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SERVICE TERMS

Last Updated Date: February 14, 2024

Welcome to the e-commerce shops, digital platforms, websites, applications ("apps"), widgets, blogs, or other online offerings owned or operated by Learneo, Inc.; and any of their affiliates or subsidiary companies (collectively, “Student Brands,” “we,” “our,” or “us”), including but not limited to bartleby.com (“Bartleby”); studymode.com, cram.com, paperrater.com, and all other online offerings (collectively, the “Services”) that post links to these Service Terms (the “Service Terms”). Your use of and access to our Services is governed by these specific Service Terms and the Learneo Terms of Service available here (the “Learneo Terms of Service”) (collectively, as amended from time to time, the “Terms”). In the event of a conflict between these Service Terms and the Learneo Terms of Service, these Service Terms shall govern. The Services include the online Services, resources, forums, contests or sweepstakes offered or operated by Student Brands.

Please review the Terms carefully before using the Services. The Terms govern each user’s (“you” or “your”) use of and/or access to the Services.

By using or accessing the Services, you acknowledge and agree that you have read, understood and agree to be bound by the Terms. You also acknowledge that you have read and understood our data practices as described in the Privacy Policy applicable to the Services and Content you use.

The Terms affect your legal rights, responsibilities and obligations, govern your use of the Services, are legally binding, limit Student Brands’ liability to you, and require you to indemnify us and to settle certain disputes through individual arbitration. Please note that nothing in the Terms affects your mandatory statutory rights under applicable law, to the extent that such rights apply to you and cannot be limited or excluded.

If you do not wish to be bound by the Terms, and any applicable Additional Terms (defined below), you should not use or access the Services, and, where applicable, you should uninstall any Services downloads and applications.

In some instances, you may be subject to different or additional terms and conditions, policies and guidelines (“Additional Terms”) that are applicable to certain parts of the Services. Those Additional Terms will be posted on the Services in connection with the relevant offering. In the event of a conflict between these Service Terms and the Additional Terms, the Additional Terms shall control.

The Terms and the Additional Terms are subject to change at any time, so we encourage you to periodically review all terms and conditions posted on the Services. If we make any material changes to the Terms or the applicable Additional Terms, we will post the updated version(s), along with an effective date, and notify you by means of a notice on the Services. In the event that you have these Service Terms, or the Learneo Terms of Service cached on your browser, the Service Terms and the Learneo Terms of Service that apply to you are the most recent versions of the Service Terms and the Learneo Terms of Service that appear on a non-cached browser.

If any changes to the Terms or Additional Terms are not acceptable to you, you must stop your access to and/or use of the Services and, where applicable, uninstall any Services downloads and applications.

1. Ownership; Your Rights to Use the Services and Content.

Ownership . The Services and all of its content (collectively, “Content”), including all copyrights, patents, trademarks, service marks, trade names and all other intellectual property rights therein (“Intellectual Property”), are owned or controlled by Student Brands, our licensors, and certain other third parties. All right, title, and interest in and to the Content and Intellectual Property available via the Services is the property of Student Brands, our licensors or certain other third parties, and is protected by U.S. and international copyright, trademark, trade dress, patent and/or other Intellectual Property and unfair competition rights and laws to the fullest extent possible. Student Brands owns the copyright in the selection, compilation, assembly, arrangement, and enhancement of the Content on the Services.
Display, view, use, and play the Content on a computer, mobile or other internet enabled or permitted device (“Device”) and/or print one copy of the Content (excluding source and object code in raw form or otherwise) as it is displayed to you;
Subject to any applicable Additional Terms, if the Services includes a “Send to Friend,” social media sharing or similar tool that allows you to initiate and send to one or more of your contacts a communication that includes Content, or to post our Content to third-party services or your own site or online service, and the tool is operational, use the tool to do so; provided, however, that you do not do so in any manner that violates applicable law or third-party rights or reflects negativity on us, and only send to recipients you have permission to contact;
If the Services includes a “Download” link next to a piece of Content (including, without limitation, an image, an icon, a wallpaper, a music track, a video, a trailer, an RSS feed), you may only download a single copy of such Content to a single Device;
Download, install and use one copy of any software, including apps, that we make available on or through the Services (“Software”) on your Device in machine-executable object code form only and make one additional copy for back-up purposes; provided, however, that you understand and agree that: (i) by allowing you to download the Software, Student Brands does not transfer title to the Software to you (i.e., you own the medium on which the Software is recorded, but the Software's owner (which may be Student Brands and/or its third-party Software licensor) will retain full and complete title to such Software); (ii) you may not copy, modify, adapt, translate into any language, distribute, or create derivative works based on the Software, except as expressly authorized in the Terms or applicable Additional Terms, without the prior written consent of Student Brands; (iii) you may not assign, rent, lease, or lend the Software to any person or entity, and any attempt by you to sublicense, transfer, or assign the Software will be void and of no effect; and (iv) you may not decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, or attempt to reconstruct, identify, or discover any source code, underlying ideas, underlying user interface techniques, or algorithms of the Software by any means whatsoever, except to the extent the foregoing restriction is prohibited by applicable law;
If made available to you, obtain a registered personal account (and/or related username and password) on the Services and interact with the Services in connection therewith;
Link to the Services from a website or other online service, so long as: (a) the links only incorporate text, and do not use any Student Brands’ names, logos, or images, (b) the links and the content on your website do not suggest any affiliation with Student Brands or cause any other confusion, and (c) the links and the content on your website do not portray Student Brands or its products or services in a false, misleading, derogatory, or otherwise offensive manner, and do not contain content that is unlawful, offensive, obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, violent, threatening, harassing, or abusive, or that violate any right of any third-party or are otherwise objectionable to Student Brands. Student Brands reserves the right to suspend or prohibit linking to the Services for any reason, in its sole discretion, without advance notice or any liability of any kind to you or any third-party;
Stream the Content using any of the widgets and/or other digital streaming internet video players, if any, provided on the Services; and
Use any other functionality expressly provided by Student Brands on or through the Services for use by users, subject to the Terms(including, without limitation, functionality to create and/or post User-Generated Content (as defined below)) and any applicable Additional Terms..
Additional Terms for Usage Subscriptions . Purchases of usage subscriptions (e.g., credits, points, and/or virtual currency) or any virtual items made available on the Services are nonrefundable, have no monetary value (i.e., are not a cash account or equivalent), and are purchases of only a limited, non-exclusive, revocable, non-assignable, personal, and non-transferable license to use those items only, even if such came with a durational term (e.g., a monthly subscription). Any attempt to transfer, assign or otherwise sell or trade such subscription, regardless of manner or method, is null and void. Suspension or termination thereof results in the forfeit of the suspended or terminated subscription or items, except as may be noted in the applicable Additional Terms. As permitted by law, we are not responsible for repairing or reissuing any credit or refund or any other sum, as a result of our modification of any usage subscriptions or virtual item, or for loss or damage due to error, or any other reason.
Additional Terms for Bartleby Tutor . One-time purchases of minutes to be used for real-time tutoring sessions offered through Bartleby Tutor must be used within ninety (90) days from the date of purchase. Any unused minutes thereafter are nonrefundable and cannot be redeemed for any credit or other value. Minutes purchased through subscriptions to Bartleby Tutor expire upon any cancellation of the Bartleby Tutor subscription; any unused minutes at the time of such cancellation cannot be refunded or otherwise be credited back to your account.
Rights of Others . In using the Services, you must respect the Intellectual Property and rights of others and Learneo. Your unauthorized use of Content may violate the rights of others and applicable laws and may result in your civil and criminal liability. If you believe that your work has been infringed via the Services, see Section 5 below.
Reservation of all Rights Not Granted as to Services and Content . The Terms and any applicable Additional Terms include only narrow, limited grants of rights to use and access the Services and Content. No right or license may be construed, under any legal theory, by implication, estoppel, industry custom, or otherwise. ALL RIGHTS NOT EXPRESSLY GRANTED TO YOU ARE RESERVED BY STUDENT BRANDS AND ITS LICENSORS AND OTHER THIRD PARTIES. Any unauthorized use of any Content or the Services for any purpose is prohibited.
Third-Party Services . We are not responsible for third parties or their content, advertisement(s), apps or sites (“Third-Party Services”). For instance, portions of the Services may be integrated into or linked to third-party sites, platforms and apps that we do not control. Similarly, we may make ads and third-party content or services, which we also may not control, available to you on or via our Services. This may include the ability to register or sign into our Services using third-party tools, and to post content on third-party sites and services using their plug-ins made available on our Services. Use caution when dealing with third parties and consult their terms of use and privacy policies. We take no responsibility for Third-party Services and will not be liable for any damages caused by your use or reliance on Third-Party Services. If you are accessing or using the Services through Apple, Android, or any other mobile operating system platform, these are Third-Party Services. If you access our apps via Apple, see below for Additional Terms that are applicable to you and are incorporated into the Terms by this reference.
To the extent that you are accessing the Services through an Apple mobile application, you acknowledge that the Terms are entered into between you and Student Brands and that Apple, Inc. (“Apple”) is not a party to the Terms other than as third-party beneficiary, as contemplated below.
The license granted to you by Student Brands under the Terms is subject to the permitted Usage Rules set forth in the Apple Media Services Terms and Conditions ( see : http://www.apple.com/legal/itunes/us/terms.html ) and any third-party terms of use applicable to the Student Brands Services you use.
You acknowledge that Student Brands, and not Apple, is responsible for providing the Services and Content as defined in the Terms.
You acknowledge that Apple has no obligation whatsoever to furnish any maintenance or any support services to you with respect to the Services and Content.
To the maximum extent not prohibited by applicable law, Apple will have no other warranty obligation whatsoever with respect to the Services and Content.
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary herein, and subject to the Terms, you acknowledge that, solely as between Apple and Student Brands, Student Brands and not Apple is responsible for addressing any claims you may have relating to the Services and Content, or your possession and/or use thereof, including, but not limited, to: (A) product liability claims; (B) any claim that the Services fails to conform to any applicable legal or regulatory requirement; and (C) claims arising under consumer protection or similar legislation.
Further, you agree that if the Services, or your access to and use of the Services, infringes on a third-party’s Intellectual Property rights, you will not hold Apple responsible for the investigation, defense, settlement and discharge of any such Intellectual Property infringement claims.
You acknowledge and agree that Apple, and Apple’s subsidiaries, are third-party beneficiaries of the Terms, and that, upon your acceptance of the Terms, Apple will have the right (and will be deemed to have accepted the right) to enforce the Terms against you as a third-party beneficiary thereof.

2. Content You Submit; Interactive Community Rules; Content Moderation and Content Recommendations.

Except as otherwise described in the Services’ posted Privacy Policy , or any applicable Additional Terms, you agree: (A) your UGC will be treated as non-confidential and non-proprietary by us – regardless of whether you mark them “confidential,” “proprietary,” or the like – and will not be returned, and (B) to the maximum extent not prohibited by applicable law, Student Brands does not assume any obligation of any kind to you or any third-party with respect to your UGC. Upon request, you will provide documentation necessary to authenticate rights to such content and verify your compliance with the Terms or any applicable Additional Terms. You acknowledge that the Internet and mobile communications may be insecure and subject to breaches of security; accordingly, you acknowledge and agree that your UGC is submitted at your own risk.
In your communications with Student Brands, please keep in mind that we do not seek any unsolicited ideas or materials for products or services, or even suggested improvements to products or services, including, without limitation, ideas, concepts, inventions, or designs for music, websites, apps, books, scripts, screenplays, motion pictures, television shows, theatrical productions, software or otherwise (collectively, “Unsolicited Ideas and Materials”). Any Unsolicited Ideas and Materials you submit are deemed UGC and licensed to us as set forth below. In addition, Student Brands retains all of the rights held by members of the general public with regard to your Unsolicited Ideas and Materials. Student Brands’ receipt of your Unsolicited Ideas and Materials is not an admission by Student Brands of their novelty, priority, or originality, and it does not impair Student Brands ’s right to contest existing or future Intellectual Property rights relating to your Unsolicited Ideas and Materials.
License to Student Brands of Your UGC. Except as otherwise described in any applicable Additional Terms (such as a promotion’s official rules), which specifically govern the submission of your UGC, or in our Privacy Policy , you hereby grant Student Brands the non-exclusive, unrestricted, unconditional, unlimited, worldwide, irrevocable, perpetual, and cost-free right and license to use, copy, record, distribute, reproduce, disclose, sell, re-sell, sublicense (through multiple levels), display, publicly perform, transmit, publish, broadcast, translate, make derivative works of, and otherwise use and exploit in any manner whatsoever, all or any portion of your UGC (and derivative works thereof), for any purpose whatsoever in all formats, on or through any means or medium now known or hereafter developed, and with any technology or devices now known or hereafter developed, and to advertise, market, and promote the same. Without limitation, the granted rights include the right to: (A) configure, host, index, cache, archive, store, digitize, compress, optimize, modify, reformat, edit, adapt, publish in searchable format, and remove such UGC and combine same with other materials, and (B) use any ideas, concepts, know-how, or techniques contained in any UGC for any purposes whatsoever, including developing, producing, and marketing products and/or services. You understand that in exercising such rights, metadata, notices and content may be removed or altered, including copyright management information, and you consent thereto and represent and warrant you have all necessary authority to do so. In order to further effect the rights and license that you grant to Student Brands to your UGC, you also, as permitted by applicable law, hereby grant to Student Brands, and agree to grant to Student Brands, the unconditional, perpetual, irrevocable right to use and exploit your name, persona, and likeness in connection with any UGC, without any obligation or remuneration to you. Except as prohibited by law, you hereby waive, and you agree to waive, any moral rights (including attribution and integrity) that you may have in any UGC, even if it is altered or changed in a manner not agreeable to you. To the extent not waivable, you irrevocably agree not to exercise such rights (if any) in a manner that interferes with any exercise of the granted rights. You understand that you will not receive any fees, sums, consideration, or remuneration for any of the rights granted in this section.
Student Brands may, but will not have any obligation to, review, monitor, display, post, store, maintain, accept, or otherwise make use of, any of your UGC, and Student Brands may, in its sole discretion, reject, delete, move, re-format, remove or refuse to post or otherwise make use of UGC without notice or any liability to you or any third-party in connection with our operation of UGC venues in an appropriate manner, such as to enhance accessibility of UGC, address copyright infringement, and protect Users from harmful UGC. Without limitation, we may, but do not commit to, do so to address content that comes to our attention that we believe is offensive, obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, violent, harassing, threatening, abusive, illegal or otherwise objectionable or inappropriate, or to enforce the rights of third parties or the Terms or any applicable Additional Terms. Such UGC submitted by you or others need not be maintained on the Services by us for any period of time, and you will not have the right, once submitted, to access, archive, maintain, change, remove, or otherwise use such UGC on the Services or elsewhere, except that California minors have certain rights to have certain content about them that they have themselves posted on the Services prospectively removed from public display as provided for in the Privacy Policy .
Each time you submit any UGC, you represent and warrant that you are at least the age of majority in the jurisdiction in which you reside, or are the parent or legal guardian, or have all proper consents from the parent or legal guardian, of any minor who is depicted in or contributed to any UGC you submit, and that, as to that UGC: (A) you are the sole author and owner of the Intellectual Property and other rights to the UGC, or you have a lawful right to submit the UGC and grant Student Brands the rights to it that you are granting by the Terms and any applicable Additional Terms, all without any Student Brands’ obligation to obtain consent of any third-party and without creating any obligation or liability of Student Brands; (B) the UGC is accurate; (C) the UGC does not and, as to Student Brands’ permitted uses and exploitation set forth in the Terms, will not infringe any Intellectual Property or other right of any third-party; and (D) the UGC will not violate the Terms or any applicable Additional Terms, or cause injury or harm to any person.
Any UGC (including chat messages, links, video, photo, audio or other media content) that you submit in connection with Bartleby Tutor may be made publicly available through Student Brands’ library of searchable content. Such UGC may be accessible by anyone, including Student Brands. We encourage you to not include any personally identifiable information in any UGC you submit to Student Brands, Bartleby, the tutors, or any other third parties in relation to the Bartleby Tutor, and to exercise caution when making decisions about what you disclose when using our Services in general.
You may use the Interactive Community only for lawful purposes and in accordance with the Terms. If you are using our Interactive Community, and post, publish or communicate any UGC on or through the Interactive Community, please choose carefully the information that you post and/or provide to other users.
You may not post on or transmit through the Services any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, sexually explicit, profane, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material of any kind, including any material that encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability or otherwise violate any law, rule or regulation of the laws applicable to you or applicable in the country in which the material is posted. We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to reject, refuse to post or remove any posting or other UGC (including private messages) from you, or to deny, restrict, suspend or terminate access to all or any part of the Interactive Community at any time, for any or no reason, without prior notice or explanation and without liability.
You may not post UGC that: (A) involves the transmission of "junk mail", "chain letters" or unsolicited mass mailing, instant messaging, "spimming" or "spamming"; (B) contains restricted or password-only access pages or hidden pages or images (those not linked to or from another accessible page); (C) solicits passwords or personal identifying information for commercial or unlawful purposes from other users; (D) involves commercial activities and/or sales such as contests, sweepstakes, barter, advertising or pyramid schemes; (E) includes a photograph or video of another person that you have posted without that person's consent; (F) circumvents or modifies, or attempts to circumvent or modify, or encourages or assists any other person in circumventing or modifying any security technology or software that is part of the Services; (G) involves the use of viruses, bots, worms or any other computer code, files or programs that may interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware, or otherwise may permit the unauthorized use of or access to a computer or a computer network; (H) covers or obscures the banner advertisements on your personal profile page; (I) involves any automated use of the Services, such as using scripts to add friends or send comments or messages; (J) interferes with, disrupts or creates an undue burden on the Services or the networks or services connected to the Interactive Community; (K) impersonates or attempts to impersonate another Interactive Community user, person or entity; (L) uses the account, username or password of another Interactive Community user at any time or discloses your password to any third party or permits any third party to access your account; (M) sells or otherwise transfers your profile; or (N) uses any information obtained from the Services or Interactive Community in order to harass, abuse or harm another person or entity, or attempts to do the same.
We reserve the right, in our sole discretion, to remove your profile and/or deny, restrict, suspend or terminate your access to all or any part of the Interactive Community for any reason.
If you become aware of misuse of the Interactive Community, including any unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, sexually explicit, profane, hateful, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable material of any kind, material that encourages conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, gives rise to civil liability or otherwise violates any applicable law, please contact us at [email protected]. Notwithstanding the foregoing and to the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we assume no responsibility for ongoing monitoring of the Interactive Community or for removal or editing of any UGC, even after receiving notice. We assume no liability for any action or inaction with respect to conduct, communication or UGC within the Interactive Community. You are solely responsible for all activities that occur within the Interactive Community. The Interactive Community is not designed for use by individuals under the age of 18 years ("Minors"). No children under the age of 16 are permitted to register or create user profiles, and individuals aged between 16 and 18 must participate in the Interactive Community only under the supervision of a parent or legal guardian. Numerous informational and commercial resources (such as computer hardware, software or filtering services) are available to help parents keep their children safe online. If you are interested in learning more about these resources, information is available at many sites providing information on such protections. We do not specifically sponsor or endorse any of these sites or their services.
Interactive Community users may upload to or otherwise submit to us for distribution on the Interactive Community and the Services: (A) UGC that is not subject to any copyright or other proprietary rights restrictions; or (B) UGC that the owner or licensor of any relevant rights has given express authorization for us to distribute over the Internet. You may not upload, embed, post, e-mail, transmit or otherwise make available any material that infringes any copyright, patent, trademark, trade secret or other proprietary rights of any person or entity. Any copyrighted or other proprietary UGC distributed with the consent of a copyright owner should contain a phrase such as "Copyright, owned by [name of owner]; used by permission". We are entitled to presume that all UGC conforms to the foregoing requirements. The unauthorized submission of copyrighted or other proprietary UGC is illegal and could subject the user to personal liability for damages in a civil suit as well as criminal prosecution. Interactive Community users assume all liability for any damage resulting from any infringement of copyright or proprietary rights, or for any other harm arising from an unauthorized submission or submission of UGC. We assume no liability for any damage resulting from any infringement of copyright or proprietary rights, or from any other harm arising from any UGC.
Content Moderation, Measures Use For the Purpose of Content Moderation and Content Recommendations .
Content Moderation . For services that allow users to submit content, we reserve the right to remove content that violates the Terms, which includes our policies and guidelines. For instance, we use automated systems to identify and filter out certain content that violates our policies and/or guidelines. If the system does not detect any obvious signs of a violation, the respective content will be available online.
Measures Used For the Purpose of Content Moderation . For services that allow users to submit content, in case of a violation of the Terms, which includes our policies and guidelines, or under applicable law, we will remove or disable access to your user content and terminate the accounts of those who repeatedly violate the Terms.
Content Recommendations . To the extent that our Services provides any recommendations of content, our Services uses machine learning algorithms to recommend Content, as well as User-Generated Content, to Users to help them study better. These recommendations are based on data about the Content, e.g., the Content’s engagement data (based on, e.g., user traffic), relatedness of Content (e.g., based on a Users’ search terms), etc. Our Services may change how they recommend Content and User-Generated Content to Users. See section titled “Changes to Services and Amendments to the Terms” for more information.

