The Power of the Number Three

     Three is a powerful number. We see it all around us in the natural world. Triangles. Pyramids. three main parts of our bodies: head, torso and limbs (legs and arms); father, mother, and children; birth, life, death; and so on. Three is also an important number in writing. Every type of writing, from paragraph to essay, to book, has three main parts: an introduction, body, and a conclusion. An essay often consists of five paragraphs, with three body paragraphs after the introduction and before the conclusion. So remember whenever you write, divide your writing into three parts.

Paragraph to Essay

                                     Paragraph to Essay

          After you write a paragraph about some topic, it is easy to change that paragraph into an essay. Paragraphs are made up of sentences. Every paragraph has three main parts; an introduction, body and conclusion. Every essay also has three parts; an introduction paragraph, three or more body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph. So if you have already written a paragraph, all you need to do is expand the sentences into paragraphs and you will have an essay. The essay will have more information and details than the paragraph, but remember that the essay will have the same three main parts that a paragraph has--introduction, body and conclusion. When we start learning to write, we start with paragraphs because they are the basic "building blocks" that writers use. After you know how to write a good, well organized paragraph, it is easy to write essays with five or more paragraphs. It is kind of like learning to crawl before you walk, or learning to walk before you run. In conclusion, writing essays is easy after you know what you want to write about and after you know how to write good paragraphs.

Paragraph Organization

          A paragraph is a group of sentences about a topic that has a beginning, a middle and an end. A paragraph begins with a topic sentence that tells the reader what the topic is and what you are going to write about that topic.  The next part of the paragraph is the middle, or the body. In the body of the paragraph you write several sentences, usually at least three to five, that support your topic sentence and give examples and details about each point that you make. Finally, the end of the paragraph is called the concluding sentence. In this sentence you summarize what you wrote about in the paragraph. In conclusion, a good paragraph should have three parts; a topic sentence, a body with supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence.

Essays and speeches

     Essays are similar to speeches, except that writers use written words, while speakers use spoken words. People write essays and give speeches for the same basic reasons;  to persuade, inform, or entertain (PIE). There is a saying that to give a good speech you need to "tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you told them."  Just like speeches, essays have those three main parts;  introduction, body and conclusion.