure, ask BEFORE turning the paper in.

For those interested, Diana Hacker, with Bedford St. Martins, put together a wonderful site that explains which courses use what type of citations at Research and Documentation or go to http://www.dianahacker.com/resdoc/home.html in case the link isn't forwarding correctly. (For credit purposes, some research sources were included from Barbara Fister, a professor at Gustavus Adolphus College.) Also, Hacker has a lot of information in regards to citations at http://www.dianahacker.com.

Paper Outline

The following is an example of an outline for a persuasive essay

Personalized Introductory Story (optional) This can be the first paragraph that tells a personal story of a character that is facing the dilemma that you will describe in the essay. The paragraph is designed to make a personal connection with readers.

Formal Introduction & Thesis Statement - provide readers background information about the topic.

Body of the Paper - Point #1:

Topic sentence: This explains the focus of the paragraph.
Discussion: Explain the topic sentence. What does this mean?
Example: This can be where the research or a personal example can be embedded in the paragraph.
Analysis: What does this example show?
Concluding Sentence: How does it help explain the topic sentence?

Body of the Paper - Point #2: (note "Body of the Paper - Point #1" for specifics)

Body of the Paper - Point #3: (note "Body of the Paper - Point #1" for specifics)

Body of the Paper - Opposition Perspective (optional)

Topic sentence: What do the opponents' believe?
Discussion: Why do they believe this?
Analysis: Despite their perspective, are they correct?
Concluding Sentence: Remind readers of the writer's position such as stated in the thesis.

Formal Conclusion - summarize the key points made in the essay.

Personalized Concluding Story (optional) - What happens to the characters in the introduction story after learning the information?

Examples of Structural Parts

free online resources

If you would like more information, there is a WIDE variety of information found online. The following are a few of the resources that I have found to be the most helpful.
Introductions - different types
This site is a wonderful source because it explains different types of introduction. There is a lot of information, so be sure to scan to the needed sections.
Introduction - writing strategies
This link outlines writing strategies for introduction. In case the above link does not forward correctly, this information can be found at http://www.iupui.edu/~uwc/pdf/Introductions,%20Writing.pdf
Thesis Statement - basic overview
"This resource provides tips for creating a thesis statement and examples of different types of thesis statements."
Thesis Statements - how to ...
This site tells students "how to generate a thesis statement if the topic is assigned" AND not assigned. There are also many examples of thesis statements.
Paragraph Structure - basic
This is one of the links that I reference quite a bit because it shows how to develop the body of the paper, from topic, supporting, and concluding sentences.
Paragraph Builder - writing tips
This is an EXCELLENT source by Tips-o-matic because it outlines everything from developing the structure to editing the information.
Conclusion
For an example of a conclusion, visit this link.

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Additional Resources

This section provides additional resources and infomration that can also be helpful when writing.

Books and Resources

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Books that Include Citation Specifics

There are a variety of ways to cite resources in an essay. The following are the most common resource books that can be used.
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Other Types of Writing

There is a wide variety of online resources that students can access! The following are some examples of some that you may be expected to write. If there are additional resources that you would like added to the page, add a note in the "Reader Feedback" section.
Abstract
A summary of a paper. Go to the link for more specifics.
Argumentative Essays
Argumentative essays are also called persuasive essay. For another example of an outline, click on the hotlink.
Annotated Bibliography
This is a bibliography and your comments about the sources.
Autobiographical Essays
Basically, this is an essay about yourself. For some ideas how to approach this type of a paper, go to the following link.
Block Method
This is sometime also called the Block Arrangement, Point-by-Point or Alternating Arrangement. (It's a LOT easier that it sounds!) For an outline of all forms, go to the following.
Business Plan
Some instructors ask students to write business plans. This link provides information about how to include Marketing Analysis; Company Description; Organization and Management; Marketing and Sales Strategies; Service or Product Line; Funding Request; Financials and so forth.
Cause and Effect Essays
Includes examples of cause and effect essays
Compare and Contrast Essays
This resource offers a variety of examples how the paper can be structured.
Comparison Writing
Go to the bottom of the page for ideas how to read and respond to peer's papers, which is also known as peer reading.
Critiques - brainstorming
This is one of the clearest online resources for points that can be covered when writing critiques.
Descriptive Essays
This link gives some ideas of what details can be included in a descriptive essay.
Journal Article
The link explains how to critique a journal article. However, it does provide some great information what writers should include when writing their own.
Journal Entries
The nice part about writing journals is that it doesn't need to follow the structure of an academic paper, such as having a thesis statement and topic sentences. This link provides examples of journal entries.
Letter Writing - Basic
This link clarifies the different types, provides examples of what each paragraph should discuss, and includes commonly used abbreviations.
Letter Writing - Business
This link is an outline of a business letter.
Memos
This explains the purpose of memos as well as provides an outline, and also includes samples index and letters.
Narrative Essay
This link includes an explanation as well as a link to sensory details.
Outline
This shows three different examples of the structure of an outline.
Persuasive Essay
A Persuasive Essay is sometimes called an Argumentative Essay. This link is another example of how the paper can be structured and focused.
Point-by-Point Arrangement
This is sometime also called the Alternating Arrangement. More details as well as the Block Arrangement are explained here.
Reaction Paper
An outline of this type of a paper as well as how each paragraph should be structured can be found here.
Research Paper Proposals
Research Paper Proposals are also called Thesis Proposals. This site explains how to focus the proposal, what to ask the committee, and an example.
Self-Evaluation
Here are some prompts so to what to include in a self-evaluation.
Sensory Writing
Sensory Writing is also known as Descriptive Writing. The best part of this link is that it includes examples of paragraphs just written with one type of sensory detail, such as sight, sound, touch, smell, or taste.
Summary
This source provides the basic steps to writing a summery. The format of the paper may be a bit different however. For more specifics how to format the essay, consider using the "Reaction Paper" structure.
Three-Paragraph Essays
This link is brief, to-the-point, and easy to read.

Definitions for Parts of an Essay

A brief explanation of some commonly used terms

Body of the Essay: This is located between the introduction and conclusion. It discusses and analysis the topic and is often considered the meat of the essay.

Conclusion: This is the final paragraph in the essay that summarizes the key points that were made in the body of the paper. Try to avoid repeating too many points in the essay. If a reader needs more specifics, they can skim the body of the paper.

Concluding Sentence: The objective of this sentence is to pull the ideas in the paragraph together. A concluding sentence is located in the body of the paper at the end of each paragraph.

Controlling Idea: Read main idea for more specifics.

Introduction: Typically, the first paragraph in the essay and should provide readers with basic information about your topic. The first sentence is the hook, which basically grabs the reader's attention. The next few sentences provide the reader with background information about the topic. At the end of the paragraph, add the thesis statement.

Main Idea: This works with the controlling idea. For example, if the main idea of the paper is about cars, the controlling idea may be a specific manufacture.

Thesis statement: one sentence that explains the focus of the paper. This is usually the last sentence the formal introduction.

Topic Sentence: Located in the body of the paper, it is the first sentence in each paragraph. Effective topic sentences explain the thesis statements.

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