The five paragraph essay is tremendously valuable to me as a student. I have realized throughout my research that this format is seldom used by professionals; it is mostly used by students like me. I believe I now understand why that is; it seems to be a very clear way of composing a paper. It has a great deal of structure to it, and allows for more consistency and a better flow. Without having such structure, it is easy to go off on tangents, and at the same time, confuse the reader. The five-paragraph essay is essentially a sealant. Just like sealant fastens things together and helps ensure that things are in order, well-fitted, and secure. So too, the five paragraph essay makes sure that all of the various writing components fit well and will not become unfastened.
My personal writing process is primarily consisted of freewriting. Freewriting helps me write in many capacities – whether it is trying to produce an outline, writing a speech, or even simply gathering my thoughts. I tend to get “writer’s block”, and this style helps me overcome that. I simply open up my mind, transfer it to my hand, and let the ink follow suit. This process involves me writing the topic I am going to write about on the top of a piece of paper. Then whatever comes to mind ends up on the paper – some people refer to this as “clustering”. It is almost impossible to get writer’s block in the process since my brain is always thinking of ideas and there are no restrictions. I may even write “nothing is coming to mind” – as long as I am writing, the freewriting process continues. Once I stop writing (after using a great deal of ink), I look at the beginning of what I wrote and try to find phrases or ideas that are in common. I ask myself...
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While learning more about the five-paragraph essay and exploring my own personal writing style, I learned a great deal about my own thought process and how it ultimately transmits onto paper. I have discovered that having structure in the writing process ultimately leads to a more solid composition. This structure is not necessary to create ideas, but it certainly is accommodating in the actual writing processes. I have discovered that although I incorporate the components of the five-paragraph essay into my own writing formation, I do deviate from it ever so slightly. This deviation is the result of my inability to efficiently generate ideas (brainstorm) using common conventions. I do, however, plan on implementing a more structured approach in my writing style in the future and strongly believe it will help my writing become more concrete.
However, though John Warner’s argument is strong, Kerri smith’s argument is stronger. In Kerri Smith’s article “In Defense of the Five-Paragraph Essay,” She claims that the five-paragraph essay should stay taught in schools as a guideline for a well-structured essay. She explains the five-paragraph essay as an “introduce-develop-conclude structure” that even great expository writing follows this structure (Smith 16). She purposefully communicates to her audience this idea to show that this structure gives students the knowledge and capability to write a professional essay. The five-paragraph essay includes the three key points to have a well-structured and organized essay. By mentioning that other great writers use this form of structure, she creates a stronger argument as to why the five-paragraph essay is important to education. She continues her article by explaining her early stages of writing and how she was taught; over time, her teachers would show her new ways to improve her writing which, in the end, she was told to think “of those five paragraphs simply as a mode of organization” (Smith
The art of writing is a complex and difficult process. Proper writing requires careful planning, revision, and proofreading. Throughout the past semester, the quality of my writing has evolved significantly. At first, I struggled with the separation of different types of paragraphs, and I found writing them laborious. Constant practice, however, has eliminated many of my original difficulties, and helped to inspire confidence in my skills.
I agree with what Allen states in the article “The Inspired Writer vs. the Real Writer” because of how much my writing skills had evolved over the years. When I first started in high school, I believed I was a horrible writer and I struggled a lot just to write a few paragraphs. However, after determination, and several trials and errors, I was able to improve greatly on my skills. In Irvin’s article, “What is ‘Academic’ Writing?” goes over the myths about writing. When I first started to write essays, I believed some of the myths that Irvin talks about in the article. Such myths were the five paragraph essay and the use of “I.” However, the more experience I gained in writing, the more I realized how the five paragraph essay is more of a suggestion. The format might had helped when I first started, but I had grown apart of it now. In addition, I had learned how the use of “I” is situational. In some of my past essays, I have used “I” to help develop my essays. In Bunn’s article “How to Read Like a Writer,” it mentions the importance of Reading Like a Writer. When I first started writing essays in high school, my essays were cookie cutter. The essays were not imaginative and lack literary devices. However, the more I payed attention to how an author writes, the more creative my essays become. I am able to include methods that give creativity in my writing,
Anyone who is doing any type of writing piece has a process. They may not know it but it is there and it exists. It is one’s approach to their piece and how they go about accomplishing it. It has to do with how you write it, how many drafts you do, as well as your revision process if you even have one. My writing process however has room for improvement. A summation of my writing process consist of heavy planning, one draft, and little revisions. Anne Lamott, Shirley Rose, and Kathleen Yancey all drew attention to major points through their writing pieces that support and dispute my writing process. Through their pieces they have found a way to inspire, inform, and entertain me all at the same time while passing along great information that
We would do research on a subject or a person, and write about them. We, once again, were not allowed to be unique in our writing or think creatively or critically. This is the time when I was taught the five paragraph essay. As stated in Gray’s article, the five paragraph essay is detrimental to students’ writing. This format for writing is damaging because it doesn’t allow students to express their own ideas about a topic. It does not allow for any creativity or uniqueness in a paper. In tenth grade, I wrote many papers for my English class, but I never once got an A on them. I was led to believe that my writing was weak because I could not relate to what I was writing about. I did not have any emotional connection to the research papers I had to write, and it made it harder for me to write them. I had grown up not being allowed to think critically, and therefore, my papers in high school lacked creativity and deeper
The writing process has many different steps. Each step has unique attributes. People struggle with each of the different steps in the writing process. Some people have trouble thinking of what to write about, others have trouble editing and revising. Wrapping up the writing process with a strong conclusion can also be troublesome for many people. In this paper we will be discussing the first step in the writing process, what professional writers think about how to get started. We will be discussing the important first steps to make the beginning process of writing easier. The steps in the beginning of the writing process include creating a plan, brainstorming and writing a draft.
