How to write an essay about yourself
The purpose of the essay is to convince your reader that you are a good candidate for admission. You may also emphasize other aspects of yourself, such as your leadership, volunteer activities, or community service work.
Here are some guidelines to help you create an impressive essay about yourself:
Tips for writing a personal essay
- Decide what to write about before you start writing. Make a list of everything that you can think of that makes you an interesting person by focusing on your activities and interests. If need be, review the essay ideas listed on this site or come up with some of your own.
- Be honest. No one will admit to being perfect in every way possible, and you shouldn't either. Don't go overboard though, if there are things about yourself that you don't like, put them down in a positive spin by saying how you overcame them or turned them into something good such as perseverance. Share personal experiences but not too many anecdotes (a story). It's best to share something that ties in with the rest of your essay in some way.
- Keep to the word limit and keep grammatical errors at a minimum. Remember you are writing this for a college or scholarship application so make sure it is just as good if not better than what other applicants might produce.
You can use these tips to write an essay about yourself that gets you into whatever school, program, or career you want!
There is no one 'correct way to write an essay about yourself. The most important thing is that the topic feels relevant to you and represents who you are inside. If you're having trouble coming up with ideas for topics, ask friends and family members for suggestions.
Purpose of personal writing
In some cases, the purpose of a personal essay is to create awareness for a cause. Its aim might be to persuade readers and potential supporters ofthe need for change, or it could share stories from the writer's life to illustrate how the problem addressed affects others.
A personal essay usually shares one specific experience but can sometimes offer more than one. The best essay examples provide evidence that there is, indeed, a problem worth addressing. Often, this type of essay touches upon elements such as physical needs (such as food), spiritual needs (for faith), or even cultural education. It involves an expression of passion about achieving certain ideals and has the power to inspire those who hear it.
This kind of writing tends not to focus on just problems — it is also capable of suggesting possible solutions or courses of action. In this way, by reading a personal essay that provides insight into the writer's character and emotional makeup, others can get to know them better. By sharing information about their own experiences with everyone else who reads the piece, the author can make their audience more aware of how they handle certain situations and what things are worth dealing with from their point of view.
Essays written on personal topics cover anything from childhood memories to thoughts about being an adult in today's society. They also sometimes deal with dreams for the future and ways to achieve them.
The goal behind writing a personal essay is usually quite apparent — it has to move people, both emotionally and mentally.
Personal Essay Types
The most common type of personal essay format is the autobiographical essay.
This type of essay involves the author telling a story about their life. Some people may decide to start writing from their childhood and go through every decade up until now, while others may choose instead to write only about specific periods in their lives that are more memorable.
There is no right or wrong way — it all comes down to which period of your life you find most significant and worth sharing with a broader audience.
There are many reasons why an author might want to share their personal stories. Sometimes it is simply out of necessity, but other times it can be because they have something important to convey through them.
General guidelines of writing an essay about yourself
Preparation
Before you begin writing your essay about yourself, get together any information that might come in handy for structuring your writing effectively.
- Photographs of yourself as a baby, a young child, during your school years, etc. Remember to keep them organized so you can refer back to them when necessary!
- Your resume/CV/applications/accomplishments (go through all your old files!)
- Any certificates you may have earned or awards you have been given as evidence of your work ethic
- Information about relevant jobs you have had and things you've done at these places What exactly did you do? How long were you there? Did anyone write letters of recommendation for you? If so, try to include some of the attributes mentioned.
The writing process
Create an essay outline to guide your writing. You can outline your essay in almost any way you want. You can find sample outlines on this blog.
Method #1:
An Introduction Paragraph outlining the ideas to be explored in the body paragraphs of the paper. A Body Paragraph for each idea or thought. And a Concluding paragraph describing how you have developed the topics throughout the essay.
Method #2:
A Listing Paragraph: this states the things you will discuss in more detail in other paragraphs in the essay.
5 elements of a personal essay
- Clearly articulate your personal statement's focus
- Make your opening paragraph as intriguing and engaging for the reader as possible
- Begin each successive paragraph with a sentence that naturally flows from the preceding paragraph and develops its topic but also relates to the previous one; this keeps essays coherent, chronological, and focused on a central theme
- Use language that is appropriate for the audience you are addressing (for example, 'in my opinion' or 'I believe')
- Avoid cliches - be an individual! The reader will remember you for original ideas, not standard platitudes.
Wrapping up
When it comes to closing your essay about yourself, you can write the concluding paragraph using this outline:
- Introduction - a sentence or two clearly stating what the essay discussed.
- The first body paragraph - restating, asserting, or explaining the topic statement.
- Subsequent Body Paragraphs – each subsequent supporting point should lead into a good transition sentence ending in a conclusion of sorts.
Express your confidence as to why you stated your thesis and how you have shown it is valid.
Experience shows that this last part may require several revisions before achieving its goal. Using this format, the reader finishes with an impression of mastery over the subject matter conveyed by the writer's self-confidence.
Common Mistakes to avoid
Many writers make these 5 common mistakes when writing a personal narrative essay:
- Overusing adjectives, adverbs, and other "power words" (don't use too many).
- Overextending the essay to avoid addressing the central point (you don't have to write an entire book – just a decent essay).
- Using flowery language that obscures rather than clarifies, (florid language is good in poetry, but not for essays. Use clear statements instead).
- Writing about unimportant topics or using inappropriate styles or tones (if you try humor, make sure your audience will get it; if it is a serious topic then stay serious).
- Making a list of what you did at any time without connecting each item with a supporting statement.
Before submission
When you finish and before submitting your essay, make sure you do the following:
- Check for spelling and grammatical errors. It may seem obvious, but it is surprising how many errors of this kind still slip through the proofreading process!
- Set up a system to prevent plagiarism (more about that in another article). You can check if your essay is free from plagiarism using Turnitin anti-plagiarism tool.
- Get feedback/advice from someone else. Before submitting your essay, ask at least one person for their opinion on what you have written - a professional tutor perhaps or just a friend who will be honest with you.
You can find a good source of information on this topic here
How to write an essay about yourself FAQ
How to write a college essay about yourself?
How to write an essay telling your personal story?
How to write a scholarship essay?
1. Start by reading the scholarship essay prompt carefully in order to understand the requirements and what is expected of you.
2. Next, you will want to brainstorm ideas for your scholarship essay. Some things to consider might be your accomplishments, goals, and any unique or special skills or experiences that make you stand out from other applicants.
3. Once you have a good understanding of what is required for the essay, start writing! Be sure to proofread and edit your work before submitting it—a well-written and error-free essay will give your scholarship application a much better chance of impressing the scholarship committee!
4. Finally, remember that scholarships are highly competitive so don’t get discouraged if you are not selected initially. Be prepared to write various scholarship essays to secure funding.
What's the best advice for seeking professional writing guidance?
How to develop a compelling thesis statement?
- Keep it clear and concise - your thesis statement should be easy to understand and directly relate to the main point of your paper.
- Make it specific - a good thesis statement should be focused on a particular issue or idea that you will be discussing in your paper.
- Develop it early on - try to formulate your thesis statement early on in the writing process, so that you can keep it in mind as you develop your argument.
- Be prepared to revise and adjust it - as you do more research and writing, you may find that your original thesis statement needs to be revised or expanded. Be willing to make changes to improve it.