Narrative Essay
Mr. Troyer
Room 11
Subject:
Form:
Purpose:
Audience:
A true experience
Personal Narrative
To Share a true experience
Classmates
Your goal is to write an essay abut a true personal experience. The traits
listed below will help you understand how to reach your goal.
Ideas - Use specific details to write abut an experience. Make the reader
want to know what happens next.
Organization – Start with an interesting beginning that pulls the reader into
the story. Then present the details in the order in which they happened.
Voice – Use a strong voice, one that sounds like you are telling your story to a
friend.
Word Choice – Use specific nouns, vivid verbs, and colorful adjectives.
Sentence Fluency – Use clear sentences that flow smoothly from one idea to
the next.
Conventions – Be sure that your punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and
grammar are correct.
Prewriting
1. Selecting a Topic
Sentence Starter.
I was proud when I …
Try to think of 3 or more examples.
2. Finding the Basics
5 W’s Chart.
Who?
What?
When?
Where?
Why?
Topic: Making tacos by myself
My mom, my sister, and me
I made supper when my mom sprained her ankle
Around Supper time
At my house
I wanted to cook by myself and help my mom.
3. Putting Things in Order
Time Line
Topic: Making tacos by myself
1. Mom hurt her ankle
2. She asked me to heat up leftovers for supper
3. I decide to make tacos instead
4. I searched the fridge for everything
5. I started peeling and chopping ingredients
6. I heated the meat and salsa in the microwave
7. The tacos were done, and we ate supper.
4. Collecting Sensory Details
Sensory Chart
I saw …
Mom resting, taco shells and meatloaf
I smelled … meat cooking, onions, salsa
I heard…
chopping, microwave working, Mom calling.
I felt…
warm water, cold meatloaf, gooey cheese.
5. Thinking about Dialogue
Dialogue makes an experience come alive for the reader. The chart
below shows the three main things that dialogue can do.
1. Show something
about a speaker’s
personality.
2. Add details.
3. Keep the action
moving
Without dialogue
Mother sat in her chair
while I worked in the
kitchen. I told mother
to stay in her chair
I quickly grabbed my
sunglasses. My sister
looked at me.
It was time to eat
supper.
With dialogue
“How are things going
in there?” she called
from the other room.
“Fine!” I said. “Just
stay there and rest your
foot.”
I quickly grabbed my
sunglasses. “You look
goofy!” my sister said.
“Supper is ready!” I
called to Mom and my
sister.
Rough Draft
Keys to Writing
1. Use the details you have collected as a guide
2. Write a strong beginning paragraph to get the readers attention
3. Use sensory details and dialogue to tell your story
4. Think about dialogue to include
5. Share how you felt or what you learned in the ending paragraph
1. Getting the Big Picture
Beginning – The beginning catches the reader’s attention.
Middle – The middle part gives details about what happened during the
experience.
Ending – The ending tells how you felt about the experience.
2. Starting Your Personal Narrative.
In the first paragraph, you should get the reader’s attention and
introduce your personal experience. Here are three ways to begin your
paragraph.
 Start with dialogue
 Begin with an interesting statement or fact
 Put yourself in the middle of the action
3. Developing the Middle Part
The middle part of a narrative tells the story. It should be organized
chronologically, or in time order. Her are some other things to keep in mind.
 Include sensory details
 Use dialogue.
 Share the feelings you experienced.
4. Ending Your Personal Narrative
The final paragraph should bring your narrative to a close. Here are
three strategies you can use to end your story.
 Tell what you learned from the experience
 Explain how the experience changed you
 Tell how you felt about the experience
Revising
Revising may be the most important step in the writing process. During
this step, you can improve your narrative by adding details and by changing
parts that sound confusing.
Keys to Revising
1. Read your narrative once to see how you feel about it
2. Review each part carefully – the beginning, the middle, and the ending
3. Ask a classmate to read your first draft, too
4. Change any parts that need to be improved.
Revising Checklist
Ideas
___ 1. Do I include sensory details?
___ 2. Do all my details add something to my narrative?
Organization
___ 3. Do my beginning, middle, and ending work well?
___ 4. Have I reorganized parts that were out of place?
Voice
___ 5. Does my voice show my interest or excitement?
___ 6. Does my dialogue sound real?
Word Choice
___ 7. Have I used specific nouns?
___ 8. Have I used colorful adjectives?
Sentence Fluency
___ 9. Have I varied my sentence beginnings and lengths?
___ 10. Have I used different kinds of sentences?
Editing
Editing is the next step in the writing process. When you edit, you make
sure that you have followed the rules for punctuation, capitalization, spelling,
and grammar. These rules are called the “conventions” of writing.
Keys to Editing
1. Use a dictionary, and a thesaurus.
2. Ask someone else to check your writing for errors (friend, parent,
teacher).
Editing Checklist
Punctuation
___ 1. Do I use end punctuation after all my sentences?
___ 2. In dialogue, do I place the speaker’s words within quotation
marks?
___ 3. Do I use a comma, a question mark, or an exclamation point to
separate the speaker’s words from the rest of the sentence?
Capitalization
___ 4. Do I start all my sentences with capital letters?
___ 5. Do I capitalize all proper nouns?
Spelling
___ 6. Have I spelled all my words correctly
___ 7. Have I double-checked the words I may have missed?
Grammar
___ 8. Do my subjects and verbs argee?
(He and I were running, not He and I was running)
___ 9. Do I use the right words?
Publishing
After you finish proofreading your story, make a neat final copy.
Adapted from Write Source A Book for Writing, Thinking, and Learning.