For your writing assignment, you'll write a personal essay, which can also be referred to as a personal narrative. The essay that you produce must be based solely on your first-hand personal experience(s), told from the first-person point of view, and meet the given length requirement of 750 to 2,500 words. This assignment provides information to help you effectively write from a first-person point of view. In short, this will be an essay about you.
The essay that you write should tell a story that represents who you are to your audience—that is, people who don't know you personally. It should be completely original and shouldn't contain any type of research; your story should be told entirely from thoughts and memories. Instead of relying on research to construct your essay, you'll rely on your own memory and awareness of people and surroundings. This will ensure that your writing is credible, ethical, and authentic.
MANDATED REPORTING
The Penn Foster instructional staff recognizes and appreciates the importance of writing as a form of self-expression. That noted, please be aware that as an educational institution, the staff here are legally tasked with mandated reporting of criminal activity. Should your writing contain a description of criminal activity of any kind (by you, including you, or against you), the school is obligated to contact and alert the proper authorities. While you're certainly encouraged to express yourself in your writing, you should be aware of Penn Foster's binding obligation to take action when information regarding criminal behavior is relayed.
What Is a Personal Narrative?
A personal narrative is an essay about the author. In a very basic sense, all essays are personal, in that it's impossible to avoid a personal opinion, even in the most objective (that is, impersonal and fact-based) writing. However, the personal narrative makes no effort to hide the author's personal connection to the text. It's openly accepted and celebrated that the author is the subject. The personal narrative not only accepts but demands the thoughts, feelings, ideas, and personal input of the author.
The author of a personal narrative is telling a true story from his or her life. The author isn't making up the story or writing fiction.
Nonfiction Story
Personal narratives are essentially nonfiction stories. That means they have the structure of a story but tell the audience about real events. What the essay should do is to create a map that takes the reader from point A to point B to point C. Of course, things aren't always as straightforward as A-B-C. It's your job, as the author, to pull together all the necessary elements of your story so they can efficiently guide the reader through your story, ending with the ever-important lesson learned or insight gained from your experience.
Unique to You
- Your personal narrative must show your reasoning behind the point you make.
- It must provide specific examples from your personal experience, which will ultimately show your authority to write on your chosen topic.
- All (or at least a great majority) of what you write must be based on what you already know and have experienced directly yourself.
- By using specific examples of what happened to you directly or of what you personally observed happening to friends or family members, you're providing your own unique, distinctive perspective on the topic.
Your Original Focus or "Slant"
First, you must decide on an original focus, or "slant." For example, if you write about a vacation, you should make it a point to state or show, as a part of your introduction, your unique viewpoint on the experience in question. (Instead of simply stating, "I went to Hawaii," it would be much more specific and descriptive to state, "My vacation to Hawaii was one of the most exciting times in my life.") Next, you should use that slant or focus to guide you through choosing and organizing the details and examples you'll include in your essay. Avoid giving only a list of general information or a diary account of what happened from the time you jumped out of bed, took a shower, and ate breakfast. That type of catalog approach lacks reader appeal and doesn't help you develop your personalized focus on the experience.
Your slant will help you determine your thesis statement. Yes, even personal narratives require a thesis statement! However, as you might guess, the thesis statement of a narrative looks different from that of an academic essay. For a narrative, the thesis is the point of the story you're telling. Have you ever listened to a friend tell a long, rambling story and thought to yourself, "Get to the point"? That's what a narrative thesis statement does. It provides a brief explanation to the reader for why you chose to tell this particular story.
It also answers the audience's question of "So what?" Why should your reader, who doesn't know you personally, care about the story you're telling? Don't worry; you don't need to have a deeply emotional reason for picking the story you tell for this assignment. However, your story does need some kind of point for you to connect with your audience. Perhaps you learned a lesson, gained an insight, or came to a realization about something. Perhaps the events in your story changed something about your life. It might not be a big change, and that's fine. Just use the point of your story to determine the slant you'll take or vice versa.
Your Personal Viewpoint versus Facts
You should research aspects of the narrative only to verify facts or provide statistics to support ideas, and then only if necessary. You should keep in mind that factual information can't be the main focus of your essay. By merely restating or paraphrasing what you've learned through research, you're failing to provide your original thinking on the topic.
