Follow the six rules of essay writing. Plan in advance, organise and structure your
ideas. Use some of the following techniques:
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Checklist Criteria for a Strong Personal Essay
A conversational tone sets up intimacy with the reader. This chatty tone and is different
from the lecturing tone of a formal essay “Macbeth” or a poetry essay which prefers that
the reader sit still and just listen. The Personal Essay, on the other hand, asks questions
and invites the reader to play along.
An honest tone. A personal essay is all about TMI (too much information). It tells you its
deepest fears and most loathsome opinions. Lopate puts it eloquently when he says that,
“the ‘plot’ of a personal essay…consists in watching how far the essayist can drop past his
or her psychic defenses toward deeper levels of honesty.” To accomplish this, a personal
essay must be willing to question itself, to dissect and analyse even its most tightly held
convictions in order to convince the reader of your sincerity.
Honest reflection on your experiences/beliefs/attitudes – show an awareness of how you
have become the person you are today.
Imagination – you are free to wander off on a tangent, letting your thoughts flow
naturally…as long as you eventually return to the point.
Personal anecdotes from your personal past. Of course, you can always describe an event
that happened to someone else and pretend it happened to you. (a little bit of your own
exaggerated emotional fiction is fine as the examiner will never know the truth)
• Descriptive style so the reader is drawn into the experiences you evoke.
• Aesthetic writing - figurative language and poetic techniques etc.
• Sensory writing (the 5 senses)
Humour – be as funny, sarcastic, quirky and brutally bluntly honest as you are in real life.
This is refreshing because students tend to be overly serious and forced in the exam.
Personal observations about real life, all types of relationships, current affairs, pop
culture. Here is your chance to muse about everything. Can use a persuasive or
argumentative writing here.
Identify problems & offer solutions. Don’t be whiney without outlining how we can
positively change things for the better.
Hyperbole – take the truth & exaggerate it. Make your writing dramatic if it helps your
point.
Quotes from bands/singers, campaigners, writers, philosophers, friends, (use Pinterest
or google images to help you)
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