Personal Essays - English

Finical

Hey guys,

Basically I'm a repeat student and my English isn't that great or anything special, so I have a question. Last week with my grinds teacher she was helping me with paper 1 and she said that personal essay is probably the easiest to get marks in and that a lot of people do it.

So now the problem is I have never ever done a personal essay as I haven't been in an English class for ages and I have only attempted short stories! She said that the short story is more suited to people who enjoy writing or reading which I don't.

I was just wondering would it be to late to even try do personal essays? Is there a layout or anything to them. All I really know is that you give your own opinion or thoughts from previous experiences you have had.

Could someone give me help or tips to actually do well in the personal essay if it ain't too hard to change because to be honest I ain't that creative and my short stories are usually rubbish I even know it myself!

Jeez sorry for the long post haha help would be apreciated, cheers.

yourmother

Best advice I can give, is just to write about what you know or what you're passionate about. A personal essay is exactly what it says on the tin, it can be filled with personal anecdotes or your feelings on things.

Finical

yourmother wrote: »

Best advice I can give, is just to write about what you know or what you're passionate about. A personal essay is exactly what it says on the tin, it can be filled with personal anecdotes or your feelings on things.

Thanks for reply,

I was just wondering do personal essays have to have a particular order or could you bring up different topics or issues in different papagraphs. Thanks.

Piste

Personal Essays are much, much easier to do better in than short stories, especially if you don't really like reading and writing. The important thing is structure. Try to have about 5 key points you want to make. Organise these points into paragraphs and try to let the whole essay flow so it doesn't seem too disjointed.

Finical

Thanks. I think I'm going to practice personal essays so up until the exam. Sure depending on the day If I don't like the personal essay title I could always have a go at the short story.

Cheers again guys.

Any other tips or anything that would help me with the personal essays?

yourmother

I don't know really how to explain it... Try writing a personal essay entitled "My Childhood Beliefs" - that's something personal to you and something that you should be relatively easy to write about. E.G. When I was a child I believed that my parents knew everything...(insert anecdote) etc.

ceol18

i always write personal essays as just a short story in first person. it doesn't have to have your real opinions or anything... i find them alot easier to do. and yes, writing about something you're passionate about does help an awful lot, just make sure you don't get caught up in trying to make it sound intellectual or complicated. although whatever your feelings are towards the thing may be complicated, it's too easy to accidentally write complicated and badly structured sentences trying to put them into words

MagsK93

Well what i found easiest to do is just think about an event that happened in my life like a random conversation that changed your view on something or an event of something your really interested in like a sport. It helps if you dont stretch it over too long a period of time keep it to like a day and just fill up the essay with details. (a thesaurus really helps when your practising btw)

Finical

Sorry for the bump. I got a question though; just say if the title was ''Write a personal essay on the importance of music and/ or songs in your life.''

Can you do numbered paragraphs with lots of different moments where you feel music is important to you or would it be better to just stick to one moment and show it's impacts and influences oo you.

Or is it personal preference? Is it even possible to talk about different aspects or do you have to stick to one? Sorry if I'm not very clear on this, it's just I've never done personal essay and I feel I could do better in them than a short story.

Ardennes1944

personal essays-yock. english in general-yock

stainluss

stevefinn wrote: »

personal essays-yock. english in general-yock

Good Contribution:p I agree about English though.

Personal Essay is probably the best of a bad bunch. After that, I'd probably choose a newspaper/magazine article.

Could you write these in the same/similar format as you would write a personal essay? (anecdote, your beliefs etc)

Indigo Sunrise

I agree about English too :P. I've gotten a C on every short story I've done, except for one I got a B on. Hopefully I can rewrite that on the day or else I'm screwed :pac:. I'd consider doing the personal essay, although I've only ever done one, and that was in fifth year. *shrug*

highlydebased

The essay is my favourite part of English I've gotten 90+ in most I've done.

Finical

Finical wrote: »

Sorry for the bump. I got a question though; just say if the title was ''Write a personal essay on the importance of music and/ or songs in your life.''

Can you do numbered paragraphs with lots of different moments where you feel music is important to you or would it be better to just stick to one moment and show it's impacts and influences oo you.