3. Using the Services; Services and Content Use Restrictions.

Creating an Account . Accounts may only be set up by you (and if not you, by an authorized representative of the individual that is the subject of the account and who is of the age of majority). We do not review accounts for authenticity and are not responsible for any unauthorized accounts that may appear on the Services. For any dispute as to account creation or authenticity, we shall have the sole right, but are not obligated, to resolve such dispute as we determine appropriate, without notice. If you register with us or create an account, you are solely responsible and liable for the security and confidentiality of your access credentials and for restricting access to your Device and for all activity under your account. Usernames and passwords must be personal and unique, not violate the rights of any person or entity, and not be offensive. We may reject the use of any password, username, or email address for any reason in our sole discretion. You are solely responsible for your registration information and for updating and maintaining it. You will immediately notify us here of any unauthorized use of your account, password, or username, or any other breach of security, but will remain responsible for any unauthorized use thereafter. You will not sell, transfer, or assign your account or any account rights.
Any deal terms presented to you at the time of subscription, rental, purchase, or other transaction you conduct on or initiate on the Services (“Transaction”) shall be considered Additional Terms. You agree to pay Student Brands all charges at the prices presented to you or your agent(s). You must provide, and you authorize Student Brands to charge, your chosen payment provider (your "Payment Method") when you make a purchase or subscribe to paid Services. You agree to make payment using that selected Payment Method and will only provide us information about payment methods that you are authorized to use. We allow you to save and manage your information about your Payment Method, including the full credit card number, account number, and expiration dates, for future purchases or transactions on our site. You may make changes to your default Payment Method at any time. If we are unable to charge one payment card, we may charge another valid credit card that you have entered for use on our site. You are responsible for maintaining the accuracy of the information that we have on file, and you consent to Student Brands updating such stored information from time to time based on information provided by you, your bank or payment services processors. If you initiate a chargeback dispute for any payment or transaction made on our site, Student Brands reserves the right to terminate the provision of services or delivery or products to you pending resolution of the chargeback dispute with the credit card issuer.
Subscription fees may be automatically renewed at the end of the original term selected, for a similar period of time, unless notice is received from the subscriber to terminate the subscription before renewal. Unless and until the subscription is canceled or terminated in accordance with the Terms , you hereby authorize us to charge your Payment Method to pay for the ongoing cost of the subscription. Subscription fees are NOT refundable if you request to cancel or terminate your subscription. Should a refund be issued by us, all refunds will be credited solely to the Payment Method used in the original transaction. You hereby further authorize us to charge your Payment Method for any and all additional purchases of Services and Content.
Some Transactions may be subject to taxes in certain states. Depending on your state and the nature of the product or Services you receive from us, this may be a rental tax, sales tax and/or use tax. Tax rates are different from state to state. You are responsible for paying all such taxes.
Services Use Restrictions . You agree that you will not: (i) use the Services for any political or commercial purpose (including, without limitation, for purposes of advertising, soliciting funds, collecting product prices, and selling products); (ii) use any meta tags or any other “hidden text” utilizing any Intellectual Property; (iii) engage in any activities through or in connection with the Services that seek to attempt to or do harm any individuals or entities or are unlawful, offensive, obscene, lewd, lascivious, filthy, violent, threatening, harassing, or abusive, or that violate any right of any third-party, or are otherwise objectionable to Student Brands; (iv) decompile, disassemble, reverse engineer, or attempt to reconstruct, identify, or discover any source code, underlying ideas, underlying user interface techniques, or algorithms of the Services by any means whatsoever or modify any Services source or object code or any Software or other products, services, or processes accessible through any portion of the Services; (v) engage in any activity that interferes with a user’s access to the Services or the proper operation of the Services, or otherwise causes harm to the Services, Student Brands, or other users of the Services; (vi) interfere with or circumvent any security feature (including any digital rights management mechanism, device or other content protection or access control measure) of the Services or any feature that restricts or enforces limitations on use of or access to the Services, the Content, or the UGC; (vii) harvest or otherwise collect or store any information (including personally identifiable information about other users of the Services, including email addresses, without the express consent of such users); (viii) attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Services, other computer systems or networks connected to the Services, through password mining or any other means; or (ix) otherwise violate the Terms or any applicable Additional Terms.
Content Use Restrictions . You also agree that, in using the Services, you will: (i) not monitor, gather, copy, or distribute the Content (except as may be a result of standard search engine activity or use of a standard browser) on the Services by using any robot, rover, “bot”, spider, scraper, crawler, spyware, engine, device, software, extraction tool, or any other automatic device, utility, or manual process of any kind; (ii) not frame or utilize framing techniques to enclose any the Content (including any images, text, or page layout); (iii) keep intact all trademark, copyright, and other Intellectual Property and other notices contained in the Content; (iv) not use the Content in a manner that suggests an unauthorized association with any of our or our licensors’ products, services, or brands; (v) not make any modifications to the Content (other than to the extent of your specifically permitted use of the Student Brands Licensed Elements, if applicable); (vi) not copy, modify, reproduce, archive, sell, lease, rent, exchange, create derivative works from, publish by hard copy or electronic means, publicly perform, display, disseminate, distribute, broadcast, retransmit, circulate or transfer to any third-party or on any Third-Party Services, or otherwise use or exploit the Content in any way for any purpose except as specifically permitted by the Terms or any applicable Additional Terms, or with the prior written consent of an officer of Student Brands or, in the case of the Content from a licensor or owner of the Content; and (vii) not insert any code or product to manipulate the Content in any way that adversely affects any user experience or the Services.
Availability of Services and Content . Student Brands, in its sole discretion without advance notice or liability, may immediately suspend or terminate the availability of the Services and/or Content (and any elements and features of them), in whole or in part, for any reason, in Student Brands’ sole discretion, and without advance notice or liability.
Age of Users . Unless otherwise specifically noted in the features made available to you, the Services, Content and any products and services appearing or marketed on the Services are intended for and directed towards the purchase and use by adults (those aged 18 years or above) or by individuals 16 or older with the consent of adults. Individuals over the age of 16 and under the age of 18 years may only use the Services with the supervision of a parent or legal guardian and should review the Terms with a parent or legal guardian to ensure that they understand them.
Internet Connectivity Charges . Internet connectivity is required to access the Services. Any access fees or charges applicable to your internet connectivity are solely your responsibility. Certain internet service providers, including wireless carriers, may charge fees for data connections based on the total amount of data you access. We are in no way responsible for the fees charged by or policies of internet service providers or others with whom you contract for such internet connectivity.

4. Wireless Features; Messages; Location-Based Features.

Wireless Features . The Services may offer certain features and services via your wireless Device. Features and services may include the ability to access the Services’ features, upload content to the Services, receive messages from the Services, and download applications to your wireless Device (collectively, “Wireless Features”). You agree to receive communications we may send through Wireless Features for which you are registered. Further, we may collect information related to your use of the Wireless Features. If you have registered via the Services for Wireless Features, then you agree to notify Student Brands of any changes to your wireless contact information (including phone number) and update your accounts on the Services to reflect the changes. If the Services includes push notifications or other mobile communication capability, you hereby approve of our delivery of electronic communications directly to your mobile Device. These notifications, including badge, alert or pop-up messages, may be delivered to your Device even when the Services is running in the background. You may have the ability, and it is your responsibility, to adjust the notifications you do, or do not, receive via your Device through your Device and/or app settings. Standard message, data and other fees may be charged by your carrier, and carriers may deduct charges from pre-paid amounts or data allowances, for which you are responsible. Your carrier may prohibit or restrict certain Wireless Features and certain Wireless Features may be incompatible with your carrier or wireless Device. Contact your carrier with questions regarding these issues.
You may be given opportunities to subscribe to various text marketing or other text messaging programs and by doing so, you consent to receive ongoing text alerts (including by auto-dialers) from us related to our various businesses and affiliates, which may include co-promotions with or about other parties, except that if the scope of your consent for a particular subscription is limited, that subscription will be so limited. Such consent is not required to purchase any product or Services aside from the text subscription itself. Subsequent or different subscriptions will be unaffected by an opt-out. You consent to receive a text confirming any opt-out as well as non-marketing administrative or transactional messages.
Email Messages . You may cancel or modify our email marketing communications you receive from us by following the instructions contained within our promotional emails. This will not affect subsequent subscriptions, and if your opt-out is limited to certain types of emails, the opt-out will be so limited. Please note that we reserve the right to send you certain communications relating to your account or use of our Services, such as administrative and service announcements, and these transactional account messages may be unaffected if you choose to opt-out from receiving our marketing communications.
Location-Based Features . If GPS, geo-location or other location-based features are enabled on your Device, you acknowledge that your Device location may be tracked and may be shared with others consistent with the Privacy Policy . Some Devices and platforms may allow disabling some, but not all, location-based features or managing such preferences. Typically, your proximity or connection to wi-fi, Bluetooth and other networks may still be tracked when location services are turned off on Device settings. You can terminate Device location tracking via a mobile app by us by uninstalling the application. Territory geo-filtering maybe required in connection with use of some Services features due, for instance, to Content territory restrictions. The location-based services offered in connection with Student Brands’ mobile app(s) or feature(s) are for individual use only and should not be used or relied on in any situation in which the failure or inaccuracy of use of the location-based services could lead directly to death, personal injury, or physical or property damage. Use location-based services at your own risk as location data may not be accurate.

5. Notice and Take Down Procedure for Claims of Infringement.

DMCA Notification .If you are a copyright owner who would like to send us a notice pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (“DMCA”) to identify content or material posted on the Services that is infringing and that you would like removed from our Services, or if you are a user whose work has been removed in response to such a notice of infringement and would like to file a DMCA counter-notice, you may submit such notice to us by following the instructions in this Section 5.
The electronic or physical signature of the owner of the copyright or the person authorized to act on the owner’s behalf.
A description of the copyrighted work that you claim has been infringed and a description of the infringing activity.
Identification of the location where the original or an authorized copy of the copyrighted work exists (for example, the URL of the website where it is posted or the name of the book in which it has been published).
Identification of the URL or other specific location on the Services where the material you claim is infringing is located, providing enough information to allow us to locate the material.
Your name, address, telephone number, and email address so that we may contact you.
A statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.
A statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright owner or are authorized to act on the copyright owner’s behalf.

The email address above is only for reporting copyright infringement and may not be used for any other purpose.

If you believe an individual is a repeat infringer, please follow the instructions above to contact our DMCA agent and provide information sufficient for us to verify the individual is a repeat infringer.
It is often difficult to determine if your copyright has been infringed. Student Brands may elect to not respond to DMCA notices that do not substantially comply with all of the foregoing requirements, and Bartleby may elect to remove allegedly infringing material that comes to its attention via notices that do not substantially comply with the DMCA.
a legend or subject line that says: “DMCA Counter-Notification”;
a description of the material that has been removed or to which access has been disabled and the location at which the material appeared before it was removed or access to it was disabled (please include the full URL of the page(s) on the Services from which the material was removed or access to it disabled);
a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good faith belief that the material was removed or disabled as a result of mistake or misidentification of the material to be removed or disabled;
your full name, address, telephone number, email address, and the username of your account with us (if any);
a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the Federal District Court for the judicial district in which your address is located (or, if the address is located outside the U.S.A., to the jurisdiction of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York), and that you will accept service of process from the person who provided DMCA notification to us or an agent of such person; and
your electronic or physical signature.
Receipt of DMCA Counter-Notification . If we receive a DMCA Counter-Notification, then we may replace the material that we removed (or stop disabling access to it) in not less than ten (10) and not more than fourteen (14) business days following receipt of the DMCA Counter-Notification. However, we will not do this if we first receive notice at the address above that the party who sent us the DMCA copyright infringement notice has filed a lawsuit asking a court for an order restraining the person who provided the material from engaging in infringing activity relating to the material on the Services. Upon our receipt of a Counter-Notification that satisfies the requirements of DMCA, we will provide a copy of the counter notification to the person who sent the original notification of claimed infringement and will follow the DMCA's procedures regarding counter notification. All Counter-Notifications must satisfy the requirements of Section 512(g)(3) of the U.S. Copyright Act. In all events, you expressly agree that neither Student Brands nor any of its affiliates or their employees, officers, directors, or agents will be a party to any disputes or lawsuits regarding alleged copyright infringement. Please note you may be held liable for money damages if you materially misrepresent that an activity is infringing your copyrights.

6. Product Specifications; Pricing; Typographical Errors.

We strive to accurately describe our products or services offered on the Services; however, we do not warrant that such specifications, pricing, or other content on the Services is complete, accurate, reliable, current, or error-free. As permitted by applicable law, Student Brands shall have the right to refuse or cancel any orders in its sole discretion. Your orders are offers to purchase subject to our acceptance, which we may reject or cancel subject to refund. If we charged your credit or other account prior to rejection or cancellation, we will reissue credit to your account. Additional Terms may apply. If a product you purchased or accepted from Student Brands is not as described, as permitted by applicable law, your sole remedy is to return it, to cancel the purchase and receive a credit for the purchase price.

7. Termination or Suspension.

Termination by Us . We may, upon notice to you, issue a warning, temporarily suspend, indefinitely suspend, or terminate your account or your access to all or any part of the Services for any reason in our sole discretion. In certain cases, in our sole discretion, we may provide you with a written notice (a "Restriction Notice") to inform you: (i) your right to use or access any part of the Services has been terminated, including the right to use, access or create any account thereon; (ii) we refuse to provide any Services to you; and (iii) any subsequent orders placed by you will be subject to cancellation. Other conditions may apply and shall be set forth in the Restriction Notice.
For You to Terminate . You may terminate the Terms by ceasing all use of the Services and deleting all Licensed Elements from your Device.
Effect of Termination or Suspension . Following termination (by us or by you) or suspension, you will not be permitted to use the Services. Any suspension or termination will not affect your obligations to Student Brands under the Terms or any applicable Additional Terms. Upon suspension or termination of your access to the Services, or upon notice from Student Brands, all rights granted to you under the Terms or any applicable Additional Terms will cease immediately, and you agree that you will immediately discontinue use of the Services. The provisions of the Terms and any applicable Additional Terms, which by their nature should survive your suspension or termination will survive, including the rights and licenses you grant to Student Brands in the Terms, as well as the indemnities, releases, disclaimers, and limitations on liability and the provisions regarding jurisdiction, choice of law, no class action, and mandatory arbitration.

8. Disclaimers; Exclusions and Limitations of Liability.

DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, STUDENT BRANDS AND ITS, SUBSIDIARIES, AFFILIATES, AND EACH OF THEIR RESPECTIVE EMPLOYEES, DIRECTORS, MEMBERS, MANAGERS, SHAREHOLDERS, AGENTS, VENDORS, LICENSORS, LICENSEES, CONTRACTORS, CUSTOMERS, SUCCESSORS, AND ASSIGNS (COLLECTIVELY, “STUDENT BRANDS PARTIES”) PROVIDE THE SERVICE, CONTENT, STUDENT BRANDS LICENSED ELEMENTS, OR OTHER STUDENT BRANDS PRODUCTS OR SERVICES ON AN "AS IS," "AS AVAILABLE," AND “WITH ALL FAULTS” BASIS WITHOUT ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY WHATSOEVER. THE USE OF THE SERVICES IS AT YOUR SOLE RISK. WITHOUT LIMITING THE FOREGOING, AND TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE STUDENT BRANDS PARTIES (AS APPLICABLE) DO NOT MAKE ANY REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, THAT THE SERVICES, CONTENT, LICENSED ELEMENTS, UGC OR OTHER STUDENT BRANDS PRODUCTS OR SERVICES WILL: (I) BE UNINTERRUPTED OR SECURE; (II) BE FREE OF DEFECTS, INACCURACIES OR ERRORS; OR (III) OTHERWISE MEET YOUR REQUIREMENTS. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, STUDENT BRANDS PARTIES HEREBY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES AND CONDITIONS, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, LACK OF HIDDEN OR LATENT DEFECTS, SECURITY, MERCHANTABILITY, SATISFACTORY QUALITY, QUIET ENJOYMENT AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, OR ARISING BY REASON OF CUSTOM OR USAGE IN THE TRADE OR BY COURSE OF DEALING. NOTWITHSTANDING THE FOREGOING, THIS SECTION DOES NOT EXPAND OR LIMIT: (X) ANY EXPRESS, WRITTEN PRODUCT WARRANTY OR RELATED DISCLAIMERS THAT ARE PROVIDED BY BARTLEBY PARTIES OR THEIR SUPPLIERS WITH REGARD TO A PHYSICAL PRODUCT SOLD BY BARTLEBY PARTIES TO YOU, OR ANY WARRANTY ON A PHYSICAL PRODUCT TO THE EXTENT REQUIRED BY APPLICABLE LAW; (Y) STUDENT BRANDS PARTIES’ LIABILITY FOR PERSONAL INJURY TO YOU CAUSED BY STUDENT BRANDS PARTIES TO THE EXTENT NOT WAIVABLE OR CANNOT BE LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW; OR (Z) ANY CAUSE OF ACTION YOU MAY HAVE AGAINST STUDENT BRANDS PARTIES THAT IS NOT WAIVABLE OR CANNOT BE LIMITED UNDER APPLICABLE LAW.
EXCLUSION OF DAMAGES . TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, STUDENT BRANDS PARTIES WILL NOT BE LIABLE TO YOU OR ANY THIRD PARTY FOR ANY LOST PROFITS, LOST REVENUE, LOST OR CORRUPTED DATA, OR DAMAGE TO REPUTATION OR GOODWILL OR ANY CONSEQUENTIAL, SPECIAL, INCIDENTAL, PUNITIVE OR OTHER INDIRECT DAMAGES OR LOSSES ARISING FROM, RELATING TO OR CONNECTED WITH YOUR USE OF (OR INABILITY TO USE) THE SERVICES, CONTENT, LICENSED ELEMENTS, UGC OR OTHER STUDENT BRANDS PRODUCTS OR SERVICES REGARDLESS OF THE CAUSE OF ACTION ON WHICH THE CLAIM IS BASED (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE, TORT, CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, PRODUCT DEFECT OR MISREPRESENTATION), EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES OR LOSSES.
your use of or inability to use the Services, or the performance of the Services;
any action taken in connection with an investigation by Student Brands Parties or law enforcement authorities regarding your access to or use of the Services;
any action taken in connection with copyright or other Intellectual Property owners or other rights owners;
any errors or omissions in the Services’ technical operation or security or any compromise or loss of your UGC or other data or information; or
any damage to any user’s computer, hardware, software, modem, or other equipment or technology, including damage from any security breach or from any virus, bugs, tampering, fraud, error, omission, interruption, defect, delay in operation or transmission, computer line, or network failure or any other technical or other malfunction, including losses or damages in the form of lost profits, loss of goodwill, loss of data, work stoppage, accuracy of results, or equipment failure or malfunction. The foregoing limitations of liability will apply even if any of the foregoing events or circumstances were foreseeable and even if the Student Brands Parties were advised of or should have known of the possibility of such losses or damages, regardless of whether you bring an action based in contract, negligence, strict liability, or tort (including whether caused, in whole or in part, by negligence, acts of God, telecommunications failure, or destruction of the Services).

EXCEPT AS MAY BE PROVIDED IN ANY APPLICABLE ADDITIONAL TERMS, TO THE FULLEST EXTENT NOT PROHIBITED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IN NO EVENT WILL THE STUDENT BRANDS PARTIES’ TOTAL LIABILITY TO YOU, FOR ALL POSSIBLE DAMAGES, LOSSES, AND CAUSES OF ACTION IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR ACCESS TO AND USE OF THE SERVICES AND YOUR RIGHTS UNDER THE TERMS, EXCEED AN AMOUNT EQUAL TO THE AMOUNT YOU HAVE PAID STUDENT BRANDS IN CONNECTION WITH THE TRANSACTION(S) THAT UNDERLIE THE CLAIM(S); PROVIDED, HOWEVER, THIS PROVISION WILL NOT APPLY IF A COURT OR TRIBUNAL WITH APPLICABLE JURISDICTION FINDS SUCH TO BE UNCONSCIONABLE. FOR PURPOSES OF CLARITY, THE PRIOR SENTENCE DOES NOT EXPAND OR LIMIT ANY EXPRESS, WRITTEN PRODUCT WARRANTY THAT IS PROVIDED BY STUDENT BRANDS OR A MANUFACTURER OF A PHYSICAL PRODUCT.

The liability limitations in this Section 8 are not intended to limit any express warranties from applicable product manufacturers of physical products sold via the Services, or any express warranties by Student Brands that are included in applicable Additional Terms.

APPLICABLE JURISDICTIONAL LIMITS . CERTAIN JURISDICTIONS, SUCH AS NEW JERSEY, DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF OR LIMITATIONS ON IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR THE EXCLUSION OF OR LIMITATION OF CERTAIN DAMAGES. AS SUCH, SOME OR ALL OF THE ABOVE DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU, AND YOU MAY HAVE ADDITIONAL RIGHTS.
ESSENTIAL PURPOSE .UNLESS LIMITED OR MODIFIED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE FOREGOING DISCLAIMERS, EXCLUSIONS AND LIMITATIONS APPLY, EVEN IF ANY REMEDY FAILS OF ITS ESSENTIAL PURPOSE.

