How to write a personal essay 「寫作指南」
How to write a personal essay？Personal essay aims to combine both narrative and descriptive writing with unique twist of an author. The most challenging part is choosing a good topic that would speak of something that would interest target audience even if it is something well-known or already discussed like in case with a news report. This is where creativity and focus on details is important because audience always expects to see special information or something presented from an unusual angle.This article provides you with relevant writing personal essay tips, steps and examples for your reference.
一．what is a personal essay format
In most cases, unless specified otherwise, personal essay writing structure consists of three crucial elements, which remind of classic academic paper format, including:
1.Intro & Thesis Statement
successful introduction paragraph should start with an idea that inspires the writer first, patiently chosen among available personal essay topics. Once primary idea or intention is clarified, next step is powerful hook sentence, which can be an anecdote, powerful life story, unusual subject detail or information aimed to make readers think differently.
成功的引言段落應該首先從一個能啟發作者的想法開始，耐心地從可供選擇的個人文章主題中選擇。一旦明確了主要的想法或意圖，下一步就是強有力的鉤子句子，它可以是軼事，強有力的生活故事，不尋常的主題細節或旨在讓讀者有不同想法的信息。
Middle part of first paragraph should contain descriptive information with vivid, sensory details that set the scene. Help readers proceed to strong thesis statement, which must conclude a primary paragraph. Thesis statement should reflect main idea or thoughts that speak of certain experience, event or an idea. If talk goes of an opinion, make an assumption or provide sufficient arguments that reflect own vision. It does not have to explain why exactly you think so because it is what body paragraphs are for. In thesis statement, students should make reader question why particular statement has been made.
2.Body Paragraphs
this is where author should do his or her best to explain and support thesis statement by providing sufficient information, evidence or additional details that help justify actions or opinions. Making it personal, it is important to get smaller ideas connected with larger topics like friendship, care for others, professional goals, charity, challenges, sports, music, arts, etc. Clever structuring allows inclusion of dialogues, temporal details or even quotes, if applicable.
這就是作者應該通過提供足夠的信息、證據或額外的細節來幫助證明行為或觀點的地方，盡他或她最大的努力來解釋和支持論題陳述。從個人角度出發，將小想法與大主題聯系起來是很重要的，比如友誼、關心他人、職業目標、慈善、挑戰、體育、音樂、藝術等。巧妙的結構允許包含對話、時間細節甚至引用(如果適用的話)。
When writing letters of intent or application assignments, body paragraph is where students should speak of personal achievements. However, it should be done differently with literary touch, telling how it happened, what made it possible or what lessons have been learned. This is reflective narration that asks for creativity, a conversation that reflects personality, experiences, skills, and knowledge.
3.Conclusion
final part is as important as introduction because it is what usually remains in reader’s memory after closure. Wrap up important information with thesis statement, explaining anything that may have sounded unclear in simple terms. Call to action, make people think, share important lessons learnt. When writing a personal statement essay, remember to thank admission committee for attention.
最后一部分和引言一樣重要，因為它通常是讀者在關閉后的記憶。用主題語句概括重要信息，用簡單的語言解釋任何聽起來不清楚的東西。呼吁行動，讓人們思考，分享重要的經驗教訓。在寫個人陳述文章時，記得感謝招生委員會的關注。
二．how to write a personal essay
Thinking on how to write a personal essay for college, most students get stuck with list of things to include. Since most students are already familiar with research paper outline, American university professors recommend same approach as person would take when writing classic research assignment. Conduct research, explore, brainstorm as paper is composed!
Personal essay format does not have specific requirements other than what can be limited by narrator’s imagination. First of all, compelling topic should be found, which instantly reflects primary ideas. If it is Nursing, explain why it is important or what made you choose it. If it is reflective writing assignment on a recent event, explain why it moved you or what lessons have been carried out. Ask yourself why it matters, what questions you would have seen answered. Think of such homework as if it is a news article where author intends to inspire and impress readers. Be emotional, choose clever references, use reliable sources!
Just like sentence hook necessity, which often confuses writers who calculate how to start a personal essay, it is also important to narrow down writing focus and avoid scattering ideas all over paper. Keep writing structured, starting from general templates by supporting them with details or explanations as applicable. Paragraphs should be logically connected, always providing closure to previous event or time passage.
