“What format did you use when writing an assignment for your writing classes in college?”, I asked. I was surprised to find that Mr. Demas followed a format that's considered a myth in “Five Myths about Writing” in the book Conversations About Writing. He claims himself to be a “big five paragraph essay guy”; intro, three paragraphs for the body, and conclusion. Even in his more in depth writing that had to be more than five paragraphs, he states, he follows the same format only having a couple of paragraphs explaining each point. “It was basically a three point justification of my thesis”. Mr. Demas also includes outlining has helped a lot and he spends most of his time outlining. “If I can get a good outline done, the paper just wrote itself
In the article “Unteaching the Five Paragraph Essay”, Marie Foley intere that the five paragraph essay format is blameworthy of high school graduate unpreparedness for college coursework and the need of remedial classes. Foley stated that “Many college freshman enter composition course alienated from writing”(P.2) Foley also claim that “teaching the five paragraph formula this harms student in some fundamental ways….i'll-preparing them for academic and real world writing”(P.3) This paper is going to analyse Marie foley article by brake down the reason and problem behind the Five paragraph essay.
In an excerpt of Unteaching the Five-Paragraph Essay," Marie Foley reveals how the Five-Paragraph Essay formula contradicts writing instructor's most basic goals. Foley shows that the formula deters from generating individual thinking. In today's society, essays are used by millions of people in order to express their different ideas. The Five-Paragraph Essay formula was originally developed to help retain the efficiency and clarity of the essay. Foley, however, believes that this process eventually separates the student from his or her written expression and should be used only as a first step tool for beginning student writers. Foley insists that the formula blocks discovery, squelches authenticity and undermines the reader's need for
Reading and writing should be seen as interactive subjects rather than just reading or writing words on paper in ink. John Beans suggests that individuals should look at both reading and writing as conversations. In his article “Reading and Writing as Conversations” Bean states by envisioning yourself having a conversation with the author, referenced individuals, and characters, readers are more likely to better understand the text. Texts are seen as different conversations each text has a connection to another text. Such as if you were referencing a particular article,book,or quote in your text. Many people have a reason for reading different types of text. Some reasons could simply be because the individual wants to, needs to, discover new
When I was reading Writing is Easy by Steve Martin, I was thinking if writing was actually that easy. Then I finished the article and realized that writing will never be easy. Mr. Martin examples on how to make writing easier make no sense. His tip to getting over writers block gets the writer nowhere. He says “got to an already published novel and find a sentence that you absolutely adore. Copy it down into your manuscript” (Martin). What he is saying is plagiarism. If I was to use this method to overcome writer block I would be thrown out of college. I still believe that writer block is real because even the greatest authors struggle with writers block.
Teaching the process of a five-paragraph essay seems to be a popular strategy when it comes to teaching new writers; however, not everyone agrees that five-paragraph essays are the best way to go about introducing the writing process. John Warner, author of “Kill the 5-Paragraph Essay” believes the process gives writers little freedom and is a “tool for the worst of teachers to hide amongst the good.” On the other hand, Kerri Smith, author of “In the Defense of the Five-Paragraph Essay” claims “students who know the five-paragraph essay intimately are more prepared to take on the challenge of college-level writing.” Both first-year composition professors make great arguments; however, Warner’s article seems to argue his point effectively.
Although I was a junior and only two-years away from being an independent college student, I was still attached and only aware of how to write using the five paragraph essay guidelines. Immediately when assigned my first six page research paper, thoughts of how this would even be possible when I have not written more than five paragraph? Because I had only written based on structure my entire life, I began researching different structures on how I could write this six page paper, completely being blinded by the fact that a structure was not necessary. The required length of the paper was not the only difficult factor of the assignment.
