You might look at some 100 autobiographical incident essays and not like one. The chances of not liking are always more, aren’t they? Instead, learn how to write this essay yourself, and ideate about the various ways in which you can write one. This article will tell you just that! Read on…
An autobiographical incident essay is an essay wherein a student is expected to come up with a story in his life, and narrate it. This story should have some significance in his life. Something like an incident that is not very ordinary, one that has some intense impact. The student is also expected to tell us why this incident is significant, and how he lived through it. Gradually, he has to state how he dealt with it and what he learned from it. Writing such an essay isn’t an easy job. Something that you have experienced and learned from, may not sound that interesting to others. Stay away from descriptive essay writing and try to write a story of your own. Your main motive should be to convince the readers that your actions were necessary. Now, let’s read and understand, step by step, how we can write this essay on our own.
Simple Instructions for You to Write an Autobiographical Incident Essay
PART I – Ideate
Though this isn’t an actual part of your essay, it is perhaps the most important in the process. Try to remember all the incidents that have occurred in your life, that hold some gravity. Incidents in which you learned a lesson, that will last you your entire life. Make a list of all these incidents and see which one seems to be the most significant. Something that even other people can relate to. Write down all the necessary points of that incident and the minutest of details. Another option is to ask people around you, which seems the most interesting story out of them all. Finally, zero in on one.
PART II – Introduction
Now we come down to the actual writing of the essay, the introduction. Start with a casual approach, but an interesting and intriguing one. What you write in your introduction should give the readers a feeling that something nice is awaiting them. You have to build the curiosity to some extent in the introduction itself. The introduction should tell the readers where the story is based, i.e. the place and in what circumstances. You have to give them an idea of your age and how you were as a person back then. This part of the essay, should in a way, convince the readers, through your language, that what lies ahead is going to be a good read. In short, this should open the way for the essay!
PART III – The Incident
This should be the main content of your essay, the paragraph where you actually start telling your story. This will tell the readers ‘what actually happened’. Your content needs to be concise and to the point. If you write in a very casual way, the essay will turn out to be too elongated. You need to write in such a way that every sentence you write, brings an altogether different impact on the essay. Cut short what’s not needed, and remove all the details that don’t hold any importance, or the removal of which won’t make any difference to the reader. In the entire body of your essay, this will be the most significant part. Focus all your attention and writing skills on this one. The start and the end of this part should be highly captivating!
PART IV – Your Role
This is the latter part of the incident, where you will tell people what your reaction was after the incident took place. In detail, explain your entire thought process while writing this part. The thought process that you went through while in that situation. Write down all the thoughts that came to your mind while you were present in that situation, facing that circumstance. After this, mention what your actions were like. Basically, how you dealt with that incident. After the mention of your role in that incident, end the paragraph with a small conclusion to the entire story. This doesn’t have to be the moral of the story, but the conclusion of the incident. An autobiographical incident essay is about self, so make sure you do justice to this part of the essay.
PART V – Moral of The Story
This part of the essay has to be the moral of the story. This kind of an essay cannot end unless you specify the effects of that incident in your life. You have to know how to end an essay the right way, for maximum effect. How it changed your life, what you learned out of it, and how it changed you as a person. You also have to explain what you think about that incident when you think of it now. When you look back to that day, what do you think? How does it make you feel? This has to be the actual ‘The End’ of your essay. Try and end the essay with a proverb, for a better and stronger effect.
This is the way and method in which you should write your autobiographical incident essay. Use these essay writing tips and make your essay more captivating. If possible, also try to mention how the writing of this essay helped you in remembering the incident so well, and how it was successful in motivating you, once again. Make your essay short, concise, and yet an intriguing short story in the end. If possible, try to use metaphors, to increase the impact of everything you say. Best of Luck!