questions to ask yourself when writing an essay about yourself

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Tips for crafting a compelling and authentic personal essay.

Writing an essay about yourself can be a daunting task, but when done right, it can be a powerful tool to showcase who you are and what makes you unique. Whether you’re applying for college, a scholarship, or a job, a well-crafted essay can help you stand out from the crowd and leave a lasting impression on the reader.

When writing a personal essay, it’s important to strike a balance between being informative and engaging. You want to provide the reader with insight into your background, experiences, and goals, while also keeping them interested and invested in your story. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process of writing a compelling essay about yourself, from brainstorming ideas to polishing your final draft.

Essential Tips for Crafting

When crafting a compelling essay about yourself, it is important to think about your audience and what message you want to convey. Here are some essential tips to help you create an engaging and authentic essay:

A Powerful Personal Essay

Writing a powerful personal essay is a way to express your unique voice and share your personal experiences with the world. By weaving together your thoughts, emotions, and reflections, you can create a compelling narrative that resonates with your audience. To craft a powerful personal essay, start by reflecting on your own experiences and exploring the themes that matter to you. Pay attention to the details and emotions that make your story come alive. Be honest and vulnerable in your writing, as authenticity is key to connecting with your readers. Additionally, consider the structure of your essay and how you can effectively organize your thoughts to engage your audience from beginning to end. By following these tips and staying true to your voice, you can create a powerful personal essay that leaves a lasting impact on your readers.

Choose a Unique Aspect

When writing an essay about yourself, it’s important to focus on a unique aspect of your personality or experiences that sets you apart from others. This could be a specific skill, talent, or life experience that has had a significant impact on your life. By choosing a unique aspect to highlight, you can make your essay more compelling and memorable to the reader. It’s important to showcase what makes you different and showcase your individuality in a way that will capture the reader’s attention.

of Your Personality

When writing about your personality, it’s important to showcase your unique traits and qualities. Describe what sets you apart from others, whether it’s your creativity, resilience, sense of humor, or compassion. Use specific examples and anecdotes to illustrate these characteristics and provide insight into who you are as a person.

Highlight your strengths and acknowledge your weaknesses – this shows self-awareness and honesty. Discuss how your personality has evolved over time and mention any experiences that have had a significant impact on shaping who you are today. Remember to be authentic and genuine in your portrayal of yourself as this will make your essay more compelling and engaging to the reader.

Reflect Deeply on

When writing an essay about yourself, it is crucial to take the time to reflect deeply on your life experiences, values, beliefs, and goals. Consider the events that have shaped you into the person you are today, both positive and negative. Think about your strengths and weaknesses, your passions and interests, and how they have influenced your decisions and actions. Reflecting on your personal journey will help you uncover meaningful insights that can make your essay more compelling and authentic.

Your Life Experiences

When it comes to writing an essay about yourself, one of the most compelling aspects to focus on is your life experiences. These experiences shape who you are and provide unique insights into your character. Reflect on significant moments, challenges you’ve overcome, or memorable events that have had a lasting impact on your life.

• Consider discussing pivotal moments that have influenced your beliefs and values.
• Share personal anecdotes that highlight your strengths and resilience.
• Explore how your life experiences have shaped your goals, aspirations, and ambitions.

By sharing your life experiences in your essay, you can showcase your individuality and demonstrate what sets you apart from others. Be genuine, reflective, and honest in recounting the events that have shaped your journey and contributed to the person you are today.

Create a Compelling

When crafting an essay about yourself, it is essential to create a compelling narrative that captures the attention of the reader from the very beginning. Start by brainstorming unique and engaging personal experiences or qualities that you want to highlight in your essay. Consider including vivid anecdotes, insightful reflections, and impactful moments that showcase your character and achievements. Remember to be authentic and sincere in your writing, as this will resonate with your audience and make your essay more relatable. By creating a compelling narrative, you can effectively communicate your story and leave a lasting impression on the reader.

