Recommendations On How To Compose An Autobiographical Narrative Essay
An autobiographical essay is supposed to be a personal narrative that discusses the writer's life, experiences and interactions with the world. Although this type of writing is seldom used in English classes, it is a common part of a college application. Employers may also want to have an autobiographical piece to get a clear idea about what an employee can offer their business. In essence, this type of writing is a shortened version of an autobiography.
- Think of the Audience
- Pick a Theme
- Make an Outline
- Be Concise and Direct
The first step is to consider the audience for the document. If this is for a college admissions application, the audience is the admissions committee. In this case, students will want to focus on the experiences and academic classes that shaped who they are as a student. For employer applications, students will want to focus their writing on the qualities that will make them a good employee.
An autobiographical essay is too short to cover every aspect of the writer's life. Due to this, it is important for the writer to pick a single theme that ties their entire paper together. They may want to write about their resilience in the face of hardships, their strong work ethic, a track record of academic success or their volunteer work. Once the theme is chosen, the student needs to stick to it.
The best writers in the world use outlines to guide their writing. With an outline, students can make sure that they carefully and logically develop their argument. An outline helps the student sketch out different parts of their writing before they actually do the work. If there is a problem with their writing, the student can easily rearrange the format before they put a lot of work into actually writing it. In addition, many students make notes about the parts of the story and supporting details in each paragraph of the outline. This prevents the student from repeating the same information twice, and it ensures that they have enough information to support each part of their story.
As an autobiography, this paper should read like a novel. It should catch the reader's attention and make them interested in reading more. Never begin the paper with “I am going to talk about . . .” or any similar sentence. The reader already knows that they are reading a paper, so begin the topic immediately.