9. Arbitration and Dispute Terms.

Forum Selection/Jurisdiction . Jurisdiction and venue for any controversy, allegation, or claim arising out of or relating to the Services, the Content, your UGC, these Service Terms, or any applicable Additional Terms, (collectively, “Dispute”) shall be in New York, New York. Each party submits to personal jurisdiction and venue in New York, New York for any and all purposes.
Pre-Arbitration Notification . Student Brands and you agree that it would be advantageous to discuss and hopefully resolve any Disputes before formal proceedings are initiated; provided, however, that Student Brands need not do so in circumstances where its claims of Intellectual Property rights are concerned (“IP Disputes,” with all other disputes referred to as “General Disputes”). The party making a claim – whether you or Student Brands – shall send a letter to the other side briefly summarizing the claim and the request for relief. If Student Brands is making a claim, the letter shall be sent, via email, to the email address listed in your Student Brands account, as applicable. If no such information exists or if such information is not current, then we have no notification or delay obligations under this Section 9(b). If you are making a claim, the letter shall be sent to: Learneo, Inc. Student Brands, Attn: Monique Ho, General Counsel, 2000 Seaport Blvd, Floor 3, Redwood City, CA 94063 US. If the Dispute is not resolved within sixty (60) days after notification, the claimant may proceed to initiate proceedings as set forth in this Section 9. Either you or Student Brands, however, may seek provisional remedies (such as preliminary injunctive relief) subject to Section 9(d) before the expiration of this sixty (60)-day period.
Arbitration of Claims . Unless you give us notice of opt-out within five (5) business days of your first use of the Services, addressed to: Learneo, Inc. Student Brands, Attn: Monique Ho, General Counsel, 2000 Seaport Blvd, Floor 3, Redwood City, CA 94063 US. all actions or proceedings arising in connection with, touching upon or relating to any Dispute, or the scope of the provisions of this Section 9, shall be submitted to JAMS (www.jamsadr.com) for final and binding arbitration under its Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures if the matter in dispute is over $250,000 or under its Streamlined Arbitration Rules and Procedures if the matter in dispute is $250,000 or less, to be held in New York, New York, before a single arbitrator. If the matter in dispute is between Student Brands and a consumer, the matter shall be submitted to JAMS in accordance with its Policy on Consumer Arbitration Pursuant to Pre-Dispute Clauses Minimum Standards of Procedural Fairness. The arbitrator shall be selected by mutual agreement of the parties or, if the parties cannot agree, then by striking from a list of arbitrators supplied by JAMS. We may have the right to pay the JAMS fees if required for arbitration to be enforceable. The arbitration shall be a confidential proceeding, closed to the general public; provided, however, that a party may disclose information relating to the arbitration proceedings to its and its affiliates’ lawyers, insurance providers, auditors and other professional advisers. The fact that there is a dispute between the parties that is the subject of arbitration shall be confidential to the same extent. The arbitrator shall issue a written opinion stating the essential findings and conclusions upon which the arbitrator’s award is based. Neither party shall be entitled or permitted to commence or maintain any action in a court of law with respect to any matter in dispute until such matter shall have been submitted to arbitration as herein provided and then only for the enforcement of the arbitrator’s award; provided, however, that prior to the appointment of the arbitrator or for remedies beyond the jurisdiction of an arbitrator, at any time, either party may seek pendente lite relief (subject to the provisions of these Service Terms waiving or limiting that relief) in a court of competent jurisdiction in New York, New York or, if sought by Student Brands, such other court that may have jurisdiction over you, without thereby waiving its right to arbitration of the dispute or controversy under this Section 9; provided further, however, that the losing party shall have fifteen (15) business days after the issuance of the arbitrator’s decision to fully comply with such decision, after which the prevailing party may enforce such decision by a petition to the Supreme Court, Civil Branch, New York County or, in the case of you, such other court having jurisdiction over you, which may be made ex parte, for confirmation and enforcement of the award. To the extent there are any challenges to the arbitrability of a claim, the arbitrator shall determine any and all such challenges.
Limitation on Injunctive Relief . AS PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, IF YOU CLAIM THAT YOU HAVE INCURRED ANY LOSS, DAMAGES, OR INJURIES IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR USE OF THE SERVICES, THEN THE LOSSES, DAMAGES, AND INJURIES WILL NOT BE DEEMED IRREPARABLE OR SUFFICIENT TO ENTITLE YOU TO AN INJUNCTION OR TO OTHER EQUITABLE RELIEF OF ANY KIND. THIS MEANS (WITHOUT LIMITATION) THAT, IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR CLAIM, YOU AGREE THAT YOU WILL NOT SEEK, AND THAT YOU WILL NOT BE PERMITTED TO OBTAIN, ANY COURT OR OTHER ACTION THAT MAY INTERFERE WITH OR PREVENT THE DEVELOPMENT OR EXPLOITATION OF THE SERVICES, CONTENT, UGC, PRODUCT, OR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY OWNED, LICENSED, USED, OR CONTROLLED BY ANY STUDENT BRANDS PARTY (INCLUDING YOUR LICENSED UGC) OR A LICENSOR OF ANY BARTLEBY PARTY.
Governing Law . These Service Terms and any applicable Additional Terms, General Disputes and IP Disputes, and any other claim brought by you against the Student Brands Parties or by Student Brands against you pursuant to this Section 9, or otherwise related to the Services, Content, Licensed Elements, UGC, products or Student Brands Intellectual Property, will be governed by, construed, and resolved in accordance with, the laws of the State of New York, U.S.A., without regard to its conflicts of law provisions that might apply the laws of another jurisdiction. This Section 9 shall be governed solely by the Federal Arbitration Act, 9 U.S.C. §1, et seq., and not by the law of any state, and is enforceable pursuant to its terms on a self-executing basis. You and Student Brands agree that we intend that this Section 9 satisfies the “writing” requirement of the Federal Arbitration Act. This Section 9 can only be amended by mutual agreement. Either party may seek enforcement of this Section 9 in any court of competent jurisdiction.
Class Action Waiver . As permitted by applicable law, both you and Student Brands waive the right to bring any Dispute as a class, consolidated, representative, collective, or private attorney general action, or to participate in a class, consolidated, representative, collective, or private attorney general action regarding any Dispute brought by anyone else. Notwithstanding any provision in the JAMS Comprehensive Arbitration Rules and Procedures to the contrary, the arbitrator shall not have the authority or any jurisdiction to hear the arbitration as a class, consolidated, representative, or private attorney general action or to consolidate, join, or otherwise combine the Disputes of different persons into one proceeding. Notwithstanding the arbitration provision set forth above, if the provision regarding waiver of class, collective, representative, and private attorney general claims of this Section 9 is found to be void or otherwise unenforceable, any such class, collective, representative, or private attorney general claims must be heard and determined through an appropriate court proceeding, and not in arbitration.
Jury Waiver . AS PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, THE PARTIES HEREBY WAIVE THEIR RIGHT TO JURY TRIAL WITH RESPECT TO ALL CLAIMS AND ISSUES ARISING UNDER, IN CONNECTION WITH, TOUCHING UPON OR RELATING TO THE TERMS, THE BREACH THEREOF AND/OR THE SCOPE OF THE PROVISIONS OF THIS SECTION, WHETHER SOUNDING IN CONTRACT OR TORT, AND INCLUDING ANY CLAIM FOR FRAUDULENT INDUCEMENT THEREOF.
Small Claims Matters . Notwithstanding the foregoing, either of us may bring a qualifying claim of General Dispute (but not IP Disputes) in small claims court, subject to Section 9(f).
Survival . The provisions of this Section 9 shall supersede any inconsistent provisions of any prior agreement between the parties. This Section 9 shall remain in full force and effect notwithstanding any termination of your use of the Services or the Terms.

10. General Provisions.

Student Brands’ Consent or Approval . As to any provision in the Terms or any applicable Additional Terms that grants Student Brands a right of consent or approval, or permits Student Brands to exercise a right in its “sole discretion,” Student Brands may exercise that right in its sole and absolute discretion. No Student Brands consent or approval may be deemed to have been granted by Student Brands without being in writing and signed by an officer of Student Brands.
Indemnity . As permitted by applicable law, you agree to, and you hereby, defend (if requested by Student Brands), indemnify, and hold the Student Brands Parties harmless from and against any and all claims, damages, losses, costs, investigations, liabilities, judgments, fines, penalties, settlements, interest, and expenses (including attorneys’ fees) that directly or indirectly arise from or are related to any claim, suit, action, demand, or proceeding made or brought against any Student Brands Party, or on account of the investigation, defense, or settlement thereof, arising out of or in connection with: (i) your UGC; (ii) your use of the Services and your activities in connection with the Services; (iii) your breach or alleged breach of the Terms or any applicable Additional Terms; (iv) your violation or alleged violation of any laws, rules, regulations, codes, statutes, ordinances, or orders of any governmental or quasi-governmental authorities in connection with your use of the Services or your activities in connection with the Services; (v) information or material transmitted through your Device, even if not submitted by you, that infringes, violates, or misappropriates any copyright, trademark, trade secret, trade dress, patent, publicity, privacy, or other right of any person or entity; (vi) any misrepresentation made by you; and (vii) the Student Brands Parties’ use of the information that you submit to us (including your UGC) subject to our Privacy Policy (all of the foregoing, “Claims and Losses”). You will cooperate as fully required by the Student Brands Parties in the defense of any Claims and Losses. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Student Brands Parties retain the exclusive right to settle, compromise, and pay any and all Claims and Losses. The Student Brands Parties reserve the right to assume the exclusive defense and control of any Claims and Losses. You will not settle any Claims and Losses without, in each instance, the prior written consent of an officer of Student Brands. This section is not intended to limit any causes of action against us that you may have but are not waivable under applicable law.
Operation of Services; Availability of Products and Services; International Issues . Student Brands controls and operates the Services from the U.S., and makes no representation that the Services is appropriate or available for use beyond the U.S. If you use the Services from other locations, you are doing so on your own initiative and responsible for compliance with applicable laws regarding your online conduct and acceptable content, if and to the extent laws apply.
Export Controls. You are responsible for complying with all applicable trade regulations and laws both foreign and domestic. Except as authorized by U.S. law, you agree and warrant not to export or re-export the software to any county, or to any person, entity, or end-user subject to U.S. export controls or sanctions.
Interpretation . Headings used in the Terms are for reference only and shall not affect the meaning of any terms. "Including" means "including, without limitation." The singular includes the plural and vice versa. The Terms, and the applicable Additional Terms, are binding upon each party and its successors and permitted assigns.
Entire Agreement . Except for any Additional Terms that apply to your use of the Services as we may notify or make available to you, this is the entire understanding between you and us regarding the use of the Services, and supersedes all prior and contemporaneous agreements and understandings between you and us regarding this subject matter.
Severability . The provisions of the Terms are intended to be severable. If for any reason any provision of the Terms is held invalid or unenforceable in whole or in part in any applicable jurisdiction, such provision shall, as to such jurisdiction, be ineffective to the extent of such invalidity or unenforceability without in any manner affecting the validity or enforceability thereof in any other jurisdiction or the remaining provisions hereof in that or any other jurisdiction.
Our Affiliates, Suppliers and Licensors . Our affiliates, suppliers, licensors and other Student Brands Parties are intended third-party beneficiaries of these Service Terms.
No Waiver . Our failure or delay to exercise or enforce any right, remedy or provision of the Terms or by law will not operate as a waiver of such or any other right, remedy or provision.
Notices . Where we need to send you notices under the Terms or in connection with your use of the Services, you hereby consent to receive electronic notices from us, whether addressed to the email address associated with your account or another email address that you provide to us. To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, you acknowledge and agree that any communication via email or by postings on the Services satisfies any legal requirement that such communications be made in writing. All legal notices to us must be sent to: Learneo, Inc. Student Brands, Attn: Monique Ho, General Counsel, 2000 Seaport Blvd, Floor 3, Redwood City, CA 94063 US.
Force Majeure . We will not be liable to you for failing to perform our obligations under or arising out of the Terms, or the applicable Additional Terms, or any applicable laws or regulations because of any event beyond our reasonable control, including a labor disturbance, an internet outage or interruption of service, a communications outage, failure by a service provider or any other third party to perform, acts of war or other action of military forces, terrorism, riot, civil commotion, sabotage, vandalism, accident, fire, flood, acts of god, strike, lock-out or other industrial disputes (whether or not involving our employees or those of our affiliates, suppliers or licensors) or legislative or administrative interference (including those giving rise to currency changes or otherwise affecting our ability to operate or provide the nook service, whether in whole or in part).
Changes to Services and Amendments to the Terms . To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, we may, in our sole discretion, change, modify, suspend, make improvements to or discontinue any aspect of the Services, temporarily or permanently, in whole or in part, at any time with or without notice to you, and we will not be liable for doing so. We reserve the right from time to time to modify the Terms in our sole discretion. Your use of the Services after any modification we make constitutes your acceptance of the most recent version of the Terms as modified.
Assignment . The Terms and all of your rights and obligations under them are not assignable or transferable by you without our prior written consent. We may freely assign, transfer, or delegate the Terms or any of our rights and obligations under it.
Contact Information . For help with the Services or if you have any questions regarding the Services or these Service Terms, please contact customer service at [email protected] . You acknowledge that we have no obligation to provide you with customer support of any kind and that customer service personnel cannot change or waive the Terms or the applicable Additional Terms.

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Narrative Essay Writing

Personal Narrative Essay

Personal Narrative Essay - Easy Guide & Examples

16 min read

Published on: Apr 18, 2020

Last updated on: Mar 24, 2024

Personal Narrative Essay Definition

What is a Personal Narrative Essay?

A personal narrative essay is also referred to as short storytelling. It depends on the writer's type of story they want to tell the readers. This type of essay can be composed of the personal experience of the writer.

A personal narrative essay is usually written in the first person participle. It helps to depict a clear narrative thatâs focused on a specific moment.

Usually, high school students are usually assigned to write such essays. Writing these essays helps them to enhance creative writing skills. Also, they help to provide insight into a studentâs personal life.

To write a personal narrative essay, the writer specifies a plot around which the entire essay revolves. Moreover, the plot should also discuss the characters that have played some part in the story.

Sample Personal Narrative Essay (PDF)

How to Start a Personal Narrative Essay?

The personal narrative essay requires a balance between objectivity and subjectivity. To write about an event or situation with significance, you must first identify what's important to share with the readers.

As with other types of writing - there are some guidelines you need to follow some guidelines. These are;

1. Choose the Right Topic

A good topic can not just make your essay look good, but also it will make the writing process much easier. Since personal narrative essays are written on personal experiences and thoughts, make sure you choose your most interesting experience.

Keep in mind that the topic you choose matches the intended audience. It is the reader who decides the scope and success of your essay.

2. Choose a Theme

You can also choose a theme for your essay. This will help you focus on what you want to say. You can use your personal experiences to explore the theme in depth. For example, if you choose the theme of love, you could talk about your experience of love with your sister(s). Alternatively, you can start writing out the story and see if any ideas might relate to a bigger theme. When you are writing, pay attention to any ideas that keep coming up. See if they might be related to a bigger topic.

3. Create a Thesis Statement

The thesis statement is the most important sentence and tells the reader what your essay will be about.

In a personal narrative essay, the thesis statement can briefly explore the story's events. Or it can tell the reader about the moral or lesson learned through personal experience. The thesis statement can also present the main theme of the essay.

For example, if you are writing an essay about your personal experience as a refugee. You may have a thesis statement that presents the theme of freedom.

Check out more thesis statement examples to learn how to write one!

4. Create an Outline

Once you have your topic, it is time that you create an outline for your essay. The essay outline is an essential element of an essay. It keeps the whole composition in an organized order.

Also, it helps the reader through the essay. With the help of an outline, a writer can provide logic for the essay.

Personal Narrative Essay Outline

Being a student, you must know how important an outline is for an essay. It provides an organization with the whole content.

To create an outline for a personal narrative essay, you need to follow the following traditional method.

Introduction

These three major elements of a narrative essay are further elaborated down below.

The introduction is the most important part of essay writing. It is the first impression on the reader; by reading this part, the reader decides the quality of the essay. This part should be the most attention-grabbing part.

It should have an attention-grabbing hook and some background information about the topic. Moreover, it should include the thesis statement, which explains the main idea of your essay.

Keep in mind that the essay introduction should always end with a transition sentence. This will make a logical connection with the rest of the essay.

Personal Narrative Introduction Example

Body Paragraphs

After the introduction, the body paragraphs are written. These paragraphs help you to explain the key elements of your personal narrative essay.

In a standard personal narrative essay, there are usually three body paragraphs. These paragraphs help the writer to describe the subject of the essay in all possible aspects.

With the help of these paragraphs, the writer describes their point of view to the readers. To support the essay, the time and place of the event happening are also mentioned. Moreover, these paragraphs have all the information about the characters.

Keep in mind that a body starts with a topic sentence . This sentence is a kind of introductory sentence for that particular paragraph.

Another important thing you need to keep in mind is the order in which you will present the details. Make sure that you use chronological order for this purpose.

Personal Narrative Body Example

In conclusion, you need to provide the climax of the story.

In this section of a personal narrative essay, you should wrap up the whole story. Do it in such a way that you provide a summary of the entire essay.

Your conclusion should be just as impactful as your introduction. End with a memorable sentence or thought that leaves the reader with a lasting impression. You can summarize the main points of your essay or reflect on the significance of the experience in your life.

Make sure that you do not add any new points in this part. It will not give the reader a sense of accomplishment and will leave them in confusion.

Personal Narrative Conclusion Example

How to Write a Personal Narrative Essay

A personal narrative essay is considered very good when it is expressive, and the reader enjoys your personal narrative. The key to writing an amazing personal narrative is to use sensory details as much as possible.

An excellent narrative essay doesn't tell what happened. Instead, it shows what happened precisely and how you have felt at that moment.

Here is how you can write a personal narrative essay:

Start With a Good Hook

For any type of essay , a hook statement can be a game-changer. But, particularly for a personal narrative essay, hook sentences are very important.

Usually, the introduction of the essay starts with this sentence. You may use a famous quotation, verse, or an interesting fact for this purpose. This sentence helps to attain the readerâs attention and persuade the reader to read the entire essay.

Vivid Description

For a narrative essay, it is a must to be vivid enough to let the reader imagine the whole scene. This is why it is necessary that the writer uses as much descriptive language as possible.

For instance, if you are writing about a visit to the beach, you can describe how the sun felt on your face. On top of that, making use of strong verbs and adjectives will also help to provide an engaging experience for readers.

Use Transition Words

For any essay, be it an argumentative essay , descriptive essay , or personal narrative essay. It is very important to have some transition sentences and words. These transition words help to make a logical connection in all parts of the essay.

In other words, the transition words help to make links between the storyline. You may use transition words like this, however, whereas, therefore, moreover, etc.

Add Emotions

The purpose of a personal narrative essay is to show the reader what and how you have felt. Hence don't forget to add the emotions, as you have to make the reader know about the feelings.

Describe all of the emotions and feelings using very descriptive words.

Be Consistent

Consistency is the key to writing an essay in a professional way. Make sure that you don't get distracted by any irrelevant details.

Stay focused on one single point, and add details related to your specific idea. Make sure that you inter-link all the events of the story in a regular manner. This will help the reader to relate all the events. Also, use first-person impressions as you are writing a personal narrative.

You also want to show the reader that you are telling your own story. Make sure that you follow the same participle in the entire essay.

Prove the Significance of Your Experience

You know that behind every event, there is a reason. Similarly, let your readers know the reason behind your essay and its significance.

Also, mention that the story you just told was important to share.

As it is a personal narrative, you don't have to provide evidence to prove the significance of your story. Rather, you have to convey a broader message through your story.

Use Dialogue

Dialogue is an excellent way to bring life to your story and make it more engaging. It can reveal the characterâs personalities and add a touch of realism to the essay.

When you use dialogue, make sure to punctuate it correctly and indicate who is speaking.

Show, Don't Tell

When writing a personal narrative essay, avoid summarizing events and simply telling the story. Instead, use sensory details to help the reader experience the story with you.

Describe what you saw, heard, felt, tasted, and smelled to bring the story to life.

Reflect on the Experience

Reflection is an important part of any personal narrative essay. It is an opportunity for you to reflect on the experience you are writing about and what it means to you. Take the time to think about what you learned from the experience and how it has shaped you as a person.

Once you are done with writing your personal narrative essay. It's time that you put a little effort into making it error-free. Proofread the essay more than once and look for minor spelling mistakes and other grammatical mistakes.

This will ensure that you have written an essay like a pro. You can do this yourself or you may ask a friend to do it for you.

To understand better how to write a personal narrative essay, take a few moments to watch the video below!

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Free Personal Narrative Essay Examples

Examples help you to understand things better; here are a few well-written narrative essay examples . Read them thoroughly and use them as a guide to writing a good essay yourself.

Personal Narrative Essay 750 words

Personal narrative essays can be long or short. It depends on the writer how they want to elaborate things.

750 Words Personal Narrative Essay (PDF)

Personal Narrative Essay Examples for High School Students

Personal narrative essays are often assigned to high school students. If you are a high school student and looking for some good examples, you are exactly where you should be.

Best Summer Memory of My Childhood (PDF)

Near-Death Experience (PDF)

Personal Narrative Essay Examples for College Students

Being a college student, you will often get to write personal narrative essays. Here are a few examples of well-written personal narrative essays to guide college students.

Climbing a Mountain (PDF)

My First Job (PDF)

Want to get a better understanding? Dive into the wide collection of our narrative essay examples !

Personal Narrative Essay Topics

It is important to choose a good topic before you start writing. Here are some interesting narrative essay topics you can choose from for your essay.

My worst childhood memory
My favorite summer activities during vacation.
The first time I had a serious argument with my best friend
The first time someone broke my heart.
Things I could tell myself.
How I balance my family life and my professional life.
The most important rule in life
Teachers who inspired me in my college.
Why I love to write a diary
My favorite New York Times Article.
My favorite movie.
Personal advice for the youth of today.
How I overcame my stage fear.
The toughest decision I have ever made.
What I regret most

Need some inspiration to craft your essay? Our expansive list of narrative essay topics will provide you with plenty of ideas!

Personal Narrative Essay Writing Tips

You need to follow a few things in order to start your personal narrative essay in a proper way. Those significant things are as follows:

Think of a memorable event, an unforgettable experience, or any that you want to tell the readers.
Plan your narrative essay. Make yourself clear on the order in which you want to mention all the details.
Start your personal essay with a hook sentence. This will help you to grab the attention of the readers.
Use vivid language so that the reader can imagine the whole scene in mind. Describe the actions, mood, theme, and overall plot.
Make sure that you use descriptive language.
Use proper sentence structure.

In conclusion,

writing a personal narrative essay can be daunting for many students.

So, step into the world of professional essay writing with our specialized narrative essay writing service . We're committed to crafting compelling stories that capture and engage.

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How to write a narrative essay | Example & tips

How to Write a Narrative Essay | Example & Tips

Published on July 24, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on July 23, 2023.

A narrative essay tells a story. In most cases, this is a story about a personal experience you had. This type of essay , along with the descriptive essay , allows you to get personal and creative, unlike most academic writing .

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What is a narrative essay for, choosing a topic, interactive example of a narrative essay, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about narrative essays.

When assigned a narrative essay, you might find yourself wondering: Why does my teacher want to hear this story? Topics for narrative essays can range from the important to the trivial. Usually the point is not so much the story itself, but the way you tell it.

A narrative essay is a way of testing your ability to tell a story in a clear and interesting way. You’re expected to think about where your story begins and ends, and how to convey it with eye-catching language and a satisfying pace.

These skills are quite different from those needed for formal academic writing. For instance, in a narrative essay the use of the first person (“I”) is encouraged, as is the use of figurative language, dialogue, and suspense.

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Narrative essay assignments vary widely in the amount of direction you’re given about your topic. You may be assigned quite a specific topic or choice of topics to work with.

Write a story about your first day of school.
Write a story about your favorite holiday destination.

You may also be given prompts that leave you a much wider choice of topic.

Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself.
Write about an achievement you are proud of. What did you accomplish, and how?

In these cases, you might have to think harder to decide what story you want to tell. The best kind of story for a narrative essay is one you can use to talk about a particular theme or lesson, or that takes a surprising turn somewhere along the way.

For example, a trip where everything went according to plan makes for a less interesting story than one where something unexpected happened that you then had to respond to. Choose an experience that might surprise the reader or teach them something.

Narrative essays in college applications

When applying for college , you might be asked to write a narrative essay that expresses something about your personal qualities.

For example, this application prompt from Common App requires you to respond with a narrative essay.

In this context, choose a story that is not only interesting but also expresses the qualities the prompt is looking for—here, resilience and the ability to learn from failure—and frame the story in a way that emphasizes these qualities.

An example of a short narrative essay, responding to the prompt “Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself,” is shown below.

Hover over different parts of the text to see how the structure works.

Since elementary school, I have always favored subjects like science and math over the humanities. My instinct was always to think of these subjects as more solid and serious than classes like English. If there was no right answer, I thought, why bother? But recently I had an experience that taught me my academic interests are more flexible than I had thought: I took my first philosophy class.