Narrative Structure

The narrative structure is crucial when writing an essay about yourself. It helps to create a compelling and engaging story that showcases your unique qualities and experiences. Start by introducing the main theme or message you want to convey in your essay. Then, build a coherent storyline that highlights significant events or moments in your life. Use descriptive language and vivid details to bring your story to life and make it more relatable to the readers. Include a clear beginning, middle, and end to ensure that your essay follows a logical progression and captivates the audience throughout.

Emphasize the lessons you’ve learned from your experiences and how they have shaped your character and outlook on life. Connect these insights to your personal growth and development, demonstrating your resilience, determination, and self-awareness. End your essay on a reflective note, highlighting the impact of your journey on who you are today and what you aspire to achieve in the future. By following a strong narrative structure, you can craft a captivating essay that showcases your authenticity and leaves a lasting impression on the readers.

Highlight Your

When writing an essay about yourself, it is essential to highlight your unique qualities and experiences that set you apart from others. Consider including personal anecdotes, achievements, strengths, and challenges that have shaped your identity. Focus on showcasing your authenticity and individuality to make your essay compelling and engaging.

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Prewriting (Invention) General Questions

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

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Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

Beyond the strategies outlined in the previous section, these questions might help you begin writing.

Explore the problem — not the topic

• Who is your reader?
• What is your purpose?
• Who are you, the writer? (What image or persona do you want to project?)

Make your goals operational

• How can you achieve your purpose?
• Can you make a plan?

Generate some ideas

• Keep writing
• Don't censor or evaluate
• Keep returning to the problem

Talk to your reader

• What questions would they ask?
• What different kinds of readers might you have?

Ask yourself questions

Journalistic questions

Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? So What?

Stasis questions

Conjecture: what are the facts? Definition: what is the meaning or nature of the issue? Quality: what is the seriousness of the issue? Policy: what should we do about the issue? For more information on the stases, please go to the OWL resource on stasis theory .

Classical topics (patterns of argument)

• How does the dictionary define ____?
• What do I mean by ____?
• What group of things does ____ belong to?
• How is ____ different from other things?
• What parts can ____ be divided into?
• Does ____ mean something now that it didn't years ago? If so, what?
• What other words mean about the same as ____?
• What are some concrete examples of ____?
• When is the meaning of ____ misunderstood?

Comparison/Contrast

• What is ____ similar to? In what ways?
• What is ____ different from? In what ways?
• ____ is superior (inferior) to what? How?
• ____ is most unlike (like) what? How?

Relationship

• What causes ____?
• What are the effects of ____?
• What is the purpose of ____? - What is the consequence of ____?
• What comes before (after) ____?
• What have I heard people say about ____?
• What are some facts of statistics about ____?
• Can I quote any proverbs, poems, or sayings about ____?
• Are there any laws about ____?

Circumstance

• Is ____ possible or impossible?
• What qualities, conditions, or circumstances make ____ possible or impossible?
• When did ____ happen previously?
• Who can do ____?
• If ____ starts, what makes it end?
• What would it take for ____ to happen now?
• What would prevent ___ from happening?

Contrastive features

• How is ____ different from things similar to it?
• How has ____ been different for me?
• How much can ____ change and still be itself?
• How is ____ changing?
• How much does ____ change from day to day?
• What are the different varieties of ____?

Distribution

• Where and when does ____ take place?
• What is the larger thing of which ___ is a part?
• What is the function of ____ in this larger thing?

Cubing (considering a subject from six points of view)

• *Describe* it (colors, shapes, sizes, etc.)
• *Compare* it (What is it similar to?)
• *Associate* it (What does it make you think of?)
• *Analyze* it (Tell how it's made)
• *Apply* it (What can you do with it? How can it be used?)
• *Argue* for or against it

Make an analogy

Choose an activity from column A to explain it by describing it in terms of an activity from column B (or vice-versa).

Rest and incubate.

