Analysis Of Kill The Five-Paragraph Essay

The five-paragraph essay is perhaps the only kind of essay many students hear about. Argumentative essays, research papers, and even book reports have a tendency to fall into that formula strictly and allow for little flexibility. This can be a tedious and boring process, as John Warner’s fervent argument insists. However, Kerri Smith demonstrates a stronger argument with her defense of the five-paragraph essay by emphasizing throughout that it is simply a building block for more elaborate essays and by using credible influencers that prove her point effectively. Warner’s “Kill the 5-Paragraph Essay” has many valid points that do make sense and could make his argument effective. It is true that in many high school classrooms, students are simply writing from a “list of rules handed down by their teachers … including specific “good” transition words and limits on the number of sentences per paragraph or words per sentence.” This

She reiterates her point multiple times, comparing the structure to that of the scientific method in its “hypothesize, test, conclude” approach and breaks the five-paragraph essay down into the simple idea of an introduction, argument, and conclusion. The fact that there are three body paragraphs is not something that should be strictly enforced, more of a guideline to produce a stellar piece. Smith uses credible examples of her own teachers and professors and emphasizes her own credibility when she states that she majored in English at UC Berkeley. To make her point even stronger, she concludes by pointing out that the essay she just wrote is, in fact, five paragraphs, and proves to be extremely