The Personal Essay
"This I Believe"
What is a personal essay?
It's personal...
It's about you and
something you
believe in strongly.
It tells the story of
how you came to
believe this, or why
you have this belief.
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It's an essay...
recognizable, simple
structure
paragraphs with
transitions
beginning, middle,
and end
good spelling,
punctuation, and
grammar
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What is it NOT?
It's not an argument or
editorial...
You aren't trying to
convince someone to
believe like you do.
You're just telling
them your story.
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It's not a general
religious or social
belief...
Choose something
you practice every
day - something that
makes you who you
are inside and out
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This I Believe Radio Program
Tips from the website: Telling
Tips from the website: Brevity
Tips from the website: Naming
Tips from the website:
Positivity
Tips from the website:
Personal
So you have a belief…
Now hang the
D is for dialogue
R is for rhetorical questions
A is for anecdotes
P is for personal experiences
E is for examples
S if for statistics
Dialogue
• Add dialogue to show your personality.
• Keep it simple, short, and don’t worry too
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much about being exact – get the meaning
across.
This isn’t a short story – only use dialogue
if describing the conversation is
inadequate.
Rhetorical Question
• Rhetorical questions are those which most
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people would answer the same way – they
are designed to make you think twice
about something.
Examples:
o I wondered, “Why don’t I just give up?”
o Why can’t we all just get along?
o If violence isn’t the answer, why do so many
choose it?
Anecdotes and
Personal Experiences
• Anecdotes are very short stories that
illustrate a point.
• They don’t have to be about you, but in
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this essay, they should relate directly to
how you formed your belief.
Personal experiences accomplish the same
goal – they show how you came to this
belief.
Examples and Statistics
• These are less personal, so use them
sparingly!
• Use examples to show how you developed
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your belief, or perhaps how it has been
tested over the years.
Statistics can be interesting to use, but this
is not a research paper – only use them if
they are extremely relevant to your essay.
Next...
• Listen to and read the samples in class.
• Go to www.thisibelieve.org to view more
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ideas.
Dream about possible beliefs, and how
you could tell your story.
In-class work on Thurs. Aug. 21, Fri. Aug.
22, Wed. Aug. 27, Thurs. Aug. 28
Rough Draft due Thurs. Aug. 28
Revisions due Wed. Sept. 18