Your Guide to Writing a Narrative Essay

Your Guide to Writing a Narrative Essay Narrative essays are a common assignment seen across educational levels and programs and can be incredibly fun to write with the right planning and execution. In this article, were going to break down the elements of a narrative essay, as well as discuss formatting issues you might run into as you are writing your rough draft. Then, well discuss common issues you might run into as you are revising your essay and writing the final draft.Planning - Choosing your storyThe core of a narrative essay is the story you tell. However, a well-written narrative essay moves beyond just a personal anecdote and illustrates an important theme or topic using that story. This means that in addition to providing a story, your narrative essay will also need to include an analysis of that story or experience from your point of view (as both the writer and the person who experienced the event).Focus on a themeSo, in the planning stages of your narrative essay, you need to determine two important facts: 1 ) what theme and analysis of that theme will you focus on and 2) what personal story will you use to do this?In some cases, you might be given the theme as part of the narrative essay assignment. For example, your assignment might read something like this: Racism and sexism are two pervasive and complicated issues in American society. Write an essay about your experience with one or both of these concepts and what you learned from that experience.If your narrative essay prompt is open, you will still need to focus on a particular theme and analysis of that theme in the process of choosing which story you want to tell about your life or life experiences. Lets say, for example, you want to write a narrative essay about a time when your favorite childhood pet passed away. While that story might be an interesting narrative, without thematic analysis to let your reader know what you are sharing the story in the first place, your narrative essay will fall flat and miss the mark of what a narrative essay is meant to do.So, keep this in mind as youre choosing your story. It should be an entertaining or heartfelt story, certainly, but you will also need to analyze it thematically in the process of sharing it to write a true narrative essay.Avoid making it too broadAnother important consideration to keep in mind as you are choosing your story is to avoid making it too broad. A well-written, entertaining narrative essay often includes vibrant details and even dialogue, which means that if you dont narrow down the topic and theme precisely, it will be too broad for the constraints of your page and word count.For example, a narrative essay on your senior year in high school or even your summer vacation will likely be too broad. A narrative essay on your senior prom or a weekend getaway over the summer would be a better choice, leaving you room to include sensory details and dialogue without having to rush the story to fit page or word count.In other words, if your story un folds over a series of weeks or months, it is likely too broad for a narrative essay.Choose a story with vibrant detailsThe best narrative essays are the ones that include vibrant, sensory details throughout to engage the reader and make him or her feel as if they were present when the events happened. These details are the reason narrative essays are so powerful in their ability to inform, and even persuade, readers about important themes and topics.This is why it is important to choose a story with vibrant details to relate in your narrative essay. If you arent sure whether the story youve chosen will work well for a narrative essay assignment, consider how many details youll be able to provide about the sights, sounds, tastes, smells, and sensations you experienced during the event. If youre trying to decide between multiple stories to relate in your essay, choose the one that is most vibrant in your memory.First draft – The writing process in narrative essaysNow that youv e chosen the story you want to write about in your narrative essay, the hardest part of the assignment is over. Now the fun begins with the writing process!Create an informal outlineAs with any essay assignment, its important to begin the writing process with an outline. However, the outline for a narrative essay will be different than one you would create for an expository or persuasive essay and will be much less formal and structured. Basically, it should consist of bringing together the elements of a story in a logical way, so youll want to include information about the beginning, middle and end of the story, along with your thesis or thematic analysis.Brainstorm sensory detailsAs mentioned earlier, the sensory details that you include in your narrative essay will be the most important elements for engaging your reader. A great way to get started on these in the writing process is to take a few minutes to complete a sensory inventory of the event or situation you plan to detail in your essay.The easiest way to do this is to take a piece of paper and create five columns on it for the five senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. Within these five columns, write what you remember from the situation or event. For example, if my narrative essay will be about the day I buried my childhood pet, I might include the following details on my sensory inventory.Sight: Fur blowing in the wind, my dogs eyes closed, loose dirt, yellow and purple wildflowersSound: The silence without his bark, the wind in the trees, the shovel hitting rock, a bee buzzing aroundTaste: My moms blueberry pancakes she made before we buried him, the saltiness of my tearsTouch: The feel of his soft fur one last time, the crumbling dirt between my fingers, the heavy box carrying his weight.Smell: His comforting dog scent, the coffee on my mothers breath as she spoke to me.Use scenes and summariesAll narrative writing is made up of scenes and summaries. A scene is when you describe details that occurred at specific points in the story, including dialogue that happened, while a summary is what fills in and progresses or moves the action between scenes.Include an antagonist, even if its youThe best narrative writing includes an antagonist, who serves as a counterbalance, opposing force or obstacle for the protagonist. This doesnt necessarily mean that you need an alternate bad guy in your story. In fact, in many cases, we are our own antagonists with struggles like self-confidence, self-worth, self-limitation, etc., keeping us from a desired goal or outcome. Therefore, for your narrative essay, be sure to include details of the struggle between protagonist and antagonist, whether those are two different people or two different perspectives that fought for control of the outcome of the situation. Without that struggle between antagonist and protagonist, the narrative arc of the story falls flat because the protagonist (you) doesnt change. Your reader needs to see progres sion in your character within the story as you overcome an obstacle- be that a self-imposed one or one you encountered because of someone or something else.Format dialogue correctlyBesides details, dialogue is a useful way to bring a story alive and engage the reader, making him or her feel that they are right there experiencing the event(s) with you. To use dialogue, however, its important to know how to format it correctly. An example of correctly formatted dialogue for my narrative essay on burying my childhood pet might go something like this:I dont want to bury him, Mom, I said, with tears rolling down my face.My mom looked at me tenderly and wiped away a tear.I know, sweetheart, but we have to. Thats the way things are done.But what if he gets lonely and cold down there in the ground? I asked.Then youll just have to come visit his grave often to keep him from being lonely, my Mother replied.Final draft – Refining your writingNow that youve reached the final stage of wri ting your narrative essay, its important to keep in mind some best practices for making sure your final draft is in tip-top shape. This includes proofreading to find grammatical or spelling errors, as well as ensuring that your analysis of the theme you chose corresponds to the story you told.

