Why Students Struggle With Essays
As an English tutor, one of the main concerns of my students was writing their high school and college essays. Even though they may have had some ideas of what they wanted to say, they worried about getting it down on paper in a way that made sense and would make their English teacher happy. Although essays do not have to stick with this simple formula outlined in this article, this is a good basic way to write an essay and is especially helpful to new or struggling English students.
An Easy Method Explained
My teacher asked each of us to lay our hand on a piece of paper and tracing a line around it. Then we were to go back and think of the thumb as the introduction to our essay. On it we wrote, “Introduction.” This is where we decided what our essay would be about. Let’s say for the sake of this article, we are going to write about why poodles make good pets for senior citizens. Jot that down on the thumb, “Poodles make good pets for senior citizens…” Then on each of the three middle fingers, we list reasons why poodles make good pets for seniors.
On the index finger, we might say, “Easily trained.” On the second finger, we might say, “Love attention.” On the third finger, we might say, “Good companion.” Our little finger or pinkie is going to be our “conclusion.” A conclusion is where you re-cap all the points you have made in your essay. Now you have the outline for your basic five paragraph essay.
The Introduction and Thesis Statement
Now let’s go back to our introduction. We want our main idea to be “Poodles make good pets for senior citizens because they are easily trained, love to get attention, and make good companions.” This is called our “thesis statement” or what our essay is going to be about. This will be expressed in our first paragraph. I find it easier to lead up to the thesis and put it at the end of the first paragraph rather than beginning with it. So I might say something like:
Many senior citizens lead isolated lives, because of health, lack of transportation, or other reasons. Family may not visit as often as they would like, Because of this many seniors can become depressed and withdrawn. Experts agree that having a pet can be a type of therapy for seniors, giving them a sense of purpose. A good pet choice for seniors is a poodle. Poodles make excellent pets for senior citizens because they are easily trained, love to get attention, and make good companions.”
See how we lead right up to our thesis statement?
Second, Third and Fourth Paragraphs
In each of our next three paragraphs, we are going to explain the reasons we gave in our thesis statement. So for my first paragraph I might say:
Because of the intelligence of the poodle breed of dogs, they are easily trained. By using the crate method, housebreaking can be easier with the poodle than other dogs. They learn quickly and respond well to praise. With patience and lots of pets, poodles can be trained to go outside, to stay off the furniture, to respond well to guests in your home, or whatever other rules you want for your household. Because of their need to please their owner, poodles quickly learn what is expected of them.”
In each of the next two paragraphs, you will make your other two points. Paragraph three will be about how poodles love the attention they get from their senior friend (like to sit in lap, love to be stroked and petted, enjoy being talked to and rewarded, etc.) Paragraph four will be about how poodles make good companions (love to sleep with their owner, follow them around during their daily routine, accompany them on car rides, etc.)
The Conclusion:
The conclusion is the paragraph where you sum up everything you said in your essay in one neat package. A conclusion for this essay about poodles might be:
Because poodles are such intelligent and easily trained animals, love to receive love and attention, and make such excellent companions, they are the ideal pet for an older adult. Any adult living alone who may need some extra company would benefit from the gift of one of these loving dogs. Visit a local animal shelter or kennel and ask about poodles that may be listed for adoption, or where a breeder might be in the local area. Both the poodle and the new owner will be happier for the effort.”
Of course, you can write more or less as you feel led during your writing. This is just a suggested outline for a basic format used to write essays. Teachers seem to like the organized way this method places the writing, and it is an easy method for beginners. Pay attention to grammar and spelling as you write. Now all that is needed is your imagination and creativity and you’ll be writing A+ essays in no time.