(Adapted from Linda Flower's Problem-Solving Strategies for Writing, Gregory and Elizabeth Cowan's Writing, and Gordon Rohman and Albert Wlecke's Prewriting.)

Flower, Linda. Problem-Solving Strategies for Writing . Third Edition. Orders, 1989.

Neeld, Elizabeth Cowan, and Gregory Cowan. Writing . Scott, Foresman, 1986.

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36 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Writing Your Personal Statement

April 25, 2017

Phase I of Writing Your Personal Statement: 36 Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Begin

In less than 650 words, you have to persuade a stranger to care about you and your application. That’s why the Common App personal statement is one of the most discussed aspects of the college application. Think about how much time you spend on homework, standardized testing, and extracurriculars. This single essay will influence admissions officers as much as these other factors. You could be the perfect applicant, but if your reader doesn’t get to know you and CARE about YOU, you won’t be admitted.

There is no formula for creating the perfect personal statement. The best personal statement topic for your friend might not work well as a topic for you. The topic that might inspire your friend to show his most unique thoughts, the challenges he’s overcome, and the maturity he has gained, might not help you reveal what’s most interesting and compelling about you.

So, how can you write the best possible personal statement for you and your application? Here are the first steps in the process.

1. Start early!

The worst thing you can do is rush the creation of your personal statement. The next two steps below might take weeks...and these occur before you even have a good first draft and can start multiple rounds of edits. You should edit your personal statement multiple times. You should get feedback from as many family members, friends, and teachers as you can.

But, before you get to this stage, you need to choose the perfect topic (and the best Common App essay prompt )  for you .

So, when is the right time to start the process of writing your personal statement ? You should start brainstorming for your personal statement as early as the spring of your junior year and as late as the summer between junior and senior year.

Why shouldn’t I start earlier? A successful personal statement relies on having a strong and mature sense of yourself. It can also rely on your understanding of what you’d like to do in college, what type of college community you’d like to be a part of, and why you care about your education. Starting too soon might mean you need to start over (see step 3) after you really do some soul-searching about college.

There is a lot of thinking and planning that happens before you start writing, so that’s why you should start early. You will complete your best work when you’re not up against a deadline and you’ll be able to start over (again, see step 3) if this is in your best interests.

2. Brainstorm

If you complete this stage of the process with care and attention, you won’t be faced with Step 3. This step in the process helps you pinpoint that perfect topic for you... which won’t be the same perfect topic for someone else.

To start the process of writing your personal statement , ask yourself the series of 36 questions below. These will help generate topics that will be important and meaningful to you. Keep a written list of possible topics you could choose.

• What’s your main academic area of interest?
• Why does this matter to you?
• When did this interest first start to matter to you? Was there a specific event that sparked your interest?
• How did your interest evolve over time?
• Did you ever face a really big challenge in continuing to learn about or study this topic?
• Was this challenge the result of your gender, race, or religion?
• Was this challenge the result of your family’s socio-economic background or the result of the culture of the place you lived?
• Would you still pursue this academic interest if you earned a very small income with your future job in this area?

Activities:

• What’s an extracurricular activity you do that’s incredibly rare?
• What’s an extracurricular activity that has shaped your personality and character?
• Why does this activity matter so much to you?
• When did this activity first start to matter to you? Was there a specific event that sparked your interest?
• How did your interest in and commitment to this activity evolve over time?
• Have you done something with this activity that no one else you know has done?
• Did you ever face a really big challenge in continuing to pursue this activity?
• Was this challenge the result of your family’s socio-economic background?
• Was this challenge the result of the culture of the place you lived?

Life-events:

• Is there something you’ve done or experienced that changed you forever in a positive way?
• How did this event make you more mature, compassionate, self-aware, determined, or strong?
• Is there a day from your life that you reflect on often? Why is this day so memorable to you?
• Are you similar to or different from your parents / siblings? What made you this way?
• When did you feel like you didn’t fit in with a group of people? What made you different than others?
• Is there something (non-academic / extracurricular) that you devote A LOT of time to? Why do you do this?
• What have you done that didn’t earn you praise, attention, or success?
• What makes you feel like your life is meaningful and important to you?
• What is one thing that you would never change about yourself or your life experiences?