Use Only Your Own Opinions and Ideas
Your Own Words and Ideas
Remember that using others' opinions or ideas in your own words is unethical, even if you agree with them or feel that they best explain your own thoughts and feelings. If you choose to include some information obtained from research, you should carefully choose only one or two items that support your opinion or viewpoint, making certain that your opinion or viewpoint (not the researched information) is the main focus. The vast majority of your essay must come from your direct knowledge and experience.
First-Person Point of View
The narrative or story is told from the writer's personal point of view.
Point of view refers to the writer's relation to the story being told. Writing from a first-person point of view requires the frequent use of pronouns "I" and "we."
Some examples of work written from a first-person point of view include personal essays, autobiographies, and memoirs. When writing from the first-person point of view, you're relaying your personal thoughts, feelings, and experiences and speaking for yourself only. You can make observations regarding others, but you can't speak for them or truly know what they're thinking.
Point of View Matters
Take a look at the following sentences to find out why point of view makes a difference.
The first day at a new job is difficult for everyone.
My first day at my new job was a difficult one.
These sentences may, in essence, serve the same purpose when used as the topic sentence in a paragraph, setting up a story about the author's first day at a new job (see below). However, there's a difference between them in both voice and point of view. The first sentence is a sweeping generalization (the author doesn't have the authority to state that this day is difficult for every person) with a noticeably absent narrative voice; the second sentence reflects the author's personal experience and uses the first-person point of view. The second, more personal sentence is the type you should utilize in your essay.
Now, take a look at the following introductory paragraphs:
SECOND-PERSON POINT OF VIEW
The first day at a new job is difficult for everyone. If you're in a new city, you may not have friends yet to help you adjust to the new job. Everyone at work is unknown, and you might feel alone, especially because it might be a while before you learn your way around the building. Coworkers may be curious and looking for friendship, but every glance seems to be suspicious, like you're both after the same promotion. If you can meet a friend and establish a connection, it can change everything.
FIRST-PERSON POINT OF VIEW
My first day at my first job was a difficult one. To start my career, I had moved to a new city, without the familiar comfort of my friends and family. I hadn't finished unpacking in my new apartment and didn't even feel comfortable at home yet. Everyone at work was older and more experienced than I was. With every glance, I felt more and more out of place. Thankfully, that was the day I met Olivia, who changed everything for me.
FOR YOUR ASSIGNMENT
Use the second example as a guide when you write your essay. This illustrates the same point of view that the assignment requires: first-person.
The introductory paragraphs above essentially communicate the same basic point. However, while the first paragraph conveys a second-person, generalized account of the student's first work experience, the second paragraph conveys a much more personal, first-person account. Also, when the reader reaches the end of the first paragraph, there's a sense of completeness, as if the paragraph doesn't need to connect to any other idea. When the reader reaches the end of the second paragraph, there's a desire to read more, to find out more information about Olivia and how she "changed everything" for the author; this is the effect your introductory paragraph should have. The reader should be enticed into reading more, which is incredibly difficult to achieve using generalizations. All things considered, the reader doesn't want to hear about "everyone's" work experience; he or she wants to learn more about you, as the author.
ABOUT SECOND-PERSON STORYTELLING
Writing from a second-person point of view requires telling a story from another individual's point of view. Pronouns such as you and yours are used when writing from a second-person point of view. It's common to see second-person point of view used in speeches and advertising.
Learn More
If you're still unsure about how to approach your personal narrative, here are two videos that may help:
Lesson—Personal Narratives
This video describes the key characteristics and process of writing a personal narrative.
Writing the Personal Essay
This short video can help you get started and focus on the required elements.
Nothing to Write About?
Choosing a Topic
A personal narrative (or an essay in general) isn't generally written for the sake of recording an event or explaining a procedure. Instead, writers use this type of essay to explore generalizations, recall experiences, or interpret these experiences on a personal level.
