Question about writing a longish paper

[Kassia]

My daughter is writing a paper (four to five pages) on a theme from a book (this is an Oak Meadow assignment for 9th grade).  Does she have to stick to the classic format of intro/three body paragraphs/conclusion, or can she include more than three body paragraphs?  

 

Thank you!

 

Erica

[Lori D.]

What does the teacher specify? Start with that. A good teacher is looking for paragraphing that is appropriate to content. If the paragraph requirement and the required structure for the paper is not working for the content, the student can politely ask the teacher if the paragraph requirement can be changed, and explain, or show the rough draft. If the teacher still requires a specific structure and/or paragraph count, then for this ONE PAPER, I'd work with your student on revising the content to try and better match it to the form required, even though I personally think that is heading on the path to destroying good writing, and I'd be looking for a different teacher/program/class... :)

 

If the teacher does not specify a specific paragraph requirement, then always go with what is appropriate for the content -- what does the content dictate. Regardless of paper length, that will rarely be a 5-paragraph structure of 1 introductory paragraph, 3 body paragraphs, and 1 concluding paragraph.

Edited April 21, 2016 by Lori D.

[Kassia]

What does the teacher specify? Start with that. A good teacher is looking for paragraphing that is appropriate to content. If the paragraph requirement and the required structure for the paper is not working for the content, the student can politely ask the teacher if the paragraph requirement can be changed, and explain, or show the rough draft.

 

If the teacher does not specify a specific paragraph requirement, then always go with what is appropriate for the content -- what does the content dictate. Regardless of paper length, that will rarely be a 5-paragraph structure of 1 introductory paragraph, 3 body paragraphs, and 1 concluding paragraph.

 

 

Thank you!

 

We're using the curriculum independently, so I'm the teacher.  I told her that her essay should have more than 3 body paragraphs and found some samples in the writing book we like, but she searched online and found conflicting information so I thought I'd ask here for opinions.

 

Erica

[Lori D.]

We're using the curriculum independently, so I'm the teacher.  I told her that her essay should have more than 3 body paragraphs and found some samples in the writing book we like, but she searched online and found conflicting information so I thought I'd ask here for opinions.

 

Here's an opportunity to do some critical thinking of considering the source and determining how reliable it is for accuracy. :) This would also be a good opportunity for going over what makes a paragraph, and how do you know when to start a new paragraph. That info is from the OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Purdue, which I have found to be very helpful, comprehensive, and accurate about writing topics.

 

JMO: Because the 5-paragraph essay is easy to teach, and it gets all of the required parts into the paper, it is a structure that is taught a lot. That's not a bad thing, and it's not "wrong". It's just very limiting, and not all of our thoughts are going to be able to be squeezed into that form. So, use the 5-paragraph format as a great learning tool, and use that structure when it is appropriate. But realize that as you write more, and write longer papers, and write different types of papers, you will more and more be writing papers with varying amounts of paragraphs to match the content of each paper. Happy writing! :) Warmest regards, Lori D.

[Pen]

A 4-5 page paper with only three body paragraphs would have extremely long paragraphs.  IMO, she almost certainly would need to include more body paragraphs to not have it be long, dense paragraph text. And probably the type of writing that would have such long paragraphs would be beyond her level.

[Ellie]

My daughter is writing a paper (four to five pages) on a theme from a book (this is an Oak Meadow assignment for 9th grade).  Does she have to stick to the classic format of intro/three body paragraphs/conclusion, or can she include more than three body paragraphs?  

 

Thank you!

 

Erica

 

I don't know how long that has been in place, but it was not so when I was in school.

 

Of course she can have more than three paragraphs (although frankly, I'm not sure what you mean by "body paragraphs"). How else would she write four to five pages??

 

Don't make her stick to a formula so closely that her writing becomes trite and boring.