Once you’ve created your list of topics, you’ll need to start narrowing them down. For each topic, ask yourself:

• Is this a topic I care about?
• Is this a topic that I’ve cared about for more than 1-2 years?
• Is this a topic I think shows something about my character and personality?
• Is this a topic that shows something impressive and / or unique about my achievements or activities?
• Is this topic memorable to me? Do I think about this fairly often in my life?
• Am I the only student in my high school class who would write about this topic?
• Does this topic show only positive things about my character, maturity, and perspective on life?
• Would I be interested in reading about this topic if someone else wrote about it?
• Could I write 10 pages about this topic (far more than you’ll need to write, of course)?

If the answer to most or all these questions is “yes!” you’ve probably landed on an ideal topic for you! And get started with writing your personal statement ! 

I talk more about choosing your personal statement topic, as well as some of the best topics and worst topics here:

3. Start over?

Have you already written your 650 words? Ask yourself: is this best possible story I could tell about myself to admissions officers? What does this story show about me? Is there anything that’s negative in this essay? Is there anything that would make me appear privileged, immature, irresponsible, unfriendly, boring, or unmotivated?

One of the best skills you can develop while writing your personal statement is not to be too attached to your writing. Good editors make BIG changes. And sometimes “big change” means starting over from scratch.

I’ll share my story as a cautionary tale. After careful planning, I wrote the first draft of my personal statement during the summer before my senior year of high school. I was really proud of it. I’d developed a (I thought) complicated and literary metaphor throughout the personal statement. I printed it off. I gave it to my dad to read. He read it through once and said, “you should start over from scratch.”

I was shocked and horrified. What about the more than 5 hours I’d spent planning and writing this essay? My dad pointed out to me the ways in which my personal statement didn’t show the most impressive things about me. It was fine. But it wasn’t unique. It wasn’t personal.

Writing your personal statement is a very strategic part of your college application. There are many "bad" topics you should avoid , there are many “good” topics you could choose, but there are a few that are “outstanding” because they bring a new, personal, thoughtful, and insightful angle to your application and your personal story. This is the personal statement you want to write! Your personal statement needs to engage your readers in less than 650 words in a way that convinces them to believe in you. Your admissions officer will need to advocate for you in order for you to be admitted. You want this person on your side.

Ask your family, friends, and teachers to read your personal statement or consider the topic you’ve selected. Do they feel like this piece of writing or this topic shows the person they know and love? Could this topic make a stranger care about you in the way that your family, friends, teachers care about and support you? This is your personal statement topic selection goal!

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15 Tips for Writing a College Essay About Yourself

What’s covered:.

• What is the Purpose of the College Essay?
• How to Stand Out Without Showing Off
• 15 Tips for Writing an Essay About Yourself
• Where to Get Free Feedback on Your Essay

Most students who apply to top-tier colleges have exceptional grades, standardized test scores, and extracurricular activities. How do admissions officers decide which applicants to choose among all these stellar students? One way is on the strength of their college essay .

This personal statement, along with other qualitative factors like teacher recommendations, helps the admissions committee see who you really are—the person behind the transcript. So, it’s obviously important to write a great one.

What Is the Purpose of the College Essay? 

Your college essay helps you stand out in a pool of qualified candidates. If effective, it will also show the admissions committee more of your personality and allow them to get a sense of how you’ll fit in with and contribute to the student body and institution. Additionally, it will show the school that you can express yourself persuasively and clearly in writing, which is an important part of most careers, no matter where you end up. 