就像句子掛鉤的必要性一樣，這常常會讓那些計算如何開始一篇個人文章的作者感到困惑，縮小寫作重點和避免將想法分散在紙上也很重要。保持結構化的寫作，從通用模板開始，在適用的情況下提供細節或解釋來支持它們。段落之間應該有邏輯的聯系，總是為之前的事件或時間提供結束。
三.personal essay examples
Prompt:The title of this essay is:Personal Growth And Environment In Tracks And Into The Wild.McCandless and Davidson both have romantic and idealised views of the natural world. Both protagonists experience alienation from their societies and reject the expectations of their gender and class. They see the natural environment as a sanctuary and antidote to the ills and corruption of modern society.
Robyn Davidson’s Tracks and Sean Penn’s Into the Wild present the natural world as a liberating way for individuals to free themselves from the constraints of society. Both journeys of the protagonists show that, while the wilderness is capable of frayed emotional states, it is also inherently challenging and potentially deadly. While both Robyn Davidson and Christopher McCandless each have idealised notions of what the wilderness might bring them, Davison and Penn ultimately show that heading into the wilderness with unrealistically sentimental or romanticised notions without understanding the complexities and dangers of planning adequately for survival against the elements, is reckless. The memoir and the film highlight the power and unpredictability of nature and that it should be respected, as well as question the idea of life alone in the natural world as a visible long-term lifestyle choice or a means to achieve personal happiness.
Robyn Davidson的《 Tracks 》和Sean Penn的《Into the Wild》將自然世界作為個人從社會束縛中解放出來的一種方式呈現出來。兩位主角的這兩次旅行都表明，雖然荒野能讓人情緒低落，但它也具有內在的挑戰性和潛在的致命危險。雖然Robyn Davidson和克里斯托弗·麥克肯多斯都對荒野會給他們帶來什么有理想化的想法，戴維森和佩恩最終表明，帶著不切實際的情感或浪漫主義的觀念進入荒野，而不了解為生存做好充分規劃的復雜性和危險，是魯莽的。回憶錄和電影強調了自然的力量和不可預測性，它應該得到尊重，同時也質疑了在自然世界中獨自生活是一種可見的長期生活方式的選擇或一種實現個人幸福的手段的想法。
In the opening scene of Into the Wild, Penn portrays the relationship between man and nature as a sublime majesty through the use of aerial shots and extreme long shots. McCandless is dwarfed in comparison to the natural world, highlighting its powerful nature. Specifically, his melodramatic response to his encounter with the herd of deer’s, crystalises his communion with nature. Complimentary to this, the extra diegetic narration explains McCandless feels “no longer poisoned by [the] civilization he flees” as he experiences “ultimate freedom”. However, Davidson and McCandless have fundamentally different perceptions of nature. McCandless seeks enlightenment in the romantic, literary concept of nature and is blinded by it, whereas, Davidson is drawn to the brutality of the Australian outback and survives by learning from her environment and the people who inhabit it. Davidsons ability to recognize she is a novice traveler and respect and seek help from Eddie (Aboriginal mentor), contrasts with McCandless’ ignorance in learning from Kevin. Initially, Davidson set off in journey out of love for the desert’s vastness and purity, as well as attempt to diminish the expectations put on her as a well-educated middle class, white female and the Indigenous Australian culture. Davidson has a moment of enlightenment where she perceives the natural world as fundamentally different. She metaphorically describes it as a ‘net’, where “habit and routine” dissolves and not seeing things as discrete objects.
