Start with the draft. It is not easy to write a good story from the beginning to the end without some planning. That is why you should create a narrative essay outline and draft and then polish it until you are sure that the result meets all the requirements. This method is used by many people, including famous writers.
If you are assigned to work on writing a narrative paper in college or high school, it is a good opportunity to train your skills in storytelling and show your knowledge and understanding of a subject. For many students, these essays are much more exciting than other written works. You demonstrate a specific event or episode and its results from your point of view, as a story, which helps you and your readers be more involved in the process than usual.
Do not give details that don’t mean anything to your story. They make your essay too wordy and can confuse readers. To determine whether specific details are needed, find out if they have significant roles in the plot.
Read some narrative essay examples. The more you read them, the more you’ll be able to create a well-developed plot. You can also watch video presentations in which other persons describe their experience as it helps to learn how to present your thoughts appropriately.
What Is A Narrative Essay?
Revise your essay. Check it for grammar and plagiarism, rewrite sentences that don’t sound well, and don’t hesitate to ask for advice from your friends, there are also many services that can help you with revising and editing your narrative essay.
Clear writing. Use simple words and appropriate language in the text. The clearer your readers understand what you are telling them, the better their feedback will be and keep in mind that some things that are clear to you can be ambiguous to your readers so you should check your text before you hand it in.
Proving and supporting. You should not only show your opinion but also give arguments that support it. You can provide readers with any facts and references that showcase your thoughts and the results of your conclusions.
Create a list of five central points and determine from what fact you want to start your essay. Then provide three key arguments in brief sentences, which will be starting points for your body paragraphs. The last section can have two or three topic sentences where you close up your thoughts about your main essay’s idea. This list of five points related to each chapter of your essay can help build a logical order of overall content.
Studying demands a lot of practice and patience. Students get many tasks on writing an essay, processing workbooks, and exam preparation at any faculty and course. To manage the writing process painlessly, you can follow our step-by-step guide and make sense of these recommendations. Visit here for more info
It is essential to mention shortly how you worked on the current project and why you decided the specific method fits your essay. Readers should know what you will stand for in your story and such methods as a literary overview, personal experience, survey, and interview are very helpful.
Avoid pushing your readers hard with intention, such as, “you see, my position is the only right way,” because it ruins the polite tone. On the contrary, tell that every idea matters, but your essay is unique, and you know why you appreciate it. Understanding this, your audience will have a deeper bond with your work even if they disagree with your viewpoint.
Step #3: Make an outline.
There are various formatting styles, and teachers can assign any of them. Usually, one educational institute sticks to a particular citation style, and it might be APA, MLA, Turabian, Chicago, Harvard, or another. Some schools have their own formatting guidelines, but it is better to clarify with your teacher.
Present your personal viewpoint towards the issue. Reveal why the reader should be encouraged with your approach to work and define its relevance for the audience.
The essay’s body includes three paragraphs, and each of them is divided into subtopics. In the first paragraph, you will present the topic sentence, the first supporting detail from the research, and the concluding sentence. In the second section, you also stand for your argument, whether it is an argumentative essay, or illustrate evidence from the source if it is an article or book review. The third body section consists of an opposite outlook if it is a discussion, but you need to persuade the reader of its weakness compared to your thesis.
Start with the draft. It is not easy to write a good story from the beginning to the end without some planning. That is why you should create a narrative essay outline and draft and then polish it until you are sure that the result meets all the requirements. This method is used by many people, including famous writers.
If you are assigned to work on writing a narrative paper in college or high school, it is a good opportunity to train your skills in storytelling and show your knowledge and understanding of a subject. For many students, these essays are much more exciting than other written works. You demonstrate a specific event or episode and its results from your point of view, as a story, which helps you and your readers be more involved in the process than usual.
Do not give details that don’t mean anything to your story. They make your essay too wordy and can confuse readers. To determine whether specific details are needed, find out if they have significant roles in the plot.
