Personal Narrative

Writer’s Purpose

 For this essay you will need to write about one

specific experience that changed how you
acted, thought, or felt. Use your experience as
a spring board for reflection.
 Your purpose is not to merely tell an interesting
story but to show your readers the importance
and influence the experience has had on you.
What Makes a Good Personal
Narrative?

 Good stories occur everywhere and can be told about

anything. They are as likely to occur in your own
neighborhood as in some exotic locale.
 Potential stories happen daily; what makes potential
stories actual stories is putting them into language,
recounting them, orally or in writing.
 Good stories are entertaining, informative, lively, and
believable; they will mean something to those who write
them as well as to those who read them.
Parts of a Personal Narrative

 All personal narratives should have the following:

 A beginning that grabs the reader's interest; sometimes gives

background information and a hint about the meaning or
importance of the event.

 A middle that tells about important events, describes people

and places, and tells the writer's thoughts and feelings.

 An ending in which the writer explains the outcome and

shows the meaning of the experience (what they learned
from it).
Paragraph Guide

 The writer gives his or her narrative a title

 The writer sets the scene and makes the reader want to read more
 The writer describes an experience that happened to him or her.
 The writer describes a problem he or she faced.
 The writer describes his or her feelings about the situation.
 The writer gives details to help the reader form a picture of the
events.
 The writer ends his or her story by sharing what he or she learned
from this experience.