ACT Writing Essay Template

12 July 2016

In previous lessons, we’ve talked about how the “perspectives” on the ACT Writing test follow a fairly predictable pattern. Two of the perspectives reach the same conclusion, albeit for different reasons. The remaining perspective disagrees with the other two, either by arguing for an opposing point of view or by taking an “outside the box” approach to the topic.

One important consequence of this pattern is that you can use the same essay template for practically any ACT Writing assignment, regardless of the actual topic of the prompt and perspectives. Furthermore, your essay structure doesn’t need to be overly elaborate. A well-executed five paragraph essay is fully capable of earning you a 5 or even a 6 in every category. With that in mind, here is a five paragraph ACT Writing template modeled on some of the highest-scoring official sample essays.

1. Introduction
   1. Broadly state the essay topic (1 sentence)
   2. Provide context – paraphrase background info from prompt (2-3 sentences)
   3. State your thesis (1 sentence)

1. 1^st Perspective in Agreement with Thesis
   1. Topic sentence – state perspective in your own words (1 sentence)
   2. Introduce example/reason that supports perspective (1 sentence)
   3. Develop example/reason (at least 2 sentences)
   4. Explain how/why your example/reason supports your thesis (1 sentence)

• 2^nd Perspective in Agreement with Thesis
  1. Topic sentence – state perspective in your own words (1 sentence)
  2. Introduce a new example/reason that supports perspective (1 sentence)
  3. Develop new example/reason (2+ sentences)
  4. Explain how/why your example/reason supports your thesis (1 sentence)

1. Perspective in Disagreement with Thesis
   1. Topic sentence – state perspective in your own words (1 sentence)
   2. Concede the point/set up counter example (1 sentence)
   3. Develop your counter argument (2+) sentences
   4. Explain how/why your counter argument supports your thesis (1 sentence)

1. Conclusion
   1. Restate thesis (1 sentence)
   2. Restate conclusions from body paragraphs w/o repeating (1 to 3 sentences)
   3. Broad yet definitive concluding statement (1 sentence)

Note: This template is based on the assumption that you have chosen a thesis that broadly agrees with two of the perspectives and disagrees with the remaining one. This allows for one body paragraph for each perspective in agreement with your thesis and one paragraph for the dissenting perspective. While you can earn a high score with a thesis that agrees with only one of the perspectives, this approach requires you to create an additional counterexample in place of paragraph “III.” Because of the extra work that this entails, we recommend using a thesis that agrees with the dissenting perspective only if you have a clear idea of counterexamples that you can use for both of the majority perspectives.

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