In most high schools (at least in the United States), students learn to write essays by using a formula that begins with a introduction paragraph, a thesis statement at the end of the introduction, three body paragraphs with one piece of evidence per paragraph, and a conclusion. This formula leaves you with the infamous five paragraph essay.
These kinds of essays are acceptable in high school, and even expected on things like SATs and AP exams, but in college essays, topics and arguments are often too complicated for the five paragraph essay to do them justice. Professors and TAs work hard to get students to move on from the five paragraph essay as early as possible. There is no magic number of paragraphs. The best practice is to simply write your essay without worrying about paragraph count. Of course, if there is a page count, or a word count requirement, you should focus on those things, but very few professors are going to notice your number of paragraphs; unless, of course, you’re following the five paragraph formula.
The takeaway message here is that you should use however many paragraphs you need to sufficiently prove your argument and address counter-claims.
No matter how many paragraphs you end up with, they should all be well-developed and relate back to your original argument. This means that most of your paragraphs will probably end up being at least half-a-page long (double-spaced, of course).
Transitioning from the five paragraph format can be a complex process, so I’ll likely have more blogs on the subject in the future.
Writing TA/Peer Leader 