Typically, students must submit a personal statement (usually the Common App essay ) along with school-specific supplements. Some students are surprised to learn that essays typically count for around 25% of your entire application at the top 250 schools. That’s an enormous chunk, especially considering that, unlike your transcript and extracurriculars, it isn’t an assessment of your entire high school career.  

The purpose of the college essay is to paint a complete picture of yourself, showing admissions committees the person behind the grades and test scores. A strong college essay shows your unique experiences, personality, perspective, interests, and values—ultimately, what makes you unique. After all, people attend college, not their grades or test scores. The college essay also provides students with a considerable amount of agency in their application, empowering them to share their own stories.

How to Stand Out Without Showing Off 

It’s important to strike a balance between exploring your achievements and demonstrating humility. Your aim should be to focus on the meaning behind the experience and how it changed your outlook, not the accomplishment itself. 

Confidence without cockiness is the key here. Don’t simply catalog your achievements, there are other areas on your application to share them. Rather, mention your achievements when they’re critical to the story you’re telling. It’s helpful to think of achievements as compliments, not highlights, of your college essay.  

Take this essay excerpt , for example:

My parents’ separation allowed me the space to explore my own strengths and interests as each of them became individually busier. As early as middle school, I was riding the light rail train by myself, reading maps to get myself home, and applying to special academic programs without urging from my parents. Even as I took more initiatives on my own, my parents both continued to see me as somewhat immature. All of that changed three years ago, when I applied and was accepted to the SNYI-L summer exchange program in Morocco. I would be studying Arabic and learning my way around the city of Marrakesh. Although I think my parents were a little surprised when I told them my news, the addition of a fully-funded scholarship convinced them to let me go. 

Instead of saying “ I received this scholarship and participated in this prestigious program, ” the author tells a story, demonstrating their growth and initiative through specific actions (riding the train alone, applying academic programs on her own, etc.)—effectively showing rather than telling.

15 Tips for Writing an Essay About Yourself 

1. start early .

Leave yourself plenty of time to write your college essay—it’s stressful enough to compose a compelling essay without putting yourself under a deadline. Starting early on your essay also leaves you time to edit and refine your work, have others read your work (for example, your parents or a teacher), and carefully proofread.

2. Choose a topic that’s meaningful to you 

The foundation of a great essay is selecting a topic that has real meaning for you. If you’re passionate about the subject, the reader will feel it. Alternatively, choosing a topic you think the admissions committee is looking for, but isn’t all that important to you, won’t make for a compelling essay; it will be obvious that you’re not very invested in it.

3. Show your personality 

One of the main points of your college essay is to convey your personality. Admissions officers will see your transcript and read about the awards you’ve won, but the essay will help them get to know you as a person. Make sure your personality is evident in each part—if you are a jokester, incorporate some humor. Your friends should be able to pick your essay from an anonymous pile, read it, and recognize it as yours. In that same vein, someone who doesn’t know you at all should feel like they understand your personality after reading your essay. 

4. Write in your own voice 

In order to bring authenticity to your essay, you’ll need to write in your own voice. Don’t be overly formal (but don’t be too casual, either). Remember: you want the reader to get to know the real you, not a version of you that comes across as overly stiff or stilted. You should feel free to use contractions, incorporate dialogue, and employ vocabulary that comes naturally to you. 

5. Use specific examples 

Real, concrete stories and examples will help your essay come to life. They’ll add color to your narrative and make it more compelling for the reader. The goal, after all, is to engage your audience—the admissions committee. 

For example, instead of stating that you care about animals, you should tell us a story about how you took care of an injured stray cat. 

Consider this side-by-side comparison:

Example 1: I care deeply about animals and even once rescued a stray cat. The cat had an injured leg, and I helped nurse it back to health.

Example 2: I lost many nights of sleep trying to nurse the stray cat back to health. Its leg infection was extremely painful, and it meowed in distress up until the wee hours of the morning. I didn’t mind it though; what mattered was that the cat regained its strength. So, I stayed awake to administer its medicine and soothe it with loving ear rubs.

