• Unit 5: Writing a Multi-Paragraph Piece of Writing

    At this point, you have had a lot of practice organizing and supporting your ideas to write good paragraphs. These paragraphs will be the building blocks for almost all of the other writing you will do both in your time in college and the professional world. This means that our next big step is to expand what we know about writing paragraphs and expand that to writing longer pieces that entail multiple paragraphs.

    While there will be some new things to learn, much of what you do in writing a longer essay is identical to what you have been doing to write a paragraph. You will still want to use those same three prewriting steps: idea generation, idea focus, and idea organization. Also, you will still be considering the four keys to good writing we have discussed throughout this course.

    Completing this unit should take you approximately 5 hours.

    • Upon successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

      • outline the basic structure of a five-paragraph essay;
      • compose an effective thesis statement;
      • create effective introductions and conclusions;
      • apply three keys of good writing to a multi-paragraph piece of writing; and
      • compose a five-paragraph essay.

    • 5.1: Five-Paragraph Essays

      • Expanding the "Corner Store" Essay Page

        To get a better feeling of what a five-paragraph essay might look like, read this expansion about the Corner Store you read about earlier, and identify how it is different from the paragraph version.

    • 5.2: Thesis Statements

      • Thesis Statements Page

        Read this section to learn about what a thesis statement is, how to put one together, how it functions in an essay, and get some practice writing thesis statements.

      • Activity: Thesis Statement Writing Book

        After learning about how to write a thesis statement, get some practice by doing this activity. Answers will vary, but you can compare yours to the answer key when you are finished.

    • 5.3: Introductions and Conclusions

      • Introductions Page

        The first paragraph or series of paragraphs (in longer essays) of a multi-paragraph essay is the introduction. Introductions are very important because that is where you grab the readers' attention and get them interested in continuing to read. Think about what is happening in the "Corner Store" model essay in the introduction and read this section to learn about that and some common approaches to writing an introduction.

      • Activity: Writing Introductions Book

        Get some practice writing introductions by doing this activity. There is no correct answer and many ways these could be written, but after you are done, you can compare your writing to the answer key.

      • Conclusions Page

        The very last paragraph of a multi-paragraph essay is the conclusion. Conclusions are typically much easier to write than introductions and often tend to be short. Read this section to learn how to write this final piece of an essay.

    • 5.4: Longer Essay Considerations

    • 5.5: Writing a Five-Paragraph Essay

      • Model Essay: The Decision to Start College Page

        Read this model essay to see another example of how a five-paragraph essay is put together.

      • Activity: Five-Paragraph Essay Writing Book

        Do this activity to practice expanding a paragraph into a five-paragraph essay. There is no correct answer, but you can look at the sample response essay to see if you are on the right track.

      • Writing a Five-Paragraph Essay Page

        After all this practice, now it's time to take that paragraph essay you wrote after doing the prewriting activity and work on improving using the information in Units 2–4 and expand it into a five-paragraph essay. Use the instructions in this section to help you in this process.

      • Sentence-Skills and Formatting Checklist Page

        When you finish this writing, use this checklist to proofread and polish your work and ensure your essay is error-free.

      • Unit 5 Discussion Forum
        Make forum posts: 1

        Now that you have had opportunities to practice your writing, consider sharing something you wrote in the discussion forum. Read the work of some other students, and celebrate the progress you have made in your writing journey!

    • Unit 5 Assessment

      • Unit 5 Assessment Quiz
        Receive a grade

        Take this assessment to see how well you understood this unit.

        • This assessment does not count towards your grade. It is just for practice!
        • You will see the correct answers when you submit your answers. Use this to help you study for the final exam!
        • You can take this assessment as many times as you want, whenever you want.