there is no way I could write what I had thought because I tend to forget after a few second. I am able to write down certain words I could remember but I cannot expand on them quick enough for me to actually start a few sentences. Reading while taking side notes is one of the best way I have found that has help me in building words together to form sentences even if my thought sometimes gets clustered with so many ideas. When I do have more material for my papers I must stop what I am doing and quickly write them down before I forget, later I could go back to what I wrote and expand to make them into sentences and even paragraphs. There are also times where I could write down couple of things and just expand on them for a while but then it begins to fade and I must go back to the last few things I had writing to get inspired
In an excerpt from “The Process of Writing: Cooking” (Writing without Teachers, 1976), Peter Elbow shares his two-step freewriting method he learned to help him move past the fog of doubt caused by writer’s block. He sympathized with the reader and offered the advice to write indiscriminately, recognize the symptoms of encroaching panic, and redirect when necessary. Lastly, he explained how he could then assemble a mess of words into one idea while avoiding unnecessary frustrations. Then, typically, he would have reserved enough strength to edit constructively.
Writers from professional to elementary students suffer from writers block. Writers block is when you cannot think of anything to write. Writers block is usually caused by stress. The brain then has a reaction which disables its ability to put what it is thinking on to paper. As Patricia Huston describes it, “The right, or creative, side of the brain, seeks to create (in this case, write). This induces the left, or analytic, side of the brain to anticipate all the problems that this action could entail, causing it to go into "overdrive" and inhibit the ability to write.” (Paticia Huston)One knows if they have writers block if they are staring at a computer screen or piece of paper for a long period of time. You also know you have it if the writer just feels unwilling to write or is simply just disinterested in the topic. Avoiding writers block is almost impossible since almost everybody experiences it, but there are still many ways to help prevent or cure it.
What is writing style? I started out thinking that writing style is a personal thing and that all writers have their own style. But, this way of thinking is really just a simple way to answer the question. After more careful thought, I realized that style is actually quite the opposite of personal and original. Style is a form of standardization. As writers, we all follow certain rules and guidelines to make our point. Style is these rules and guidelines.
In high school, writing essays was my weakest link. When I began my first semester of college, I still had that trouble in my first writing composition class. I improved significantly from gaining organization and length. When I started my second writing composition class, my grades for my paper sky rocketed! The essays I have written though out this semester have shown improvements in context and organizations, however, I still have some room for improvement on reasoning’s and thesis statement.
I, for one, it was quite a stressful experience before this course. Starting the paper was one of the main challenging elements of the writing process which I was faced with most of the time. For many unproductive hours, I would simply stare blankly at my writing computer screen while blank thoughts ran through my mind. Nevertheless, among many techniques that I erudite, free-writing is one of the most important step of writing, and had proven to be effective on my writing process. With my problem of not being able to generate ideas to put down on the paper, free-writing has helped me a tremendously. Proper free-writing helps a writer in ways beyond his or her imagination. For instance, when you free-write, your brain generates ideas that even a writer himself or herself might find hard to engender or grasp. Since the writer is not restricted when free-writing, your imagination is your limitation; you reserve the right to literally write about any number of themes which comes to mind. From these themes which you generate, you can then select what you feel fits best your argument. This is the advantage that I have come to realize in free-writing. Through this course, I have come to learn that everything requires just enough preparation in order for someone to tackle a particular task. Free-writing my papers at first, has made me more aware of my progress throughout the entire time of writing and certain aspects of my paper that I can improve on. Additionally, Free-writing has helped me realize that your paper can always improve; there are always new ideas firing in your mind. With free-writing you are able to capture these ideas on paper as they come to mind time after time. For future writings I will continue to work on my time allocation. Allocating your time properly is a crucial step in the process of writing. This allows to have ample time to complete all the sections in your writing. I
When I sit down to write, I must do so in a clean, well-organized, and well-lit area. The space must be free from distractions, such as the television or radio, so that I am able to focus and gather my thoughts. I like to begin my writings similar to the way William Stafford says he starts, "To get started I will accept anything that occurs to me." Writing down any thought that will help support and provoke more thoughts and ideas. When my thoughts become cloudy, I like to rise from my seat and walk around speaking out ideas to myself. I find this practice helps to jumpstart my brain activity and clear my foggy mind.
How does one write a personal essay? I’ve spent many-a-days struggling with the process of coming up with one. It’s stiflingly difficult to decide on the voice and the theme one wishes to display so as to intrigue the imagined reader. Well, that’s probably because the purpose of a personal essay is to make oneself appealing to the reciprocating party.
No matter who you are or what you do, everyone has experienced writer's block at least once. I asked Joe how he deals with this issue and he responded, "Nine times out of ten a pastor gets to this part of his sermon where he is stuck. Writing a message is a lot like a wrestling match. It's a struggle. A fight to figure out the flow and next part of the message.