Curriculum Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Curriculum - Essay Example Raising economic equalities and decreasing discrimination due to gender, race or creed, and the receding of conventionality in most of the societies worldwide, have encouraged the recent generations of children to seek not only lower education, but also higher and University education. Education has become a multi-facetted unending journey today without any limits or boundaries. Recently, there had been a vigorous change in the society, and the recent trend of globalisation with the booming media has increased these opportunities. Changed political perspectives, changes in the society, technological changes, shrinking of the world into a global village, desire to know more about the world, its arts and sciences have led even older people into the portals of learning with great results. The content of education has always been a matter of interest to thinkers. "Over 2000 years ago Plato was interested in what the leaders of an ideal state should be taught, and many philosophers and st atesmen since have pondered the educational problems of society," (Taylor, 1985, p.2). Aims and objectives of the curriculum are the beliefs that they would serve the purpose of active education by planning for it much in advance, before the real education starts. It motivates students and gives a clear picture about what they are going to learn, so that they can plan their studies fully. It also provides a target to be completed for the teachers. It is the plan for the entire year and it is the list of skills the student is going to attain at the end of the studies. Curriculum is bound with the very concept of education. Curricula are anyway artificial as they are man made and could be changed any time, though some teachers feel a great awe towards it. They serve a variety of purposes, like making the children aware of the world in which they live, and about the social changes, sciences, political revolutions and economic transformations and space travels etc. The young are systematically introduced to various branches of knowledge through the curriculum, because the y embody the beliefs about education. There are multiplicities of conceptions that keep shaping the education over the years and still continue to do so. It is an ongoing process, as the discoveries and knowledge continues to grow, curriculum keeps changing. "Concepts of learning also change over time; not only the validity of content, the demise of a subject area, the development of a new one, not only in terms of the rapidity with which content may expand or alter in certain disciplines, but in terms of what we know of learning as a process," (Skilbeck, 1984, p.18). Curriculum provides accountability and a way of comparing one with other curriculum. It also creates coherence to the subjects that are going to be taught, along with a systematic nature for the jumbled teaching. At higher classes, students can get more knowledge by studying in advance the rest of the curriculum, having known its contents. Its presence brings the education into a definite bracket so that all concerned are comfortably aware of its contents, examinations etc.