Besides relating a series of events, a personal narrative may also
- Reveal a personal insight or unique personal understanding about the experience or the people involved
- Expose a personal conflict or problem that may or may not be solved within the confines of the essay
- Reveal a personal change achieved through struggle, growth, or choice
Since you've lived to high school age, you surely have something to write about, a story that others can relate to that you would be willing to tell. Even if it's something that you don't think is exciting or socially relevant at first, you do have topics that you can write about. An excellent example is how and why you've come to an online learning institution in pursuit of your high school diploma.
The Best Topic for You
The key to this particular assignment is choosing a topic that interests you and that you feel comfortable sharing with an audience. Perhaps the following suggestions might spark some ideas.
- Some experiences may initially seem trivial and insignificant but prove in time to be important to your life's journey or to the development of your personality. Present one of these experiences from your life so that it gives the audience a sense of how your life has changed.
- First-time experiences tend to be especially memorable. Think about the first time you rode a bicycle, went skiing, went to an amusement park, went on a date, attended school, went on vacation, and so on. What was special about this particular event that still stands out in your mind? What did you think? How did you feel? Show your audience why this first-time experience was special enough to remain in your memory.
- Experiences that cause extreme happiness or sadness remain in people's memories. Consider the moments in your life that have made you happiest; consider the moments in your life that have made you sad, angry, or even depressed. These experiences may have something in common. Show your reader why these particular experiences merited the reactions they did. Also, you may want to examine what your reaction says about you.
- Many relationships throughout our lives help us to grow and mature; some are positive and some are negative. Relay the details of such a relationship from your life. Be sure to provide enough information so the audience has a sense of how you were changed or impacted by the experience.
- Childhood memories can be very powerful. Choose an event from your childhood that still stands out in your memory. Relay the event to your audience, showing why this event had meaning for you as a child as well as why it still has meaning for you today.
- Everyone has a particular place that triggers memories, whether they're positive or negative. Show your audience, through descriptions of relevant events, why this particular place holds meaning for you. Please keep in mind that your audience will most likely not be familiar with the place in question, so you'll need to make your best effort to guide your readers as carefully as possible.
- The concept and value of education are different for each individual. Examine what education means to you. Show the reader how education has affected your life, whether positively or negatively, and how your idea of education may have changed over the years.
POSSIBLE PROMPTS
If you still can't think of a topic, you can also consider one of the following writing prompts:
- Think of a time when you felt different in some important way from people around you. What characteristic or characteristics set you apart from the others? Write about what you observed and experienced, providing context for the situation and including relevant descriptive details.
- Everyone understands the benefits of laughter. For example, someone once said, "Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." Many other people believe that laughter is an important part of any relationship. Tell a true story in which laughter was one element or part.
- Is it true that there's no such thing as a stupid question? Tell a story about a time when you were afraid that a question you wanted to ask might make you look foolish, inattentive, or rude. What happened?
- Think of a vacation that really stands out. Write about the events that set it apart from other vacations. Be sure to include descriptive details in your explanation of events.
- Think about an accomplishment or experience in your life that stands out. Examples could be the first time you rode a bicycle, went out on a date, or had a job interview. Write about what you observed and experienced, providing context for the situation and including relevant descriptive details.
- Which personal relationship is the most important in your life? What aspects of this relationship make it the most important to you at this time? Do you foresee this relationship changing over time? Tell a story explaining the importance of this particular relationship at this point in your life.
One final note about choosing your topic: Keep the length of the assignment in mind. You'll be asked to write between 750 and 2,500 words. That's about three to ten double-spaced pages, so pick a topic or event that you can describe in more than a few paragraphs, but not one that's so involved you would need a whole book to tell it. This is called the scope of your topic, and keep it in mind during the writing process.
How to Structure Your Essay
To make a clear overall point, any story needs a beginning, a middle, and an end. In short, authors must provide their readers with a sense that every event starts and then subsequently finishes. However, no story can relate every detail of what happened in a given situation. Therefore, each individual writer must choose details carefully and use them to build a scene that reflects the chosen point or mood. To review how to plan and organize your ideas, return to Section 2.1, Generating Ideas and Planning.
As you begin to write, remember to keep your purpose in mind. The purpose of a personal narrative is usually to inform the reader of important events in the writer's life, but also to entertain the reader by keeping the story engaging and moving along at a good pace. Remember that your narrative should not simply be a list of events. It should have a point that's of interest to your readers.
