Interview on the Five Paragraph Essay Prompt

Interviewer: Hi and welcome to Academic news! I’m your host Rosalind Van Auker and today
I’m going to be asking our panel of experts here some questions about the long debated topic of
the five paragraph essay. Thank you all so much for being here!

Brannon: Thank you!

Carter: Thank you for having us!

Interviewer: To start us off, could you all tell me a little about yourselves and your research and
findings?

Carter: Of course! I have a doctorate in education and have focused on teaching, language arts,
and curriculum development. In researching the five paragraph essay prompt, I’ve reviewed the
modern day teaching of writing from samples of texts from high schools. I’ve concluded that
rhetoric is a more complete approach to writing and teaching writing than other methods
commonly used, including the five paragraph essay.

Tremmell: I have similar views Carter. I have a Ph.D. in rhetoric and composition studies and
am currently a professor at Iowa State University. In my article “What to make of the
five-paragraph theme: History of the genre and implications,” I trace the history of the five
paragraph theme and peoples’ views on it, including asking first year college writers questions
about the theme. I believe that writing programs can better serve and benefit students if they
commit to an abandonment of the five paragraph theme.

Nunnally: I’ve also done research based at the college where I was employed. My academic
discipline is education, writing, and literature. In my research on the five paragraph prompt,
which I wrote about in my article “Breaking the Five Paragraph Theme Barrier,” I include
evidence from an experiment at a junior college where my colleagues and I standardized the
curriculum around the five paragraph essay theme. We discovered the essays from students with
this prompt scored well, but were mechanically produced and bland. I came to the conclusion
that the five paragraph essay, which is used nationwide, is a helpful, but a contrived phenomenon

Wesley: I, too, wrote about my personal experiences and findings on the effects of the five
paragraph prompt from my time as an educator in my article “The III Effects of the Five
Paragraph Theme.” In my article, I wrote about experiences with students from my time as a
high school teacher. From years as an educator in English and writing, I found that the five
paragraph theme is rigid and dissuades students from rhetorical analysis and overall stunts
students’ critical thinking abilities
Smith: I was also a high school English teacher, but I have very different findings and beliefs on
the five paragraph essay topic. In my article “Speaking my mind: in defense of the five
paragraph essay,” I explain my experiences as a teacher preparing students for the SAT timed
essay. I feel that learning the five paragraph essay is important as it is a foundational form of
writing and helps students perform well on the SAT essay and on other writing assignments
throughout both high school and upper level education.

Brannon: I respectfully disagree, Smith. In my article, “The five-paragraph essay and the deficit
model of education,” in which I collaborated with a group of other educators and scholars, we
expressed our concerns for what the five paragraph prompt teaches students and what it does not
teach them. We feel that the five paragraph essay is constraining to students intellectually and
that there are simply better ways to teach writing. The logic of Smith, which is shared by many
others nationwide, should be challenged

Interviewer: Wow, thank you for your in-depth answers everyone! Looks like we have a lot of
agreement going on here, but also some disagreement. Today, my goal is to get to the bottom of
the question: Is the five paragraph theme beneficial in improving writing skills? In order to jump
into that topic could someone explain, What exactly is the five paragraph theme?

Smith: I’ll jump in first here! The five paragraph theme is essentially a widely used essay
prompt that consists of an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. This theme is a
foundational form of writing that is necessary for students to know to succeed in their writing.

Nunnally: Technically, that is what the five paragraph prompt is, but I’d have to disagree - it
may help students achieve better grades in school but after conducting an experiment at a junior
college where I was formerly employed, I saw that the prompt results in mechanically produced
and bland writing. Overall, the five paragraph theme is a contrived phenomenon.

Interviewer: Interesting - it seems like we have some opposing views going on here. Ms. Smith,
Why do you feel that this theme is a “foundational form of writing”?

Smith: Great question! It comes down to the fact that this prompt is an absolutely necessary part
of writing in school. I have found that in order to score well on essays in a wide range of
subjects, the five paragraph prompt is essential. It is also a clear way for students to organize
their thoughts into a coherent argument In my experiences as a high school English teacher
preparing my students for the SAT, I found that in order to perform well in school and on the
SAT, which, when it comes down to it, is an extremely important test in determining the future of
students, students need to know the five paragraph essay.
Tremmell: I’m going to have to interject. In my time as an educator, I’ve found that there’s more
to writing than following a strict prompt, such as the five paragraph theme. Writing should be
about creativity and expression which this prompt actually restricts. As a college professor, I’ve
asked many classes of students their opinions on this prompt and I’ve come to the conclusion
that writing programs can better serve and benefit students through the abandonment of the five
paragraph theme. In general, many students feel that this prompt limits creativity and as an
educator, I’ve observed how it tends to restrain critical thinking.