Truth Telling Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Truth Telling - Essay Example There are a number of disciplines that do not encourage lying. Such a discipline as medicine and its related subsets require truthful interaction between doctors and patients in order to achieve the effectiveness of both the diagnosis and treatment. Honesty is a relative concept in the health care ethics. For a long time, medical practitioners had assumed that patients told the truth about their conditions but as studies later proved, the effectiveness of a diagnosis relies on the amount of information that both parties in the process give each other thereby prompting the encouragement of truth from both the doctor and the patient. Just as doctors require as much accurate information from their patients in order to make factual diagnosis, patients also need to know their conditions thereby prompting the doctors to tell their patients the truth. Additionally, some professions within the practice of medicine rely entirely on dialogues between patients and doctors. Such therapeutic prac tices as psychoanalysis thus rely on the truthful interaction between the two in order to develop effective treatment plans. Truth telling in the practice also includes the process of reporting errors. During the practice, doctors are likely just as any other human to make errors. The factuality with which they report such help develops an effective address mechanism thereby preventing or minimizing harm. Most patients sue the organizations in such cases, a truthful account of the error to both the management and the concerned party aids faster mitigation of the errors thereby giving them an opportunity to develop an understanding. Besides the professional obligations in the practice of medicine, a number of reasons validate truth telling some of which include the fact that lying is an inherent wrong. Lying is a social vise that everyone detests. People may therefore lie depending on the relativity of the scenarios but they all consider lying as a social evil, which they therefore d iscourage. Parents strive to develop honesty personalities in their children. Such develop cohesive families in which the members do not hurt one another. Collective responsibility to uphold honesty in people results in the development of an ideal society in which people do not withhold the truth from others. Honesty is relative and infers diverse meanings all of which begin from truth telling1. This way, the society thus becomes one with minimal evil. Patients on the other hand entrust their lives on the professionalism in their doctors. They thus do not expect the doctors to lie to them. Owing to this, patients tell their doctors truths about their conditions and expect their doctors to do the same from the doctors. Acting indifferently by lying in such an essential communication process breaks the trust of either party, thereby impairing the effectiveness of the process. Additionally, lying creates a barrier between patients and their doctors. The diagnosis relies on the factuali ty of the communication process between the two. By each party lying to the other thus hampers the effectiveness of the diagnosis thereby impairing the treatment. Doctors for example are always in charge of the conversation. They therefore need to create an enabling environment for their patients to offer as much information with them about their condition as possible. They can only achieve this by appearing honest with

4.1. Patriot leadership during the battle of Monmouth 1778 Essay

4.1. Patriot leadership during the battle of Monmouth 1778 - Essay Example der-in-chief of the Continental Army managed to have a deep sense of optimism and established himself in the belief that Americans can be guided to the virtue of patriotic courage in achieving the most yearned freedom. Despite the extreme hot weather that prevailed during the battle where a significant number of British and American soldiers died of heat stroke, the American general withdrew not from his original scheme. Though opposed and held back by Major Gen. Charles Lee in his thought of assaulting the enemy’s rear guard near Monmouth Court House at New Jersey, Gen. Washington’s command remained steadfast in pressing his 5000 armed men to seize Gen. Clinton and defeat the British troops (Hickman). The patriotism that emerged with the leading character of Gen. Washington may be identified as one that consists of unshaken revolutionary prospect, with both heart and mind proceeding to work in unity. It occurred that while Lee was most likely thinking of the heavy losses ahead of them under the typical fear of Great Britain’s voluminous power, the general maintained inner strength by the inspiring principle of an independent nation that enabled him to carry on the violent pur suit of victory for the US without

Essay --

â€Å"No one comes home from war unchanged. But with early screening and adequate access to counseling, the psychological and neurological effects of combat are treatable.† (Williamson & Mulhall). Deployments to war zones change service members and their families. Some of the changes are positive and some combat experiences can be traumatic and leave a long-lasting emotional wound. Exposure to traumatic combat and operational experiences affects service members and veterans spiritually, psychologically, biologically, and socially. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and major depression are increasingly recognized and potentially preventable conditions. Certain factors, especially the severity of the trauma, obvious lack of social support and disconnection have been associated with its development. A recent study found U.S. veteran suicide rates are as high as 5,000 a year. Nearly 20 percent of military service members who have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, have reported symptoms of post traumatic stress disorder or major depression, yet only slight more than half have sought out treatment, according to a new RAND Corporation study. In addition, researchers found about 19 percent of returning service members report that they experienced a possible traumatic brain injury while deployed. (Williamson & Mulhall) In military veterans and service members, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and suicidal thoughts are a problematic and common issue that has become closely linked to one another. If these illnesses are causing a mental issue with our military personnel, why are they less likely to seek out care? Many service members do not seek treatment for psychological illnesses bec... ...when it came to the topics that were being discussed, such as the injures they experience, the process and what the service members undergo in the home front that may be some potential triggers. The article is very detailed and it is a good recommendation for my fellow classmates to read, as it provides knowledge and awareness on this topic. Our military personnel and veteran clients remind us every day that extensive resources are needed to provide an equal playing field in the mental health care system, that we have much more to learn, and that the more we understand the illness in veterans and personnel, the more we can do to reduce their suffering. References Williamson, V., & Mulhall, E. (n.d.). Invisible Wounds: Psychological and Neurological Injuries Confront a New Generation of Veterans. Retrieved from http://iava.org/files/IAVA_invisible_wounds_0.pdf

