Personal Essay Definition, Format and Examples | Useful Tips on How to Write a Personal Essay?

A personal essay is a type of short work where the writer shares the experiences that they’ve learned from the incident or it can also be a piece of opinion that is backed by facts and based on some political or social concern. The personal essay is the space for the writer where he can raise the problem, provide the solution, and a conclusion as well. In a personal essay, whatever topic or subject is chosen, is the interest domain of the writer, hence the author tends to explain and display the truth or reality.

Apart from that, in a personal essay, the writer can express his own point of view by exploring any topic. Note that, the writer cannot/should not give a lecture or pre-decide any subject to the readers, rather just present the thoughts in an unbiased manner and let the audience decide about the subject themselves. The language of a personal essay is conversational so that it can connect with the readers, can inspire them, spread knowledge among them, and also serve as a warning to avoid certain mistakes.

Check out for different Essay Writing Topics Ideas and learn the structure, format, tips on how to write one.

What is a Personal Essay?

A personal essay is a piece of writing that aims at compiling the important chapters of the writer’s life experiences. This type of essay mostly describes the event or the stimuli from a first-person perspective and can be written in various writing forms such as formal essay writing patterns or a creative form of non-fiction.

Personal essay writing can be in an engaging tone so that the readers can connect to the write-up while reading only. These essays have different genres, which can be inspirational, in the direction of betterment of the society, and also as a warning in terms of any issue, say for example- mental health.

Tips on How to Write a Personal Essay

A personal essay comprises some essential elements that make it engaging and a successful article piece.

Engaging Hooks: Sounds strange, but is very simple to understand. Every news, story, or article has a hook that holds you back and creates a force that compels you to read the article completely. These hooks can be anything, say any interesting humor, sarcasm, light suspense, and incredible opening. For instance, the writer can provide a glimpse of the end of the story in the first paragraph by creating a question and leaving suspense, which will eventually engage the reader till the end.

Winning Story: If your personal essay has a story in it, then definitely it has to be connecting and engaging. The feelings and emotions should be delivered in such a way that at the end, the reader itself should be in that same state of emotion.

Write Conversationally: The written piece should not be too hard to catch or bogus. If the reader completes your essay reading without skipping a line and gets a conclusion, that is your success and for that the writer needs to maintain the conversational language, rather than using innumerable jargon, making it a tedious piece of article.

Dos And Don’ts of a Personal Essay

Since the personal essay is already your(writer’s) opinion, it is not important or required to write ‘in my opinion….’ ‘I think that……’ type phrases. Also in most of the essays, the I is avoided, however, a personal essay is the type of article where you can freely use I, and statements will be considered right and appropriate. And lastly, while reading the essay, make sure that it is a personal essay and not an opinion or news piece, as it may go in the wrong direction.

Personal Essay Format

There is no big rocket science behind writing a personal essay. However good personal essays written should contain an introductory body, the body paragraph, and a good conclusion. The standard length defined for an essay is up to five paragraphs, but personal essays can be accordingly longer or shorter in length.

Introduction – the introductory part of the essay should have a hook so that it can hold back the readers till the end of the essay. This is the most important point, where the readers decide to stay back or leave the essay. Providing any personal statement that you will be either proving or going to open as a secret at the end of the essay will do at this place. But yes, always try to make it a connecting piece, rather than making it a moral science lesson, i.e, avoid opening the essay with some quotes or poems or anything. Short, crisp, and simple, that’s It.!

Body – the body of the essay is the main part where the main pointers are to be included backed with relevant evidence if it is an informational essay, creative punches if it is a life story. This is the space that you can use to open your heart and hand to explain your experiences, and knowledge, and present your point of view.

Conclusion – The conclusions are very important in any essay. The conclusion gives a shape, and defines support to the essay, proving the support to your essay.

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FAQs on Personal Essay

1. How long is a Personal Essay?

The standard defined length of an essay is five paragraphs, but in the case of a personal essay, it can be extended to seven too, as far as it is interesting, and can be limited to 4 if the matter is limited to share.

2. What should I write in a personal essay?

A personal essay is something personal to any individual hence, it can be an opinion about an issue, the document they saw, giving a description of an object, event, place, or person, or connecting a specific topic to your life.

3. What are the Tips to write a good personal essay?
Be straightforward, Proofread, Be concise and organize your thoughts, Write in your own voice, and Make it personal.

4. What is the importance of writing a personal essay?

The importance of personal essays is that they enable a person to work through an experience or emotion and come to terms with it during the process of writing.

Conclusion

Anyone can have a story to tell, a message to share. you need to realize that story and message out of your mind and pen it down the same way that resounds to your audience. A personal essay is a small piece of autobiographical work, in a conversational manner that gives readers a sense of intimacy. Therefore the outline has to be quite hooking with the audience so that they understand and relate the story with the writer.

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