Re: Against Formulaic Writing

[janeenm@okway.okstate.edu]

     Wendy,
     Can't remember which list the following excerpt came from, but I saved 
     it for a moment such as this.  Use it how you can.
     Janeen Myers
     The Learning Center
     Okla State U/Okla City
     janeenm@okway.okstate.edu
     
     I. I have decided that since my objections to the five-
     
     paragraph essay are the same in each case, a form letter
     
     is appropriate to criticize the formula and to try to
     
     convince you to abandon it.  My objections are three: it
     
     stops thinking, it results in superficial development 99%
     
     of the time, and it produces a generic essay, not one that
     
     shouts its writer's name.
     
     
     II.    A. The five-paragraph essay stops thinking. You can find
     
     three things to say about most anything, so as soon as you
     
     get the third, you can stop brainstorming.  True, sometimes
     
     you have to stretch for the third, which means part of your
     
     development will be skating on thin ice.  But on the whole,
     
     five-paragraph essays are like jokes--even the organization
     
     for emphasis is set up.  The punch line goes last, so all
     
     you have to do is decide which of the three topics to leave
     
     the reader with.
     
     
     B.     Secondly, the five-paragraph essay is usually
     
     superficially developed.     It's as if the end of the need-
     
     to brainstorm also means the end of thinking about the
     
     three body topics.  The recognizable form is all-important.
     
     Somehow the three body paragraphs say the obvious.
     
     
     c .   Finally, since the paragraphs say the obvious, it
     
     follows that the essay will be generic.  The writer's ideas
     
     don't dictate the shape of the essay.  The reader sees the
     
     three-pronged thesis and knows exactly what's coming.
     
     There's no sense of being in the company of a unique
     
     person.   Since the form is predictable and the ideas are
     
     the obvious ones, the essay could have been written by
     
     anyone.  It often contains cliches, like "skating on thin
     
     ice."
     
     
     III.     In conclusion, while it's possible that an essay could
     
     happen to shape itself in five paragraphs, And that also
     
     a skilled writer could hide the stiff, mechanical topic
     
     sentences and transitions of the typical five paragrapher,
     
     99% of the time the five-paragraph essay is objectionable
     
     because it stops thinking, is superficially developed, and
     
     is generic.
     
     
     </bigger>published in The Compost, Nov. 1997
     
     


______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________
Subject: Against Formulaic Writing 
Author:  <wcenter@ttacs6.ttu.edu> at SMTP
Date:    5/26/98 2:37 PM


Centaurs,
I need to bulk up on theory.  A colleague told me last week that "we need 
to drill the five-paragraph essay into our students."  I am having a hard 
time getting over this remark, as it is so contrary to everything I believe 
about teaching and writing.
     
I would like to start collecting pieces written by students or theorists or 
practitioners that point out the problems with formulaic writing, and why 
many of us do not teach "the modes" anymore.
     
Do any books or articles come immediately  to mind?  I've got a few in 
mind, but want more.
Wendy Smith