The Introduction
There are many appropriate and interesting ways to begin an essay. Whatever method you use, you must catch the readers' attention and give your audience an idea of what will follow. The first sentence (or even the first paragraph) should be like a store window; it should make people who might otherwise pass by stop and enter the store. You can choose to appeal to your readers' curiosity or feelings to engage them. Your primary objective is to hook the audience and get them interested in reading more.
Take a look at what should happen in the introductory paragraph.
Define the Topic
You've been given an assignment to write an essay about one of your hobbies. How can you get your reader interested in what you have to say? Normally, the simplest way is to plunge right into your subject.
Here's an example.
For hundreds of years, hunting was necessary to avoid starvation. Even though it's no longer a required activity to keep our families fed, some of us still find the thrill of the hunt and the connection to nature intoxicating. Hunting is absolutely my favorite hobby and one that I'm able to enjoy with my friends and family.
This is an example of a good, direct beginning. The paragraph has
- Defined the subject
- Stated that there's a difference of opinion about it
- Invited the reader to go on and read more
One word of warning about this kind of introduction: Don't literally start your essay with a dictionary definition. You may have read essays that start with something like, "Merriam-Webster's dictionary defines hunting as . . . " This is a dull and clichéd way to introduce any essay, and you should avoid it. Instead, let the reader know what the topic means to you or how you're going to talk about it in the narrative.
Start with an Incident or Anecdote
Plunging directly into the subject is certainly not the only way to catch the readers' attention. You may also start with an incident, an anecdote, or some personal experience—something that will appeal to the readers' personal curiosity.
Consider another example.
My grandfather took me into the Smoky Mountains for my very first hunting trip. After years of listening to his stories, I looked forward to finally seeing him in action. However, what I remember most about that weekend is the time we spent together. He taught me lessons that I'll never forget.
While this paragraph will require more information to be complete, the personal anecdote provides an effective beginning.
Start with a Bang
You can interest your reader in your subject with a startling, striking, or unexpected beginning. To do so, you'll need to make a special effort to find something surprising to relate to your topic. If you can do it, it's an excellent way to start.
Let's consider a third example, one that incorporates a sense of mystery.
Bang! The sound of the gun startled me almost as much as it did the ducks who flew out of the brush. I thought I knew what a gunshot would sound like, but it was so much louder and more frightening than I could have imagined. My hands shook for ten minutes afterwards, but luckily my grandfather was there to calm my fears by explaining how to handle a rifle safely. That was only the first of many life lessons he taught me on that trip.
This example begins with something very unexpected: the sound of a gunshot. Immediately, the reader wants to know what's going on and thus will keep reading.
Goals of an Introductory Paragraph
Following the opening sentence, the introductory paragraph should solidify your topic and your approach, setting the mood and tone for the remainder of the essay. Save the actual story for the body paragraphs. Use your introduction to build suspense, interest your reader, and establish an overview or preview of your writing.
Your introduction doesn't need to be written first. Some writers find it helpful to write the body of the essay first and then go back to write the introduction later.
Your Thesis Statement
Finally, aside from an interesting beginning, keep in mind that your essay needs to have a strong thesis statement, one that will be supported by the essay as a whole. Your thesis statement declares the main idea of the entire paper and should be located in your introductory paragraph.
- It should be concise, summarizing your point in one clear sentence.
- It should state the reason you're telling this particular story.
- It must be present not only to help grab the readers' attention but also to inform the readers of the approach you're taking on a particular topic in your essay.
Your thesis statement is simply your main idea for the essay. Remember the slant you're taking on your story. In the previous examples, the writer is telling the story because of the many lessons learned from their grandfather on these hunting trips. By the end of the introduction, the reader knows that the body of the story will contain those lessons and how the writer's grandfather taught them.
The Body
The body of your essay should consist of several fully developed paragraphs expanding on the main points of the essay (mentioned in your introduction) according to the approach defined in your thesis statement.
The number of body paragraphs will vary depending on the assignment. Often, short papers make use of the five-paragraph essay, which has one introductory paragraph, one summary paragraph, and three body paragraphs for a total of five. This isn't always an appropriate length, and for longer assignments (such as some assignments in this course) you'll need five to seven body paragraphs. However, the essential structure—an introductory paragraph with a thesis statement, several body paragraphs that support the thesis statement, and a concluding paragraph—remains the same.
