Unit 3 Personal Narrative Rough Draft

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• Due Sunday by 11:59pm
• Submitting a text entry box or a file upload

After you post this here, post a copy in the next unit's peer review discussion.

Think of an instance in your life that strongly impacted you. Maybe when you first laid eyes on your true love, the birth of your first child, the death of someone close to you, or the moment you realized what you wanted to do with your life. Our lives are filled with interesting stories. A personal narrative is a way to share one of your stories. Draft a two to three-page (double-spaced) personal narrative. Work on some of the items we've discussed (the 6 traits, concise words, and strong verbs). Stories have character and dialogue, so incorporate these into your story. Dialogue helps to move a story along in an active manner. To appropriately present dialogue, you should put it in "quotation marks" and separate the he said/she said statement from the quote with a comma. If you have a back-and-forth conversation going, then start a new line when someone speaks. Post your rough draft for me to review. You will receive a 50/50 as a time management incentive grade for having the draft done on time. This does NOT mean the draft does not need revision. I will post comments within four days of the submission of the draft to help direct your revisions. I also recommend you use the online writing tutor as a resource.

For some good information and sample stories, check out the following information from the Purdue OWL Web Site:

Narrative Essays

Summary:

The Modes of DiscourseExposition, Description, Narration, Argumentation (EDNA)are common paper assignments you may encounter in your writing classes. Although these genres have been criticized by some composition scholars, the Purdue OWL recognizes the wide spread use of these approaches and students' need to understand and produce them.

Contributors:Jack Baker, Allen Brizee, Elizabeth Angeli Last Edited:2013-07-30 01:39:00

What is a narrative essay?

When writing a narrative essay, one might think of it as telling a story. These essays are often anecdotal, experiential, and personalallowing students to express themselves in a creative and, quite often, moving ways.

Here are some guidelines for writing a narrative essay.

• If written as a story, the essay should include all the parts of a story.

This means that you must include an introduction, plot, characters, setting, climax, and conclusion.

• When would a narrative essay not be written as a story?

A good example of this is when an instructor asks a student to write a book report. Obviously, this would not necessarily follow the pattern of a story and would focus on providing an informative narrative for the reader.

• The essay should have a purpose.

Make a point! Think of this as the thesis of your story. If there is no point to what you are narrating, why narrate it at all?

• The essay should be written from a clear point of view.

It is quite common for narrative essays to be written from the standpoint of the author; however, this is not the sole perspective to be considered. Creativity in narrative essays often times manifests itself in the form of authorial perspective.

• Use clear and concise language throughout the essay.

Much like the descriptive essay, narrative essays are effective when the language is carefully, particularly, and artfully chosen. Use specific language to evoke specific emotions and senses in the reader.

• The use of the first person pronoun 'I' is welcomed.

Do not abuse this guideline! Though it is welcomed it is not necessarynor should it be overused for lack of clearer diction.

• As always, be organized!

Have a clear introduction that sets the tone for the remainder of the essay. Do not leave the reader guessing about the purpose of your narrative. Remember, you are in control of the essay, so guide it where you desire (just make sure your audience can follow your lead)

• www.iss.k12.nc.us/writing/default.htm

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