In the english language, there are certain phrases that are seldom spoken. Among these lies the exclamation, “Essay writing is my favourite”. Although I would never go as far as to praise it, I have never truly experienced the same disdain for writing formal essays as many of my peers. My confidence when it comes to formal writing is good, but I am obviously far removed from an expert on the matter. This means that the two articles offering new perspectives and guidelines in regards to essay writing were a worthwhile read as I prepare to write my first piece of ENG 4U. 

“Let’s Bury the 5-Paragraph Essay: Long Live Authentic Writing”, by Brian Sztabnik, begins by highlighting a trend shared by many popular writing samples as of late, with all of them sidestepping the universally standardized five paragraph format. Throughout the article, the author continued to suggest that writing is most effective when it is authentically created, without the constraints of strict format requirements. I believe this to be true in most cases, however, I believe that the five paragraph format is still useful when it comes to the development of students’ writing. Many younger students depend on the structure provided by the five paragraph format to organize their ideas, and remind them to use sufficient methods of persuasion. For experienced writers who are looking to elevate their style and tone, original formatting can prove to be very effective in engaging readers. 

In “Write Less, Say More: the Power of Brevity”, by Danny Rudin, the author emphasizes the importance of being clear and concise. The majority of the article focuses on how using less words and a simpler vocabulary can help get the message across the most efficiently. This contradicts what many high school seniors may believe to be true, as they see a high word count combined with fancy diction as a recipe for good grades. Similar to the article previously mentioned, the author’s points hold true to a certain extent. There will always be times when long winded writing and formal diction are necessary. For instance, most pieces of legal writing require a ton of detail, and formal writing characteristics due to the expectations of the professionals in that field. With that being said, Danny Rudin is absolutely correct when he suggests that many writers need to shorten their writing. Oftentimes, big assignments can intimidate students and lead them to ramble on and on, just for the sake of filling space. This decreases the power of whatever message is intended for audiences, as readers have to fish through all of the nonsense in order to draw the same conclusions they would have if the writing was clear and concise.

After reading the two articles, I hope to employ some of the concepts that I learned into my writing throughout the remainder of the semester. I have never been the guy who sticks exactly to the script in terms of planning every sentence I write in an essay, so I’m sure that getting away from formal five paragraph formatting will come somewhat naturally. Perhaps I won’t stray too far from the format that has been drilled into our minds since the sixth grade on this upcoming essay, but I will be sure to mix in some of the authors’ ideas as the semester progresses and I have opportunities to write less formally.