2011年9月4日星期日

What is a Personal Essay?

What is a Personal Essay?

http://www.pagepersonnel.com.hk

In a sense, any essay is a personal essay because it includes the thoughts and ideas of the individual. However, while many essays call for objectivity and distance between the writer and the subject matter, the personal essay asks for the opposite: it demands the thoughts, feelings, ideas, and personal input of the writer. When writing a personal essay, a writer will often write in the first person – i.e. using "I" for the narration, as in "I think" or "I feel" – and include personal anecdotes, thoughts, interpretations, or ideas. Writers will often encounter requests for a personal essay when applying for college. Many college applications ask prospective students to write an essay explaining their motivations or plans for the future, their interpretation as to how schooling will benefit them and others, etc. Unlike other essays, the personal essay does not require that you dress up your opinion or interpretation with objectivity; the opinion is solely yours, and the personal essay has been written to express your opinion and thoughts. While experimentation within a personal essay can be a good thing, many writers make the mistake of rambling or losing focus of their point. The personal essay, much like any other essay, must have a focus that will allow the readers to gain a clear understanding of what it is you are trying to say. By the time the reader finishes reading your personal essay, they should be able to clearly summarize or identify what you were trying to prove. Like all essays, brevity is important in a personal essay. Feel free to say exactly what you want to say with little restriction, but do not repeat yourself, and be brief enough that the reader can follow your point and move on to the next one without losing interest. Your personal essay should be structured similarly to other types of essays – for example, it should have a clear opening with thesis statement, a body of supporting points, and a clear closing – but writers of the personal essay also have more leeway in being creative, including passages of dialogues or quotes, experimenting with the prose, and so forth. But like all essays, the point is to hold your audience’s attention while simultaneously getting your point across.

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