Read some narrative essay examples. The more you read them, the more you’ll be able to create a well-developed plot. You can also watch video presentations in which other persons describe their experience as it helps to learn how to present your thoughts appropriately.
What Is A Narrative Essay?
Revise your essay. Check it for grammar and plagiarism, rewrite sentences that don’t sound well, and don’t hesitate to ask for advice from your friends, there are also many services that can help you with revising and editing your narrative essay.
Clear writing. Use simple words and appropriate language in the text. The clearer your readers understand what you are telling them, the better their feedback will be and keep in mind that some things that are clear to you can be ambiguous to your readers so you should check your text before you hand it in.
Proving and supporting. You should not only show your opinion but also give arguments that support it. You can provide readers with any facts and references that showcase your thoughts and the results of your conclusions.
Step 1: On a blank sheet of paper, make a list of five or six things you know a lot about.
Grab someone who knows you well (e.g., a counselor, friend, family member). Share all your brainstorming content with them and ask them to mirror back to you what they’re seeing. It can be helpful if they use reflective language and ask lots of questions. An example of a reflective observation is: “I’m hearing that ‘building’ has been pretty important in your life … is that right?” You’re hunting together for a thematic thread—something that might connect different parts of your life and self.
The point is this: If you know a thing well, odds are good you’ll be able to make a lot of connections to your values. And if you can find specific examples for each value, that can make for interesting paragraphs in your personal statement.
Don’t get me wrong . I’m not saying you shouldn’t list any common values, since some common values may be an important part of your story! In fact, the great essay examples throughout this book sometimes make use of common connections. I’m simply encouraging you to go beyond the obvious.
MY LAPTOP STICKERS
In the example above, we started with the beads, and then we searched for a thread. This exercise asks you to start with the thread of something you know well and then create the beads. Here’s how it works:
Step 5: Expand on each description further and start to connect the ideas to develop them into an essay draft.
I realized the tooth fairy wasn’t real after I lost my second tooth, but I pretended that I still believed in it until I was in 5th grade for the tooth fairy’s “gifts”.
Regardless of how many types of different essays exist, there is a set of the same rules that all of them share. The first major one is structure. Check the components presented below and keep in mind that each essay must have them, whether it’s semi-formal and personal or formal and scientific.
- Start with choosing a topic. When you know what exactly you’ll be researching, divide it into parts. What will be the brief piece of background you’ll focus on? Write it down in introduction section. Most importantly, compose your thesis right away. Determine how many parts it has. For example, take a look at this thesis for the process essay: “The most effective way of caring for an adopted pet entails creating appropriate conditions for it, spending time with it, and paying attention to its unique needs.” It lists three steps, which are technically three parts. If you want, you can have one or two more parts revealing why people choose to adopt pets and/or why such pets have special needs. All in all, it means that you will have between 3-5 body paragraphs.
- Mark body paragraph 1. You can have a detailed outline — in this case, compose an approximate opening sentence, mention what main fact from thesis you will be focusing on, and add a closing sentence. If you’d like to have a less detailed outline, just mention the paragraph’s essence, meaning the central point of discussion. Do the same with all other paragraphs.
- Write down a conclusion section and state the final point here that would reflect the purpose of your essay. Don’t repeat your thesis word by word, though. That’s it, your outline is ready. When you look at it now, you should be able to see a skeleton of the essay. It will keep you grounded throughout the writing process. Don’t worry about changing some points, though, if it feels right. Remember, outline isn’t set in stone, it’s just an approximate idea of what your final paper will look like.
- Introduction. Depending on the essay length, introduction takes about 1-2 paragraphs. It’s a crucial part of your work because it helps readers understand if they’re interested in reading it further. In this section, you introduce your topic by defining it, giving it some background, and explaining its relevance. Start with a hook, which is something intriguing, like rhetorical question or a piece of surprising statistics. No need for some detailed explanations or analysis here, just mention some basic facts to interest your audience.
