But Alex’s professor doesn’t want it. She underlines the very first two sentences, and she writes, “This is simply too general. Get to the true point.” She underlines the next and sentences that are fourth and she writes, “You’re just restating the question I asked. What’s your point?” She underlines the final sentence, after which writes into the margin, “What’s your thesis?” because the final sentence into the paragraph only lists topics. It does not make a quarrel.

Is Alex’s professor just a grouch? Well, no—she is trying to show this student that college writing isn’t about following a formula (the five-paragraph model), it’s about making a disagreement. Her first sentence is general, the way she learned a essay that is five-paragraph start. But through the professor’s perspective, it is way too general—so general, in reality, she didn’t ask students to define civil war that it’s completely outside of the assignment. The third and fourth sentences say, in a lot of words, they just restate the prompt, without giving a single hint about where this student’s paper is going“ I am comparing and contrasting the reasons why the North and the South fought the Civil War”—as the professor says. The sentence that is final that ought to make a quarrel, only lists topics; it does not start to explore how or why something happened.

You can guess what Alex will write next if you’ve seen a lot of five-paragraph essays. Her first body paragraph will begin, “We is able to see some of the different explanations why the North and South fought the Civil War by studying the economy.” What will the professor say about that? She may ask, “What differences can we come across? What part of the economy will you be speaing frankly about? How come the differences exist? Why are they important?” The student might write a conclusion that says much the same thing as her introduction, in slightly different words after three such body paragraphs. Alex’s professor might respond, “You’ve already said this!”

What could Alex do differently? Let’s start over. This time around, Alex doesn’t start out with a preconceived notion of how to prepare her essay. Read more