A personal essay is a broad essay that often incorporates a variety of writing styles. Most personal essay assignments ask writers to write about an important person, event or time period in their life. The goal is to narrate this event or situation in a way that the reader can fully experience and understand.
Chances are that you’ll be asked to write a personal essay many times in your academic career. You will most certainly be asked to write one for college admissions and perhaps when applying for a job. A personal essay is a short, flexible autobiographical work. Your essay should be specific to who you are. There are many different types of personal essays; however, the main objective remains the same. Essentially, you will be explaining why you should be a great addition to the school or company.
How to format a personal essay?
A personal essay is structured like most traditional five-paragraph essays. You start with an introductory paragraph that serves as a sort of road map for your essay. Your introduction begins with an opening hook or a way to grab the reader’s attention. It should also include a thesis statement or main idea, and all the points that you are going to discuss that will ultimately prove your thesis.
The main body of your essay should include at least three supporting paragraphs that back your thesis statement. Each new thought or idea should have its paragraph. Remember you are essentially selling yourself in a personal essay. If you’re trying to get your dream job, each supporting paragraph needs to be creative.
You’ll want to wrap up your essay with a conclusion that restates your thesis. This is not a time to bring up any additional information. An effective concluding paragraph summarizes the points that you’ve already made and provided the reader with one last chance to see your thesis statement.
Samples of the personal essay:
Here are the things you need to keep in mind when working on your personal essay:
The matter should be significant. It is quite boring for the audience to read about your routine, so you need to choose a topic, which arouses inner conflict, helped you to change your personality or caused a certain impact on your surroundings.
Start with an opening sentence, which intrigues the audience. It can be a joke, a quote, a question or a brief introduction to the situation you are going to discuss. Don’t start with straightforward details if you want the reader to stick with you till the end.
Always write from your own angle. You may feel tempted to use samples online or someone’s thoughts but remember that a personal essay is all about your experience and ideas. Stick only to them!
Work on the characters. If you want your essay to be as informative and interesting as possible, you need to build through the characteristics of every person in your essay.
Write an outline. It is a plan of your future essay, which allows you to stick to the point and follow the structure. With its help, you won’t be able to miss important details and will make your essay detailed and vivid.
Use various literary tools, like repetitions, metaphors, personifications and so on. They will enrich your text and will make your story stronger than ever.
Read your essay aloud. With the help of such a simple technique, you will be able to find weak spots of your paper and eliminate them before the delivery.
Ask your friends to read the essay or use online software to detect grammar and lexical errors. Most of the students neglect this important stage not knowing that in-text mistakes and types greatly influence their final grades.