Hostility of the natural environment threatens to destroy both protagonists journeys. In Into the Wild, nature is demonstrated as indifferent and hostile to man. The turning point in Into the Wild, as demonstrated by the moose scene, illustrates Mccandless’ isolation from nature, how nature disregards him and gifts him another “harsh blow”. McCandless describes his failure as “one of the greatest tragedies of [his] life” as it emphasises his incapability to be self-reliant, as well as invalidates what he was trying to prove to his father. McCandless’ trauma of unsuccessfully cooking the moose parallels with his family trauma which he relives repeatedly. Ultimately, McCandless’ ignorance in preparing his journey ultimately leads to his downfall. He becomes “literally trapped in the wild”, when faced with the strong current of the Teklanika river. Penn suggests that McCandless can no longer rekindle his relationships and connections, symbolised by the beanie he had left behind. The magic bus which once embodied spiritual rebirth, now acted as a prison. The emotional investment from viewers are heightened through the closeups of his face in pain. The magic he feels in the wild fades as hunger and isolation take their toll. In Tracks, Davidson experiences an identity crisis when she is invited to dance with the Aboriginals and asked to pay. She becomes what she loathes the most, a tourist amongst the Aboriginals. Her fantasy of belonging and being accepted by the Aboriginals was punctured as she felt a “symbolic defeat”. Furthermore, despite Davidsons departure from modern society, human interference and manipulation is shown to be still existent, demonstrated by the poisoning of Diggity, where she was taught “the most profound and cruel lesson of all”. Similar to Into the Wild, nature is depicted as hostile when Davidson is confronted with the wild camels. She finds this challenge internally conflicting when deciding to kill the beast, as she gained a spiritual connection with the land. However, “[she] had her own survival to think of”. In addition, Davidson experienced existential despair from her journey and believed it was beginning to lose its mean and becoming repetitive, “always the road…step after step…”. She saw nature as the enemy and was “ashamed of [her] thoughts”. Likewise, Davidson and McCandless both experience a similar internal dialogue with their respective parental figures when faced with their conflicts – “there was nothing but chaos and the voices”. Despite seeking isolation in the wild, their pasts always followed them. Moreover, Davidson recognises much earlier than McCandless that she must respect nature rather than romanticise it. Upon McCandless’ death bed, was it when he had an epiphany that “happiness is only real when shared”.
McCandless and Davidson’s communion with nature is a source of profound joy and spiritual transcendence in their journeys. McCandless’ beliefs of self-sufficiency in the wild is significantly fuelled by his books which provide an escape from is dissatisfaction of his life. He believed “You’re wrong if you think that the joy in life comes principally from relationships”. American philosopher, Henry Thoreau’s lasting impressions on McCandless was that living without commitment was a positive thing and to strip any bare essentials. Penn portrays a harmonious outlook of McCandless communing with nature through a split screen combined with close up shots depicting the natural environment. In addition, Penn captures a 360 degree panning shot of McCandless in the mountains, where he is at his pinnacle and feels momentarily completely free from society’s constraints. The viewers are positioned to feel greater appreciation for McCandless’ motivations for trying to find peace through nature, by the juxtaposition of him at his peak and flashbacks of his unfortunate domestic environment. In comparison Davidson describes the natural world as “tame, benign and giving” where she believes “our greatest communication lay in the sheer joy of our surroundings”. Davidson overcomes her conflicts and eventually no longer relies on routines and rituals that she fell back on heavily. She begins to slowly reject her past and discard her schedules. An example of this was when she abandoned her clock, which contrasts with McCandless’ beanie. Davidsons evolution is reiterated when she is for the second time, confronted with the wild camels, however this time she acts on instincts and doesn’t shoot. Her growth is further tested when faced with the obstacle of burying Diggity or allowing her to naturally decay into the surface of the ground- “[she] didn’t bury her”. Davidsons growth denies her from falling back on rituals which symbolises her newfound maturity growth, whereas McCandless doesn’t ever overcome his conflicts.
Both Tracks and Into the Wild explore the link between one’s personal growth and environment. Both McCandless and Davidson escape from the restraints of their lives and experience profound conversion over the course of their journeys. Thus, both Davidson and Penn comment on the versatile nature of the environment around being influential in sculpting each stage of the journey of self-discovery and transformation. Ultimately, McCandless approaches his journey with ignorance and naivety and views it as a threat he must conquer, which eventually leads him to his death, whereas Davidson submits herself to the wild by finding new ways to learn and adapt to it.
Here we developed several personal essay prompts to make your essay sound perfect for readers. A choice of good personal narrative topics is essential, as it should be interesting for readers. We hope that these ideas for personal narrative papers will help you write awesome essays.
在這里，我們開發了幾個個人文章提示，讓你的文章聽起來非常適合讀者。一個好的個人敘事主題的選擇是必不可少的，因為它應該是有趣的讀者。我們希望這些關于個人敘事論文的想法能夠幫助你寫出出色的論文。
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