I have a lot of experience with the five-paragraph essay and, with that template in mind, I thought I knew everything there was to writing. However, upon my first college-level English Comp class, I realized that it wasn’t going to help me at all. I would say that the five-paragraph essay gives a template for students that is way too rigid. While it is true that it may keep students from rambling on, it also keeps their own voice out of their writing. I think that, as an alternative, teachers should me reminding and informing their students about the importance of having a sound argument with counterarguments at the ready, along with their own personal experiences as a background. It makes more sense to simply give students a word limit and let them write to their heart’s content, they shouldn’t have to stay in that word limit in this first step. Then, after racking their brains for all that they can come up with for that prompt/topic, they can read over their writing and cut things out, add on, and more. I believe that this would ensure that the student is able to put their own voice into the writing. I find that when I was writing five-paragraph essays, they often seemed boring and mechanical to me and I hated it because I wanted to be able to show my opinion using my own words in a form that I love. Now, as a college student, I apply the aforementioned alternate technique to myself and am able to find the point I’m trying to make but also whittle down any riff-raff. My work stays entertaining when I read it over and I’m not dreading the writing process.

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