Before I entered the classroom, I was skeptical. I waited outside with the other students and wondered what exactly philosophy would involve—I really had no idea. I imagined something pretty abstract: long, stilted conversations pondering the meaning of life. But what I got was something quite different.

A young man in jeans, Mr. Jones—“but you can call me Rob”—was far from the white-haired, buttoned-up old man I had half-expected. And rather than pulling us into pedantic arguments about obscure philosophical points, Rob engaged us on our level. To talk free will, we looked at our own choices. To talk ethics, we looked at dilemmas we had faced ourselves. By the end of class, I’d discovered that questions with no right answer can turn out to be the most interesting ones.

The experience has taught me to look at things a little more “philosophically”—and not just because it was a philosophy class! I learned that if I let go of my preconceptions, I can actually get a lot out of subjects I was previously dismissive of. The class taught me—in more ways than one—to look at things with an open mind.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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If you’re not given much guidance on what your narrative essay should be about, consider the context and scope of the assignment. What kind of story is relevant, interesting, and possible to tell within the word count?

The best kind of story for a narrative essay is one you can use to reflect on a particular theme or lesson, or that takes a surprising turn somewhere along the way.

Don’t worry too much if your topic seems unoriginal. The point of a narrative essay is how you tell the story and the point you make with it, not the subject of the story itself.

Narrative essays are usually assigned as writing exercises at high school or in university composition classes. They may also form part of a university application.

When you are prompted to tell a story about your own life or experiences, a narrative essay is usually the right response.

The key difference is that a narrative essay is designed to tell a complete story, while a descriptive essay is meant to convey an intense description of a particular place, object, or concept.

Narrative and descriptive essays both allow you to write more personally and creatively than other kinds of essays , and similar writing skills can apply to both.

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Caulfield, J. (2023, July 23). How to Write a Narrative Essay | Example & Tips. Scribbr. Retrieved March 31, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/academic-essay/narrative-essay/

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The Winners of Our Personal Narrative Essay Contest

We asked students to write about a meaningful life experience. Here are the eight winning essays, as well as runners-up and honorable mentions.

By The Learning Network

Update: Join our live webinar on Oct. 8 about teaching with our Narrative Writing Contest.

In September, we challenged teenagers to write short, powerful stories about meaningful life experiences for our first-ever personal narrative essay contest .

This contest, like every new contest we start, was admittedly a bit of an experiment. Beyond a caution to write no more than 600 words, our rules were fairly open-ended, and we weren’t sure what we would get.

Well, we received over 8,000 entries from teenagers from around the world. We got stories about scoring the winning goal, losing a grandparent, learning to love one’s skin and dealing with mental illness. We got pieces that were moving, funny, introspective and honest. We got a snapshot of teenage life.

Judging a contest like this is, of course, subjective, especially with the range of content and styles of writing students submitted. But we based our criteria on the types of personal narrative essays The New York Times publishes in columns like Lives , Modern Love and Rites of Passage . We read many, many essays that were primarily reflective but, while these pieces might be well-suited for a college application, they weren’t exactly the short, powerful stories we were looking for in this contest.

The winning essays we selected were, though, and they all had a few things in common that set them apart:

They had a clear narrative arc with a conflict and a main character who changed in some way. They artfully balanced the action of the story with reflection on what it meant to the writer. They took risks, like including dialogue or playing with punctuation, sentence structure and word choice to develop a strong voice. And, perhaps most important, they focused on a specific moment or theme — a conversation, a trip to the mall, a speech tournament, a hospital visit — instead of trying to sum up the writer’s life in 600 words.

Below, you’ll find these eight winning essays, published in full. Scroll to the bottom to see the names of all 35 finalists we’re honoring — eight winners, eight runners-up and 19 honorable mentions. Congratulations, and thank you to everyone who participated!

The Winning Essays

Nothing extraordinary, pants on fire, eggs and sausage, first impressions, cracks in the pavement, sorry, wrong number, the man box.

By Jeniffer Kim

It was a Saturday. Whether it was sunny or cloudy, hot or cold, I cannot remember, but I do remember it was a Saturday because the mall was packed with people.

I was with my mom.

Mom is short. Skinny. It is easy to overlook her in a crowd simply because she is nothing extraordinary to see.

On that day we strolled down the slippery-slick tiles with soft, inconspicuous steps, peeking at window boutiques in fleeting glances because we both knew we wouldn’t be buying much, like always.

I remember I was looking up at the people we passed as we walked — at first apathetically, but then more attentively.

Ladies wore five-inch heels that clicked importantly on the floor and bright, elaborate clothing. Men strode by smelling of sharp cologne, faces clear of wrinkles — wiped away with expensive creams.

An uneasy feeling started to settle in my chest. I tried to push it out, but once it took root it refused to be yanked up and tossed away. It got more unbearable with every second until I could deny it no longer; I was ashamed of my mother.

We were in a high-class neighborhood, I knew that. We lived in a small, overpriced apartment building that hung on to the edge of our county that Mom chose to move to because she knew the schools were good.

We were in a high-class neighborhood, but as I scrutinized the passers-by and then turned accusing eyes on Mom, I realized for the first time that we didn’t belong there.

I could see the heavy lines around Mom’s eyes and mouth, etched deep into her skin without luxurious lotions to ease them away. She wore cheap, ragged clothes with the seams torn, shoes with the soles worn down. Her eyes were tired from working long hours to make ends meet and her hair too gray for her age.

I looked at her, and I was ashamed.

My mom is nothing extraordinary, yet at that moment she stood out because she was just so plain.

Mumbling I’d meet her at the clothes outlet around the corner, I hurried away to the bathroom. I didn’t want to be seen with her, although there was no one important around to see me anyway.

When I finally made my way to the outlet with grudging steps, I found that Mom wasn’t there.

With no other options, I had to scour the other stores in the area for her. I was dreading returning to her side, already feeling the secondhand embarrassment that I’d recently discovered came with being with her.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Mom was standing in the middle of a high-end store, holding a sweater that looked much too expensive.

She said, “This will look good on you. Do you want it?”

It was much too expensive. And I almost agreed, carelessly, thoughtlessly.

Then I took a closer look at the small, weary woman with a big smile stretching across her narrow face and a sweater in her hands, happy to be giving me something so nice, and my words died in my throat.

I felt like I’d been dropped into a cold lake.

Her clothes were tattered and old because she spent her money buying me new ones. She looked so tired and ragged all the time because she was busy working to provide for me. She didn’t wear jewelry or scented perfumes because she was just content with me.

Suddenly, Mother was beautiful and extraordinarily wonderful in my eyes.

I was no longer ashamed of her, but of myself.

“Do you want it?” My mom repeated.

“No thanks.”

By Varya Kluev

I never kissed the boy I liked behind the schoolyard fence that one March morning. I never had dinner with Katy Perry or lived in Kiev for two months either, but I still told my entire fourth-grade class I did.

The words slipped through my teeth effortlessly. With one flick of my tongue, I was, for all anybody knew, twenty-third in line for the throne of Monaco. “Actually?” the girls on the swings beside me would ask, wide eyes blinking with a childlike naivety. I nodded as they whispered under their breath how incredible my fable was. So incredible they bought into it without a second thought.

I lied purely for the ecstasy of it. It was narcotic. With my fabrications, I became the captain of the ship, not just a wistful passer-by, breath fogging the pane of glass that stood between me and the girls I venerated. No longer could I only see, not touch; a lie was a bullet, and the barrier shattered. My mere presence demanded attention — after all, I was the one who got a valentine from Jason, not them.

This way I became more than just the tomboyish band geek who finished her multiplication tables embarrassingly fast. My name tumbled out of their mouths and I manifested in the center of their linoleum lunch table. I became, at least temporarily, the fulcrum their world revolved around.

Not only did I lie religiously and unabashedly — I was good at it. The tedium of my everyday life vanished; I instead marched through the gates of my alcazar, strode up the steps of my concepts, and resided in my throne of deceit. I believed if I took off my fraudulent robe, I would become plebeian. The same aristocracy that finally held me in high regard would boot me out of my palace. To strip naked and exclaim, “Here’s the real me, take a look!” would lead my new circle to redraw their lines — they would take back their compliments, sit at the table with six seats instead of eight, giggle in the back of the class when I asked a question. I therefore adjusted my counterfeit diadem and continued to praise a Broadway show I had never seen.

Yet finally lounging in a lavender bedroom one long-sought-after day, after absently digesting chatter about shows I didn’t watch and boys I didn’t know, I started processing the floating conversations. One girl, who I had idolized for always having her heavy hair perfectly curled, casually shared how her parents couldn’t afford to go on their yearly trip the coming summer. I drew in an expectant breath, but nobody scoffed. Nobody exchanged a secret criticizing glance. Instead, another girl took her spoon of vanilla frosting out of her cheek and with the same air of indifference revealed how her family wasn’t traveling either. Promptly, my spun stories about swimming in crystal pools under Moroccan sun seemed to be in vain.

The following Monday, the girls on the bus to school still shared handfuls of chocolate-coated sunflower seeds with her. At lunch, she wasn’t shunned, wasn’t compelled to sit at a forgotten corner table. For that hour, instead of weaving incessant fantasies, I listened. I listened to the girls nonchalantly talk about yesterday’s soccer game where they couldn’t score a single goal. Listened about their parent’s layoff they couldn’t yet understand the significance of. I listened and I watched them listen, accepting and uncritical of one another no matter how relatively vapid their story. I then too began to talk, beginning by admitting that I wasn’t actually related to Britney Spears.

By Ryan Young Kim

When first I sat down in the small, pathetic excuse of a cafeteria the hospital had, I took a moment to reflect. I had been admitted the night before, rolled in on a stretcher like I had some sort of ailment that prevented me from walking.

But the nurses in the ward were nice to me, especially when they saw that I wasn’t going to be one of the violent ones. They started telling me something, but I paid no attention; I was trying to take in my surroundings. The tables were rounded, chairs were essentially plastic boxes with weight inside, and there was no real glass to be seen.

After they filled out the paperwork, the nurses escorted me to my room. There was someone already in there, but he was dead asleep. The two beds were plain and simple, with a cheap mattress on top of an equally cheap wooden frame. One nurse stuck around to hand me my bedsheets and a gown that I had to wear until my parents dropped off clothes.

The day had been exhausting, waiting for the psychiatric ward to tell us that there was a bed open for me and the doctors to fill out the mountains of paperwork that come with a suicide attempt.

Actually, there had been one good thing about that day. My parents had brought me Korean food for lunch — sullungtang , a fatty stew made from ox-bone broth. God, even when I was falling asleep I could still taste some of the rice kernels that had been mixed into the soup lingering around in my mouth.

For the first time, I felt genuine hunger. My mind had always been racked with a different kind of hunger — a pining for attention or just an escape from the toil of waking up and not feeling anything. But I always had everything I needed — that is, I always had food on my plate, maybe even a little too much. Now, after I had tried so hard to wrench myself away from this world, my basic human instinct was guiding me toward something that would keep me alive.

The irony was lost on me then. All I knew was that if I slept earlier, that meant less time awake being hungry. So I did exactly that. Waking up the next day, I was dismayed to see that the pangs of hunger still rumbled through my stomach. I slid off my covers and shuffled out of my room. The cafeteria door was already open, and I looked inside. There was a cart of Styrofoam containers in the middle of the room, and a couple people were eating quietly. I made my way in and stared.

I scanned the tops of the containers — they were all marked with names: Jonathan, Nathan, Kristen — and as soon as I spotted my name, my mouth began to water.

My dad would sometimes tell me about his childhood in a rural Korean village. The hardships he faced, the hunger that would come if the village harvest floundered, and how he worked so hard to get out — I never listened. But in that moment, between when I saw my container and I sat down at a seat to open it, I understood.

The eggs inside were watery, and their heat had condensated water all over, dripping onto everything and making the sausages soggy. The amount of ketchup was pitiful.

But if I hadn’t been given plastic utensils, I think I would have just shoved it all into my mouth, handful by handful.

By Isabel Hui

When I woke up on August 4, 2016, there was only one thing on my mind: what to wear. A billion thoughts raced through my brain as wooden hangers shuffled back and forth in the cramped hotel closet. I didn’t want to come off as a try-hard, but I also didn’t want to be seen as a slob. Not only was it my first day of high school, but it was my first day of school in a new state; first impressions are everything, and it was imperative for me to impress the people who I would spend the next four years with. For the first time in my life, I thought about how convenient it would be to wear the horrendous matching plaid skirts that private schools enforce.

It wasn’t insecurity driving me to madness; I was actually quite confident for a teenage girl. It was the fact that this was my third time being the new kid. Moving so many times does something to a child’s development … I struggled finding friends that I could trust would be there for me if I picked up and left again. But this time was different because my dad’s company ensured that I would start and finish high school in the same place. This meant no instant do-overs when I pick up and leave again. This time mattered, and that made me nervous.

After meticulously raiding my closet, I emerged proudly in a patterned dress from Target. The soft cotton was comfortable, and the ruffle shoulders added a hint of fun. Yes, this outfit was the one. An hour later, I felt just as powerful as I stepped off the bus and headed toward room 1136. But as I turned the corner into my first class, my jaw dropped to the floor.

Sitting at her desk was Mrs. Hutfilz, my English teacher, sporting the exact same dress as I. I kept my head down and tiptoed to my seat, but the first day meant introductions in front of the whole class, and soon enough it was my turn. I made it through my minute speech unscathed, until Mrs. Hutfilz stood up, jokingly adding that she liked my style. Although this was the moment I had been dreading from the moment I walked in, all the anxiety that had accumulated throughout the morning surprisingly melted away; the students who had previously been staring at their phones raised their heads to pay attention as I shared my story. My smile grew as I giggled with my peers, ending my speech with “and I am very stylish, much like my first period teacher.” After class, I stayed behind and talked to Mrs. Hutfilz, sharing my previous apprehension about coming into a new school and state. I was relieved to make a humorous and genuine connection with my first teacher, one that would continue for the remainder of the year.

This incident reminded me that it’s only high school; these are the times to have fun, work hard, and make memories, not stress about the trivial details. Looking back four years later, the ten minutes I spent dreading my speech were really not worth it. While my first period of high school may not have gone exactly the way I thought it would, it certainly made the day unforgettable in the best way, and taught me that Mrs. Hutfilz has an awesome sense of style!

By Adam Bernard Sanders

It was my third time sitting there on the middle school auditorium stage. The upper chain of braces was caught in my lip again, and my palms were sweating, and my glasses were sliding down my nose. The pencil quivered in my hands. All I had to do was answer whatever question Mrs. Crisafulli, the history teacher, was going to say into that microphone. I had answered 26 before that, and 25 of those correctly. And I was sitting in my chair, and I was tapping my foot, and the old polo shirt I was wearing was starting to constrict and choke me. I pulled pointlessly at the collar, but the air was still on the outside, only looking at the inside of my throat. I was going to die.

I could taste my tongue in my mouth shriveling up. I could feel each hard-pumping heartbeat of blood travel out of my chest, up through my neck and down my arms and legs, warming my already-perspiring forehead but leaving my ghost-white fingers cold and blue. My breathing was quick. My eyes were glassy. I hadn’t even heard the question yet.

Late-night readings of my parents’ anatomy textbooks had told me that a sense of impending doom was the hallmark of pulmonary embolism, a fact that often bubbled to the surface of my mind in times like these. Almost by instinct, I bent my ring and little fingers down, holding them with my thumb as the two remaining digits whipped to my right wrist and tried to take my pulse. Mr. Mendoza had taught us this last year in gym class. But I wasn’t in gym class that third period. I was just sitting on the metal folding chair, waiting for Mrs. Crisafulli to flip to the right page in her packet for the question.

Arabella had quizzed me in second-period French on the lakes of Latin America. Nicaragua. Atitlán. Yojoa. Lake Titicaca, that had made Raj, who sat in front of me, start giggling, and Shannon, who sat three desks up and one to the left, whip her head around and raise one fist to her lips, jab up her index finger, and silence us. Lakes were fed by rivers, the same rivers that lined the globe on my desk like the cracks in the pavement I liked to trace with my shoe on the walk home. Lake Nicaragua drains into the San Juan River, which snakes its way around the port of Granada to empty into the Caribbean Sea. I knew that.

At that moment I was only sure of those two things: the location of Lake Nicaragua and my own impending doom. And I was so busy counting my pulse and envisioning my demise that I missed Mrs. Crisafulli’s utterance of the awaited question into her microphone, as I had each year in the past as one of the two people left onstage.

“ … Coldest … on earth,” was all I heard. My pencil etched shaggy marks as my shaking hands attempted to write something in the 20 seconds remaining.

“Asia,” I scrawled.

So, for the third time in three years, I got it wrong, and for the third time, I didn’t die. I walked home that day, tracing the faults in the pavement and wondering what inside me was so cracked and broken. Something had to be fissured inside, like the ridges and rivers on my desk globe that I would throw out later that evening, but fish from the trash can when the sun rose the next day.

By Michelle Ahn

My phone buzzes. An unfamiliar number with a 512 area code — I later find out it’s from Texas. It’s a selfie of a 30-something man, smiling with his family, a strange picture to receive as I live halfway across the country.

For the past three years, I — a 14-year-old girl living in Virginia — have been getting texts meant for this man, Jared. Over the years, I’ve pieced together parts of who he is; middle-aged, Caucasian, and very popular according to the numerous messages I’ve received for him.

Throughout this time, I’ve also been discovering who I am. When I received the first text, I was a playful sixth grader, always finding sly ways to be subversive in school and with friends. With this new method of mischief in my hands, naturally, I engaged:

“My sweet momma just told me that BYU Texas Club is holding a Texas Roundup free BBQ dinner on October 10th! Thought y’all would enjoy,” came one of the texts.

After staring at the message for a while, I responded.

As time went on, the story of the mystery man deepened. I was halfway through sixth grade, for example, when I learned he was part of the “Elder’s Quorum,” a rather ominous-sounding group. Looking it up, I learned that it was not a cult, as I’d initially thought, but rather an elite inner circle within the Mormon Church.

This was around the same time my family had stopped going to church. I’d started to spend more time taking art classes and trying out various sports — tennis, basketball, even archery — and soon church fell to the side. Instead, I meddled in the Quorum’s group texts; when a message came about a member moving away, I excitedly responded, “Let me help y’all out, brother!”

I’m not sure exactly when it happened, but after a while I started to feel guilty about this deception. I wondered if I’d somehow ruined Jared’s reputation, if his friends were turned off by my childish responses. I was also dealing with changes within my friend group at the time; the biggest change being letting go of a close but toxic friend; I realized that I needed friendships that were more mutually supportive.

Shortly after, I got a phone call from a strange woman. She started talking about the struggles in her life; her children, her job, even about how she wanted to leave Texas forever. In comparison, my own problems — the B minus I’d gotten, the stress of an upcoming archery tournament, the argument I had with my sister — all seemed superficial. I timidly informed her I wasn’t Jared, and her flustered response told me that I should have told her at the start of the call.

A while later, I got another text: “Congratulations on getting married!” It had never occurred to me how much Jared’s life had changed since I had received his number. But of course it did; over time, I’d outgrown my prankster middle school self, gained the confidence to build a solid friend group, and devoted myself to my primary loves of art and archery. Why wouldn’t Jared also be settling into his own life too?

Though I’ve since taken every opportunity to correct those who text Jared, it still happens every once in a while. Just last month, I got another random text; all it said was: “Endoscopy!” When I got it, I laughed, and then I wrote back.

“Hey, sorry, you have the wrong number. But I hope Jared’s doing well.”

By Maria Fernanda Benavides

“Mayfier? Marfir?” the tournament judge called squinting her eyes, trying to find the spelling error, although there was no error.

“It’s Mafer. It’s a nickname for my full name, Maria Fernanda.”

She stared at me blankly.

“My parents are creative,” I lied, and she laughed.

“O.K., Mahfeer, you’re up!”

I walk to the center and scanned the room before starting as instructed. I took a deep breath.

I reminded myself, “Use your voice.”

I spoke loudly at first, trying to hide the fact that I was overthinking every single word that came out of my mouth. As my performance continued, the artificial confidence became natural, and I started speaking from my heart as I told the story of my experience as an immigrant woman, and I described how much I missed my father who had to travel back and forth every weekend to see my mom and me, and how disconnected I felt from my family, and how I longed to have a place I could call home.

My performance came to an end, and I made my way back to my seat with newly found optimism as I reflected on how performing had consumed me.

I used my voice. Finally. I had found my home in the speech program.

Waiting for the speech tournament to post the names of the finalists was excruciating. I jumped off my seat every time a staff member passed by. I didn’t care about accumulating state points or individual recognition. I wanted the chance to speak again.

Finally, a girl walked up to the oratory postings with a paper on her hand, and the entire cafeteria surrounded her, impatiently waiting to see who the finalists were. Then, I saw it.

My name. Written in dense, black letters.

I smiled to myself.

This time, as I walked to the oratory final, I did so by myself, as I had finally acquired self-assurance needed to navigate the quiet hallways of the high school. I could only hear the heels of the two girls behind me.

“I heard that Saint Mary’s Hall freshman made it to oratory finals,” one of them said, obviously speaking about me. “She broke over me. I didn’t see her performance. Did you? Did you see her performance? What is her speech about?” she questioned the other one.

“It’s about being a Mexican immigrant.”

“Oh, so that’s why she broke.”

“It’s the same pity narrative, there’s nothing different about it.”

Suddenly, the confidence that I had acquired from the previous rounds vanished, and I found myself wishing that I had my older, more experienced teammates by my side to help me block the girls’ words. But no one was there.

I thought my narrative was what made my words matter, what made me matter.

But they didn’t matter. Not anymore. From that moment on, I knew I would be recognized around the circuit as the Mexican girl whose name no one knows how to pronounce. I didn’t even need to speak about my identity to be identified. Everyone would recognize me not for my achievement or my being, but by the peculiar way I pronounce words. I could speak about different topics, but it felt like it wouldn’t make a difference. It felt like my voice didn’t make a difference.

“Mafer, how did it feel?” my coach asked me after the round. “It felt amazing!” I lied.

I didn’t feel anything. Not anymore. Speech gave me a voice, but it also took it away.

By Gordon Lewis

We’re all average boys: hard working in school, spending every minute together in the summer, and doing our best to pretend we don’t have a worry in the world. The facts are no different as the sun is beginning to set on a warm July evening. Sam and I say goodbye to Ben, stepping out of our best friend’s house.

“My sister is going to pick me up while we’re walking, is that O.K.?” I ask.

“Actually, she can probably drive you home, too.”

