GED Social Studies Extended Response Template

Writing a Five Paragraph Essay the Rodney Way

The purpose of this essay format is to give you a way to organize a basic essay. You are presenting two points of view. Readers will be impressed that you can not only talk about your viewpoint, but that you can also defend and argue against a point of view that disagrees with yours.  

First Paragraph – The first paragraph is supposed to catch the reader’s attention, and tell the reader what the essay is going to be about.

1^st WOW Sentence This sentence is the attention grabber. This sentence should set your essay apart from others.

2^nd Restate the essay prompt in your own words.

3^rd Briefly state your point of view.

4^th Briefly state the opposite point of view.

5^th Fully state your opinion in one sentence. This is the topic sentence for the entire essay. This sentence should sound something like: “However, I believe that…your point of view….”

Second Paragraph – The purpose of this paragraph is to give your reasons for your opinion which you just stated in the last sentence of the first paragraph.

1^st This sentence should sound something like: “I think that…your opinion… for the following reasons.” This is a transition sentence, meaning it restates the main idea of the first paragraph and tells the reader what the second paragraph will do.

2^nd One reason for you point of view

3^rd Another reason for your opinion

4^th A third reason for your outlook on this topic

5^th A fourth reason for your view

Third Paragraph – The purpose of this paragraph is to state and give reasons for a viewpoint that disagrees with you opinion.

1^st This sentence should sound something like: “Other people believe that … opposing opinion… for these reasons.”

2^nd One reason for the opposing point of view

3^rd Another reason for the other opinion

4^th A third reason for the other outlook on this topic

5^th A final reason for the other view

Fourth Paragraph – The purpose of this paragraph is to disprove the opinion that disagrees with your viewpoint in the third paragraph. You want to invalidate each of the reasons in the third paragraph.

1^st This sentence should sound something like: “I understand … opposing opinion, but I think it’s wrong for the following reasons”

2^nd Refute 2^nd sentence in the third paragraph

3^rd Refute 3^rd sentence in the third paragraph

4^th Refute 4^th sentence in the third paragraph

5^th Refute 5^th sentence in the fourth paragraph

Fifth Paragraph – This purpose of this paragraph is to summarize your argument with as much impact as possible. The first four sentences summarize each of the four paragraphs in order.

1^st This sentence should sound something like: “I believe that … your opinion.”

2^nd This sentence should sound something like: “I think this because… use your strongest reason or summarize your reasons”

3^rd This sentence should sound something like: “Other people believe that… other opinion.”

4^th This sentence should sound something like: “I disagree with this because…your strongest argument against the opposition.”

5^th This sentence should sound something like: “Therefore, I believe … your point of view”

For writing at different levels click these links:

Very Basic Writing

Academic Writing Link

GED World History: The Agricultural Revolution

Crash Course Video World History #1

READ the full Wikipedia article here!

A farm is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production.^[1] The name is used for specialised units such as arable farms, vegetable farms, fruit farms, dairy, pig and poultry farms, and land used for the production of natural fibres, biofuel and other commodities. It includes ranches, feedlots, orchards, plantations and estates, smallholdings and hobby farms, and includes the farmhouse and agricultural buildings as well as the land. In modern times the term has been extended so as to include such industrial operations as wind farms and fish farms, both of which can operate on land or sea.

Farming originated independently in different parts of the world as hunter gatherer societies transitioned to food production rather than food capture. It may have started about 12,000 years ago with the domestication of livestock in the Fertile Crescentin western Asia, soon to be followed by the cultivation of crops. Modern units tend to specialise in the crops or livestock best suited to the region, with their finished products being sold for the retail market or for further processing, with farm products being traded around the world.

Modern farms in developed countries are highly mechanized. In the United States, livestock may be raised on rangeland and finished in feedlots and the mechanisation of crop production has brought about a great decrease in the number of agricultural workers needed. In Europe, traditional family farms are giving way to larger production units. In Australia, some farms are very large because the land is unable to support a high stocking density of livestock because of climatic conditions. In less developed countries, small farms are the norm, and the majority of rural residents are subsistence farmers, feeding their families and selling any surplus products in the local market.