<p>In our schools, all of us have been taught a standard five paragraph essay protocol so to speak. At least, I have.</p>
<p>They say, that in the first paragraph, you INTRODUCE all the points that you are going to talk about, and then you use the three body paragraphs to detail on those points. </p>
<p>I have been reading a lot of SAT Strategies Books…and one thing they all say is that “A Well Written Essay is DIFFERENT from a well written SAT Essay, in some respects of course”…</p>
<p>Certain prep books, Grammatix especially, contain sample “6 essays” in which only the position is introduced in the first paragraph, not the examples. If you look at sample essays from Grammatix, most of the first paragraphs are like 3 sentences. In Grammatix, this is usually the structure of the first paragraph:</p>
<li>Thesis Statement</li>
<li>Include a though statement, and use it to support your point. (Longer than sentence 1)</li>
<li>End the paragraph with a sentence that gives an introduction to your examples. This would be something like
.</li>
</ol>
<p>In a way, this is good, because it helps reduce the content of the essay, and you waste less time on the introduction. However, I was wondering if this method is actually effective in getting a 12 on the essay. Or, is it wise just to stick to the typical 5-paragraph essay protocol, in order to get a 12.</p>
<p>Please try to include the grade that your first-paragraph technique helped you receive on your essay…</p>
<p>I'm thinking that the SAT essay is supposed to be a somewhat persuasive piece of writing (they usually want you to take a side) which can be fairly different from other types of writing assigned in school (e.g., analyze the three most significant causes of the civil war [thus, your 3 choices would go in intro paragraph]). Additionally, because of the time constraint of the SAT and limited room, it's more of a waste of space/minutes to just reiterate the examples you discuss only 3 lines later (unlike in a 3 page typed paper for school).</p>
<p>
[Quote]
I'm thinking that the SAT essay is supposed to be a somewhat persuasive piece of writing (they usually want you to take a side) which can be fairly different from other types of writing assigned in school (e.g., analyze the three most significant causes of the civil war [thus, your 3 choices would go in intro paragraph]). Additionally, because of the time constraint of the SAT and limited room, it's more of a waste of space/minutes to just reiterate the examples you discuss only 3 lines later (unlike in a 3 page typed paper for school).</p>
<p>Just an idea...
[/Quote]
</p>
<p>So, you're saying that it's better to not introduce the ideas in the first paragraph???</p>
<p>I think it makes sense to introduce your central ideas--but just not necessarily introduce every example you'll be using (I say this not as an SAT expert but merely as a parent/former writer.....!).</p>
<p>It just seems that w/limited time, a briefer introduction would be less repetative!.They are looking for logic & organization (I believe). If your examples clearly support your thesis, that would seem to meet the logic criteria and make your piece more substantive and free of repetitious, introductory 'filler.' (I'd say...)</p>