Carter: I completely agree with you Ms. Tremmell. There are simply better methods of writing
and teaching writing than the five paragraph essay. I’ve reviewed literature and found concepts
of classical rhetoric in addition to reviewing the modern day teaching of writing from samples of
texts from high schools, which all led me to the conclusion that rhetoric is a more complete
approach to writing and teaching writing than the five paragraph essay.

Interviewer: Could you explain what rhetoric is?

Carter: Of course! In simple terms, rhetoric is the art of persuasion in writing and thinking about
the purpose and audience for a given piece of writing. Writing should be taught based on the
concept of rhetoric because persuasion is really in everything. Whether someone is writing a
comparative analysis argument between two novels or writing about motifs in a Shakespeare
play, they are arguing a certain point and thus using persuasion. In addition, knowing the purpose
and audience for a piece of writing can help the author to improve the content of their writing.
Writing focusing on audience and purpose calls students to think more critically and creatively
than writing to simply fill five paragraphs.

Interviewer: That definitely does seem like a beneficial approach when it comes to teaching
writing. Thank you so much for your explanation. It has been so interesting to hear the pros and
cons of the five paragraph prompt! It seems like a common consensus we have here is that the
five paragraph theme restricts writing. How does this prompt hinder students’ writing skills?

Wesley: During my time as a high school English teacher, I struggled getting students to think
outside of the box when it came to writing. In fact, I once assigned my students a comparative
analysis essay of seven to nine pages and one student anxiously asked me how she was supposed
to fit seven pages into five paragraphs. This automatic assumption that writing should be in the
form of a five paragraph essay is extremely common among students and teachers alike. I
realized that the five paragraph theme is rigid and actually dissuades students from rhetorical
analysis. Overall, this theme stunts students’ critical thinking abilities.

Smith: I disagree. The prompt doesn’t restrict creativity itself and the way that it is used and
taught is up to students and their teachers or professors. The bottom line is that in order to
perform well in school and especially on the SAT, students need to know how to write a five
paragraph essay.

Brannon: After researching the topic of the five paragraph essay with a group of scholars and
former teachers, I found that this prompt is constraining to students intellectually and that the
prompt is ill-conceived and outmoded. The logic of your opinion here Ms. Smith is very
common, but should be challenged as it is time for new methods of teaching writing that do not
revolve around standardized testing.

Tremmel: I agree with Brannon. Although it may be true that the five paragraph prompt can help
students to perform well in terms of grades, there’s simply better ways of teaching writing. I
believe that writing courses should focus on rhetoric.

Interviewer: I can definitely see both sides here: the prompt can be restrictive and there could be
better ways to teach writing, but it is nonetheless important to perform well in school. So now
for my final and overall question, Is the five paragraph theme beneficial in improving writing
skills?

Brannon: My short answer is no; the five paragraph prompt is constraining intellectually to
students and dissuades them from thinking more critically.

Nunnally: I agree. I feel that this prompt takes away from the creative thinking aspect of writing
and results in bland and unoriginal writing.

Wesley: Exactly. From my time as a teacher, I saw first hand how the five paragraph prompt
stunts critical thinking abilities.

Smith: You all make some convincing points, but I still hold that the five paragraph theme is a
foundational form of writing that is necessary to know to perform well in school.

Interviewer: Everyone made some very thought provoking arguments and I can’t wait to hear
the opinions of our viewers. Thank you all so much for coming in today, it was a pleasure
speaking to all of you!
 Works Cited

Brannon, L., Courtney, J. P., et.al (2008). "EJ" extra: The five-paragraph essay and the deficit

model of education. English Journal, 98(2), 16-21. Retrieved from

Carter, William Carroll. (1989). Beyond the five paragraph essay: Rhetorical writing and

thinking models for the language arts--what every teacher and student can know [doctoral

thesis]. Seattle, WA: Seattle University.

Nunnally, Thomas E. (1991) “Breaking the Five-Paragraph-Theme Barrier.” The English

Journal, vol. 80, no. 1, pp. 67–71. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/818100. Accessed 15

Feb. 2023.

Smith, K. (2006). Speaking my mind: In defense of the five-paragraph essay. English Journal, \

95(4), 16-17. Retrieved from

https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/speaking-my-mind-defense-five-paragraph-

essay/docview/62015582/se-2

Tremmel, M. (2011). What to make of the five-paragraph theme: History of the genre and

implications. Teaching English in the Two-Year College, 39(1), 29-42. Retrieved from

https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/what-make-five-paragraph-theme-history-g

enre/docview/964172136/se-2

Wesley, K. (2000). “The Ill effects of the five paragraph theme.” Retrieved from

https://www.proquest.com/encyclopedias-reference-works/ill-effects-five-paragraph-them

e/docview/62326553/se-2