Be sure that you include appropriate and logical transitions between ideas within paragraphs as well as between the paragraphs themselves. One idea must follow another logically as you lead your readers through your story.
Since the introduction sets up the content of the body paragraphs, there should be no material in the body of the essay that's different from what's promised in the introductory paragraph. For example, if your introduction promises the story of a hunting trip with your grandfather, you shouldn't also write about your grandfather moving to another state years later.
The body of your essay should contain your story from beginning to end. The story itself shouldn't begin in the introduction or end in the conclusion. Keep it confined to the body paragraphs. The introduction and conclusion help the reader interpret your story based on your thesis statement.
The Conclusion
The conclusion paragraph should restate the content of the introduction, summarize the main points covered in the body paragraphs, tie up any loose ends, and bring closure to the essay.
Be sure that your conclusion restates the overall message of your narrative so that your readers are left with your main point fresh in their minds. The best conclusions are directly tied to the introduction and give closure to the work as a whole. This isn't the place to write the actual ending to your story or to introduce new information.
CONCLUSION VERSUS ENDING
A conclusion and an ending aren't the same. The ending of your story should be contained in the body; the conclusion paragraph has its own job to do.
To use the example of the writer who went hunting with their grandfather, the final body paragraph might relate the end of a particular hunting trip. The conclusion might then restate a few of the lessons that the grandfather taught, and the writer might elaborate a little more on why those lessons are important or how the writer was able to use them in the future. This way, the story itself ends in the final body paragraph, and the conclusion helps the reader interpret the story.
Voice
Personal narratives should be casual and are often emotional. If you're writing about something you feel very strongly about, your story should evoke emotions in your readers as well: happiness, sorrow, excitement, joy, anger, or something else. When you show your audience how you feel about something and why, your readers can recognize your sincerity. Your sincerity will in turn allow your readers to relate to you or your situation.
Be firm about your opinions, feelings, and views so that the reader may get a clear picture of who you are and what you stand for.
Use the voice and tone that come most naturally to you, but keep in mind that this is an academic assignment. While your writing can be somewhat informal, you'll need to use appropriate language and proper grammar.
It's very important to use your own vocabulary. An essay in which the author has made repeated use of a thesaurus without understanding the flavor of the words stands out, but not in a good way. When you honor your own voice and use the words you know, your writing sounds authentic, and an audience will recognize and appreciate this.
Begin by writing the way that you speak. After you have your story down, you can go back and correct grammar, word choice, and sentence structure.
Earlier in this course, you learned about the writing process and its effectiveness. Now is your chance to use that process to your advantage, as it will allow you to draft your essay efficiently and effectively. You'll recognize these stages of the writing process from earlier in your course, but they're reproduced here to remind you what you've learned.
Prewriting
The first thing to do during the prewriting stage is to determine your purpose, medium, and audience. For this essay, your medium is the personal narrative, and your audience consists of a general and diverse population of people who aren't familiar with you, your life, or your work. What you need to establish, for the purpose of beginning your essay, is your purpose.
Your goal is to use one or more of the types of prewriting discussed in the previous lesson (brainstorming, freewriting, webbing, and journal keeping) to find a specific idea for your focus.
Try any of these to help you get started:
- If you can't think of anything to write down, just start typing what's going through your mind. Eventually, thoughts that are relevant and related will begin to come to you.
- Don't think too much about it or apply too much pressure on yourself. Just write anything and everything you can think of.
- Unless you're relatively focused on a particular topic, do your prewriting exercises on all different topics. If you've chosen a topic or a specific area of focus, try to confine your prewriting exercises to that one topic or area.
- You can use full sentences and paragraphs, or you may simply use words and phrases. You may even use a combination of both. You should use whatever makes you most comfortable and allows you to express your ideas.
- If you get stuck, try taking a different approach to some of the words, phrases, or sentences you've already written down. Soon, new ideas will begin to surface.
- If it doesn't contribute to nervousness about the assignment, try to set a time limit and write continuously during that time.
