General Notes & Getting Started

Major genres of Essays: Narrative Expository Descriptive

Narrative Essay (Personal Narrative): A.Essentially there is a story that 1. illustrates a point 2. makes someone laugh 3. describes an experience B.There is a story where the character is involved in some action in a particular setting.

POINT OF VIEW C.If the story is presented... Through the eyes of the character involved in the action it is from a 1 st person perspective or point of view. When told through the eyes of the author it is from a 3 rd person perspective or point of view. A 3 rd person omniscient point of view is when the author sees and knows everything.

D. In narrative essays the telling of the story answers the 5 W’s: Who? What? When? Where? and Why? E. The telling of the story shows character change and development. A new / changed perspective and understanding is part of the action of the character. F. Narratives essays do more than present a story; there is a story and strong purpose. Maybe to explain, make a point, illustrate a situation, or show a process.

G. Narrative essays can be presented in chronological order or as flashback of 1 or more characters. Additional Points for Narrative Essays Use vivid verbs and concise sentences. Use temporal transitions… first, second, next, On Sunday, before the war, at first glance. Imply the meaning or theme in a narrative rather than stating it directly. Recreates actual events rather than fiction.

 purpose - the purpose of an article or selection is the reason for its existence. The purpose could be to describe, to entertain, to inform, et cetera.  epiphany -- it is a moment of enlightenment that may be caused by an everyday event or occurrence.  setting-- the time, place and circumstances of a literary work that establish its context.

 audience -- The audience for which something is written or produced may vary. For instance, the selection/visual may be created for a very specific audience such as teenagers, consumers, et cetera, or it may be created for a general audience.

 oxymoron -- involves using contradiction in a manner that oddly makes sense on a deeper level. Simple or joking examples include such oxymora as jumbo shrimp, and sophisticated rednecks.  cliché -- a trite or overused, time-worn phrase. Example: All that glitters is no gold.

 coherence -- comes from the Latin word meaning “to stick together”. Coherence is the quality which makes it easy for reader to follow a writer’s train of thought as it moves from sentence to sentence and paragraph to paragraph. It facilitates reading because it ensures that the reader will be able to detect the relationships of the parts of the essay. In other words, the essay flows. There are several ways to create coherence. Coherence can be created:

 parallel structure / parallelism– Parallel structure means using the same pattern of words to show that two or more ideas have the same level of importance. This can happen at the word, phrase, or clause level (Example: I like running, jumping, and skiing.)  pronoun reference – using pronoun reference for key nouns. Example: the children…..they, them

 repetition (key words and phrases) – By repeating key words and phrases (or recognizable synonyms for key words. Example. baby, infant, newborn…  transitions -- using conjunctive adverbs or thought connecting words such as nonetheless, moreover, therefore, however, subsequently, accordingly…  sequence -- By arranging the sequence of events in some perceivable order (i.e. – Narration –, arranged chronologically, Description – arranged spatially and Exposition – usually arranged logically