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Comment by physcab | Hacker News Reader

"If you can't figure out how to organize your material, try this: Write down ideas in random order, then sort them".

I wish they taught me to do this before the 5-paragraph essay format. The latter of which is a useless exercise that has almost no application in real-life writing.

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The 5-paragraph essay isn't meant to be the end all be all but a starting point on writing your thoughts down in a cohesive manner.

Even the great essayists (MLK Jr. for one) followed this to a degree. Introduce your point, support your point, tie it all together and conclude.

You learn it in what? Like 5th grade or Jr. High? Why would it be the pinnacle of real-life adult writing? But that very simplistic structure is the basis for much more complicated essay formats that you learn about in college (Compare & contrast, cause and effect, argumentative, etc.).

The 5-paragraph essay is often the last essay format one learns seriously. We spend the most time teaching it and no other essay format even comes close. A one semester writing course freshmen year in college does not count.

Also, just because some people can run well with 10 pound weights strapped to each leg doesn't mean it's a good idea to run with weights strapped to your legs. I've seen great 5-paragraph essays, but then again, I've also seen some great Visual Basic programs as well. These things serve as great starting points, but it is important to progress beyond them as you become more educated.

I think of 5 paragraph essays as a construction used by teachers so they can evaluate how well a student is learning the process, akin to "showing your work" in mathematics. More of a scaffold for the learning process than anything else.

Thank you that's all that I mean. You stop using it once you know why.

The 5-paragraph essay with the self-similar structure (first sentence is an introduction, body sentences have the meat, final sentence is a conclusion) leads to incredibly rigid and repetitive essays. I too wish it was more well-known that this was the most basic, paint-by-numbers way to make an essay, and not the pinnacle of writing style.

It took me years to unlearn the 5 paragraph format. I actually wish that I had been thrown into the deep end and taught to write from reading actual quality essayists like Thoreau.

A part of me feels sad that the American schooling system relies so heavily on sub-par standards to teach the basics.

me european, had to look up 5-paragraphs essay in wikipedia.

i've heard the basic "introduction, narration, .." - structure in school, but it sounds to me when you say 5para essay you really mean an essay with five paragraphs.

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