The second example helps us visualize this situation and is more illustrative of the writer’s personality. Because she stayed awake to care for the cat, we can infer that she is a compassionate person who cares about animals. We don’t get the same depth with the first example. 

6. Don’t be afraid to show off… 

You should always put your best foot forward—the whole point of your essay is to market yourself to colleges. This isn’t the time to be shy about your accomplishments, skills, or qualities. 

7. …While also maintaining humility 

But don’t brag. Demonstrate humility when discussing your achievements. In the example above, for instance, the author discusses her accomplishments while noting that her parents thought of her as immature. This is a great way to show humility while still highlighting that she was able to prove her parents wrong.

8. Be vulnerable 

Vulnerability goes hand in hand with humility and authenticity. Don’t shy away from exploring how your experience affected you and the feelings you experienced. This, too, will help your story come to life. 

Here’s an excerpt from a Common App essay that demonstrates vulnerability and allows us to connect with the writer:  

“You ruined my life!” After months of quiet anger, my brother finally confronted me. To my shame, I had been appallingly ignorant of his pain. 

Despite being twins, Max and I are profoundly different. Having intellectual interests from a young age that, well, interested very few of my peers, I often felt out of step in comparison with my highly-social brother. Everything appeared to come effortlessly for Max and, while we share an extremely tight bond, his frequent time away with friends left me feeling more and more alone as we grew older.

In this essay, the writer isn’t afraid to share his insecurities and feelings with us. He states that he had been “ appallingly ignorant ” of his brother’s pain, that he “ often felt out of step ” compared to his brother, and that he had felt “ more and more alone ” over time. These are all emotions that you may not necessarily share with someone you just met, but it’s exactly this vulnerability that makes the essay more raw and relatable. 

9. Don’t lie or hyperbolize 

This essay is about the authentic you. Lying or hyperbolizing to make yourself sound better will not only make your essay—and entire application—less genuine, but it will also weaken it. More than likely, it will be obvious that you’re exaggerating. Plus, if colleges later find out that you haven’t been truthful in any part of your application, it’s grounds for revoking your acceptance or even expulsion if you’ve already matriculated. 

10. Avoid cliches 

How the COVID-19 pandemic changed your life. A sports victory as a metaphor for your journey. How a pet death altered your entire outlook. Admissions officers have seen more essays on these topics than they can possibly count. Unless you have a truly unique angle, then it’s in your best interest to avoid them. Learn which topics are cliche and how to fix them . 

11. Proofread 

This is a critical step. Even a small error can break your essay, however amazing it is otherwise. Make sure you read it over carefully, and get another set of eyes (or two or three other sets of eyes), just in case.

12. Abstain from using AI

There are a handful of good reasons to avoid using artificial intelligence (AI) to write your college essay. Most importantly, it’s dishonest and likely to be not very good; AI-generated essays are generally formulaic, generic, and boring—everything you’re trying to avoid being.   The purpose of the college essay is to share what makes you unique and highlight your personal experiences and perspectives, something that AI can’t capture.

13. Use parents as advisors, not editors

The voice of an adult is different from that of a high schooler and admissions committees are experts at spotting the writing of parents. Parents can play a valuable role in creating your college essay—advising, proofreading, and providing encouragement during those stressful moments. However, they should not write or edit your college essay with their words.

14. Have a hook

Admissions committees have a lot of essays to read and getting their attention is essential for standing out among a crowded field of applicants. A great hook captures your reader’s imagination and encourages them to keep reading your essay. Start strong, first impressions are everything!

15. Give them something to remember

The ending of your college essay is just as important as the beginning. Give your reader something to remember by composing an engaging and punchy paragraph or line—called a kicker in journalism—that ties everything you’ve written above together.

