448 McGRAW-HILL’S SAT
Write a Quick Four- or Five-Point
Outline
Lesson 3.) You might like a standard “top-down” (the-
sis at the beginning) structure:Paragraph 1: State thesis and summarize reasons
or examples.
Paragraph 2: Explain first reason or example.
Paragraph 3: Explain second reason or example.
Paragraph 4: Conclude with an extension or clar-
ification of your thesis.
This is a simplification of the standard “five-
paragraph” essay structure. We have simplified it to
four paragraphs, because five paragraphs may be
too much to write in 25 minutes, and because most
essays that get perfect scores have only four para-
graphs. Writing more than four paragraphs is usually
too hard, and writing fewer than four paragraphs
indicates weak development.
You might also want to use a “bottom-up” (thesis near
the end) structure like this:Paragraph 1: Begin with a quick story that intro-
duces the topic.
Paragraph 2: Analyze the significance of the story.
Paragraph 3: State and explain your thesis that
follows from the story.
Paragraph 4: Generalize from this thesis and con-
nect it to a broader scope of ideas.Lesson 6: Organize Your Thoughts
Once you have written a strong and creative
thesis and brainstormed a good example or
two, you are almost ready to write. Your last
step should be to quickly organize the other
three or four paragraphs. This outline should
be very brief: Simply write one short sentence
that captures the gist of each paragraph.There is no one “right” structure; choose the
structure that works best with your ideas,
your examples, and your style.Writing a quick outline helps you to avoid one of
the most common writing problems: redundancy.
Students who do not plan their paragraphs usually
end up repeating themselves too much; their essays
don’t “go anywhere.” Good organization helps you to
develop your thoughts. Once you’ve stated your thesis
and example, what then? You have many options: you
can explain your example in more detail, you can give
another example, you can address an objection, and
so on.
Understand the Function
of Paragraphs
Think of paragraphs as “minichapters” of your essay.
Each one must be complete in itself, but must also be
part of a whole. When you start a new paragraph, you
signal that you are doing something new: giving a new
example, analyzing a new idea, presenting a counter-
argument, or the like. Your paragraphs give your essay
structure. (For more on structure, see Chapter 4,