Bloomability

The title is a newly configured word created by the author, which combines the meaning of the words â€Å"bloom†, and â€Å"ability'. This also encapsulates the meaning of possibility. In this book the main character â€Å"Dominique† (Deadline), has many opportunities. She considers them as burdens rather than possibilities. Her father had rather unsteady and unstable professions. He could not hold a permanent Job for long periods. The family therefore moves to different states frequently. By the time she was 12 years old , they had relocated 12 times.Every place they traveled to leads to more troubles. Eventually, her brother Crick landed In Jail. Her sister Stella, eloped to marry a marine, when she was 16 years old. Fortunately, she returned to the family and confessed her marriage . She was unable to make them believe her. To the surprise of the family, one day Stella goes into labor! The next day Dine began her â€Å"second life†. On the day following the b irth of Stall's baby, her mother's sister Sandy and brother in law Max arrived. WhenAdenine's father was absent, they took Dine away, with the permission of her mother. Dine did not know were she was going and was unaware of the reason for the trip. They drove to the airport and boarded a flight. Dine was very confused. When they got on to the airplane Aunt Sandy told Dine that she was going to attend an international private school in Serialized. Aunt Sandy was going to teach there and Uncle Max was going to be the principal. Dine explores Laguna and finds exciting things to do. She wishes she was home with her family.When Dine attends the school she meets people from all over the world . Len her school it is required for them to learn the Italian language. She makes friends with an American girl, Lila, an American boy, Guthrie, a Spanish girl, Belle and a Chinese boy, Kisses. Unlike Dine, Lila has a very strong personality. Lila doesn't care what other people think about her. She is always complaining. Everyone thinks that she is arrogant but Dine still likes her. The class always goes on amazing trips. They go to SST. Morale for snow skiing.On a skiing trip Dullness two friends, Lila and Guthrie get caught In an avalanche. Luckily, thanks to Deadline, (who saw where they were going), they are able to be rescued. At the end of the year, Dullness aunt and uncle give her a choice: Go home to America for the summer and come back In the fall, or go back to America permanently. The book ends at this point. It Is never said what her decision was. The reader Is left to use her Imagination as to what decision Dine made. This makes the book an even more enjoyable read and you are left guessing how the story

