Week 3 post

The five paragraph method... I remember it well.

When I was in high school myself, I remember writing assignments - one after another - organized within the same parameters. As an undergraduate, I reviewed and revised innumerable essays for friends and roommates that fell within the same restrictions. While it is certainly safe to say that the five paragraph method is overly formulaic and can in many cases be restrictive when taught by lazy instructors, there is also much to be said about its benefits.

Like Sara Speicher mentioned in her blog, one must learn to write, as a chef must learn to cook. Rigid and formulaic recipes do for a cook what this five paragraph method can do for an aspiring writer. A master chef, however, does not restrain himself within the parameters of a pre-written recipe. S/he invents and reinvents recipes to suit his or her specific needs and desires for the particular task at hand. For a novice like me, however, the recipe is an aid by which I can learn and practice my cooking to get better. In this same way, the five paragraph method can help some writers learn valuable lessons about organization and coherence. To others, who are more advanced in their expository writing skills, the five paragraph method could perhaps be a jumping off point, or a frame of reference that is to be used as the writer moves forward and experiments with new methods and forms.

What I think that all of this week's authors can agree upon is that the five paragraph method is not the be all and end all of writing method. Additionally, it can be a very valuable tool for learning. When this method is treated as if it is the only way to write, however, we run into a very severe problem. When this occurs, the five paragraph method ceases to exist as a tool, and becomes a constraint on the development of students' writing.


I found this quite interesting after reading all of the articles, especially that on the SAT grading. Naturally, I was interested in researching the practical effects, and what I found was a bit disheartening. What we have here are five tips for success on the SAT writing portion.

http://encarta.msn.com/college_article_NewSAT5tips/5_Ways_to_Write_a_Great_Essay_on_the_New_SAT.html