- Thesis. This is a critical part of every essay. Many students misunderstand what thesis is, so it’s important to say what it should and shouldn’t have. Thesis is an argumentative claim that is presented as the last sentence of introduction. It must state your specific position on the issue and mention all main facts that are going to be discussed in the body. At the same time, thesis shouldn’t have phrases like “this paper” or “I will discuss…” Start with the statement itself. Make a claim that you’ll be proving and that some people might disagree with.
- Body. This is the essence of your paper, its very backbone. Each paragraph must be focused on one fact from thesis, preferably in the same sequence. Create an opening sentence that reveals what’s going to be discussed in a paragraph. It must be directly related to thesis. Then introduce your fact as well as evidence proving it. End the paragraph with a closing sentence that creates a logical link with the next one or summarizes everything that has been discussed. Remember, maximum paragraph length shouldn’t exceed 200 words, which is approximately 2/3 of the page.
- Conclusion. Be careful here, avoid using some new information. Summarize everything you have proved in the body. Repeat thesis, just use different words. Make a final conclusive statement that can be seen as the main result of your research.
Each of us has their own talents. Some are good at Math while others forget even the simplest notions of calculations as soon as they leave class. Some love literature while others can’t remember the characters of the book they’ve just read. Skills received after essay writing, on the other hand, stay with you forever, no matter what.
4. Basic Essay Structure
- Argumentative essay. This type of writing means that you have to choose a position you support, prove why it’s valid, view possible arguments of opposition, and refute them. All four components are obligatory — otherwise, your essay won’t get a good mark. The goal here is to make your audience agree with your opinion even if initially, they were skeptical about it, and provide as many facts as you can.
- Persuasive essay. It’s similar to argumentative type but at the same time, it’s a bit simpler. You don’t have to view the opinion of opposition here, although you can do it if you want. Persuasive essay requires choosing a side and proving why it’s the right one. Specific facts are good but here, you might also appeal to emotional side of your audience. So, persuasive essay is a softer version of an argumentative one.
- Narrative essay. This is the most creative type of task. You’re telling a story of some real or made-up situation here. The goal is to show how something meaningful happened and regard it on an emotional level, describing feelings and experiences rather than facts.
- Descriptive essay. In this type, you have to describe some concept or event. No analysis and no personal input are needed: you are merely providing an objective, impersonal description of something.
- Cause and effect essay. Here, you have to explain what happened, why it happened, and how it happened. First, you identify some phenomenon — for example, underage drinking. Then you explain what causes it and what effects it has.
- Process essay. This paper is also impersonal and objective. You should merely describe how something is done step by step, using chronological sequence. For example, you can describe a recipe of some dish. Tell audience how it’s cooked using step 1, step 2, step 3, etc.
- Expository essay. It’s also known as critical thinking essay. Here, you should conduct a research and then analyze the facts you obtained, making a conclusion based on it.
- Compare/contrast essay. For this type of essay, you’ll need at least two objects. It can be artworks, literature stories, or anything else. Establish differences and similarities between these two things. Explore them and explain how they differ from one another as well as what unites them.
- Review essay. You should pick something like article, book, speech, or movie, and then evaluate it. This evaluation should be critical. Remember, it’s not just a review you post on some informal book or movie site, it’s an academic essay. So, you must be ruled by facts, not personal feelings, providing adequate and rational assessment.
- Application essay. This is one of the most important essay types. You submit it when you’re trying to get into some college or university, and based on how well you write it, you’ll be either accepted or rejected. So, in most cases, you must show why you should be accepted, mentioning your personal as well as educational achievements, qualities, and interests.
For instance, you were assigned an argumentative essay and you can’t come up with any topic right away. Think, what was your last argument with your parents or friends? Maybe you fought someone in YouTube comment section or had a heated discussion on Tumblr. What was the topic? If it evoked true emotions in you, then it’s a great subject for research!
All these elements are useful on all stages of life. Sharp critical thinking skills, new insights, and ability to say what you mean in a perfectly clear way are valued both in professional and personal areas. Essay writing develops them all slowly but steadily.