Being rooted in rhetoric, writing and the teaching of writing is primarily a rhetorical practice, even if the goal of the student is to make a teacher or professor believe they are intelligent enough to receive a passing grade. Whether it’s analyzing a piece of literature, reporting the results of a science experiment, or making a political commentary, all writing is intended to instill a belief in the reader, sentimental or not, by means of symbolic expressions.

Throughout elementary, middle and high school, students are consistently taught to structure their papers one way or another. It may be the three paragraph story that students begin with in early elementary school, the five paragraph essay learned later, or a scientific theoretical presentation of data and experimentation, structure is key.

Greek and Roman, or Classical rhetoricians like Aristotle and Plato held firm beliefs that an argument should have sections, or even a formula. Aristotle saw a four-part necessity in this area while Cicero saw a three-part. Similar to different levels of education, professors, and school systems, they disagreed on precisely how an argument or piece of rhetoric should be divided but it is clearly a general consensus that there should be structure in terms of sections. This concept, clearly, has been maintained and adapted into most current educational systems in reference to writing as well as other academic focuses.