Or is it personal preference? Is it even possible to talk about different aspects or do you have to stick to one? Sorry if I'm not very clear on this, it's just I've never done personal essay and I feel I could do better in them than a short story.

Somebody please!?

Indigo Sunrise

I guess it helps if you enjoy reading(and writing). I don't really like either, so yeah

OP, I'd say it's personal preference. It would probably be better to do a few aspects, it might be hard to focus in on just one aspect for theentire essay.

Finical

Indigo Sunrise wrote: »

I guess it helps if you enjoy reading(and writing). I don't really like either, so yeah

OP, I'd say it's personal preference. It would probably be better to do a few aspects, it might be hard to focus in on just one aspect for theentire essay.

Thanks a lot. I was thinking the same myself!

zam

Neon-Circles wrote: »

The essay is my favourite part of English I've gotten 90+ in most I've done.

Please share with us the secrets of your success!

highlydebased

zam wrote: »

Please share with us the secrets of your success!

Write about what you know! So important!
Having a vocabulary that is vast- might be a bit late to develop this now, but reading is so important, reading everything and anything.

zam

Neon-Circles wrote: »

Write about what you know! So important!
Having a vocabulary that is vast- might be a bit late to develop this now, but reading is so important, reading everything and anything.

Ah that's what I was afraid of

I agree with the writing about what you know though, which is why I love articles/speeches!

!?!

is it really hard to get marks in short stories? I'm aiming for an A in English and personally they're my favourite but I like having my own style and I heard you have to stick to a rigid format for the short stories...as in beginning/middle/end and if the examiner doesn't think you've done that you lose marks?

stainluss

!?! wrote: »

is it really hard to get marks in short stories? I'm aiming for an A in English and personally they're my favourite but I like having my own style and I heard you have to stick to a rigid format for the short stories...as in beginning/middle/end and if the examiner doesn't think you've done that you lose marks?

I doubt you would if your story is brilliant, but otherwise, yes.

Read the chief examiners reports to find out more.

!?!

where do i get the examiner's report?

Finical

Soz for bump again guys lol. I was just wondering could someone link me to sample personal essay or some other tips?

Just want to see what they're really like, cheers.

Finical

Bang bang I shot you down bang bang!

Mazda

Just wondering how many pages should we be aiming for in the essay section? We've only written about 3 altogether (including the mocks :rolleyes:) and I'm a little antsy about it!

stainluss

Mazda wrote: »

Just wondering how many pages should we be aiming for in the essay section? We've only written about 3 altogether (including the mocks :rolleyes:) and I'm a little antsy about it!

3.5/4 is optimum from what I've heard. Open to correction, though.

Kurtosis

Mazda wrote: »

Just wondering how many pages should we be aiming for in the essay section? We've only written about 3 altogether (including the mocks :rolleyes:) and I'm a little antsy about it!

Don't get too hung up on the actual length of your essay. If you have tiny handwriting, a 2 page essay of yours could be the same length as a 4 page essay of someone with big writing. Better of thinking about how much time you spend on it. It's worth half of the marks on Paper 1, so try to spend about half of the time on it.

Finical

So am I right in saying if the title was ''What sport does for you'', you could write about various aspects with what you feel and not just stick to one thing throughout the personal essay?

lc2010

ceol18 wrote: »

i always write personal essays as just a short story in first person. it doesn't have to have your real opinions or anything.

Is it ok to do this yeah?

Finical

Finical wrote: »

So am I right in saying if the title was ''What sport does for you'', you could write about various aspects with what you feel and not just stick to one thing throughout the personal essay?

lc2010 wrote: »

Is it ok to do this yeah?

Can someone answer these two questions. I need to know urgently! Pretty please. :pac:

Eibhin70

Finical, I hope that the following link will be of help to you...

http://www.independent.ie/education/exam-brief/english-a-guide-to-paper-1-using-the-2006-leaving-cert-papers-as-examples-1288435.html

Best of luck to you tomorrow....relax, be sure to get a good night's sleep, a long shower and a good breakfast.....:)