Schaffer paragraph

The Jane Schaffer paragraph is a five-sentence paragraph developed by Jane Schaffer, used to write essays.[1] The paragraph only makes up one of many paragraphs in an essay, most of which have a non-Schaffer-like intro and conclusion. The structure is utilized because it is thought to help students who struggle with paragraph structure and is taught in some U.S. middle schools and in early high school classes.[2][3] As students move on, the Schaffer paragraph is no longer preferred as it hinders their own ideas and does not allow critical thinking.[2][3]

Paragraph Structure

A basic Schaffer paragraph begins with the topic sentence—stating what the paragraph is about, then followed by a concrete detail, two commentary sentences, and a closing sentence. This is called a one-chunk body paragraph and is the most basic Schaffer model.

One of the key elements in the Schaffer program is what is called the "ratio." Ratio is the amount of Concrete Detail in a paragraph compared to the amount of commentary. In the above paragraph the ratio is 1:2. The actual ratio for response to literature is 1:2+, which means there must be at least two sentences of Commentary for each sentence of Concrete Detail like so:

Note that the ratio is still 1:2+ (At least twice as much Commentary as there is Concrete Detail)

Topic sentence/statement (TS)

This sentence should state the main point of the paragraph and be straight to the point

Example 1: Cinderella lives a miserable life.
Example 2: Global warming is a world problem and needs to be stopped.

Concrete detail (CD)

This sentence is the "what" sentence and is a fact that shows "what" is happening. It should be either facts, examples, illustrations, evidence, support, plot references, paraphrases, citations, quotations, plot summary, etc. It should be a concrete detail and should start with 'for example' or a different transition.

Example 1: For example, she does all the cooking, cleaning, and sewing.
Example 2: If it is not stopped, statistics show that the world will be drastically hurt.

Commentary (CM)

There are one or two commentary sentences in each chunk. They contain no facts, rather, comments from the paragraph writer about the fact presented in the CD. This sentence contains analysis, interpretation, character feelings, opinions, inference, insight, reasons, or color commentator. It is important that the commentary explain how the concrete detail helps prove the writer's point (the TS).

Example 1:
CM1: This shows that she feels taken advantage of by her selfish stepmother and stepsisters.
CM2: This is important because her horrible life gives her a present, her fairy godmother.
Example 2:
CM1: Global warming should be man's greatest worry.
CM2: This is because the Earth can become negatively and drastically affected world wide.

General practice is that commentary sentences often start with a transition such as the following:

Concluding sentence / closing sentence (CS)

The Concluding Sentence (CS) is the closing sentence that wraps up the TS and sums up the paragraph. It closes up the thoughts and gives insight to the next paragraph. Emotional or connotative words are preferred here usually beginning with "As a result" or another concluding sentence.

Example 1: As a result, she becomes a princess.
Example 2: Therefore, global warming is top priority and cannot be ignored.

Requirements

General Schaffer paragraphs have some requirements as follows:

References

  1. ↑ Jane Schaffer How-To
  2. 1 2 . JSTOR 821733. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. 1 2 . JSTOR 808912. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ Jane Schaffer Paragraph Construction

External links

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