ENGL000 Study Guide

Unit 5: Writing a Multi-Paragraph Piece of Writing

5a. Outline the basic structure of a five-paragraph essay

  • What is the basic structure of a five-paragraph essay?
  • What are some of the similarities between the structure of a paragraph and the structure of a five-paragraph essay?

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 in the professional world. 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. 

The basic structure of a five-paragraph essay is:

  1. Introduction paragraph that ends in a thesis statement
  2. Body paragraph #1 (about the first main supporting idea)
  3. Body paragraph #2 (about the second main supporting idea)
  4. Body paragraph #3 (about the third main supporting idea)
  5. Conclusion paragraph

To review, see:


5b. Compose an effective thesis statement

  • What is the purpose of a thesis statement?
  • Where is a thesis statement located?
  • What are the three parts of a thesis statement?

An introduction should grab the reader's interest and preview what the essay will be about. A thesis statement will let readers know what to expect in the essay. It will act as a transition between the introductory material (which should guide readers toward the topic without giving away the main ideas) and the body paragraphs (which should provide evidence, explanation, and examples supporting the main ideas).

A thesis statement should be located at the end of the introduction. A five-paragraph or otherwise relatively short essay (with no more than four main ideas) should contain the topic, the message, and a plan of development (the main ideas). Please note that the first two of these three parts (topic and message) are familiar as the two parts of a topic sentence. A thesis statement acts as an essay map, letting readers know what to expect in a multi-paragraph essay in the same way a topic sentence lets readers know what to expect in a paragraph.

To review, see:


5c. Explain how to craft effective introductions and conclusions

  • Why are introductions important?
  • What should an introduction do?
  • What should an introduction not do?
  • What are some ways to go about writing an introduction?
  • What are the three things you need to know about writing a conclusion?

The introduction is the first paragraph (or series of paragraphs, in longer essays) of a multi-paragraph essay. Introductions are very important because you grab the readers' attention and get them interested in continuing to read. Introductions can be tricky to write because while you want to get readers interested in your topic, you have to be careful not to give away any of the main ideas or examples that belong in the body paragraphs of the essay. There is no single right way to write an introduction, and in fact, it is probably a good idea to try a few different ideas and write a few other drafts so you can decide what you like best. 

Some of the different approaches you might consider include:

  1. introduce your topic on a broad or general note;
  2. introduce your topic using contrasting ideas;
  3. introduce your topic with an anecdote (a short story);
  4. introduce your topic with a startling statement or statistic; or
  5. consider the approach used in shaping the essay to determine how to begin the introduction. For example, if the approach to the essay is focused on developing the definition of a word, describing its etymology – the history of the word – can be a good way to write the introduction.

Conclusion paragraphs are often very short. They should restate the thesis (that is, the main three ideas discussed in the essay) and contain some kind of closing statement – maybe about what you learned or how you might go forward. The last thing you need to know about a conclusion is that it should NOT contain any new information or statements that might raise new questions.

To review, see:


5d. Explain how to apply three keys of good writing to a multi-paragraph piece of writing

  • What are some of the additional considerations you must make when writing a multi-paragraph essay (as opposed to a single paragraph)?
  • What is a content transition, and how is it helpful?

In a multi-paragraph essay, you must think about unity, support, and coherence on two levels. You still need to think about staying on topic within paragraphs with all paragraph content supporting the topic sentence; however, you now also need to think about staying on topic and supporting the thesis statement in all of the paragraphs in the essay. In addition, with a longer essay, you will need more evidence and examples to support each of the three main ideas previewed in the thesis statement. Lastly, you will think about coherence on two levels. You need to have ideas in a logical order and use transitions to connect ideas within paragraphs. You will also need to put the big ideas of the essay in a logical order and use transitions to move readers smoothly from one paragraph to another.

In particular, this will create the need for a third piece in the topic sentences of a multi-paragraph essay: a transition. Using transitions like "first" or "in addition" is perfectly fine, but you might also consider using content transitions that you learned about in Unit 3. Content transitions are particularly nice when writing longer pieces because they can help prevent repetition. In a longer essay where you need to think about showing connections within and between paragraphs, content transitions give you a little more variety and choice as to how you go about showing relationships between ideas.

To review, see:


5e. Explain how to compose a five-paragraph essay

  • What are the key components of a five-paragraph essay?

A five-paragraph essay should open with an introduction that includes a hook that gets readers interested in reading the rest of the essay and that ends with a thesis statement that previews what the rest of the essay is about (including the three main ideas in the order they will be discussed). Plan to do some prewriting and consider writing a few different drafts that approach the introduction differently to determine what you like best. 

From there, each of the three body paragraphs should detail one of the three main ideas previewed in the thesis statement. Each of the three body paragraphs should:

  • open with a topic sentence that states the main idea that will be explored;
  • include a transition that moves readers from the paragraph before into the new material;
  • generally have three supporting ideas for the main idea it explores (it can be helpful to utilize a question-based approach by moving back and forth between general statements that raise questions and specific statements that answer them); and
  • contain transitions within to help readers smoothly move from one idea to the next

The final paragraph will be a conclusion, which should restate the three main ideas, contain a closing thought, and not contain any new ideas or overly general statements that raise new questions. 

After writing the entire essay, go back through it slowly to proofread for sentence-level issues. Make sure words are spelled correctly and that you are using the correct version of any confused words; every sentence contains a subject, verb, and if it contains a dependent word, a complete thought; that sentences containing more than one clause are using proper connective language and punctuation (and that there are no run-ons/comma-splices); all writing is consistent with no parallelism, verb tense, or point of view issues; writing is specific and vivid; and that there are no diction problems. 

To review, see:


Unit 5 Vocabulary

This vocabulary list includes terms you will need to know to successfully complete the final exam.

  • anecdote
  • etymology
  • thesis statement