Where to Get Free Feedback on Your College Essay 

Before you send off your application, make sure you get feedback from a trusted source on your essay. CollegeVine’s free peer essay review will give you the support you need to ensure you’ve effectively presented your personality and accomplishments. Our expert essay review pairs you with an advisor to help you refine your writing, submit your best work, and boost your chances of getting into your dream school. Find the right advisor for you and get started on honing a winning essay.

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How to Write a Short Essay About Yourself: Step-By-Step

Updated 06/4/2022

Published 06/19/2020

Yvonne Bertovich

Contributing writer

Cake values integrity and transparency. We follow a strict editorial process to provide you with the best content possible. We also may earn commission from purchases made through affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Learn more in our affiliate disclosure .

Writing or even talking about yourself may not come easily to you. However, for professional or educational reasons, it’s often a necessity. There are other instances when writing about yourself may make more sense, as you can provide the rawest and most honest perspective.

Jump ahead to these sections:

Steps for writing about yourself, tips for writing about yourself creatively or confidently.

• Examples of Things to Write About Yourself

You should feel empowered—not intimidated—in taking on a writing project about yourself. Use it as a way to challenge how you view your own experiences, talents, and more. We’ll discuss some steps for writing about yourself as well as provide a few examples.  

Writing isn’t for everyone, especially when it’s required. As much as you may dislike it, following the steps below can help the process go that much more smoothly.

If you find that following a different order than what we’ve recommended for you works better for your process, feel free to adjust accordingly. 

Step 1: Determine your purpose 

What’s causing you to write this “thing” about yourself? What exactly are you writing? It may surprise you that people write all kinds of pieces for themselves—even writing your own obituary isn’t out of the question anymore. 

The more specific you can get with yourself about your purpose will help the rest of the process. If it’s something stressful, like a college admission essay or a cover letter, try to frame the project in a different light. 

For example, “I’m writing this essay to show people my heart and how passionate I am about removing disparities and barriers in healthcare. I believe in my abilities, and I want to further my education, so I can help heal people.”

Step 2: Ask yourself some questions 

For any good piece of writing, there has to be fact behind it (if even these facts are abstract in narrative or fiction). The best way to gather facts about any subject is to ask a variety of questions, both soft- and hard-hitting. 

You may ask these questions internally, during research, or directly and literally. Treat this question step as a self-interview.

Here are some questions to ask yourself . You may also ask yourself:

• What is my goal of writing this piece?
• What themes or ideas do I want to focus on?
• What are my strengths and weaknesses?
• What are some important lessons I’ve learned?
• What do I want others to know or understand about me?

Step 3: Organize your answers 

After asking yourself the example questions above as well as others, you should be sure to write down your answers and begin organizing them if you haven’t already. 

It may be tempting to just answer your own questions in your head as you go—but don’t. This will just make the writing step more difficult. You may think that you’ll remember every good point or profound thought you come up with, but memory is a tricky thing. 

If you’re working through your questions during a time when you’re not ready or able to sit down and type or scribble them out, at least make some notes in your phone or in a journal so you can have some descriptive hints for later. No matter how big of an epiphany you may have, it’s possible you’ll forget it. 

Step 4: Write a draft 

If your ideas are already fairly organized, writing your draft should come fairly easily to you. The draft process, however, is when you can start spicing things up with anecdotes, your own personal voice, themes, metaphors—all that fun stuff. The point in you writing something about yourself for yourself is for the very reason that you can make it unquestionably you .

Dull, watered-down words or even over-hyped language from a thesaurus plug-in isn’t going to impress anyone. Writing something about yourself (unless the assignment is creative or unorthodox) isn’t the time to act like something you’re not.

All of this being said, don’t stress yourself out too much. Letting your ideas flow freely and then editing or revising them later is how you should approach the process anyway. You don’t want to put too many restrictions on your ideas from the get-go. Warring with yourself about your ideas while writing is only going to tire you out sooner. 

Think about it—you may spend hours trying to write a piece while overthinking that’s no better than a draft you could have written in 30 minutes on the fly. Not being totally in love with your first draft is normal. It just allows you that much more room to improve. 

