What is a Personal Essay?

A personal essay is a type of writing that is based on the personal experiences of the writer. It talks about such life experiences that were the turning point for the writer or resulted in some major lessons and growth.

Not just that, you can also write a personal essay to address an issue close to your heart and how you feel about it.

The focus of such essays isn’t having to prove a point. But, it is to share the writer’s feelings, personal opinions, and experiences. It is a work of creative nonfiction autobiography narrated in a way that the reader feels as if he experienced it himself.

Characteristics of a Personal Essay

Now that you have understood the personal essay definition let’s take a look at the different writing styles and their characteristics.

When writing a personal narrative:

• To write a personal narrative essay, the center point should be a significant and meaningful life-changing experience.
• Since it is a narration, you must include story like elements such as plot, setting, characters, imagery, dialogues, etc.
• It is written in the first-person perspective.
• It is an insight into the writer’s personal story, so it doesn’t need to be objective.
• The writer must be honest when sharing real-life incidents.

Sharing a Personal Opinion:

• It is kind of like a conversation with the readers where you can talk about an issue and propose a solution.
• It includes facts.
• It isn’t an essay about yourself, but an issue from your perspective.
• Your opinions are like evidence to prove the argument.

How to Write a Personal Essay

Writing a personal essay for college isn’t much different from other types of essays. They all follow the same writing process and structure – the only difference is the content.

Follow the steps given below to learn how to write an interesting personal essay.

1. Come Up with an Interesting Topic

When choosing a topic to share with your reader, think about things that you like reading about yourself. These are normally the things that you can relate to, such as overcoming a hurdle, losing a loved one, a milestone, etc.

It’ll be easier to write about events or experiences that hold a significant meaning in your life. Or, the incidents that happened to others at some point and you witnessed it.

The idea is to write about something that will teach your reader’s a lesson.

2. Create a Personal Essay Outline

It is always better to organize your essay and information using a proper structure to avoid going off track. Make a list of everything that you want to share with your reader and then create an outline to organize this information into different sections.

• Introduction

“How to start a personal essay?”

For a personal essay, make sure that you start on a light note. Build the reader’s interest by providing them with something catchy and interesting about yourself. You can do that in the form of an anecdote, short story, or some fact.

To make it easier for the reader to understand, introduce the characters in your story as well as yourself.

• Body Paragraphs

he body typically consists of three paragraphs, but it can vary depending on your teacher’s requirements. Chronologically describe the life events and how they influenced your beliefs and personality.

While writing such essays, your focus should be to show and not tell. Provide descriptive details about the incidents to make it easier for the reader to visualize. Use sensory details so that the reader uses his five senses to visualize your story.

Don’t just focus on narrating the story. Don’t forget the main purpose – how the event influenced and changed your life.

• Conclusion

The conclusion is just as important as the opening of your essay. Use it to give the reader a sense of closure and reflect on your life events.

Personal Essay Examples

Personal Essay Topics

Here are some interesting personal essay topics to give you an idea:

• Someone who taught you an important lesson.
• Things you learned from your mistakes.
• In what ways can you contribute towards the betterment of our society?
• The incident that changed your life forever.How you got rid of a bad personality trait.
• How did you meet your partner?
• What is your dream job and why?
• What is your favorite book and why?
• When did you majorly got inspired by someone or something?
• The most admirable work of art you came across

Personal Essay Writing Tips

Keep in mind the following tips to write a high-scoring personal essay:

• Always remain truthful when narrating your story and events from your real life.
• Take out some time to list down your thoughts that you want to incorporate in the essay beforehand.
• Don’t add irrelevant details to meet the word count as it will only bore the reader.
• Don’t feel shy sharing your failures. Instead, use them to show how you became a better version of yourself because of the setbacks.
• Maintain a positive point of view throughout the paper.
• Write in a conversational tone.
• Read the essay after you are done writing. Proofread and revise them as needed.

Check out more about writing a personal statement.

This was everything you needed to craft an interesting personal essay. Remember that there is a greater purpose than simply narrating a story. Your aim should be to inspire the reader with the lessons that you have learned.

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