Lesson 10 Prompt: Essay Formats

The lesson 10 prompt (which is being posted after lesson 11 only because I thought I had posted 10 before 11 in the first place), was to write about anything the student wished.

I chose to explore standard essay formats that are taught in high school and college (the five paragraph, the seven paragraph, the three paragraph...)

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Perhaps I view writing the way I do because I have been schooled at home through the last six years, and before that, in a non-conventional charter school with an emphasis on individual thinking. I have been allowed the freedom to write whatever I wish in whatever way I wished (most of the time, there were, of course, exceptions). Every semester for the last three years I have written a complete 10 page research paper, but I was allowed to select my topic, and my presentation style (while following most MLA guidelines, of course). Now, as I am taking the first writing course in six years that has a traditional instructor, I am wondering about the purpose of standardizing writing formats.

Throughout this course I have written several standard five paragraph essays, and several classical argument essays. Both use a typical three paragraph 'supporting' section to back up each claim. What if you have four claims? Or five? Two? While I am sure that if I felt the need I could write four supporting paragraphs instead of three for this class, yet when I think back on my younger years in school I remember being told that only three would be accepted in several situations. It has led to me wondering if standardizing writing formats has helped or hindered students today?

In some ways, the standardization of these essay formats has made students' jobs easier. We do not have to think about what format and type of organization our paper should fit into. When I go to write an essay I put three supporting paragraphs in, an intro and conclusion. It is almost automatic. Just recently, however, I began to wonder if the five paragraph essay was conducive to all written essays out there. Of course it is not. How could one format work perfectly for thousands of essays?

To me, the essay format should help support the essay, much like a frame supports a photo by framing it, completing it. An essay format should act as a frame for its essay, completing it and helping it to shine. And just as not all frames fit all photos, I would think that not all essays fit the five paragraph format. Perhaps students should be taught, along with the standard formats, ways to fit a format to their topic and presentation style. Gregory Mantsios, author of Class in America—2003, uses a myth/reality question/answer format for his essay, which works wonderfully for its presentation. If he tried to mold the same essay into a five paragraph format, it would be a very different essay, and much less profound.

So perhaps students should occasionally be allowed to write an essay in whatever format their believe will 'frame' their essay the best. Maybe that way is a standard format, but if not, they should be guided and aided into making a new format that better works for their topic.  

-Ace