“Narrative” is a term more commonly known as “story.” Narratives written for college or personal narratives, tell a story, usually to some point, to illustrate some truth or insight. Following are some tools to help you structure your personal narrative, breaking it down into parts. Good story telling includes details and descriptions that “Show, Don’t Tell” help the reader understand what the writer experienced. Think about using all five senses—not just the sense of sight—to add details about what you heard, saw, and felt during the event. For example, as the dark “My heart jumped shape of the brown grizzly lurched toward me out of the woods” provides more information about what the writer saw and felt than, “I saw a bear when I was hiking”. that proves your thesis. The events of the story should demonstrate the lesson learned, or the significance of the event to you. Body Passage of Time Writing about the events of your experience using time Paragraph chronologically, from beginning to end, is the most common and clear way to tell a story. Whether you choose to write chronologically or not, use transition words to clearly indicate to the reader what happened first, next, and last. Sometime transition words are and next, finally, during, after, when, later. Evidence Transitions In a narrative essay, a new paragraph marks a change in the In a action of a story, or a move from action to reflection. Paragraphs should personal connect to one another. For example, the end of one paragraph might be: narrative, “I and the start of the next turned and ran, hoping the bear hadn’t noticed me”, your might be: are many strategies for surviving an encounter with a bear; “There The repetition of words connects the and is not one of ‘turn run’ them.” acts as paragraphs. (What does the change in verb tense indicate?) * the evidence 1/09
“Narrative” is a term more commonly known as “story.” Narratives written for college or personal narratives, tell a story, usually to some point, to illustrate some truth or insight. Following are some tools to help you structure your personal narrative, breaking it down into parts. “Show, Don’t Tell” Good story telling includes details and descriptions that help the reader understand what the writer experienced. Think about using all five senses—not just the sense of sight—to add details about what you heard, saw, and felt during the event. For example, “My heart jumped as the dark shape of the brown grizzly lurched toward me out of the woods” provides more information about what the writer saw and felt than, “I saw a bear when I was hiking”. Body Paragraph Evidence In a personal narrative, your acts as the evidence that proves your thesis. The events of the story should demonstrate the lesson learned, or the significance of the event to you. Passage of Time Writing about the events of your experience using time chronologically, from beginning to end, is the most common and clear way to tell a story. Whether you choose to write chronologically or not, use transition words to clearly indicate to the reader what happened first, next, and last. Sometime transition words are next, finally, during, after, when, and later. Transitions In a narrative essay, a new paragraph marks a change in the action of a story, or a move from action to reflection. Paragraphs should connect to one another. For example, the end of one paragraph might be: “I turned and ran, hoping the bear hadn’t noticed me”, and the start of the next might be: “There are many strategies for surviving an encounter with a bear; ‘turn and run’ is not one of them.” The repetition of words connects the paragraphs. (What does the change in verb tense indicate?) * 1/09
structureofapersonalnarrativeessay.docx