In a narrative essay, the author describes a specific story. Most often, this is a story based on the writer’s personal experience. This type of academic assignment helps students to maximize their creative potential.
With the help of a narrative essay, students learn how to express their experiences and write texts under the plan convincingly.
Table of Contents
What Is A Narrative Essay
When the students are given the assignment to write a narrative essay, they may become confused. The topics of such papers can be both the most trivial and very important. No less important aspect than the topic is how you tell it.
The narrative essay is a great way for students to improve their communication skills. Teachers expect students to communicate the main idea in clear language and according to the correct structure.
Narrative Essay Topics
The narrative essay will be very different depending on your chosen topic. The topic can be chosen independently or offered from the list in the department.
If you need to choose a topic, you should think carefully about what kind of story you want to tell. The best story for a narrative essay is one that has some unusual or unexpected turn.
For example, a journey in which everything went according to plan is an uninteresting story. However, the one in which some surprises had to be reacted to is an excellent choice. When choosing a topic, pick one that will help you surprise the readers or teach them something.
Narrative Essay Examples
For students to understand exactly how a narrative essay should be written, we have prepared one example with an explanation of each paragraph of the paper.
Paragraph 1
“Starting from the first grades of school, I always liked the humanities, such as history and foreign languages. It seemed that such subjects could bring no less benefit than precise disciplines. Yet, at the same time, the popularity of the humanities is not so high.”
It is the so-called background essay. In it, the author describes his attitude toward certain disciplines. He also points out those issues that seem important to him (that not enough people prefer the humanities).
“Not so long ago, I had an interesting life experience that showed that I can reconsider and change my mind about disciplines for learning. I got to an introductory lecture on higher mathematics.”
In the last sentence of the introduction paragraph, the author talks about the events that made him change his mind about the precise sciences. This sentence is also a hook that should show the author’s lesson from his life experience.
Paragraph 2
“Before I entered the class, I was skeptical. I was waiting and wondering all the time about what exactly will be in this introductory lesson in higher mathematics. I had no idea what was waiting for me. I imagined something complicated, a bunch of terrible and incomprehensible formulas, long conversations about hundredths and thousandths of some number. However, what happened, in the end, surprised me a lot.”
This paragraph increases the degree of the author’s skepticism towards the exact sciences. The author’s reflections show that he does not expect anything interesting from this introductory lecture.
Paragraph 3
“The young man in jeans, Mr. Smith, did not look at all like a teacher of higher mathematics. On the contrary, I represented a serious gray-haired professor. Certainly not a man who just said we could call him John.”
The author discusses the teacher’s first impression of him in this paragraph. At the same moment, it is indicated that the author’s first stereotype is debunked.
“Instead of immediately bombarding us with an incomprehensible stream of form and matrices, John just started talking about the areas in which higher mathematics is used, describing its basic principles in the most simple and understandable language. By the end of the lesson, I realized that I would like to go deeper into this topic to understand higher mathematics.”
This moment further debunks the author’s stereotypes regarding the exact sciences. He received the information in a form that he could understand and realized that perhaps his opinion was biased.
Paragraph 4
“The experience of an introductory lecture on higher mathematics taught me that if I give up my prejudices, I can understand and learn a lot of new interesting information. As a result, I began to relate to the exact sciences with much less prejudice.”
In the final paragraph, the author summarizes his entire story’s conclusion. First, he got rid of his inner delusions and discovered new interests in his studies.
Narrative Essay Format
For a narrative essay to be written correctly, the following format should be followed:
- Introduction (location, time of action).
- Beginning of the action and its development.
- Most intense part of the action.
- Interchange.
- Conclusion.
Following this plan, you can easily write an A+ narrative essay.
FAQ
How To Write A Narrative Essay Step By Step
To write a good narrative essay, you must first think a little. Think about what kind of story will be interesting to your readers. Think of its plan and write a draft. After that, start writing. When everything is ready, review the text and make corrections if needed.
How To Start Off A Narrative Essay
To start a narrative essay, you must consider at least one hook. The hook should catch readers and keep them interested to read the paper to the end. A good hook is half the success. Think about this before you start writing.
How Many Paragraphs In A Narrative Essay
A narrative essay has an average of 4-5 paragraphs. This volume should be enough to create intrigue, write a narrative, and draw conclusions. Plan your essay well. All paragraphs should contain enough information and be interesting.