Personal Narrative Essay Outline

Personal Narrative Essay Outline Now that youve read and analyzed a personal narrative essay, you are going to prepare an outline for an essay that you could write. At this point, you will not go so far as to actually write the essay, but you may at the end of this unit so make sure its something you actually could write about. Step 1: Brainstorming a topic The personal narrative essay centers around a story from your own life. In your essay you will both tell the story and analyze the significance of that story. SoÂÂ   try to think of a story that led you to an important belief you have. Maybe its a belief you have about whats important in life, or a discovery you made about yourself.ÂÂ   You may brainstorm by creating a mind map or just by doing some free-writing. Either way, you will hand in your brainstorming with this sheet. Step 2: Thesis Your thesis for an essay like this is different from other thesis statements. Think of it more like a belief statement. Eg/ I believe that by exploring my own fears I become wiser. You may not use that exact wording in your essay, but it doesnt matter. You have to support your belief statement with the examples from your story but you dont have to prove it. Thesis:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Step 3: Mapping out the story and thinking about how each element supports your belief. Parts of the story How it helped you develop your belief Beginning: Middle: End: Step 4: Precise and vivid language Narrative essays use many of the same techniques as short stories. Think about some precise and vivid uses of language you could include. Come up with at least three. They could include imagery, similes, use of contrast, metaphor, etc. Eg/ the tango with fear makes me wise. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Step 5: Character? Dialogue? Will you have any characters in your essay? Any dialogue? If so who? What will they say? Remember, character and dialogue is used to help you support your thesis-not just to tell the story. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________