Grief in The Iliad Essay - 510 Words

Grief in The Iliad There are many lessons that can be learned from reading Homers The Iliad. One of which is understanding the stages of grief. One can literally watch Achilles go through all five stages when he morns the death of his comrade Patroclus. Achilles moves through Denial and Isolation, Depression, Anger, Bargaining and Acceptance in the short time after his close friends death. Sheltered under his curving, beaked ships he found him, foreboding, deep down, all that had come to pass (18.3-4). In this sentence, Achilles is trying to avoid learning about his friends death. He has isolated himself in hopes that it is not true. He knows that it is so but feels that if he can keep from hearing the truth that it will not†¦show more content†¦A black cloud of grief came shrouding over Achilles. Both hands clawing the ground for soot and filth, he poured it over his head, fouled his handsome face and black ashes settled onto his fresh clean war-shirt. Overpowered in all his power, sprawle d in the dust, Achilles lay there, fallen#8230;tearing his hair, defiling it with his own hands (18.25-30). In this passage Achilles is acting out some of the classic symptoms of depression such as sadness and hopelessness. Another symptom of depression is suicide. Homer demonstrates this well in the following passage, Antilochus kneeling near, weeping uncontrollably, clutched Achilles hands as he wept his proud heart out#8212;for fear he would slash his throat with an iron blade (18. 36-38). Achilles once again speaks of killing himself as he passes from depression into the stage of anger. My spirit rebels#8212;Ive lost the will to live, to take my stand in the world of men#8212;unless, before all else, Hectors battered down by my spear and gasps away his life, the blood-price for Patroclus, Menoetius gallant son hes killed and stripped! (18.105-109). In anger the grieving person may be furious at the person who inflicted the hurt, much as Achilles was towards Hector. Achilles also briefly passes through the stage of bargaining when he is having a conversation with his mother, Thetis. Youre doomed to a short life, my son, from all you say! For hard on the heals of Hectors death your death mustShow MoreRelatedAnalysis Of Homer s The Iliad Essay1231 Words   |  5 Pagesthe Iliad is a tale of war and aggression (Puchner 183). Written in the 8th century, it remains relevant to society today. The basis of the Iliad, warfare, brings with it portrayals of death, grief, and the real problem with humankind: we are not peaceful beings. In a war-ridden world, these topics remain pertinent to society. These terrors of war showcased in the Iliad generate an anti-war message. With this said, Homer creates a timeless lesson against war with his work. While the Iliad has beenRead MoreThe Iliad Character Analysis749 Words   |  3 Pages Throughout Homer’s epic poem, â€Å"The Iliad,† the Trojans and the Greeks fight a violent war. Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite engage in a contest to know who the fairest Pantheon goddess is. Zeus, the king of Gods, chooses Paris, â€Å"a man who [keeps] his word† (Friedman), to elect the most beautiful goddess, but Aphrodite bribes him by saying â€Å"Helen of Sparta, the most beautiful woman in the world will fall in love with you†(Friedman 3). Seduced by the goddess of love’s offer, Paris immediately declaresRead MoreAntigone vs. Iliad Essay948 Words   |  4 Pagesemotion. In both Antigone and The Iliad there are many different types of love portrayed. The love one has for their child for example, or the love for a close family member or friend. There is also the love one experiences when they feel they have found their mate in life. In examining the excerpts from Antigone and The Iliad I was able to draw the conclusion that Antigone portrays the different types of love in a more realistic way. When I read The Iliad for the first time the portrayalRead MoreThe Iliad : An Ancient Work1131 Words   |  5 PagesMaddie Hughey 1128 The Iliad is an ancient work, written near 750 BCE, and yet, almost 3, 000 years later, we still study it. It still resonates with modern readers because war is not just an old concept. We still have war; we still have soldiers. We might not fight these wars with spears and chariots but the Iliad speaks to something more than just victory or defeat. The Iliad exposes the grief and loss that comes along with war and ultimately speaks against it through negative descriptionsRead MoreHelpless Mothers: Ceres and Andromache981 Words   |  4 Pagesboth the Iliad and in Ceres and Proserpina is the role of women in Greek and Roman mythology. To read the history of Ancient Greece as it has been written for centuries is to enter a thoroughly male world (Blundell, 226). When it comes to a poem like the Iliad, this is even more particularly true as the reader enters a universe of war, where women are very much on the peripheral and the men are the dominant characters directly implied in t he bulk of the action (Blundell, 47). The Iliad is a poemRead MoreThe Epic Of Gilgamesh And The Iliad Essay1397 Words   |  6 PagesThe destiny in Gilgamesh and The Iliad stories are believed to be a power that controls what happens in the future. The story of Gilgamesh and the Iliad destinies are moderately the same in significance of the conflicts and the ways of life both of the stories focused on a significant deaths. The Iliad and Gilgamesh is a remarkable reminder of the way life is in the present, but also how it is a little different. Both stories are similar in goals and destinies and how it affect the main charactersRead MoreThe Code Of Honor In The Iliad And The Odyssey1684 Words   |  7 Pagesindividual has risked or sacrificed his life. In the Iliad and the Odyssey, the code which administers the conduct of the Homeric heroes is a straightforward idea. The aim of every hero is to achieve honor. Throughout the Iliad and the Odyssey, different characters take on the r ole of a hero. Honor is essential to the Homeric heroes, so much that life would be meaningless without it. Thus, honor is more important than life itself. Throughout the Iliad, heroic characters make decisions based on a specificRead MoreEpic Heroism And Values Of The Iliad1030 Words   |  5 PagesHope Schoenhut DWC 101: Paper 1 November 1, 2017 Epic Heroism and Values of the Greek and Roman Culture The image of Achilles killing Hector and the image of Aeneas killing Turnus classify them as epic heroes. In the Greek epic poem the Iliad, Homer portrays Achilles as an enraged warrior fighting for revenge for a woman he loved. In the Roman epic poem the Aeneid, Virgil portrays Aeneas as fleeing the city of Troy to establish a new city. Achilles and Aeneas are epic heroes because they bothRead MoreThe Iliad And The Odyssey1317 Words   |  6 PagesThroughout The Iliad and The Odyssey, both Achilles and Odysseus go through intense acts of heroism, internal and external hardships, and fluctuations in confidence. During the epic, The Odyssey, the main character, Odysseus, has to endure many hardships which show. He has to show tremendous amounts of heroism and confidence just to keep his crew and himself alive. He has to rival and face many gods that despise him along with many humans. This theme can also be reflected from Homer’s The Iliad, where theRead MoreFamily Dynamic s in Homers Iliad969 Words   |  4 Pagestheir sons in the Iliad are not relationships we expect to see in today’s society. The Iliad portrays the relationships between fathers and sons as something more than just physical and emotional. It is based on pride and respect for one another. The expectations of their son are more so to pass on their fathers reputable name and to follow in their father’s footsteps of being noble warriors. These relationships are the driving forces in the Iliad, making each son in the Iliad identifiable first