“Sounds good,” says Sam, but lacking his usual upbeat, comedic energy. Neither of us says anything else, but I’m O.K. with it, we just keep walking. I look around, admiring the still, peaceful park as the warm summer breeze brushes across my face. The crickets are chirping and an owl sings along between the soft hum of cars rolling along nearby. It’s nature’s tune of serenity.

I almost forgot Sam was with me until he asked, “Can I ask you kind of a weird question?”

“Sure,” I say, expecting a joke in poor taste as per usual.

“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to,” he says before asking.

More hesitantly, I say, “O.K.”

“Do you have someone that you talk to about like deeper stuff … Like more emotional stuff?” Silence hits us like a brick wall: The crickets stop chirping, the owl stops hooting, even the cars stop driving by. It’s deafening. I’m only shocked at the question because it’s Sam, one of the happiest and funniest people I know.

I’m wondering. My disappointment takes over just as quickly as my hope fades as I fail to come up with a name. In the end, the closest thing I can think of is the book I occasionally write in when I’m feeling sad or stressed.

“Huh,” I say quietly, “I’ve never really thought about that, but I guess not.”

“Yeah, I didn’t either, but at camp we did activities and had talks that led to more emotional conversations.” I’m silently both jealous and proud of him, but it’s mostly jealousy.

“It’s funny,” I say, “in English we always joked about that TED Talk guy talking about the man box, but it’s actually so true. We shouldn’t feel like we can’t talk about deeper stuff like that.”

“Yeah,” laughed Sam. Silence drapes over us again, but this time it’s more comfortable. I’m lost in my thoughts trying to think of what to say next, but there’s too much. I’ve never had an opportunity like this before. However it’s not shocking or overwhelming, even though it’s with Sam of all people — instead it’s therapeutic.

The silence is broken once again by Sam:

“Like I never told you guys that my parents got divorced.”

“I’m-I’m sorry,” I say, “That really sucks.” I’m disappointed in myself for not saying more.

“It’s O.K.,” Sam says, but I know he’s lying. I can feel his sadness.

Drowning in my thoughts, I try to pick out something to say. But there’s too much to say. There are too many options after being silent for 16 years.

Headlights appear in front of us, and for a split second I’m relieved, but it rapidly turns into regret.

Knowing it’s Rose, I quickly tell sam, “If you ever want to talk again just let me know.”

I say hi to Rose, masking my solemn, thoughtful mood as tiredness. The warm breeze gives my cheek one final kiss; nature resumes her number, and the cars roll by again as Sam and I reluctantly step into the car.

In alphabetical order by the writer’s last name

“Sorry, Wrong Number” by Michelle Ahn

“Speechless” by Maria Fernanda Benavides

“First Impressions” by Isabel Hui

“Nothing Extraordinary” by Jeniffer Kim

“Eggs and Sausage" by Ryan Young Kim

“Pants on Fire” by Varya Kluev

“The Man Box” by Gordon Lewis

“Cracks in the Pavement” by Adam Bernard Sanders

“The First (and Last) Time Speedy Wasn’t Speedy Enough” by Maya Berg

“Searching for Air” by Sydney Do

“Fear on My Mind” by Daytona Gerhardy

“Under the Starry Sky” by Letian Li

“Chinatown Diptych” by Jeffrey Liao

“They” by Haven Low

“The Vigil” by Beda Lundstedt

“How My Brother Taught Me to Drive” by Sarah Shapiro

Honorable Mentions

“The Six in Mid-August” by Liah Argiropoulos

“‘Those Aren’t Scratches Are They?’” by Casey Barwick

“Brown Is Beautiful” by Tiffany Borja

“I Am Ordinary, After All” by Rebecca Braxley

“Torn” by Melanie D.

“The Stupid Seven” by Madeline G.

“Speak No Evil” by Amita Goyal

“Building My Crown” by Ambar Guzman

“Me, Myself, and a Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwich” by Zachary Hommel

“The Tomato” by Raymond Huang

“Out” by Michael H.

“Cold Noodles With a Side of Birdballs” by Audrey Koh

“Banya in Siberia” by Arshiya Sanghi

“Traffic” by Kecia Seo

“The Power of Ambiguity” by Marcus Shallow

“Land Mine” by Geneve Thomas-Palmer

“How to Fall Asleep With the Lights On” by Caroline Wei

“The Taste of Tofu” by Amy Zhou

“The Newcomer’s Journey” by Maria Z.

Thank you to all our contest judges!

Edward Bohan, Amanda Christy Brown, Elda Cantú, Julia Carmel, Elaine Chen, Nancy Coleman, Nicole Daniels, John Dorman, Shannon Doyne, Jeremy Engle, Tracy Evans, Ross Flatt, Vivian Giang, Caroline Crosson Gilpin, Michael Gonchar, Lovia Gyarkye, Annissa Hambouz, Karen Hanley, Christine Hauser, Susan Josephs, Shira Katz, Dahlia Kozlowsky, Megan Leder, Miya Lee, Debbie Leiderman, Shauntel Lowe, Keith Meatto, Sue Mermelstein, Amelia Nierenberg, Anna Nordeen, John Otis, Ken Paul, Pia Peterson, Natalie Proulx, Nancy Redd, Kenneth Rosen, Rebecca Rufo-Tepper, Kristina Samulewski, Meghan Stoddard, Brett Vogelsinger, Bonnie Wertheim, Jack Wheeler, Lena Wilson, Sanam Yar

Choose Your Test

Sat / act prep online guides and tips, 3 great narrative essay examples + tips for writing.

General Education

A narrative essay is one of the most intimidating assignments you can be handed at any level of your education. Where you've previously written argumentative essays that make a point or analytic essays that dissect meaning, a narrative essay asks you to write what is effectively a story .

But unlike a simple work of creative fiction, your narrative essay must have a clear and concrete motif —a recurring theme or idea that you’ll explore throughout. Narrative essays are less rigid, more creative in expression, and therefore pretty different from most other essays you’ll be writing.

But not to fear—in this article, we’ll be covering what a narrative essay is, how to write a good one, and also analyzing some personal narrative essay examples to show you what a great one looks like.

What Is a Narrative Essay?

At first glance, a narrative essay might sound like you’re just writing a story. Like the stories you're used to reading, a narrative essay is generally (but not always) chronological, following a clear throughline from beginning to end. Even if the story jumps around in time, all the details will come back to one specific theme, demonstrated through your choice in motifs.

Unlike many creative stories, however, your narrative essay should be based in fact. That doesn’t mean that every detail needs to be pure and untainted by imagination, but rather that you shouldn’t wholly invent the events of your narrative essay. There’s nothing wrong with inventing a person’s words if you can’t remember them exactly, but you shouldn’t say they said something they weren’t even close to saying.

Another big difference between narrative essays and creative fiction—as well as other kinds of essays—is that narrative essays are based on motifs. A motif is a dominant idea or theme, one that you establish before writing the essay. As you’re crafting the narrative, it’ll feed back into your motif to create a comprehensive picture of whatever that motif is.

For example, say you want to write a narrative essay about how your first day in high school helped you establish your identity. You might discuss events like trying to figure out where to sit in the cafeteria, having to describe yourself in five words as an icebreaker in your math class, or being unsure what to do during your lunch break because it’s no longer acceptable to go outside and play during lunch. All of those ideas feed back into the central motif of establishing your identity.

The important thing to remember is that while a narrative essay is typically told chronologically and intended to read like a story, it is not purely for entertainment value. A narrative essay delivers its theme by deliberately weaving the motifs through the events, scenes, and details. While a narrative essay may be entertaining, its primary purpose is to tell a complete story based on a central meaning.

Unlike other essay forms, it is totally okay—even expected—to use first-person narration in narrative essays. If you’re writing a story about yourself, it’s natural to refer to yourself within the essay. It’s also okay to use other perspectives, such as third- or even second-person, but that should only be done if it better serves your motif. Generally speaking, your narrative essay should be in first-person perspective.

Though your motif choices may feel at times like you’re making a point the way you would in an argumentative essay, a narrative essay’s goal is to tell a story, not convince the reader of anything. Your reader should be able to tell what your motif is from reading, but you don’t have to change their mind about anything. If they don’t understand the point you are making, you should consider strengthening the delivery of the events and descriptions that support your motif.

Narrative essays also share some features with analytical essays, in which you derive meaning from a book, film, or other media. But narrative essays work differently—you’re not trying to draw meaning from an existing text, but rather using an event you’ve experienced to convey meaning. In an analytical essay, you examine narrative, whereas in a narrative essay you create narrative.

The structure of a narrative essay is also a bit different than other essays. You’ll generally be getting your point across chronologically as opposed to grouping together specific arguments in paragraphs or sections. To return to the example of an essay discussing your first day of high school and how it impacted the shaping of your identity, it would be weird to put the events out of order, even if not knowing what to do after lunch feels like a stronger idea than choosing where to sit. Instead of organizing to deliver your information based on maximum impact, you’ll be telling your story as it happened, using concrete details to reinforce your theme.

3 Great Narrative Essay Examples

One of the best ways to learn how to write a narrative essay is to look at a great narrative essay sample. Let’s take a look at some truly stellar narrative essay examples and dive into what exactly makes them work so well.

A Ticket to the Fair by David Foster Wallace

Today is Press Day at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield, and I’m supposed to be at the fairgrounds by 9:00 A.M. to get my credentials. I imagine credentials to be a small white card in the band of a fedora. I’ve never been considered press before. My real interest in credentials is getting into rides and shows for free. I’m fresh in from the East Coast, for an East Coast magazine. Why exactly they’re interested in the Illinois State Fair remains unclear to me. I suspect that every so often editors at East Coast magazines slap their foreheads and remember that about 90 percent of the United States lies between the coasts, and figure they’ll engage somebody to do pith-helmeted anthropological reporting on something rural and heartlandish. I think they asked me to do this because I grew up here, just a couple hours’ drive from downstate Springfield. I never did go to the state fair, though—I pretty much topped out at the county fair level. Actually, I haven’t been back to Illinois for a long time, and I can’t say I’ve missed it.

Throughout this essay, David Foster Wallace recounts his experience as press at the Illinois State Fair. But it’s clear from this opening that he’s not just reporting on the events exactly as they happened—though that’s also true— but rather making a point about how the East Coast, where he lives and works, thinks about the Midwest.

In his opening paragraph, Wallace states that outright: “Why exactly they’re interested in the Illinois State Fair remains unclear to me. I suspect that every so often editors at East Coast magazines slap their foreheads and remember that about 90 percent of the United States lies between the coasts, and figure they’ll engage somebody to do pith-helmeted anthropological reporting on something rural and heartlandish.”

Not every motif needs to be stated this clearly , but in an essay as long as Wallace’s, particularly since the audience for such a piece may feel similarly and forget that such a large portion of the country exists, it’s important to make that point clear.

But Wallace doesn’t just rest on introducing his motif and telling the events exactly as they occurred from there. It’s clear that he selects events that remind us of that idea of East Coast cynicism , such as when he realizes that the Help Me Grow tent is standing on top of fake grass that is killing the real grass beneath, when he realizes the hypocrisy of craving a corn dog when faced with a real, suffering pig, when he’s upset for his friend even though he’s not the one being sexually harassed, and when he witnesses another East Coast person doing something he wouldn’t dare to do.

Wallace is literally telling the audience exactly what happened, complete with dates and timestamps for when each event occurred. But he’s also choosing those events with a purpose—he doesn’t focus on details that don’t serve his motif. That’s why he discusses the experiences of people, how the smells are unappealing to him, and how all the people he meets, in cowboy hats, overalls, or “black spandex that looks like cheesecake leotards,” feel almost alien to him.

All of these details feed back into the throughline of East Coast thinking that Wallace introduces in the first paragraph. He also refers back to it in the essay’s final paragraph, stating:

At last, an overarching theory blooms inside my head: megalopolitan East Coasters’ summer treats and breaks and literally ‘getaways,’ flights-from—from crowds, noise, heat, dirt, the stress of too many sensory choices….The East Coast existential treat is escape from confines and stimuli—quiet, rustic vistas that hold still, turn inward, turn away. Not so in the rural Midwest. Here you’re pretty much away all the time….Something in a Midwesterner sort of actuates , deep down, at a public event….The real spectacle that draws us here is us.

Throughout this journey, Wallace has tried to demonstrate how the East Coast thinks about the Midwest, ultimately concluding that they are captivated by the Midwest’s less stimuli-filled life, but that the real reason they are interested in events like the Illinois State Fair is that they are, in some ways, a means of looking at the East Coast in a new, estranging way.

The reason this works so well is that Wallace has carefully chosen his examples, outlined his motif and themes in the first paragraph, and eventually circled back to the original motif with a clearer understanding of his original point.

When outlining your own narrative essay, try to do the same. Start with a theme, build upon it with examples, and return to it in the end with an even deeper understanding of the original issue. You don’t need this much space to explore a theme, either—as we’ll see in the next example, a strong narrative essay can also be very short.

Death of a Moth by Virginia Woolf

After a time, tired by his dancing apparently, he settled on the window ledge in the sun, and, the queer spectacle being at an end, I forgot about him. Then, looking up, my eye was caught by him. He was trying to resume his dancing, but seemed either so stiff or so awkward that he could only flutter to the bottom of the window-pane; and when he tried to fly across it he failed. Being intent on other matters I watched these futile attempts for a time without thinking, unconsciously waiting for him to resume his flight, as one waits for a machine, that has stopped momentarily, to start again without considering the reason of its failure. After perhaps a seventh attempt he slipped from the wooden ledge and fell, fluttering his wings, on to his back on the window sill. The helplessness of his attitude roused me. It flashed upon me that he was in difficulties; he could no longer raise himself; his legs struggled vainly. But, as I stretched out a pencil, meaning to help him to right himself, it came over me that the failure and awkwardness were the approach of death. I laid the pencil down again.

In this essay, Virginia Woolf explains her encounter with a dying moth. On surface level, this essay is just a recounting of an afternoon in which she watched a moth die—it’s even established in the title. But there’s more to it than that. Though Woolf does not begin her essay with as clear a motif as Wallace, it’s not hard to pick out the evidence she uses to support her point, which is that the experience of this moth is also the human experience.

In the title, Woolf tells us this essay is about death. But in the first paragraph, she seems to mostly be discussing life—the moth is “content with life,” people are working in the fields, and birds are flying. However, she mentions that it is mid-September and that the fields were being plowed. It’s autumn and it’s time for the harvest; the time of year in which many things die.

In this short essay, she chronicles the experience of watching a moth seemingly embody life, then die. Though this essay is literally about a moth, it’s also about a whole lot more than that. After all, moths aren’t the only things that die—Woolf is also reflecting on her own mortality, as well as the mortality of everything around her.

At its core, the essay discusses the push and pull of life and death, not in a way that’s necessarily sad, but in a way that is accepting of both. Woolf begins by setting up the transitional fall season, often associated with things coming to an end, and raises the ideas of pleasure, vitality, and pity.

At one point, Woolf tries to help the dying moth, but reconsiders, as it would interfere with the natural order of the world. The moth’s death is part of the natural order of the world, just like fall, just like her own eventual death.

All these themes are set up in the beginning and explored throughout the essay’s narrative. Though Woolf doesn’t directly state her theme, she reinforces it by choosing a small, isolated event—watching a moth die—and illustrating her point through details.

With this essay, we can see that you don’t need a big, weird, exciting event to discuss an important meaning. Woolf is able to explore complicated ideas in a short essay by being deliberate about what details she includes, just as you can be in your own essays.

Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

On the twenty-ninth of July, in 1943, my father died. On the same day, a few hours later, his last child was born. Over a month before this, while all our energies were concentrated in waiting for these events, there had been, in Detroit, one of the bloodiest race riots of the century. A few hours after my father’s funeral, while he lay in state in the undertaker’s chapel, a race riot broke out in Harlem. On the morning of the third of August, we drove my father to the graveyard through a wilderness of smashed plate glass.

Like Woolf, Baldwin does not lay out his themes in concrete terms—unlike Wallace, there’s no clear sentence that explains what he’ll be talking about. However, you can see the motifs quite clearly: death, fatherhood, struggle, and race.

Throughout the narrative essay, Baldwin discusses the circumstances of his father’s death, including his complicated relationship with his father. By introducing those motifs in the first paragraph, the reader understands that everything discussed in the essay will come back to those core ideas. When Baldwin talks about his experience with a white teacher taking an interest in him and his father’s resistance to that, he is also talking about race and his father’s death. When he talks about his father’s death, he is also talking about his views on race. When he talks about his encounters with segregation and racism, he is talking, in part, about his father.

Because his father was a hard, uncompromising man, Baldwin struggles to reconcile the knowledge that his father was right about many things with his desire to not let that hardness consume him, as well.

Baldwin doesn’t explicitly state any of this, but his writing so often touches on the same motifs that it becomes clear he wants us to think about all these ideas in conversation with one another.

At the end of the essay, Baldwin makes it more clear:

This fight begins, however, in the heart and it had now been laid to my charge to keep my own heart free of hatred and despair. This intimation made my heart heavy and, now that my father was irrecoverable, I wished that he had been beside me so that I could have searched his face for the answers which only the future would give me now.

Here, Baldwin ties together the themes and motifs into one clear statement: that he must continue to fight and recognize injustice, especially racial injustice, just as his father did. But unlike his father, he must do it beginning with himself—he must not let himself be closed off to the world as his father was. And yet, he still wishes he had his father for guidance, even as he establishes that he hopes to be a different man than his father.

In this essay, Baldwin loads the front of the essay with his motifs, and, through his narrative, weaves them together into a theme. In the end, he comes to a conclusion that connects all of those things together and leaves the reader with a lasting impression of completion—though the elements may have been initially disparate, in the end everything makes sense.

You can replicate this tactic of introducing seemingly unattached ideas and weaving them together in your own essays. By introducing those motifs, developing them throughout, and bringing them together in the end, you can demonstrate to your reader how all of them are related. However, it’s especially important to be sure that your motifs and clear and consistent throughout your essay so that the conclusion feels earned and consistent—if not, readers may feel mislead.

5 Key Tips for Writing Narrative Essays

Narrative essays can be a lot of fun to write since they’re so heavily based on creativity. But that can also feel intimidating—sometimes it’s easier to have strict guidelines than to have to make it all up yourself. Here are a few tips to keep your narrative essay feeling strong and fresh.

Develop Strong Motifs

Motifs are the foundation of a narrative essay . What are you trying to say? How can you say that using specific symbols or events? Those are your motifs.

In the same way that an argumentative essay’s body should support its thesis, the body of your narrative essay should include motifs that support your theme.

Try to avoid cliches, as these will feel tired to your readers. Instead of roses to symbolize love, try succulents. Instead of the ocean representing some vast, unknowable truth, try the depths of your brother’s bedroom. Keep your language and motifs fresh and your essay will be even stronger!

Use First-Person Perspective

In many essays, you’re expected to remove yourself so that your points stand on their own. Not so in a narrative essay—in this case, you want to make use of your own perspective.

Sometimes a different perspective can make your point even stronger. If you want someone to identify with your point of view, it may be tempting to choose a second-person perspective. However, be sure you really understand the function of second-person; it’s very easy to put a reader off if the narration isn’t expertly deployed.

If you want a little bit of distance, third-person perspective may be okay. But be careful—too much distance and your reader may feel like the narrative lacks truth.

That’s why first-person perspective is the standard. It keeps you, the writer, close to the narrative, reminding the reader that it really happened. And because you really know what happened and how, you’re free to inject your own opinion into the story without it detracting from your point, as it would in a different type of essay.

Stick to the Truth

Your essay should be true. However, this is a creative essay, and it’s okay to embellish a little. Rarely in life do we experience anything with a clear, concrete meaning the way somebody in a book might. If you flub the details a little, it’s okay—just don’t make them up entirely.

Also, nobody expects you to perfectly recall details that may have happened years ago. You may have to reconstruct dialog from your memory and your imagination. That’s okay, again, as long as you aren’t making it up entirely and assigning made-up statements to somebody.

Dialog is a powerful tool. A good conversation can add flavor and interest to a story, as we saw demonstrated in David Foster Wallace’s essay. As previously mentioned, it’s okay to flub it a little, especially because you’re likely writing about an experience you had without knowing that you’d be writing about it later.

However, don’t rely too much on it. Your narrative essay shouldn’t be told through people explaining things to one another; the motif comes through in the details. Dialog can be one of those details, but it shouldn’t be the only one.

Use Sensory Descriptions

Because a narrative essay is a story, you can use sensory details to make your writing more interesting. If you’re describing a particular experience, you can go into detail about things like taste, smell, and hearing in a way that you probably wouldn’t do in any other essay style.

These details can tie into your overall motifs and further your point. Woolf describes in great detail what she sees while watching the moth, giving us the sense that we, too, are watching the moth. In Wallace’s essay, he discusses the sights, sounds, and smells of the Illinois State Fair to help emphasize his point about its strangeness. And in Baldwin’s essay, he describes shattered glass as a “wilderness,” and uses the feelings of his body to describe his mental state.

All these descriptions anchor us not only in the story, but in the motifs and themes as well. One of the tools of a writer is making the reader feel as you felt, and sensory details help you achieve that.

What’s Next?

Looking to brush up on your essay-writing capabilities before the ACT? This guide to ACT English will walk you through some of the best strategies and practice questions to get you prepared!

Part of practicing for the ACT is ensuring your word choice and diction are on point. Check out this guide to some of the most common errors on the ACT English section to be sure that you're not making these common mistakes!

A solid understanding of English principles will help you make an effective point in a narrative essay, and you can get that understanding through taking a rigorous assortment of high school English classes !

Melissa Brinks graduated from the University of Washington in 2014 with a Bachelor's in English with a creative writing emphasis. She has spent several years tutoring K-12 students in many subjects, including in SAT prep, to help them prepare for their college education.

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How to Write a Personal Narrative like a Pro (With Examples)

Last Updated: December 12, 2023 Fact Checked

Template and Sample Narrative

Brainstorming

This article was co-authored by Grant Faulkner, MA . Grant Faulkner is the Executive Director of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) and the co-founder of 100 Word Story, a literary magazine. Grant has published two books on writing and has been published in The New York Times and Writer’s Digest. He co-hosts Write-minded, a weekly podcast on writing and publishing, and has a M.A. in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 861,084 times.

Personal narratives focus on a particular real life event that was pivotal or important for the writer. You may have to write a personal narrative as part of a college application or as an assignment for a class. To write a strong personal narrative, start by coming up with an engaging idea. Then, write the narrative with an opening hook and a detailed, organized structure. Always review and revise the personal narrative before handing it in so it is at its best.

