Easing Your Study Process: How to Write a Personal Essay for College

Personal essays allow you to relax a little bit about your writing. You do have to worry about MLA, APA, research, Works Cited pages, bibliographies, or in-text citations. You still need to spell correctly, follow all grammar and writing rules, and complete the job in time.

You can use first and second person in a personal essay. You are talking about yourself. But you should not use slang or poorly constructed sentences and paragraphs. Additionally, the paper needs to give an insight into who you are and what makes you tick.

Some Suggestions

Try to pinpoint what piece of you that you want to reveal. You are a big person with many aspects and dimensions. If you try to write about yourself from beginning to end then you will be writing a novel and not an essay. Use these guidelines to help you with your personal essay:

• Pick a specific event to talk about
• A funny anecdote always entertains
• Don’t be afraid to write about a mistake you made
• Talk about a hobby or a talent
• Discuss your goals and how you plan to accomplish your goals
• Use an outline to keep your direction
• Write a rough draft first
• Do not wait until the last minute
• Follow all the instructions your teacher gives you

It Could Help You

If you are having a difficult time deciding your direction in life, writing the personal essay could really help you. When you look into yourself to find material about yourself, you will learn things about yourself that you may never have recognized.

It is interesting to keep the personal essays that you have written, and you can watch how you change and evolve.

Writing Rules

Here are a few more rules that you must follow to help you have success while you are writing your personal essay.

• Do not use the word “I” too much
• Mix up your sentence structure (every sentence should not be subject/verb pattern)
• Use quotations
• Do not mention too many names of family members, you do not want to confuse your readers
• Have fun
• Make sure the topic is appropriate for the classroom
• Remember your audience

Enjoy writing your personal essay. Do not dread writing it. Start the paper early and follow standard grammar and writing rules. Keep the subject matter appropriate for school and always follow all the dates and rules that the instructor gives you.