- During this stage, don't be concerned about how your writing sounds. The idea in this stage of the writing process is to try to discover ideas that might not otherwise occur to you.
When you finish your prewriting activities, save the file or hang on to the piece of paper. If you decide to change the direction of your essay during the revision process, referring back to prewriting exercises may help to make organizational decisions easier.
Planning
Once you've established an acceptable topic, you must decide which ideas you wish to include, organizing them in a logical order. Outlining or mapping may help you make some difficult decisions. Keep in mind, however, that effective planning requires you to have a firm grasp on your purpose, medium, and audience.
During the planning stage, you'll be writing your main ideas and organizing them in an order that your audience will be able to understand. This will set up a framework for paragraph development in the next stage. Remember, you can always change the order later; getting your ideas down is the primary goal.
First Draft
Once you've established your purpose and decided on the points you would like to include, you're ready to begin writing your first draft. For your own well-being, don't try to perfect the first draft while you're in the middle of writing it. Don't attempt to write, edit, and revise each sentence and paragraph as you proceed. This will only cause frustration and slow you down. For the time being, you can simply fill in the paragraphs indicated by your outline.
Revising/Editing
Revision requires you to look at your essay as a member of your audience. Your concern at this point is the overall message conveyed by your essay, or the "big picture."
Ask yourself these questions:
- Are my purpose and meaning clear? If not, you may need to reorganize your topics or take a different approach to your essay.
- Are there sections of the essay that don't contribute to my established purpose? If so, delete those sections.
- Are there sections of the essay that require more information to be clear? If so, add more information as needed.
- Are there sections of the essay that should be moved for the sake of clarification? If so, try to determine where the information will make the most sense.
- Are there concepts or ideas that could be combined? If so, you may have to combine concepts/ideas into single paragraphs. Remember, details within a paragraph should support the paragraph's main idea or topic sentence. Your goal is to give the reader a clear and concise explanation.
During editing, your goal is to establish a clear, concise writing style. You should focus on grammar, sentence structure, and word usage.
Make changes and improvements in these areas:
- Vary sentence lengths.
- Look for and delete unnecessary words.
- Eliminate irrelevant information.
- Get rid of clichés.
- Use specific, concrete words.
- Replace generalities with specifics.
- Make sure your tone is appropriate.
CHECK AGAIN
You may have to repeat the revision stage several times. In fact, you may repeat these checks until you're completely satisfied with what you've produced.
Proofreading
In this stage, you'll clean up your writing to make it presentable to the audience. Since typographical errors as well as errors in grammar, spelling, and punctuation, can interfere with the clarity of your essay, you must eliminate them. You should also use this stage to check your formatting—that is, visual issues such as line spacing, font size, and font style. Your final draft should be as close to perfection (or to the requirements of the assignment) as possible.
Check for the following:
- Consistent paragraph indentation
- Typographical and spelling errors
- Correct punctuation
- Correct capitalization
- Grammar errors
- Confused words, such as homonyms and homophones
- Repeated words, sentences, and lines
- Skipped lines, sentences, and paragraphs
It's also helpful to have someone read your paper, such as a friend or family member. Often, people don't know that they use certain words too frequently, or that they consistently misapply a rule of grammar. Having someone else read your paper is a great way to help spot small flaws in whatever you're writing, and it helps you carry those lessons forward to become a better writer.
While they're not foolproof, spell-check and grammar-check programs will help you to locate possible problems. Be aware, though, that these programs will not find every error. For instance, suppose you use a word incorrectly in a sentence but manage to spell it correctly. The spell-check feature—since it only checks spelling, not context—won't catch this error. The same holds true for the grammar-check feature. Neither should be trusted completely; both should be used with caution when proofreading.
PROOFREADING TIP
Try to get an outside opinion, as it's difficult to spot problems or errors when you've been immersed in writing. A new set of eyes may notice what you can no longer see. Computer programs that check for spelling or grammar aren't designed to actually "read" your essay and can't make judgments about tone and word meaning that a human can.
Presenting
Presenting is the final stage of the writing process and, for most students, the most exciting. During this stage, you'll submit your essay for grading.