Things You Should Know

Center your narrative around an important moment in your life. For example, you might write about a time you had to make a hard decision or deal with a conflict.
Move chronologically through the events you’re discussing. This will make your narrative easy to follow and draw your reader in.
Finish with a moral takeaway or a life lesson. What did you learn from these events, and why is it important? How did they shape you as a person?

Brainstorming Ideas for the Narrative

Step 1 Focus on a memorable event or moment in your life.

For example, you may write about your struggles with body image in high school and how you overcame them in adulthood. Or you may write about your disastrous 15th birthday party and how it affected your relationship with your mother.

Step 2 Expand on an important conflict in your life.

For example, you write a personal narrative about your complicated relationship with your birth mother. Or you may write about a conflict you have with a sport you play or a club you are a part of.

Step 3 Think about a particular theme or idea.

For example, you may explore a theme like poverty by writing about your family’s struggle with money and finances. You may write about having to defer college applications to work at your parent’s business to make ends meet for your family.

Step 4 Read examples of personal narrative.

The Boys of My Youth by Jo Ann Beard
Slouching Towards Bethlehem by Joan Didion
Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
The Lives section of The New York Times

Writing the Personal Narrative

For example, the first line in the personal narrative by Tony Gervino is attention grabbing: “I was 6 when my brother John leaned across the kitchen table and casually whispered that he had killed Santa Claus.” [5] X Research source

For example, in Tony Gervino’s essay, he sets the scene by providing setting, character, and narrative voice: “It was July 1973, we were living in Scarsdale, N.Y., and he was four years older than I was, although that seemed like decades.”

Step 3 Move chronologically through the events.

For example, you may start with an event in childhood with your older sister and then move forward in time to the present day, focusing on you and your older sister as adults.

Step 4 Use sensory detail and description.

For example, you may describe the feeling of your mother’s famous lemon cake as “rich and zesty, with a special ingredient that to this day, I cannot identify.”

For example, you may end a personal narrative about your complicated relationship with your troubled sister by ending on a recent memory where you both enjoyed each other’s company. You may leave the reader with a lesson you have learned about loving someone, even with all their messiness and baggage.

Polishing the Personal Narrative

You can also try reading the narrative out loud to someone else so they can hear how it sounds. This can then make it easier for them to give you feedback.

Be willing to accept feedback from others. Be open to constructive criticism as it will likely strengthen the narrative.

Step 3 Revise the narrative for clarity and length.

Community Q&A

How to Write a Narrative Essay
How to Write a Journal Entry
How to Write an Epistolary Narrative
How to Write an Autobiography
↑ https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/personal-narrative-examples
↑ https://www.byrdseed.com/writing-better-personal-narratives/
↑ https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/grammar-rules-and-tips/tips-for-writing-a-personal-narrative-essay.html
↑ https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/17/magazine/lives-a-rats-tale.html
↑ https://open.lib.umn.edu/writingforsuccess/chapter/10-1-narration/
↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/reading-aloud/
↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/revising-drafts/

About This Article

To write a personal narrative, start by choosing a memorable moment, event, or conflict in your life that you want to write about. Then, use your personal narrative to describe your story, going chronologically through the events. Try to use a lot of sensory detail, like how things smelled, sounded, felt, and looked, so your readers can picture everything you're describing. At the end of your narrative, include a lesson you learned or something you took away from the experience. To learn how to brainstorm ideas for your personal narrative, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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How to write a Compelling Personal Narrative Essay

Have you been assigned to write a personal narrative assignment but do not know how to proceed? Do you suck in writing essays and fear that you will fail in your personal narrative essay? Worry no more; we have compiled a helpful guide never seen before on the internet. We understand your pain point and have tried to cover literary every little detail you need to know as you set out on a journey to write.

The good thing is that our refined essay writers , who themselves are masters of crafting personal narratives have developed this guide. We sought their input as well as did research on the best practices when writing this type of assignment. As a custom paper writing service , we are so impressed by this guide that we use it in internal training for our new writers. We, therefore, believe that it is a valuable resource when writing your personal narrative essay.

This step-by-step guide to writing a personal narrative essay covers all the critical elements, with practical samples and elaborations as necessary. We are doing this so that you do not dread writing one or cringe when assigned personal narrative essays, as most students do.

What is a personal narrative essay?

A personal narrative is a story about you. Narrative, from the Latin narrare , means to narrate a tale or a story. The narrative you will write will be a "personal" narrative. Thus, the story will be written by you, about you, and in many ways, for you. What makes a personal narrative so interesting is that it's a story with a point or purpose. In other words, a personal narrative is detailed, descriptive, dialogue-driven, and determined to make a point.

A personal narrative can be a story that conveys your fears, ambitions, passion, sensitivity, humor, excitements, or what makes you sad, angry, or weak, written in prose form . It lets your audience connect with you. Like other stories, personal narratives have the beginning, middle/climax, the end, and characters.

Personal narratives are written by those in academics as well as other professions. In the realm of academia, a personal narrative essay tells a story that is personal, experiential, and personal. As an author, you aim to creatively express your thoughts, ideas, feelings, and opinions. Personal narrative essays are usually from 500 words onwards.

In the general life arena, personal narratives are a form of journalism or non-fiction works that are part of narrative journalism. Pioneer publications like New York Times, Guardian, and Time magazine have personal narrative sections.

A persona narrative covers any reflective and contemplative subject with a unique perspective and a strong voice. You can write it using personal pronouns such as "I" or "we." The story is usually about a memorable moment that is worth recounting.

What is the purpose of a personal narrative essay?

When a teacher, lecturer, or professor assigns you a personal narrative, there are many things they are testing.

Like any form of academic writing, there needs to be a reason for writing the narrative and why the reader should read it.

The purpose of the personal narrative is to share a meaningful experience, and the lesson learned from the experience.

Specifically, this essay aims to share a story about a time you experienced gratitude.

From the perspective of a professor or lecturer, it is assigned to test your narrative writing skills. It is also meant to assess whether you grasp following instructions, using proper English, and expressing yourself.

So, a personal narrative is not a chance for the professor to fail you. Instead, it is to help you better yourself by honing your writing, creativity, and critical thinking skills, which are equally needed to survive in real-world settings.

Who is the audience of a Personal Narrative?

In many ways, we write a personal narrative for ourselves to reflect upon an experience, to grow from an event.

However, we want you to imagine that your audience is you and someone else. Therefore, the writer needs to know who their audience is and how their needs will affect how the narrative is composed and presented.

For example, in addition to writing this story as an opportunity for personal reflection, you may also choose a family member or friend group as your real or imagined audience.

Selecting a real or imagined audience will help you develop your essay with the right tone. For example, the tone for a personal narrative can be formal or informal; it depends on your chosen audience.

Related: How to write a descriptive essay.

Steps to take when writing your Personal Narrative

If you are assigned to write a personal narrative essay, or you are doing it for a contest, here are some eight must-follow steps to succeed:

1. Choose a befitting topic

After reading the personal narrative essay prompt, you must choose a good topic to write a story about. We have outlined how to choose a topic in this guide.

A good topic makes an essay look good and simplifies the writing process. In addition, the topic helps you define the theme you want to share with your audience. In most cases, the topic for a personal narrative refers to your experiences as the writer, so you do not have to use external sources when brainstorming.

Because your personal narrative reflects personal experiences, thoughts, and ideas, ensure that you choose an exciting topic. In addition, the topic should match the intended audience because the audience eventually defines the scope of your essay.

2. Brainstorm and develop ideas for your essay

With the topic, you can create mind maps or notes brainstorming on presenting your ideas. Next, determine what befits your story's beginning, middle, and end. Now that you have all the best ideas, you must turn them into a plan.

3. Write your essay outline/structure

The outline of your personal narrative is your blueprint or essay plan. It is an essential component in your preparation and writing phases. An outline helps organize the composition, maintaining flow, coherence, and clarity. You can visualize your audience and logically write a paper that meets their expectations with a good outline.

4. Begin your essay with a good hook

Now that we have the outline, write your essay with a good hook statement . A sound hook is a game-changer in every aspect. For example, a good hook sentence for a personal narrative essay will signal your reader to keep all their attention to the paper because there is better to come. You can use famous quotes, statistics, current issues or affairs, concepts, anecdotes, verses, or interesting facts. And once you have one, you have the currency to grab your readers' attention to read your essay entirely.

5. Write the essay in the first person, with spice, and descriptively

Develop your ideas in the first person or "I," but avoid overdoing it. A personal narrative allows you the freedom to use the first person since it is personal. Therefore, you should use "I" without switching the perspective to favor someone else when outlining the significance of ongoing events.

Also, when writing, describe the places and characters. Giving a vivid description adorns your story as it makes the plot clear. This is specifically big for the people affected by the outcome or those who matter in your story. When mentioning places, ensure you use spatial relations to create the picture in the reader's mind. Having such information helps shape the perspectives of your readers. It also helps change the characters' attitudes and helps them understand your central idea.

When writing, spice up the essay by turning things around to make your readers entertained even more. To do this, you can introduce a dramatic or antagonistic character that interferes with the status quo: your purposes. Having such an unpredictable twist can help break the monotony of your audience.

6. Edit your essay

With your first draft ready, you must revise it thoroughly to make it presentable, flowing, and worth grading. To edit well, follow these suggestions (our top-rated essay writers do this, and their essays always turn out perfect):

Avoid editing your essay immediately after completing the essay. Instead, take some rest and only edit when you are fresh. It helps you be objective, determined, and fresh enough to spot mistakes.
Simplify the big vocabulary, complicated sentences, and paragraphs for a compelling story.
Avoid using terms that can easily confuse your readers
Scan your essay for repetitions of ideas, messages, words, and sentences
Check if your essay meets the word count, general formatting requirements, and number of paragraphs
Review the structure of your essay
Check if there are problematic areas and paraphrase

A well-edited personal narrative essay is a direct ticket to the best grade.

7. Proofread your essay

Editing is not proofreading and vice versa. Editing focuses on the content, structure, and style, while proofreading concerns grammar, syntax, and spelling errors. When proofreading:

Use a professional proofreader to check your essay . Our custom writing company has the best proofreaders around.
Using applications such as Grammarly, Hemmingway, or Ginger, you can check your essay for grammar mistakes.
Ensure that your essay is devoid of spelling mistakes

Having someone re-read your essay helps you correct otherwise unnoticeable mistakes. If the personal narrative is for a common APP or college application, use a credible editing company like Gradecrest.

8. Submit for marking/publishing

Finally, with everything in its rightful place, it is time to polish up the essay and ensure the title page is well written. Input your name, professor's name, submission date, class name, and code as per the recommended style. Once you have everything labeled as it should, including the filename, you can hit the submit button in your email or on Canvas and wait for the best grades .

Tips for writing a resounding Personal Narrative Essay

Choose a focused and narrow experience , as a "too big" experience will result in less development and detail. Flesh out the details of a "smaller" story, but an important one.
Plan your narrative essay and avoid pantsing . Planning a personal narrative means writing a story based on a specific blueprint or roadmap for telling the story. You first figure out the parts of your story before writing. On the other hand, pantsing is when you write a personal narrative based on a chosen essay topic from the start to the end without planning or thinking things through.
Have a clear purpose . The personal narrative essay must mirror a unique perspective on life. Even though this is hard to attain than it sounds, watch your tone in the essay.
Use your introduction to "sell" your audience on your topic . In other words, "HOOK" them into your story by providing an interesting and engaging opening paragraph.
Draft your story using the first-person pronoun "I." (This is among those assignments where you can use first-person pronouns, so "I" away!). Remember, you are the author. So, take ownership of your story. However, overusing "I" only makes your story redundant and self-centered.
Mind attention to tenses. When writing a personal narrative, choose to write in the past tense. It helps in separating your current narrative voice and your past self. You are narrating the latter more. However, if you flip the story and use the present tense, ensure consistency.
Be sure that the audience/reader understands precisely what your narrative will be about with the background information to understand that narrative fully. Give the reader appropriate background, but don't go overboard.
Your story should have a point, a message, and/or a clear lesson that the reader can understand . In a personal narrative, the point of your story can also be called a thesis statement. Make sure you make your point or thesis clear to the reader. In a personal narrative, the thesis statement should be located within the introduction: and most commonly, it is usually woven into the introductory paragraph as the last sentence.
Use your conclusion to "wrap up" the topic and the narrative. Be sure to return to what the point of your story is.
Ensure that you use proper sentence structure . For example, mix long and short sentences and try as much as possible to avoid run-on sentences.
SHOW, Don't Tell ! Since it is a narration, it should show your readers exactly what happened instead of telling them what transpired. You, as the writer, become one of the characters. Showing helps you shape your readers' perspective and attitude toward your story. It equally impacts how the audience views your predominant plot. Therefore, do not succumb to explaining everything descriptively but show your readers some action.
Use descriptive language and tone when writing
Use vivid language so that your readers can imagine the whole scene.
Use sensory-driven details to describe moods, actions, themes, and the plot. Adding emotions to your essay helps the reader to know about the feeling. Describe the feelings and emotions using descriptive words.
Zoom into the important moments of your story's most significant and interesting parts. You must also prove the significance of your experience through adequate personal evidence and examples.
Maintain consistency when writing this essay. Any professional essay writer will tell you that consistency is vital. Stay focused on one idea and add as many details related to the specific point as possible. Avoid detours into irrelevant details.

Related: T ricks and tips for good narrative writing.

Features of an excellent personal narrative essay

Ensure that these six personal narrative features are addressed when writing your personal narrative essay. The features include:

1. Proper Essay Organization

Like any other story, the Personal Narrative is organized with a clear beginning, middle, and end. It should read like a story: with an exposition, a rise action, a climax, falling action, and a resolution or denouement. While the Personal Narrative is less formal than other academic essays , the point or moral of the story (i.e., the thesis) should be obvious to the reader.

2. Description of characters

It is vital to develop the characters in the story so that the reader understands the people in the story: even if the one person is YOU. Mainly, doing this helps your reader learn about the characters by what they say and do.

3. Use Transitions

An excellent personal narrative utilizes paragraph breaks and transitional words and phrases that help the audience (or reader) flow in and around the story.

4. Dialogue

You can include external or internal dialogue when writing a personal narrative to connect your characters and help propel the story forward. Dialog is instrumental in showing rather than telling the story to the reader.

5. Sensory Details

As you write the essay, develop some sense of imagery within your story. You can achieve this by using sensory-driven details. You must create a vivid story by helping your reader/audience perceive, see, hear, taste, touch, and feel as the characters in your story do. The sensory details invite the readers into your world so much that they resonate and own the story. In addition, it helps the audience experience the story you are sharing with them in the most intended way.

6. Thesis Statement

Like all essays you will ever write, a personal narrative has a thesis , the central idea, or the message that drives the story. Thus, it is a thesis-driven storytelling approach where you share with others a story about you.

A thesis helps to show the significance of themes, events, lessons, or morals from the events. When the purpose of your story is structured as a thesis statement, you convince your readers.

When writing other academic essays, the thesis appears in the last sentences of the first paragraph. However, when writing your personal narrative, you have the freedom and flexibility to determine where your story's main point appears.

This means that as long as your point of the story is clear, the location of the thesis can vary depending on how to develop the story. If anything, underline the thesis statement before submitting your personal narrative for grading.

Format of a Personal Narrative Essay

When you are typing your personal narrative essay, you need to do it in:

Times New Roman, font size 12.
Double-paces
MLA or APA format (depending on your institution or professor)

In terms of flow, a personal narrative is written in prose form. It is a piece of writing assignment that uses the story format. This is to say that it has a beginning, middle, and end.

Ensure a clear introduction paragraph with a hook, background story, and thesis when writing it. Next, the body of the story develops as body paragraphs. Last, your personal narrative has to have a concluding paragraph.

Although personal narratives are less formal than traditional academic writing, your story must have a thesis statement to allow your readers to understand the focal point in your story.

Outline of a Personal Narrative

When doing any piece of writing, having an outline makes work easier. It enables you to determine the flow of ideas and plan the organization of your content.

A personal narrative essay follows the five-paragraph essay structure . That means that it has: an introduction paragraph, three body paragraphs, and a concluding paragraph.

Introduction

In a personal narrative essay, the introduction is as essential a paragraph as with conventional essays. It is the first impression on your reader, which can be used to judge if the essay is worth their time. It further defines the quality and scope of your essay. Therefore, it has to beckon your readers by grabbing their attention-stealing them off their feet.

Begin the introduction with a hook that catches the reader's attention and sets the scene.

Where is the event set?
When did the event occur?
How old were you when this occurred?

After your hook, present some background of the story or the setup of your story. Finally, round up the essay by stating the thesis: What did you learn, or how did the event become significant in your life?

Body Paragraphs

Your essay can have three significant moments from the event's beginning, middle, and end. As you write the body paragraphs, show and don't tell. Use spatial relationships, sensory details, and transition words to mark the passage of time.

Each body paragraph should have an outstanding topic sentence, a detailed explanation, and a concluding sentence.

Ensure that every paragraph focuses on a specific encounter chronologically. Also, place your characters in an excellent position to tell your story for a better flow.

In your personal narrative conclusion, provide the story's climax. Wrap up the entire story and do not introduce new ideas or points.

In your conclusion, analyze and reflect on the story's action, including telling the reader what the event taught you or how it is important/significant to you.

Your conclusion should be satisfying enough so your readers find your personal narrative unforgettable, relatable, and exciting. Ensure that you reiterate the climax of your story to make it more interesting.

Write the lessons learned or takeaways from your story without forcing them on your readers. Instead, show and don't tell. For example, instead of telling your readers what you learned, tell them how different you are now or how the encounter contributed to who you are today. Doing this helps build the moral of your story without forcing issues.

Anatomy/Structure of a Personal Narrative Essay

INTRODUCTION PARAGRAPH

Setting the scene.

BODY PARAGRAPHS

Body Paragraph #1

Topic sentence.

Closing sentence.

Body Paragraph #2

Body Paragraph #3

CLOSING PARAGRAPH, aka. CONCLUSION.

State your thesis differently.

Close with an interesting parting shot.

How to choose a personal narrative topic

To choose a great personal narrative topic, you need to brainstorm and then evaluate the personal narrative topic you've chosen.

Brainstorming means walking through your life, encounters, and experiences and choosing one that you want to share with your readers. Here are some questions to help you:

What memorable encounters have occurred in your life?
What challenges have you faced so far in life?
Are there any important memories that you have?
What are some of the saddest or happiest events in your life?
What obstacles or challenges have you faced in life?
What stories matter the most to you as a person?
What memories define you?

When brainstorming, you can list such topics; you will surely come up with vivid and outstanding topics. You can equally select personal narrative topics from the class's personal narrative essay prompts. Furthermore, if our list of 50-plus personal narrative topics does not resonate with a personal narrative you want to write, you can use an essay writer who will brainstorm and develop a great topic.

When brainstorming, use divergent and convergent thinking. Divergent thinking helps generate as many ideas as possible, whereas convergent thinking helps you narrow down to the best ideas.

Having chosen a topic, evaluate if it is the best you can tell your story through. If a story is boring to you, it will most likely be boring to your audience. This is enough of a signal to change the personal narrative topic.

With the topic, write an outline with the story's beginning, middle, and end. You must critically and deeply analyze the personal narrative ideas developed when brainstorming to help you write a great essay.

Some valuable tips for choosing the topics

Avoid overdone topics. Instead, come up with fresh ideas.
Narrow down to a topic you are comfortable writing about
Do not choose a topic that triggers stress in your life
Choose a topic you relate with, know about, and care to share about
Choose a topic about something you are passionate about
Have a topic you can relate to at a personal level
Choose a topic you are sure will interest the audience

51 Personal Narrative Topics to Consider in your assignment

My favorite pet
A teacher I will never forget
A memorable high school encounter
My first job
A memorable childhood experience
A memorable music concert I attended
How I Developed the love for Football
When I found my passion for gymnastics
A story of how I lost a close friend
A memorable sporting events
A birthday surprise party I will never forget
Why I visit the park often
Personal advice to my generation
What I regret the most
When I learned to control my anger
My favorite movie
My favorite subject
My dream job
An encounter with my model celebrity
The most important principle in my life
How I balance family and professional life
The first time I drunk
The most challenging decision I have ever made
My most memorable loss
Celebrities that inspire my life
My favorite congressperson
My favorite president
The day I first voted
An encounter with a stalker
My pains as a child who was neglected
My experience as an orphan
My experiences as an adopted child
An embarrassing moment in my life
An inspirational class I took online
When I got lost when camping
How I Fell in love with riding bikes
The most memorable volunteering activity
An unforgettable encounter with thieves
The day I brushed shoulders with death
The day I had a date with death
The day I woke up in a hospital
My immigration story
When I discovered a nasty family secret
One day I felt alone and scared
First time I cooked a meal for my parents
When I bought my first shares
The first time I learned how to play the piano
An encounter that changed my life perspective
A story about a personal failure that inspired your resilience
A first love that never was
The stepmother from hell
The day death robbed my family
The day I learned the hard truths about my birth

5 Examples of Personal Narrative Essay Prompts

We have compiled some personal narrative essay prompts we came across as we researched and interacted with the content and from works that our writers have completed. Here are some examples:

1. Experiencing Gratitude

For this assignment, you will write a personal narrative: a story: illustrating an event, moment (or series of moments), or experience exemplifying gratitude. Share a story about a moment, experience, or event where you experienced gratitude either during the experience itself or after the experience took place.

2. A Favorite School Memory

Write a story about your favorite school memory. Who was there? Where was it? How did it happen? How does it end? Focus on one single event. For example, if you played the violin in school, you could tell a story about playing the violin in a concert. Or, if you played on a soccer team, you could tell the story of your tryout.

3. Unresolved personal experience

Describe something that happened to you but where there's no resolution. What was the experience, and how did it occur? What don't you understand or know about the experience? Then, instead of having a resolution to the story, convey how you feel about not knowing what happened.

4. Family Story

Write a personal narrative about something that happened within your family. What occurred, who was there, and what did you do? Is there an important, funny, sad, or happy event in your family? Did you do something important or special with your family? Some examples of this topic are the birth of someone in your family, the death of a loved one, or something fun you did with your parents, siblings, grandparents, etc.

5. The Memorable Journey

Write a story of the best, strangest, or worst thing that happened to you on a vacation or trip to another place. Focus on one event or experience. When assigned such, you can focus on a robbery encounter when in a new town, an encounter with pickpocketers, getting lost in a place, experiencing a new culture in a place, getting to demystify your personal beliefs while on a journey, meeting new people while on transit, being left by a plane, or being stuck on the roads in a forest, etc.

