Writing Analytically, 6th Edition - Rosenwasser, David & Stephen, Jill [139]
Perhaps the best way to explain the problem with 5-paragraph form can be found in Greek mythology. On his way to Athens, the hero Theseus encounters a particularly surly host, Procrustes, who offers wayfarers a bed for the night but with a catch. If they do not fit his bed exactly, he either stretches them or lops off their extremities until they do. This story has given us the word “procrustean,” which the dictionary defines as “tending to produce conformity by violent or arbitrary means.” Five-paragraph form is a procrustean formula that most students learn in high school. Although it has the advantage of providing a mechanical format that will give virtually any subject the appearance of order, it usually lops off a writer’s ideas before they have the chance to form, or it stretches a single idea to the breaking point.
A complex idea is one that has many sides. To treat such ideas intelligently, writers need a form that will not require them to cut off all of those sides except the one that most easily fits the bed. Most of you will find the basic 5-paragraph form familiar:
An introduction that ends with a thesis listing three points (the so-called tripartite thesis)
Three body paragraphs, each supporting one of the three points
A conclusion beginning “Thus, we see” or “In conclusion” that essentially repeats the thesis statement as it was in paragraph one.
Here is an example in outline form:
Introduction: The food in the school cafeteria is bad. It lacks variety, it’s unhealthy, and it is always overcooked. In this essay, I will discuss these three characteristics.
Paragraph 2: The first reason cafeteria food is bad is that there is no variety. (Plus one or two examples—no salad bar, mostly fried food, and so forth)
Paragraph 3: Another reason cafeteria food is bad is that it is not healthy. (Plus a few reasons—high cholesterol, too many hot dogs, too much sugar, and so forth)
Paragraph 4: In addition, the food is always overcooked. (Plus some examples—the vegetables are mushy, the “mystery” meat is tough to recognize, and so forth)
Conclusion: Thus, we see … (Plus a restatement of the introductory paragraph)
Most high school students write dozens of themes using this basic formula. They are taught to use 5-paragraph form because it seems to provide the greatest good—a certain minimal clarity—for the greatest number of students. But the form does not promote logically tight and thoughtful writing. It is a meat grinder that can turn any content into sausages.
The two major problems it typically creates are easy to see.
The introduction reduces the remainder of the essay to redundancy. The first paragraph tells readers, in an overly general and list-like way, what they’re going to hear; the succeeding three paragraphs tell the readers the same thing again in more detail, carrying the overly general main idea along inertly; and the conclusion repeats what the readers have just been told (twice). The first cause of all this redundancy lies with the thesis. As in the example above, the thesis (cafeteria food is “bad”) is too broad—an unqualified and obvious generalization—and substitutes a simple list of predictable points for a complex statement of idea.
The form arbitrarily divides content: why are there three points (or examples or reasons) instead of five or one? A quick look at the three categories in our example reveals how arbitrarily the form has divided the subject. Isn’t overcooked food unhealthy? Isn’t a lack of variety also conceivably unhealthy? The format invites writers to list rather than analyze, to plug supporting examples into categories without examining them or how they are related. Five-paragraph form, as is evident in our sample’s transitions (“first,” “second,” “in addition”), counts things off but doesn’t make logical connections. At its worst, the form prompts