Before you "present" your essay, take a final run through the steps of the writing process to ensure that you haven't overlooked anything. Your goal is to make your final draft as perfect as possible.
All work submitted to Penn Foster High School for grading must be entirely original.
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, to plagiarize is "(a) to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own; to use (another's production) without crediting the source; (b) to commit literary theft; to present as new and original an idea or product derived from an existing source." While these definitions may seem harsh, plagiarism is a very serious offense, and harsh punishment may result from commission of this act.
Blatant, direct copying of another's words is plagiarism, but paraphrasing another's ideas is plagiarism as well. Plagiarism is the theft of words or ideas, often both. If you haven't constructed the logic of your essay by yourself, if you've "borrowed" wording that you feel is well done, or if you're using another writer's words and/or ideas to create your own work, you're likely committing plagiarism. The most surefire way to avoid plagiarism is to start from scratch using the writing process and, as tempting as it is, avoid doing any type of research or seeking out "examples" of how a personal essay should be written. Simply follow the directions in the assignment and rely on your instructors to answer your questions.
Watch this video, 10 Types of Plagiarism, which provides information on specific types of plagiarism.
If any portion of your writing uses ideas, phrases, or structure from another source and you don't cite that source, you could earn a failing grade of 1% for the exam. This will be at the discretion of the Penn Foster instructional team. When a Penn Foster High School exam is found to contain plagiarism, the following steps are taken:
- The exam in question is awarded a grade of 1%.
- Upon posting of the grade, the student gains access to an instructor feedback file, which indicates where the exam content was found, provides an explanation of plagiarism, and extends a warning regarding possible disciplinary action.
- The student is required to complete the retake assignment, constructing an entirely new essay.
Please refer to the section, "Academic Integrity," in the Penn Foster High School Student Catalog for more information.
READING ASSIGNMENT
To complete this examination, follow these steps:
- Use a word-processing program, preferably Microsoft Word, to complete the examination.
- At the top of every page, include your name and student number.
- Be sure to save your work. If you don't have access to Microsoft Word, you must properly format your document by clicking Save As, naming it using the student number_exam number format (for example, 12345678_007175), and choosing File Type: Rich Text Format. This exam must be uploaded as a .doc or .rtf file to be graded electronically.
This video outlines what a personal narrative is, the essay requirements, and how to save and upload the assignment for grading.
To submit your exam, follow these steps:
- From your student portal, click Take Exam next to the lesson you've completed.
- Be sure to save your work.
- Attach your file as follows:
a. Click on the Browse box.
b. Locate the file you wish to attach.
c. Double-click on the file.
d. Click on Upload File.
- Click on Submit Files.
- After you've submitted your project, you'll be able to see it by clicking View Project.
Writing Assignment
Now that you've learned about the requirements of a personal narrative essay, it's time for you to write your own. Remember that a personal narrative should focus on the feelings, memories, and experiences of the author—you—and should tell a story about the author's life.
Be sure to review all of the information below before submitting your essay.
Formatting Requirements
- Please be sure to include your name, student number, and exam number on the very first page of your essay. You may include this information in a header if you wish to do so.
- Using Microsoft Word, type your paper; it must be submitted in .doc, .docx, or .rtf format for grading purposes.
- Use double-spacing, standard one-inch margins, and a font no larger than the equivalent of Times New Roman 12.
- Your final draft should contain between 750 and 2,500 words.
- Please save your document using your student number, the appropriate exam number, and your last name, all connected by underscore (_) symbols.
Final Review
Ask yourself all of the following questions before you consider submitting your essay for grading. If your answer to even one of these questions is no, then you still have some work to do.
- Does my introduction attempt to hook the reader?
- Does my essay have a clear and specific thesis statement?
- Does my essay accurately tell my story?
- Does my essay indicate why I'm telling my story?
- Have I described only my own experiences?
- Have I used the first-person point of view (the pronoun "I") throughout the essay?
- Have I clearly indicated where paragraphs begin and end?
- Does each of my paragraphs support my thesis statement?
- Does my conclusion summarize and give closure to my essay?
- Have I effectively proofread my essay?
- Have I met the length requirement?
- Is my essay formatted according to the instructions?
If you've answered yes to every question, you're ready to submit!
