Personal Essay

As you think about your assignment, try to keep these three principles of personal essay writing in mind:

• Write with a purpose
• Pay attention to details
• Use conventions of narrative writing

Click here for models of excellent personal essays.

Write with a Purpose

You never walk up to a friend and start to tell a story unless your friend has a reason to listen to the story. Think the same way about writing a personal essay. First, figure out why you're telling the story. Once you know why you're telling the story, figure out why your reader wants to read it. Then write an introduction that gives your reader a good reason to pay attention to your story.

Ways to find purpose : Pre-write with a purpose: Your teacher may run you through a few prompts to help you find your story. Make good use of this time by trying to remember and discover as much as you can about your experiences. Use experience as a springboard for reflection.

Confer responsibly with classmates : Writing conferences can be great ways of figuring out your purpose because your peers are usually the ones most interested in your stories. By listening to their reactions, you can figure out why your reader cares about your story. Used poorly, writing conferences can be great ways of allowing yourself to say, "We didn't do anything in class today." Use your time well. (Possible peer conferencing questions.)

Pay Attention to Details

Narratives rely on concrete sensory details to convey their point; however, the most photographic memory in America, the keenest ability to recall details, won't guarantee an excellent essay. Only by discovering your purpose for writing can you identify which details are important to your story and which can be left out. The details in your story should create a unified forceful effect, a dominant impression. Freewriting -- which can be done before you start an essay or at any time in the middle of it -- is a great way to help you find the sensory details that make your story unique and give it richness.

Freewrite from a present tense point of view to discover the sensory details of a story. By putting yourself in the middle of the story, you can more easily recall the smells, sounds, images and emotions of the experience you're writing about.

Freewrite from your current perspective to discover the significance of a story. By looking back at an experience, you can more easily see why it was important to you. Once you understand the significance of the details you've discovered, you can do a better job of deciding which to use and which to leave out.

Use Conventions of Narrative Writing

When you tell a story, speakers speak, friends and family members have names, and your point of view makes a difference.

The role of dialogue : Dialogue is more than words in quotes; it's a way to give sound to your story. Use dialogue carefully -- don't overuse it -- to make the characters and action seem real. Use it to jar a character out of a long reflection on the events of your story. Use it to develop relationships between your characters. Dialogue should enhance your story.

Real people are characters : When you write about your own experience, the people you know become characters to your reader. We've read essays in which writers refer to "my best friend," by never tell the name of the best friend. How close can you be if you don't know the person's name? The same goes for brothers and sisters. By naming your characters, you give them their own lives, and that makes your story more specific.

Point of view : It's hard to tell a story when you're trying to trick the reader into thinking that you're not telling a story. In a first-person account, it's all right for you to comment on the story you tell. In a third-person account, it's all right for your narrator to make observations about characters or events.

Sequencing as a deliberate choice: Narratives, as stories, should include the conventions of a story: a plot, a setting, characters, a climax, and an ending. While the traditional story follows a linear plot (Six Parts of a Story), you can experiment with sequencing to heighten the effect of your story. Starting at the climax can engage the reader and the use of flashbacks can highlight significant moments.

Beginnings and endings: Beginnings engage and endings leave a reader thinking.

Tighten your writing: Sensory writing does not always need many words. Use action verbs. Get to your point. Often a direct approach is clearer for the reader. (Revision Samples.)

Writing effective personal essays is an important part of growing as a person and as a writer.