Personal Essay Models

Here you'll find hyperlinks to excellent personal essays. What's excellent about them may or may not be immediately apparent to you. The comments on the right margins of the essays may explain some but not all of their qualities.

If you have questions about some of the margin comments, please ask a Writing Center teacher or your own teacher.

"I Love You"

First and foremost, you'll notice in this essay the writer's control over language. The emotional bond between brother and sister is palpable throughout. Because the essay's beauty is easy to see, the margin comments focus on the content and structure areas of the NCHS Writing Rubric.

"Drowning in His Sea..."

This essay uses a song by Counting Crows as a metaphor for the writer's experience with a childhood friend whose charming personality makes her struggle with understanding his drug use. Sure, it sounds like an After-School Special, but the way this essay is written contains a great mixture of rage, love and control over the English language.

"In My Darkness"

Here's a personal essay in which the writer examines a character trait rather than a specific experience. While there are certainly narrative moments in the essay, they are all used to serve the writer's analytical purpose -- the narrative isn't itself the purpose.

"The Scent of Yellow"

This is a good example of a frame narrative in which the author starts in the present and moves into a flashback, then ends in the present. The memory of the writer's grandmother influences her present self.

"The Dolphin"

This narrative is written in chronological order and reflects on a challenging personal situation that many teenagers can relate to.