In the article Teaching Writing as a Process Not Product by Donald M. Murray, Murray argues that writing is a process of discovery not an end product. Rather than being criticized for a “perfect product” by the teachers, student should be provided with an environment of creativity to explore and discover. Murray states that many teachers focus on the end product rather than teaching students the process of writing in order to receive a better product. The writing process has three stages of writing which include: prewriting, writing, and rewriting. In the prewriting stage, students should take about 85% of their time dedicated to the writing process. Prewriting includes strategies such as daydreaming, note taking, outlining, and lead-writing. Next is the writing stage where it should take about one percent of a student’s time. The writing stage is where students produce their first draft. Finally, it is the
I’ve always struggled to break the boundaries entangled within the composition of traditional essays. Between AP Language/Literature courses and AP U.S. History, my writing had become noticeably formulaic; I relied heavily on templates and felt awkward abandoning the traditional five paragraph essay. Although the formulaic way of writing assisted in my capability to critically recognize the difference between opinion and evidence, the patterns were not helpful in developing my organizational skills. My ability to form argumentative ideas from given prompts strengthened, while unity and coherence within paragraphs proved to be my downfall. It was not until my second semester of English at the University of Georgia that I noticed my organization was not comprehensible to the reader. Some paragraphs were like mazes; they left the reader wondering how the first sentence connected to the following sentence. Along with organization, English 1102 helped identify my lack of transitional phrases within paragraphs and the tendency for my argument to shift. Nonetheless, this course has highlighted my strengths as a writer, including my ability to incorporate evidence so that it supports an intelligent, challenging thesis.
Initially, a writer should do an outline before starting any essay. An outline can help to organize his or her main points in order to build an introduction, body and conclusion. This method of pre writing was something that I had never been exposed to prior to receiving an example outline from Professor Vilceus. By studying the example, I went from zero knowledge about an outline to creating ones that made arranging essay material uncomplicated.
In “Breaking the Five-Paragraph-Theme Barrier” professor Thomas Nunnally describes his experience teaching the popular writing tool. The five-paragraph theme requires an introductory paragraph, three middle paragraphs that each have their own ideas, and a concluding paragraph. Nunnally believes that this writing model should only be used as a writing tool and not the backbone to all essays (Nunnally). I agree with Nunnally’s stance, but also think that by the age of sixteen, students should no longer be given the opportunity to rely on the model for writing opportunities. **
Like every mental illness, there is no definitive evidence concerning the etiology of manic-depression, also known as bipolar disorder. The disorder is characterized by alternating periods of depression and mania and occurs in 1% of the population. The depressive episodes can range in severity from dysthymia to major depressive episodes. The major depressive episodes are classified as periods of at least two weeks in length during which sadness, lethargy, insomnia or excessive sleep, increase or decrease in appetite, hopelessness, and suicidal ideation or suicide attempts are present. Dysthymia is the milder form of depression, during which suicidal ideation and attempts are not present. Manic
When the term “Internet of Things” is first heard, some might envision a snow covered island inhabited by misfit toys that is stumbled upon by Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer and companion Hermey like in the children’s Christmas classic Island of Misfit Toys. However, it is quite the opposite. The “Internet of Things” is a simple term used by tech geeks to describe the everyday electronics that connect and communicate to one another via the world wide web. So, how does the communication of millions of machines benefit humanity? And to a greater degree, can these devices behave badly like a toy from Island of Misfit Toys?
Whenever an assignment was given, I used to just write everything that I could think of, similar to a free write. After doing a free write in my scrap notebook, I would then go back and insert examples from the text to further prove my points. After taking this class, I learned that is the incorrect way to write academic papers and that the best way is to make an outline instead so that I can make sure that every point is proven, clear, accurate, and most importantly understandable. I was able to see the improvement of how outlines helped through my first essay. The essay was about picking out an image and explaining its means to the visual context and its impact on culture. My first draft I had learned that I needed to step back and see
In “Where Sweatshops Are A Dream” by Nicholas D. Kristof, Kristof uses his experience living in East Asia to argue his positive outlook on sweatshops. He also uses Phnom Penh as an example to show why working in the sweatshops would be a dream for the families living there. Kristof wants to persuade his readers that the best way to help people in poor countries is to promote manufacturing there, not campaign against them. Kristof begins his essay by painting the picture of how his village looks outside of the sweatshop. The problem he identifies is even though Americans want to “fight back” for “exploiting too many people” but really these people look at sweatshops as dream jobs. Kristof assumes that the readers are Americans he refers to in the essay. He also assumes that the readers are people who
It is hard to believe Foundations of Writing is already over, but as I reflect on the past semester, I realize how beneficial this class has been. Not only has my writing improved, but my confidence in my abilities to write have grown as well. I’ve become more aware of how much writing will impact my future, and after this class, I feel like I will be able to handle it. There is still room for improvement, but Foundations of Writing has pushed me to become the best writer I can possibly be.