6. An International or National Event or Incident

Write a personal story describing how you acted, witnessed, or responded to a significant national or international event or incident. For example, did you play in the Olympics or join a protest? Did you survive a natural disaster? What was your role in this circumstance? What did you do? For example, if you were in a hurricane, describe what happened, who you were with, and how you survived.

7. Meaningful Life Experience

Write a powerful short story about a meaningful life experience. This prompt was used in the September 2020 New York Times Personal narrative essay contest . Look at how glittery, composed, organized, and well-thought-out the winning personal narrative essays were and hone your skills. The best ones, including the honorary mentions, were sieved from over 8000 entries sourced globally.

8. Accident

Write a story about an accident you caused or that happened to you. This could be negative, as in a car accident, or maybe it's an accident of good fortune. Describe the accident, who was involved, and how it ended. For example, was it a bicycle accident? How did it happen? Did someone get hurt?

Personal Statement Examples

Below is an image of a color-coded personal narrative example that explains the different parts covered in an essay.

Sample of the best-written personal narrative essay

You can also access more personal narrative essay examples through these websites:

Thought Catalog : a publication that targets Generation Z through publishing personal narrative essays based on family, romance, friendship, and self-improvement, among others.
The writing Life : a publication run by selfpublishing.com, which presents samples of personal narratives.
Annual New York Times contest : Check out the yearly contest with different prompts targeting teenagers across the globe.
The Narrative Magazine : an online publication that publishes non-fiction narratives.
Narratively : publishes long-form writing that celebrates humanity through storytelling. In addition, it has personal narrative essays written to inspire, reflect, and provoke, mainly focusing on marginalized and overlooked subjects.
Long Reads : includes best personal narratives and narrative essays from the entire web, including award-winning articles.

You can also rummage through websites such as GoodReads to access some read-worthy personal narrative books to inspire you. Here are a few picks:

Educated by Tara Westover
Owl Moon by Jane Yolen
Fireflies by Julie Brinckloe
Night by Elie Weisel
The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
My Rotten Readhead Older Brother by Patricia Polacco
Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid by Ralph Fletcher
Kitchen Dance by Maurie J. Manning
The Relatives Came by Cynthia Rylant

Many worthy personal narrative books can inspire you to write an unforgettable story you want your audience to enjoy, appreciate, and forever think about.

Step-By-Step Checklist: Ready, Set, Write!

Here is an excellent step-by-step checklist that can help you craft a terrific personal narrative essay.

Begin by brainstorming experiences in your life that you think may be a good fit to showcase a story where you experienced gratitude.
Once you settle on an experience to write, begin to imagine the experience as a story. Use the storytelling graphic organizer to brainstorm the sequence of events.
Next, imagine the characters who will appear in your story. Of course, you will be in this, but who else plays a role? Imagine you are a character in the story and those who share in the experience. By imagining you and others as characters, you will characterize those involved and build conversations between the characters appropriately. Internal or external conversations or dialogue between characters allow the reader to see the story unfold. We call this showing vs. telling.
Start Writing! As you begin your first draft, focus on using vivid details and sense imagery. If the story becomes too detailed or long, you can always edit what is necessary. As well, share specific and relevant details to this experience.
Organize your story using a clear and logical order, with a strong introduction and conclusion.
Incorporate dialogue to show a character's personality and propel the story forward.
Show that the experience had a definite impact on you: in other words, it has a point or thesis.
Select various words and sentence structures to create tone and voice: focusing on your audience will help you focus on the tone you use.
When you're done writing the draft: read it to yourself and ensure that the story illustrates a strong point, vivid characters, and a clear beginning, middle, and end structure.
Correct spelling, usage, mechanics, grammar, and sentence formation errors. Also, be sure your story has an original title and properly label your draft using MLA formatting.

Parting Shot

You can attest that writing a personal narrative essay is not as complicated as you thought. It is a writing assignment you will most likely encounter in college, high school, or university. You are involving your person in the body of this paper, which makes it a bit confusing. But our guide has clarified everything you need to know. You can now turn your thought, ideas, imaginations, and experiences into a brilliant piece.

When writing a personal narrative essay, you tell your story, so make it count! It is an exercise that sometimes becomes complex and confusing for most students. Lucky you that we have a professional team of writers you can hire to write a bespoke personal narrative for you. You can use the model personal narrative essay to understand how to find your way through the assignment.

When you buy narrative essays from our website, our writers write your college essay from scratch. As a result, the essays are plagiarism-free, personalized ( since you communicate with the writer), and delivered within the shortest turnaround time.

You can contact our support team, available 24/7 to help you with any queries about any order or assignment placed on our website. So head to our homepage and click the " order now " button to let us take the stress of writing a personal narrative away from you.

Gradecrest is a professional writing service that provides original model papers. We offer personalized services along with research materials for assistance purposes only. All the materials from our website should be used with proper references. See our Terms of Use Page for proper details.

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Blog • Perfecting your Craft

Last updated on Oct 31, 2022

10 Personal Narrative Examples to Inspire Your Writing

Personal narratives are short pieces of creative nonfiction that recount a story from someone’s own experiences. They can be a memoir, a thinkpiece, or even a polemic — so long as the piece is grounded in the writer's beliefs and experiences, it can be considered a personal narrative.

Despite the nonfiction element, there’s no single way to approach this topic, and you can be as creative as you would be writing fiction. To inspire your writing and reveal the sheer diversity of this type of essay, here are ten great examples personal narratives from recent years:

1. “Only Disconnect” by Gary Shteyngart

Personal narratives don’t have to be long to be effective, as this thousand-word gem from the NYT book review proves. Published in 2010, just as smartphones were becoming a ubiquitous part of modern life, this piece echoes many of our fears surrounding technology and how it often distances us from reality.

In this narrative, Shteyngart navigates Manhattan using his new iPhone—or more accurately, is led by his iPhone, completely oblivious to the world around him. He’s completely lost to the magical happenstance of the city as he “follow[s] the arrow taco-ward”. But once he leaves for the country, and abandons the convenience of a cell phone connection, the real world comes rushing back in and he remembers what he’s been missing out on.

The downfalls of technology is hardly a new topic, but Shteyngart’s story remains evergreen because of how our culture has only spiraled further down the rabbit hole of technology addiction in the intervening years.

What can you learn from this piece?

Just because a piece of writing is technically nonfiction, that doesn’t mean that the narrative needs to be literal. Shteyngart imagines a Manhattan that physically changes around him when he’s using his iPhone, becoming an almost unrecognizable world. From this, we can see how a certain amount of dramatization can increase the impact of your message—even if that wasn’t exactly the way something happened.

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2. “Why I Hate Mother's Day” by Anne Lamott

The author of the classic writing text Bird by Bird digs into her views on motherhood in this piece from Salon. At once a personal narrative and a cultural commentary, Lamott explores the harmful effects that Mother’s Day may have on society —how its blind reverence to the concept of motherhood erases women’s agency and freedom to be flawed human beings.

Lamott points out that not all mothers are good, not everyone has a living mother to celebrate, and some mothers have lost their children, so have no one to celebrate with them. More importantly, she notes how this Hallmark holiday erases all the people who helped raise a woman, a long chain of mothers and fathers, friends and found family, who enable her to become a mother. While it isn’t anchored to a single story or event (like many classic personal narratives), Lamott’s exploration of her opinions creates a story about a culture that puts mothers on an impossible pedestal.

In a personal narrative essay, lived experience can be almost as valid as peer-reviewed research—so long as you avoid making unfounded assumptions. While some might point out that this is merely an opinion piece, Lamott cannily starts the essay by grounding it in the personal, revealing how she did not raise her son to celebrate Mother’s Day. This detail, however small, invites the reader into her private life and frames this essay as a story about her —and not just an exercise in being contrary.

3. “The Crane Wife” by CJ Hauser

Days after breaking off her engagement with her fiance, CJ Hauser joins a scientific expedition on the Texas coast r esearching whooping cranes . In this new environment, she reflects on the toxic relationship she left and how she found herself in this situation. She pulls together many seemingly disparate threads, using the expedition and the Japanese myth of the crane wife as a metaphor for her struggles.

Hauser’s interactions with the other volunteer researchers expand the scope of the narrative from her own mind, reminding her of the compassion she lacked in her relationship. In her attempts to make herself smaller, less needy, to please her fiance, she lost sight of herself and almost signed up to live someone else’s life, but among the whooping cranes of Texas, she takes the first step in reconnecting with herself.

With short personal narratives, there isn’t as much room to develop characters as you might have in a memoir so the details you do provide need to be clear and specific. Each of the volunteer researchers on Hauser’s expedition are distinct and recognizable though Hauser is economical in her descriptions.

For example, Hauser describes one researcher as “an eighty-four-year-old bachelor from Minnesota. He could not do most of the physical activities required by the trip, but had been on ninety-five Earthwatch expeditions, including this one once before. Warren liked birds okay. What Warren really loved was cocktail hour.”

In a few sentences, we get a clear picture of Warren's fun-loving, gregarious personality and how he fits in with the rest of the group.

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4. “The Trash Heap Has Spoken” by Carmen Maria Machado

The films and TV shows of the 80s and 90s—cultural touchstones that practically raised a generation—hardly ever featured larger women on screen. And if they did, it was either as a villain or a literal trash heap. Carmen Maria Machado grew up watching these cartoons, and the absence of fat women didn’t faze her. Not until puberty hit and she went from a skinny kid to a fuller-figured teen. Suddenly uncomfortable in her skin, she struggled to find any positive representation in her favorite media.

As she gets older and more comfortable in her own body, Machado finds inspiration in Marjory the Trash Heap from Fraggle Rock and Ursula, everyone’s favorite sea witch from The Little Mermaid —characters with endless power in the unapologetic ways they inhabit their bodies. As Machado considers her own body through the years, it’s these characters she returns to as she faces society’s unkind, dismissive attitudes towards fat women.

Stories shape the world, even if they’re fictional. Some writers strive for realism, reflecting the world back on itself in all its ugliness, but Carmen Maria Machado makes a different point. There is power in being imaginative and writing the world as it could be, imagining something bigger, better, and more beautiful. So, write the story you want to see, change the narrative, look at it sideways, and show your readers how the world could look.

5. “Am I Disabled?” by Joanne Limburg

The titular question frames the narrative of Joanne Limburg’s essay as she considers the implications of disclosing her autism. What to some might seem a mundane occurrence—ticking ‘yes’, ‘no’, or ‘prefer not to say’ on a bureaucratic form—elicits both philosophical and practical questions for Limburg about what it means to be disabled and how disability is viewed by the majority of society.

Is the labor of disclosing her autism worth the insensitive questions she has to answer? What definition are people seeking, exactly? Will anyone believe her if she says yes? As she dissects the question of what disability is, she explores the very real personal effects this has on her life and those of other disabled people.

Limburg’s essay is written in a style known as the hermit crab essay , when an author uses an existing document form to contain their story. You can format your writing as a recipe, a job application, a resume, an email, or a to-do list – the possibilities are as endless as your creativity. The format you choose is important, though. It should connect in some way to the story you’re telling and add something to the reader’s experience as well as your overall theme.

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6. “Living Like Weasels” by Annie Dillard

While out on a walk in the woods behind her house, Annie Dillard encounters a wild weasel. In the short moment when they make eye contact, Dillard takes an imaginary journey through the weasel’s mind and wonders if the weasel’s approach to life is better than her own.

The weasel, as Dillard sees it, is a wild creature with jaws so powerful that when it clamps on to something, it won’t let go, even into death. Necessity drives it to be like this, and humanity, obsessed with choice, might think this kind of life is limiting, but the writer believes otherwise. The weasel’s necessity is the ultimate freedom, as long as you can find the right sort, the kind that will have you holding on for dear life and refusing to let go.

Make yourself the National Geographic explorer of your backyard or neighborhood and see what you can learn about yourself from what you discover. Annie Dillard, queen of the natural personal essay, discovers a lot about herself and her beliefs when meeting a weasel.

What insight can you glean from a blade of grass, for example? Does it remind you that despite how similar people might be, we are all unique? Do the flights of migrating birds give you perspective on the changes in your own life? Nature is a potent and never-ending spring of inspiration if you only think to look.

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7. “Love In Our Seventies” by Ellery Akers

“ And sometimes, when I lift the gray hair at the back of your neck and kiss your shoulder, I think, This is it.”

In under 400 words, poet Ellery Akers captures the joy she has found in discovering romance as a 75-year-old . The language is romantic, but her imagery is far from saccharine as she describes their daily life and the various states in which they’ve seen each other: in their pajamas, after cataract surgeries, while meditating. In each singular moment, Akers sees something she loves, underscoring an oft-forgotten truth. Love is most potent in its smallest gestures.

Personal narrative isn’t a defined genre with rigid rules, so your essay doesn’t have to be an essay. It can be a poem, as Akers’ is. The limitations of this form can lead to greater creativity as you’re trying to find a short yet evocative way to tell a story. It allows you to focus deeply on the emotions behind an idea and create an intimate connection with your reader.

8. “What a Black Woman Wishes Her Adoptive White Parents Knew” by Mariama Lockington

Mariama Lockington was adopted by her white parents in the early 80s, long before it was “trendy” for white people to adopt black children. Starting with a family photograph, the writer explores her complex feelings about her upbringing , the many ways her parents ignored her race for their own comfort, and how she came to feel like an outsider in her own home. In describing her childhood snapshots, she takes the reader from infancy to adulthood as she navigates trying to live as a black woman in a white family.

Lockington takes us on a journey through her life through a series of vignettes. These small, important moments serve as a framing device, intertwining to create a larger narrative about race, family, and belonging.

With this framing device, it’s easy to imagine Lockington poring over a photo album, each picture conjuring a different memory and infusing her story with equal parts sadness, regret, and nostalgia. You can create a similar effect by separating your narrative into different songs to create an album or episodes in a TV show. A unique structure can add an extra layer to your narrative and enhance the overall story.

9. “Drinking Chai to Savannah” by Anjali Enjeti

On a trip to Savannah with her friends, Anjali Enjeti is reminded of a racist incident she experienced as a teenager . The memory is prompted by her discomfort of traveling in Georgia as a South Asian woman and her friends’ seeming obliviousness to how others view them. As she recalls the tense and traumatic encounter she had in line at a Wendy’s and the worry she experiences in Savannah, Enjeti reflects on her understanding of otherness and race in America.

Enjeti paints the scene in Wendy’s with a deft hand. Using descriptive language, she invokes the five senses to capture the stress and fear she felt when the men in line behind her were hurling racist sentiments.

She writes, “He moves closer. His shadow eclipses mine. His hot, tobacco-tinged breath seeps over the collar of my dress.” The strong, evocative language she uses brings the reader into the scene and has them experience the same anxiety she does, understanding why this incident deeply impacted her.

10. “Siri Tells A Joke” by Debra Gwartney

One day, Debra Gwartney asks Siri—her iPhone’s digital assistant—to tell her a joke. In reply, Siri recites a joke with a familiar setup about three men stuck on a desert island. When the punchline comes, Gwartney reacts not with laughter, but with a memory of her husband , who had died less than six months prior.

In a short period, Gwartney goes through a series of losses—first, her house and her husband’s writing archives to a wildfire, and only a month after, her husband. As she reflects on death and the grief of those left behind in the wake of it, she recounts the months leading up to her husband’s passing and the interminable stretch after as she tries to find a way to live without him even as she longs for him.

A joke about three men on a deserted island seems like an odd setup for an essay about grief. However, Gwartney uses it to great effect, coming back to it later in the story and giving it greater meaning. By the end of her piece, she recontextualizes the joke, the original punchline suddenly becoming deeply sad. In taking something seemingly unrelated and calling back to it later, the essay’s message about grief and love becomes even more powerful.

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Narrative Essay

Narrative Essay Examples

10+ Interesting Narrative Essay Examples Plus Writing Tips!

Narrative Essay Definition

Writing a narrative essay is a unique form of storytelling that revolves around personal experiences, aiming to immerse the reader in the author's world. It's a piece of writing that delves into the depths of thoughts and feelings.

In a narrative essay, life experiences take center stage, serving as the main substance of the story. It's a powerful tool for writers to convey a personal journey, turning experiences into a captivating tale. This form of storytelling is an artful display of emotions intended to engage readers, leaving the reader feeling like they are a part of the story.

By focusing on a specific theme, event, emotions, and reflections, a narrative essay weaves a storyline that leads the reader through the author's experiences.

The Essentials of Narrative Essays

Let's start with the basics. The four types of essays are argumentative essays , descriptive essays , expository essays , and narrative essays.

The goal of a narrative essay is to tell a compelling tale from one person's perspective. A narrative essay uses all components you’d find in a typical story, such as a beginning, middle, and conclusion, as well as plot, characters, setting, and climax.

The narrative essay's goal is the plot, which should be detailed enough to reach a climax. Here's how it works:

It's usually presented in chronological order.
It has a function. This is typically evident in the thesis statement's opening paragraph.
It may include speech.
It's told with sensory details and vivid language, drawing the reader in. All of these elements are connected to the writer's major argument in some way.

Before writing your essay, make sure you go through a sufficient number of narrative essay examples. These examples will help you in knowing the dos and don’ts of a good narrative essay.

It is always a better option to have some sense of direction before you start anything. Below, you can find important details and a bunch of narrative essay examples. These examples will also help you build your content according to the format.

Here is a how to start a narrative essay example:

Sample Narrative Essay

The examples inform the readers about the writing style and structure of the narration. The essay below will help you understand how to create a story and build this type of essay in no time.

Here is another narrative essay examples 500 words:

Narrative Essay Examples for Students

Narrative essays offer students a platform to express their experiences and creativity. These examples show how to effectively structure and present personal stories for education.

Here are some helpful narrative essay examples:

Narrative Essay Examples Middle School

Narrative Essay Examples for Grade 7

Narrative Essay Examples for Grade 8

Grade 11 Narrative Essay Examples

Narrative Essay Example For High School

Narrative Essay Example For College

Personal Narrative Essay Example

Descriptive Narrative Essay Example

3rd Person Narrative Essay Example

Narrative Essay Topics

Here are some narrative essay topics to help you get started with your narrative essay writing.

When I got my first bunny
When I moved to Canada
I haven’t experienced this freezing temperature ever before
The moment I won the basketball finale
A memorable day at the museum
How I talk to my parrot
The day I saw the death
When I finally rebelled against my professor

Need more topics? Check out these extensive narrative essay topics to get creative ideas!

Narrative Essay Writing Tips

Narrative essays give you the freedom to be creative, but it can be tough to make yours special. Use these tips to make your story interesting:

Share your story from a personal viewpoint, engaging the reader with your experiences.
Use vivid descriptions to paint a clear picture of the setting, characters, and emotions involved.
Organize events in chronological order for a smooth and understandable narrative.
Bring characters to life through their actions, dialogue, and personalities.
Employ dialogue sparingly to add realism and progression to the narrative.
Engage readers by evoking emotions through your storytelling.
End with reflection or a lesson learned from the experience, providing insight.

Now you have essay examples and tips to help you get started, you have a solid starting point for crafting compelling narrative essays.

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Teaching Resources

Writing Personal Narratives in First Grade

Susan Jones January 21, 2018 14 Comments

This post may contain affiliate ads at no cost to you. See my disclosures for more information.

Writing personal narratives is one of the first writing genres we learn in first grade! My students are usually successful in this writing venture because they get to write all about themselves. How were they feeling? What happened to them? Who was there? These are all things my students can answer and my job is to help them expand on it and turn it into a complete writing piece.

I have been using the same writing unit for the past 5+ years with my first graders and it has yet to let me down. I wanted to share the steps I have my students take when introducing writing personal narratives through small moments.

Step One: What is a Small Moment?

To kick off our unit, I introduce what a small moment is with this anchor chart:

The first grade teacher above, purely.primary , just projected the mini anchor chart from my narratives unit and traced it onto chart paper! On the first day, I also like to read my students an example of a personal narrative and we see if it meets all the expectations from the anchor chart. Some of my favorite personal narrative picture books are:

( please note the following are Amazon affiliate links. When an item is purchased through these links, I receive a small amount back)

Step Two: Let’s Brainstorm

Next, we brainstorm! We brainstorm all sorts of small moments and where we can find them.

To help my students think of their small moment, I use a graphic organizer that helps us brainstorm moments we’ve had at school, during holidays or special events, we think about times we felt happy, sad, angry, nervous, and more!

Once my students have picked their small moment, we use a circle map to think of the details surrounding this small moment:

When filling in the details, I have my students try to answer some of the question words:

Who was there?

What were you doing/wearing/thinking?

Where were you?

When was this?

Why were you there?

How were you feeling?

Step Three: Draw & Stretch it out (Rough Drafts)

After we brainstorm the details of our small moment, I like my students to draw out the beginning, middle, and end of their stories. When they draw, I try to have them add details from the day.

Then we streeeeeetch out our drawings. Each drawing (1, 2, & 3) gets its own stretch it out sheet for students to begin putting words onto paper to form their own personal narratives. These are the times where I like to talk about using a clear opening to set our story up and wrapping it all up with nice closing.

Step Four: Adding some FUN!

After we have our rough drafts in order and a base to our story, it’s time to add some FUN!

We use Jonathon London’s FROGGY books as mentor texts for the following writing skills. Each day, I introduce one skill with the anchor chart, we read a FROGGY book and see how Jonathon London uses it, then we go into our rough drafts and try to add it into our story!

Step Five: Let’s Edit & Revise

Before we publish, we know that writers must go back into their stories to revise and edit! We spend a few days editing our own stories and we also try to edit/revise a partner’s story. Editing someone else’s work is a very difficult thing to do in first grade. especially towards the beginning of the year when my students cannot read their partner’s work yet. I still find it to be very beneficial to the entire writing process and my students’ understanding of what the writing process looks like a feels like. I also like to listen to my students explain their work to a partner as they point out different parts of their stories.

The above checklists are found in my personal narratives writing unit .

Step 6: Publish

Last, but certainly not least, my students go on to publish their final works! They must read through their rough drafts or “sloppy copies” as we call them and re-write them focusing on their neatest handwriting and colorful illustrations. My students also think of a title for their story and create a cover page.

Those are the basic steps we take as we create our narratives. In my narrative unit, I have detailed lesson plans for each day of this unit that are more in-depth. I also have had many teachers ask me if my students only write one personal narrative throughout the unit. My answer is NO! My students actually write, edit, and revise many different narratives throughout a 5-7 week period. I like for my students to have a lot of choice, so every day during writer’s workshop they can add to the narrative they are working on currently, or start a new one taking the steps they already learned how to do. So they may be working on a few different narratives at one time. That being said, usually about half of my class choose to only work on one at a time.

