Basic tips on how to write a personal essay
Usually it goes like this: it is your first day back to school, you are on your English class and the teacher gives you the task to write a personal essay. But how? And for what? The reason is that a personal essay gives your teacher an opportunity to check such of your skills as language, creativity and composition. This assignment is really not that hard as it is about you actually, so that can be your real chance to stand out!
Find your inspiration
Sometimes we are full of great ideas to write about and sometimes it could be difficult to come up just with one. So you need to find the things that can inspire you for a great essay. Do some research – googling can help you find interesting blogs where people share their experiences. But do not steal their ideas – just let them inspire you for creating your own writing masterpiece.
Choose the topic
A great choice will be a relationship theme, especially conflicts. Sharing your personal experience (the recent one will be best) could be a powerful way to discover your own past and share it with other people. It shows you two perspectives: the one in present and the one which already happened. The space between them is where you find significance of that event. If the situation happened recently, it is closer to “you” – your reactions and feelings.
What can be a good topic?
- relationship with your best friend or family member;
- relationship with a person who changed or influenced you;
- a small but significant event;
- big and life changing event;
- something meaningful you did;
- your memories and experience of a meaningful place.
To make sure your topic is good, ask yourself – how your thoughts changed after it happened, what you learned from that, how it affected direction of your life and what you could do differently if there was a chance to go back to that. D you have any regrets?
Structure of your essay
How to write a personal essay without a proper structure? Like any other essay type, personal essay consists of three standard parts: introduction, information body and conclusion. You start your essay with an interesting sentence to catch the attention, explain your point in the main part and summarize all written with your final opinion. Chronological order is the most obvious way to tell your story. You are just writing it in the way it happened and in the same order it happened.
Check your grammar and vocabulary
First of all, freshen up your grammar. We understand that English grammar is difficult and it can be tricky even for native speakers. But when writing an essay your grammar should be perfect. Use your own vocabulary and voice as language is even more important. One of the things that do matter will be the active voice because it tells the reader who is doing the thing.
When you learn how to write a personal essay, pay attention to the fact that it is usually written in past tense. You are telling about something which already happened giving the examples. However, if you want you can use present tense as well – the main thing is being consistent. Do not switch around.
Personal means you are writing about yourself so you should obviously write using the first person and pronoun “I.” When you are writing in the first person it means you are speaking only for yourself only and you can just make observations about others.
Feel your essay
Personal essays are full of feeling so if you write from your heart about your emotions and something you are passionate about, then your readers can feel these emotions too. Be firm about your feelings, your opinion and views. Try to avoid using weak words such as should, could and would as if you are unsure. The most powerful instrument is positive language. Write the story about something you like rather than something you dislike, be for peace and against war.
Also it is very important to understand that there should be no plagiarism – it is YOUR essay, so never try to use the work of others and show it as your own.
Edit, edit and … edit?
No matter what exactly you are writing, the thing you should do after that is editing – and we are serious. Is your point clear? Are you sure that your grammar and sentence structure are correct? Is your essay logical? It is pretty hard but if you do not do it, it might spoil even the perfectly written essay. If you cannot cope yourself, ask someone to help. It can be one of numerous agencies specialized on essay writing, like www.affordable-papers.net/citation-generator.
Summing up
The assignment to write a persona essay demands from you not only communication skills but also critical thinking. It will definitely help you in the future so do not treat it as unimportant. Believe in yourself and you will succeed!
