Personal Narrative Essay

Essay Writing: Students' Worst Nightmare

Writing essays have got to be the most uninteresting and difficult part of a student's life. It is no secret that students do not enjoy penning their thoughts especially on issues that have no direct relevance to them. Unfortunately for students, however, school authorities and examination boards, especially in tertiary institutions use this method to educate students, teaching them how to apply such skills as research, problem solving and critical analysis skills in their lives as young people.

When it comes to essay writing, the more you write, the better you become, so professors, knowing this, easily choose to keep bombarding students with these difficult tasks. Unfortunately, not all students are able to get the hang of it at the end of the day. The result is a group of students who would rather pay to have essays written professionally for them, than write so themselves. This is the reality of school life, especially when such essays require a lot of thinking and research in order to incorporate the source material into their writing.

Writing essays require different techniques, especially based on the type of essay you are asked to write. Based on that fact, students find that they really have to learn more about the different types of essays and how they affect the essay writing process. The truth is, you will definitely have to write several essays that are several different types at the end of the day. Having a fair idea of the types of essays that are in existence, what they require, and how to go about writing them goes a long way into establishing your essay writing skills.

Types of Essays: Knowing What You are Writing

There are four main types of essays, based on the aim of the essay. One of these four is the main topic of discussion, and more details will be added about it later. These four types of essays differ not only in aim, but in the manner of the writing and the kind of language needed to write the essay.

They are:

• Descriptive essays
• Narrative essays
• Persuasive essays
• Expository essays

When an essay assignment is given, there is a high chance that the essay you are being asked to write is one of these four, meaning, you would either narrate a story, describe an event, thing or person, persuade or teach in your essay.

People may ask ‘What is a narrative essay'?

For those who have had the opportunity to write an essay from as far back as primary school, it is easy to realize that a narrative essay is one of the simplest essays that can be written. The reason for this is, most schools, even primary schools have asked pupils to write about an event in their lives, their childhood, a social event, their family, or even themselves. Such essays require that the writer tells the story of the event that took place, in a bid to inform the reader about said event. Narrative essays can also be used to talk about the writer in what can be called an autobiographical narrative essay. Here the writer writes about himself, ideas, goals, aspirations, or even an event in their past. Most narrative essays have a moral, or a main point that is being conveyed through the writing.

Descriptive essays are rather a bit different. The aim of descriptive writing is to give the writer a picture of an event that happened, a thing or a person. The main way that this can be done is by using descriptive words and phrases which aptly draw a picture in the reader's mind's eye. All the reader really has to do is close his eyes, and based on the picture painted by the descriptive writing, coming up with a picture at the end of the day is really easy. The writer then has a lot of work to do since the reader probably has never seen what is being described to him.

As mentioned before, descriptive essays are not only to describe a person but events also can be described using descriptive writing. Most stories have a lot of descriptive writing areas since the reader is to be taken to a place with the help of the writer. A good command over your adjectives is really needed for this sort of writing. If the reader can vividly see the picture you attempted to paint, it can be said that the writing was good.

Expository essays more or less teach the reader or lay down all of the facts about a certain thing that the reader may not have known before. These essays require in-depth study most of the time, and are usually filled with in-text citations and source material. The idea of these essays are to school the reader on the topic, and not necessarily give an idea about the writer's opinion in the topic. These essays only require facts. At the end of the day, the reader should be able to feel knowledgeable or interested in knowing more about the topic. Critical essays fall neatly under this type of essay, and so do argumentative and analytical essays. Also, people's theses are good examples of expository essays because they are mostly written on a well researched subject.

These essays may be considered the most difficult to write since no emotions or statements constituting bias can be used in these essays. All you really have to do is get the information and disburse it just as you received it.

One more essay type is the persuasive essay. With this type, the student has the research material and his opinion. He is then able to skew the reader's mind using his opinion and presented facts, so that at the end of the day, the reader sees things just as the writer does. Such essays have a strong reliance on facts, but also need enough passion and emotion to be able to convince the reader about the writer's stance. Again, argumentative essays fall in this category, but more like the essay written by the speakers at a debate. Facts are given, and emotions are given just the right amount of space to play a role in convincing the reader.

Writing A Personal Narrative Essay

Personal Narrative Essays are so named because they talk about the writer. It is an autobiographical essay that is written and it is mostly requested by universities for students to be admitted, or for interviews. Personal narrative essays are requested to allow the reader's have a specific idea of the writer. It is to bring to light how the writer thinks and perceives things.

The topics for such essay can vary, from asking about events in the past to how the writer sees their future. It is also possible for the personal narrative essay to be asked on the motivation of the writer or even what he holds dear. The bottom line is, the readers do want to know and learn more about the writer, so the writer has to be as authentic as possible.

Sometimes, the personal narrative essay is to talk about an event in the writer's life that shaped his or her thinking today. The effect of such essays are usually an emotional one on the reader. The more powerful the essay is, the greater the effect on the reader.

Tips to Note When Writing A Personal Essay