We do only go through the publishing portion once. My students choose the one narrative they want to publish from beginning to end!

All the lessons seen in this post can be found in my personal narratives writing unit:

Pin for later:

Looking for new ways to teach your first grade students how to write personal narratives? This blog post walks through how I use anchor charts and graphic organizers to help students stretch out their small moments to create their own narratives!

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Reader Interactions

14 comments.

October 14, 2018 at 2:12 pm

I love these ideas.

September 9, 2019 at 4:23 am

This is so exciting to get to use this lesson! Thanks for sharing! I just love your blog and Tpt store.

October 31, 2019 at 1:55 am

Great steps

April 13, 2020 at 3:10 pm

I’m new to teaching and your detail explanation on narrative writing was very helpful. Thanks

June 29, 2020 at 1:13 pm

Switching grades to first this year.

September 27, 2020 at 1:10 pm

October 5, 2020 at 10:20 am

I can’t wait to try this today! Such a thorough and well thought out plan!

October 5, 2020 at 10:25 am

I can’t wait to try this today!

September 8, 2021 at 9:01 pm

I love this really really much!

September 8, 2021 at 9:02 pm

I love this very much! Thanks for sharing! Now I have an idea of how to do the writing activities with my first graders!

April 4, 2022 at 5:18 pm

What are your favorite narrative books? They don’t show here.

January 22, 2023 at 2:43 pm

First year k/1 bridge Inclusive . Thank you

January 30, 2023 at 2:52 pm

Where can we find these graphic organizers?

February 7, 2023 at 6:03 am

Free CVC Word Mapping Mats

Check out these popular writing resources!

We have loads of great writing resources over in the shop. Here are just a few I pulled together for you!

Beginning of the Year Writing

First Grade Writer’s Workshop units

Paragraph Writing Activities & Lessons: PRINTABLE & DIGITAL (Seesaw & Google)

Opinion Writing Unit

Hello friends.

Welcome to Susan Jones Teaching. When it comes to the primary grades, learning *All Things* in the K-2 world has been my passion for many years! I just finished my M.Ed. in Curriculum and Instruction and love sharing all the latest and greatest strategies I learn with you through this blog and my YouTube channel! I hope you'll enjoy learning along with me :)

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Grades 6-12
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65 Engaging Personal Narrative Ideas for Kids and Teens

Tell a story to engage the reader.

Personal narrative essays are all about telling stories. Engage your reader with lots of descriptive language, and ensure you have a beginning, middle, and end. ( Get more tips about teaching narrative writing here. ) Try these personal narrative ideas to inspire kids and teens to tell meaningful stories from their own lives, no matter what they’ve experienced.

“Describe a Time When You …” Personal Narrative Ideas

Firsts and bests personal narrative ideas, general personal narrative essay ideas, college essay personal narrative ideas.

These personal narrative ideas urge students to dig into their past experiences and share them with their audience. Be sure to share the details, including what took place and how it made you feel, and anything you learned from the experience.

Describe a time when you:

Were scared
Overcame a big challenge
Learned an important life lesson
Had to make a difficult decision

Were proud of a friend or family member
Did something you didn’t want to and ended up liking it
Met a celebrity or someone you really admire
Tried something new
Made a mistake and had to apologize and/or fix the mistake
Were in danger
Helped someone in need
Had a dream come true
Felt inspired
Had a really terrible day

Were a leader
Made someone else laugh
Did something you later regretted
Set a goal and achieved it

These essay topics explore the times you did something for the first time ever, or when you were the best version of yourself.

Write about meeting your best friend for the first time and how your relationship developed.

Tell about learning to ride a bike or drive a car.
Tell about your proudest moment.
What is your happiest memory?
What is your earliest memory?
Explain what it’s like to move to a new town or start a new school.
What’s the best (or worst!) vacation you’ve ever taken?
Tell the story of the time you got your first pet.
Describe your favorite field trip of all time.
Tell the story of your first day of kindergarten.
What’s the best meal you’ve ever eaten?
Describe the best party or celebration you’ve ever attended.
Tell about the first time someone ever paid you for work (first job, chores for a neighbor, babysitting, etc.) and how it made you feel.

Describe the first time you spent a night away from home without your family.
What’s the best gift you’ve ever been given?

Here are more personal narrative topics to inspire young writers.

Describe a performance or sporting event you took part in.
Explain the process of cooking and eating your favorite meal.
Write about a time when you or someone you know displayed courage.
Share the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you.
Describe a time when you or someone you know experienced prejudice or oppression.

Explain a family tradition, how it developed, and its importance today.
What is your favorite holiday? How does your family celebrate it?
Describe your morning routine from the time you wake up until the moment the school bell rings to start the day.
Share what you do on a typical non-school day.
Tell about a time when you were injured. How did it happen?
Describe an argument you and a friend had and how you resolved it.
Tell about what you think your life will be like when you’re 25 years old.
Explore a time when you felt you were treated unfairly.
What makes your family different from everyone else’s family?
If you could relive any day in your life, what would it be? Would you want it to be the same or different?

These personal narrative essay topics all come from real 2022–2023 college applications. ( See more college essay prompts here. )

Discuss a time when reflection or introspection led to clarity or understanding of an issue that is important to you.
Share an example of how you have used your own critical-thinking skills on a specific subject, project, idea, or interest.

Using your personal, academic, or volunteer/work experiences, describe the topics or issues that you care about and why they are important to you.
Reflect on a personal experience where you intentionally expanded your cultural awareness.
When was the last time you questioned something you had thought to be true?
Reflect on a time when you or someone you observed had to make a choice about whether to act with integrity and honesty.
Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.
Describe a time when you were challenged by a perspective that differed from your own. How did you respond?
Elaborate on an activity or experience you have had that made an impact on a community that is important to you.

Describe any meaningful travel experiences you’ve had.
Choose one of the communities to which you belong, and describe that community and your place within it.
What is the greatest compliment you have ever been given? Why was it meaningful to you?
What has been your best academic experience in the last two years, and what made it so good?
Describe a time when you’ve felt empowered or represented by an educator.
Describe how you have taken advantage of a significant educational opportunity or worked to overcome an educational barrier you have faced.

What are your favorite personal narrative ideas? Come share on the WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

Plus, check out the big list of essay topics for high school (100+ ideas) ., you might also like.

15 Inspiring Personal Narrative Examples for Writers

Reveal a part of yourself in your essay. Continue Reading

Terrific Teaching Tactics

Make Learning Fun

Third Grade Writing – Personal Narratives

Are you struggling to teach writing to your 3rd graders? Perhaps you just don’t know where to start. You’re constantly googling, ‘how do you teach writing to 3rd graders?’ or ‘how can I help my 3rd graders with writing?’ You’re tearing your hair out with frustration.

3rd grade personal narratives writing unit - third grade writing curriculum

Maybe it’s because your school doesn’t provide you with a writing curriculum. So, you’re spending your precious evenings and weekends looking on Pinterest for lesson ideas. Or worse, a curriculum is provided…but it’s just downright terrible. You can’t make sense of it and your students hate it.

Perhaps your students just hate writing in general and roll their eyes at the thought of it.

Well, here’s the thing. Teaching writing ‘aint easy. In fact, it can be straight up tricky, I get it!

But don’t worry friend, I’ve got you covered.

THIRD GRADE WRITING - PERSONAL NARRATIVES

Introducing Terrific Writing

Terrific Writing is a comprehensive writing curriculum for Third Grade. This curriculum is standards based (to the common core) and genre based. But best of all, it’s actually easy to teach and engaging for students!

In this curriculum, your students will develop a love of writing. The graphic organizers, interactive notebooks, and final craft will engage students much more than a blank piece of paper. The final writing piece asks students to write about a special day that they have chosen! After all, students love to write about things that they are interested in.

Writing doesn’t have to be dull and students definitely shouldn’t hate writing!

In Unit 1 ‘Personal Narratives’, students learn how to write engaging personal narratives about their lives.

Are you short on time?

This 5 week unit has EVERYTHING you need, because let’s be honest, teachers are time poor.

So, let’s get your evenings and weekends back, my friend! Take a break from lesson planning and searching for engaging materials. It’s all right here.

Are you ready? I’m going to share some of the awesome things about it!

What’s included in this third grade writing – personal narratives unit?

First up, there are a bunch of teacher docs. Unit contents, common core standards, and teacher directions? Check.

To begin, there’s some suggested mentor texts (with links to Amazon and YouTube). Also, a scope is included which shows the 25 lessons that feature in this unit and the third grade common core standards that are relevant.

mentor text unit scope for third grade writing unit

Also, there is a unit at-a-glance calendar, as well as a table which tells you what materials you will need for each lesson. Basically, I’ve tried to make this unit super easy to implement. It has everything you need!

unit at a glance calendar, lesson materials for 3rd grade writing unit

Next, there’s some suggested lesson times. To clarify, it doesn’t matter how long your writing block is, this unit can be adapted to suit it!

A lot of teachers struggle with finding the time to teach writing. If this is you, you’re not alone!

lesson plans for 3rd grade writing curriculum

Then, there’s the 25 scripted (and step-by-step) lesson plans. The lessons follow a simple format of mini lesson, think and share, and independent writing time. There’s a lesson focus to guide you and all of the required materials are listed with numbers. For example, you’ll know exactly which posters and printables you need.

lesson plans for third grade writing curriculum

Subsequently, there’s a video that comes with this unit. This will help you organize and implement everything.

Wondering how to assess your student’s writing? Don’t sweat it!

There’s an assessment document for this unit too. It includes a rubric to help you grade your student’s writing.

However, I’m not just throwing you to the sharks here! Rubrics can sometimes be generic or difficult to decipher. That’s why I’ve made a comprehensive document with teacher directions, as well as elaborations and examples. Moreover, there’s a video to help you understand the rubric.

assessment rubric for 3rd grade writing curriculum

Personal narrative mentor texts

I do give a list of suggested mentor texts that you can source, but in addition, I provide two original mentor texts for this unit! These come in PDF and PowerPoint versions (as well as color and black and white). You can print them in any size or just display them on an interactive whiteboard.

The great thing about these original mentor texts is that they include all of the features of a personal narrative that are taught in the unit. For example, students will see examples of dialogue, paragraphing, and hooks.

mentor texts for 3rd grade writing curriculum

Personal Narrative Posters

This unit comes with 25 posters that you can reference to! Each lesson corresponds to them. Most importantly, they are great for giving writing ideas and reinforcing the narrative structure.

personal narrative writing posters anchor charts

You can print them in color and laminate them. They are great for displaying in the classroom. However, you can also display these posters digitally (if you have limited printing options).

Already interested in this third grade writing personal narratives unit? Grab it here !

Personal narrative printables

There are student workbook covers that you can print. There are three options, ‘My Writing Folder’, ‘My Writing Notebook’, and ‘My Writing Journal’. Your students can glue these covers onto their folders or books. The covers come in color and black and white (there are also boy and girl versions).

Let’s now take a look at the writing prompts, worksheets, interactive notebooks and graphic organizers!

Small Moments

In the first few lessons, students complete a pre-assessment and then an interactive notebook where they brainstorm narrative ideas based off things they love.

Students then learn about zooming in on a small moment. They are introduced to the concept of ‘big idea, smaller topic, and small moment’.

Next, they think about happy and sad moments in their lives.

The Elements of a narrative

They then learn about the importance of characters, setting, problems, and solutions in narrative writing.

The Structure of a narrative

Later, students learn about how narratives have a beginning, middle and end. After that, they start planning their final narrative.

interactive notebook beginning middle end narrative

Writing a strong lead

Students learn about the importance of writing a hook and a strong introduction. This aligns well with the common core standard –

W.3.3.A – Establish a situation and introduce characters.

introduction and writing a hook narrative worksheets

Features of a good narrative

There are a few lessons about concepts such as dialogue and paragraphing. Likewise, students learn about making their writing more descriptive by stretching their sentences and doing ‘show, don’t tell’.

This aligns well with the common core standard –

W.3.3.B – Use dialogue and descriptions of actions, thoughts, and feelings to develop experiences and events or show the response of characters to situations.

The conclusion to a narrative

Later, there’s a lesson about adding transition words. Students also learn about how to write a strong ending to their narrative. These lessons align well with the following common core standards –

W.3.3.C – Use temporal words and phrases to signal event order.

W.3.3.D – Provide a sense of closure.

conclusion and transition words worksheets

narrative Checklists

After students have written their first draft, they use two checklists to proofread their work. One checklist grades narrative structure and the other is a more generic checklist for grammar, spelling, and punctuation.

The students do a self check, peer check, and adult check.

narrative Writing craft

Finally, students create a cute flipbook craft for their final writing piece. They write about their special day. For instance, a birthday, holiday, celebration, or fun day out.

It’s a flipbook, so they can add as many pages underneath as they need! This craft is great for a bulletin baord display.

writing craft flipbook craftivity for bulletin board

Personal narrative Task Cards

I think it’s super imortant to have purposeful early finisher tasks and extension activities during writing lessons. Above all, we should be challenging our advanced writers. That’s why this unit also includes task cards for writing personal narratives.

Here’s an overview, with some more information about the unit –

What’s included in this unit?

25 step-by-step scripted lesson plans
20 graphic organizers / worksheets
2 interactive notebooks and 1 writing craft
2 original mentor texts (PowerPoint versions and PDF in color and b&w)
24 tasks cards extension activities (2 versions – b&w, color)
1 assessment rubric

Here’s everything else that’s included in this unit –

Video overview to help organize and implement the unit
List of common core standards that align with this unit
Teacher directions for the lesson plans
Suggestions for differentiation and lesson times
List of recommended mentor texts (with links)
Unit scope and at-a-glance calendar
Lesson materials list
Student book/folder cover (3 versions – journal, notebook, or folder)
1 writing prompt pre-assessment
4 lined pages (for first drafts and crafts)
2 checklists
1 set of compliment notes (2 versions – b&w, color)
1 certificate (2 versions – b&w, color)
Teacher directions, examples, and elaborations for the rubric
Video with tips for using the rubric

third grade personal narratives writing curriculum

Here’s a breakdown of the lessons –

In the first 11 lessons, students develop an understanding of what a personal narrative is. They also learn about small moments and choosing a writing topic. Then, they start learning about the structure of a narrative.

Lesson 1 – What is a personal narrative?
What can I write about?
What is a small moment?
My small moment
Positive memorable moments
Negative memorable moments
What is the structure of a narrative?
Personal narratives need characters
Personal narratives need a setting
Narratives have problems
Narratives have solutions

For the next part of the unit, students begin planning and writing their final writing piece.

What will my narrative be about?
Let’s plan a narrative
Start with a hook
Writing an introduction
Show, don’t tell
Stretching sentences
Using dialogue
Powerful paragraphs
Transition words
Writing an ending
Putting it all together
Revise and edit
Final draft and illustrations
Publishing party

Click here to see a video that shows everything in the unit.

Want to try a free sample?

Yep, you can try one of the lessons, graphic organizers, and posters for free! Click here to grab the free sample.

free personal narratives writing lesson plan, graphic organizer, and poster

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about this third grade writing personal narratives unit!

Click here to grab the full unit!

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Personal Narrative (750 Words): My Love for Space Exploration

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Grade 12 ELA Module 1: Full Module
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Leslie Marmon Silko ,
Malcolm X and Alex Haley
The Autobiography of Malcolm X ,
Yellow Woman and a Beauty of the Spirit

In This Module

unit 1: "I’m For Truth, No Matter Who Tells It"
unit 2: "Remember The Stories, The Stories Will Help You Be Strong"
unit 3: Personal Narrative Essay

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🌱 Personal narrative essay examples high school. Personal Narrative
How to Write a Personal Narrative: A Step-By-Step Guide
💋 A personal narrative essay. How to Write a Personal Narrative Essay

VIDEO

Myself paragraph| essay|descriptive paragraph|in English
Personal Narrative (7th Grade)
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Narrative Writing
Writing Focus Lesson on Personal Narrative in Second Grade
How to Write a Perfect Narrative Essay? #shorts

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How to Write a Personal Narrative: Steps and Examples
However, like any other type of writing, it comes with guidelines. 1. Write Your Personal Narrative as a Story. As a story, it must include an introduction, characters, plot, setting, climax, anti-climax (if any), and conclusion. Another way to approach it is by structuring it with an introduction, body, and conclusion.
15 Inspiring Personal Narrative Examples for Writers
This 4th grade essay uses personal details to bring a beloved friend to life. Read the full essay: ... These middle school personal narrative essay examples model strong writing skills for this age group. The Climb "As thoughts of certain death run through my mind, the world appears a precious, treasured place." —Amy, student ...
Personal Narrative Essay
3. Create a Thesis Statement. The thesis statement is the most important sentence and tells the reader what your essay will be about. In a personal narrative essay, the thesis statement can briefly explore the story's events. Or it can tell the reader about the moral or lesson learned through personal experience.
How to Write a Narrative Essay
Interactive example of a narrative essay. An example of a short narrative essay, responding to the prompt "Write about an experience where you learned something about yourself," is shown below. Hover over different parts of the text to see how the structure works. Narrative essay example.
The Winners of Our Personal Narrative Essay Contest
Here are the eight winning essays, as well as runners-up and honorable mentions. 72. Our main inspiration for this contest was the long-running New York Times Magazine Lives column. All of the ...
3 Great Narrative Essay Examples + Tips for Writing
A narrative essay is one of the most intimidating assignments you can be handed at any level of your education. Where you've previously written argumentative essays that make a point or analytic essays that dissect meaning, a narrative essay asks you to write what is effectively a story.. But unlike a simple work of creative fiction, your narrative essay must have a clear and concrete motif ...
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How to Write a Personal Narrative: A Step-By-Step Guide
Show the narrative to others. Ask a friend, peer, classmate, or family member to read the narrative. Pose questions to them about the style, tone, and flow of the narrative. Ask them if the narrative feels personal, detailed, and engaging. [10] Be willing to accept feedback from others.
PDF Personal Narrative Essays
A personal narrative essay uses the components of a story: introduction, plot, characters, setting, and conflict. It also uses the components of argument, thesis, and conclusion. In a personal narrative essay, we tell our readers a story to make a larger argument. Focusing the readers' attention on significant, detailed scenes, we develop our ...
Personal Narrative Essay
A personal narrative is a story written in the first person point of view; it tells a personal story about something that happened to the writer. This means that the story is written, usually ...
How to write a Compelling Personal Narrative Essay
If the personal narrative is for a common APP or college application, use a credible editing company like Gradecrest. 8. Submit for marking/publishing. Finally, with everything in its rightful place, it is time to polish up the essay and ensure the title page is well written.
10 Personal Narrative Examples to Inspire Your Writing
Ten examples of amazing personal narrative essays to inspire your writing. Click to tweet! 1. "Only Disconnect" by Gary Shteyngart. Personal narratives don't have to be long to be effective, as this thousand-word gem from the NYT book review proves. Published in 2010, just as smartphones were becoming a ubiquitous part of modern life ...
Free Personal Narrative Essay Examples. Best Topics, Titles
Personal Narrative: Childhood Memories with My Grandparents. Childhood memories have the power to shape a person's character and leave a lasting impact on their life. One such summer that I will always cherish in my heart is the one I spent with my grandparents. It was a summer full of adventure, discovery,….
Personal Narrative Essay: My Experience in My Life
Life is a journey filled with experiences that shape who we are. Throughout my life, I have encountered various challenges and triumphs that have significantly impacted my growth and development. In this essay, I will reflect on some of the most pivotal experiences in my life and explore how they have shaped me into the person I am today.
Free Narrative Essay Examples
Narrative Essay Definition. Writing a narrative essay is a unique form of storytelling that revolves around personal experiences, aiming to immerse the reader in the author's world. It's a piece of writing that delves into the depths of thoughts and feelings. In a narrative essay, life experiences take center stage, serving as the main substance of the story. It's a powerful tool for writers ...
Writing Personal Narratives in First Grade
The first grade teacher above, purely.primary, just projected the mini anchor chart from my narratives unit and traced it onto chart paper! On the first day, I also like to read my students an example of a personal narrative and we see if it meets all the expectations from the anchor chart. Some of my favorite personal narrative picture books are:
65 Engaging Personal Narrative Ideas for Kids and Teens
All Grades K-5 All Grades 6-12 PreK 6th Grade Kindergarten 7th Grade 1st Grade 8th Grade 2nd Grade 9th Grade 3rd Grade 10th Grade 4th Grade 11th Grade 5th Grade 12th Grade. ... Personal narrative essays are all about telling stories. Engage your reader with lots of descriptive language, and ensure you have a beginning, middle, and end. ...
ELA G12: Personal Narrative Essay
Description. Students concentrate on the narrative writing process, building on the material they produced during the writing lessons and incorporating a variety of narrative techniques explored in both in Unit 1 and Unit 2. Students draft, revise, and edit their essays extensively over the course of the unit, further developing their narrative ...
Third Grade Writing
Introducing Terrific Writing. Terrific Writing is a comprehensive writing curriculum for Third Grade. This curriculum is standards based (to the common core) and genre based. But best of all, it's actually easy to teach and engaging for students! In this curriculum, your students will develop a love of writing.
Personal Narrative (750 Words): My Love for Space Exploration
This personal narrative essay (examples 750 words) is about my love for spave exploration. In any marriage, even the best ones, there comes a day when you... read full [Essay Sample] for free ... My essay is particularly about me in third grade. In third grade, my family and I moved to Morgan, Utah. I had to go to a different school, where I ...
ELA G12: Reading and Writing Personal Narratives
Description. Module 1 includes a shared focus on text analysis and narrative writing. Students read, discuss, and analyze two nonfiction personal narratives, focusing on how the authors use structure, style, and content to craft narratives that develop complex experiences, ideas, and descriptions of individuals.

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Personal Narrative Essay - Easy Guide & Examples

Personal Narrative Essay Definition

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How to Write a Personal Narrative Essay

Free Personal Narrative Essay Examples

Personal Narrative Essay 750 words

Personal Narrative Essay Examples for High School Students

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The Winners of Our Personal Narrative Essay Contest

The Winning Essays

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What Is a Narrative Essay?

3 Great Narrative Essay Examples

A Ticket to the Fair by David Foster Wallace

Death of a Moth by Virginia Woolf

Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin

5 Key Tips for Writing Narrative Essays

Develop Strong Motifs

Use First-Person Perspective

Stick to the Truth

Use Sensory Descriptions

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