Check out Useful Information on How to Write a Personal Essay
Easy steps to create a personal essay
Writing a personal essay is not a complicated task at all if you have revised some advice. This kind of assignment is aimed to check your creativity and imagination, your knowledge of language and composition. It`s a great chance for you to show your talents and skills as this assignment is about you, after all! So, here are useful tips on how to write a personal essay effectively!
Think of a composition of an essay
You should start your work with realizing the structure of an essay. Usually, the essay includes the introduction, the main body, and the conclusion. If you hear of a five-paragraph essay, then remember it just includes three paragraphs in its main body. Easy!
The introduction: You are to start your essay with a sentence that will surely grasp readers` interest and encourage them to continue reading. Think of such a hook well, as this plays an important role. You should also present the main idea of your assignment here.
The main body: You can have here from one to three paragraphs, which are about your ideas concerning the topic of an essay. By the way, it`s a good idea to create an outline before you start working on an essay not to miss some points of view.
The structure of each paragraph is similar to the structure of the whole essay. You should write an introducing sentence to let people know the idea of a paragraph, the middle sentence is about the point of a paragraph, the concluding one is about to sum up the idea and lead to the next paragraph.
Each paragraph should contain a new thought. Paragraphs should be logical and drive the reader to the next parts. It`s better to make the paragraphs short. You can include everything that you want in ten lines, you can take it as a rule.
The conclusion: Your conclusion should be connected with the thesis statement of your essay. In the final paragraph, you are to summarize the ideas of the whole assignment, which conclusions you have made for yourself.
Get inspired
Some days we are full of fresh, interesting ideas but sometimes we cannot even make up a single idea. But there are things you can do to get inspired.
- Check out the list of ideas on the Internet or look in some books or magazines;
- Write in a way of stream consciousness. Even if you don`t know what to write, don`t stop, write everything that comes up to your mind until you have three pages. This technique is called The Morning Pages, and Julia Cameron recommends everyone to practice this every morning.
- Do a little research. Find things that inspire you to new ideas, there are a lot of them beyond the Internet.
Refresh your grammar knowledge
English grammar is difficult in the way, that even native speakers should refresh some rules in their grammar. If you feel that you need to revise something, there are useful recourses for that. Harbrace College Handbook is the book, which can help you a lot. So, if you haven`t read the grammar book since long, then take one.
Pay attention to the language of an essay
Language usage is of the same importance as the usage of grammar. More likely your teacher will look for an active voice, which tells exactly who is responsible for actions.
Personal essays are much about your own feelings and emotions concerning the certain situations. You should create such assignments using the words, which come from your heart, and only then you will manage to evoke the same feelings in your readers. Stay confident in your beliefs, feeling and thoughts.
Stay positive and make your language the same. Note what you are for but not against. It`s better to say that you are for peace instead of against the war.
Listen to your inner voice, use the words, which are natural to you, which you use every time. In this way, the essay will be an authentic and really personal one.
Make sure you understand what plagiarism is and stay away from it. Write your own essay, do not copy somebody`s work.
Be specific
Help your readers experience everything you are writing about in your essay. Let the reader wear your shoes and dive into the situation. Make needed descriptions, don`t omit some details and your own true emotions. Show your unique opinion concerning the topic of your assignment.
Use appropriate tense
Personal essays are intended to tell about your personal experience, this means you should write from the first person, using the pronoun “I”. Of course, if you tell about others you can`t exactly know what they feel, so just make some observations and write them correctly.
Past tense is mostly used for writing personal essays, as you are writing about the situations, which happened to your or some experience, which you had. Still, if you want, you can use Present tense. The main point here is to stay strict to your choice and use one tense in the whole essay, do not switch the tenses.
Edit your essay
Editing is one of the most important parts of your writing process, so you can`t miss it. Complete your assignment and let it stay for a day. Go for a walk and do some different activities. Then come back to your assignment and look through it from the readers` point of view. Is the main idea of your essay clear? Is the grammar correct? What about sentence structure and word usage? Does your essay make any logic? Is it possible to get what you mean by your essay?
It`s difficult to edit your own work if you are not able to do it, then ask someone to help you.
Read more
If you want to master in writing, then read good essays! You can read them everywhere: on the Internet, in the magazines or newspapers. Pay attention to essay structure, paragraphs connections and how the beginning ties up with the conclusion. You should be an attentive reader if you want to be a good writer.
Hope, this advice on how to write a personal essay will assist you!