Step 5: Put your progress aside

Much like during the draft process, it’s very possible to overthink your work after it’s mostly done. If you constantly keep re-reading it or rehashing your ideas in your head, they may start to sound odd, or you may try to add where you need to trim. 

For example, the same concept applies to repeating the same word over and over aloud — it’ll likely start to sound strange or even wrong the more you hear it. This also applies to music — ever play a song you love over and over till you hate it? 

You need to give your words and your brain some time to rest away from each other until you try to make any drastic edits or changes. That being said, you may love what you’ve written already and decide you don’t need to change a thing—that’s great!

Step 6: Review and edit

After your break, you can pick up your writing once again. Read it with a critical eye. Go back and think deeply about your purpose and any provided prompts. Have you answered everything you intended to or are required to?

It’s not uncommon—though devastating—to write an entire piece only to realize you wrote from the wrong frame of reference or focused on the wrong issue. For example, if you were asked to write about a challenge you overcame in your life by following an important virtue, but you only wrote about winning a basketball championship and not the struggle behind it, this may miss the mark. 

If you find a good number of issues in your work, don’t feel tempted to scrap the entire thing. What may work instead is to copy and paste your writing line-by-line into a new document. This way, you can save as much as possible while being sure to resolve even small discrepancies.

Step 7: Finalize your work

After you’ve undergone the brutal process of self-editing (or enlisting help from someone else you trust) you can prepare yourself for the home stretch. Finalizing your work shouldn’t take very long.

Y our process may differ; however, it’ll likely come down to reading over your work a few more times just to make sure you haven’t missed words, punctuation, or proper grammar. 

It’s OK to use this step to feel proud of yourself, too. You may not take a lot of time to reflect on your life and everything you’ve been through—it’s important to practice self-love in this way and celebrate your accomplishments.

Talking or writing about yourself may not be everyone’s cup of tea. For example, did you need to provide a fun fact recently but draw a blank? You’re not alone. In fact, many people have a false assumption that they’re boring. 

On the flip side, perhaps you’re used to talking about yourself, or, at least you’ve got the “fake it till you make it” type of confidence down-pat. However, you too can only benefit from adding a bit more razzle-dazzle to your spiels and writing assignments. Here are a few tips for writing about yourself creatively or confidently.  

Allow yourself space

If you have an upcoming project or writing assignment that has you on edge, consider stepping away. Even if you don’t consider yourself an outdoorsy person, a walk around the block may help you breathe and get your creativity flowing. Naturally, the more sound your idea or angle, the more confident you’ll feel about your upcoming performance.  

Keep that ego in check

An underinflated ego is just as bad as an overinflated one. Pay close attention to your internal dialogue when approaching new projects or writing tasks (or, honestly anything that comes up during your day). How much of what swirls around in your mind is fact? How much of it is just fleeting thoughts or opinions? You are not your thoughts, and you always have choices. Make good ones and be kind to yourself. 

Try this: Instead of thinking to yourself, “Wow, this is a really complex writing assignment. I can’t do this.” Or, “How am I ever going to get into my dream school with this essay? I’m not a strong writer.” 

Change your internal dialogue to, “I have good ideas. I may not have my plan figured out right now, but I’ll get it done,” or, “I have so many great skills to bring to the table and I am very passionate about what’s brought me here. I will convey this the best I can.”

Crowdsource

Sometimes an outside opinion can give us much-needed perspective. Ask your friends, family, loved ones, or coworkers to describe you in a few words or even in abstract ways. Don’t view this as you’re fishing for compliments. Ask your loved ones for honesty, as this insight can only help you when writing about yourself. 

Build up a fuel bank

Pulling inspiration out of thin air may not always be possible. However, if you build up a few reliable sources of inspiration, the next time a project hits, you’ll be prepared. You can fuel your creativity and confidence in a variety of ways. 

For example, you can create certain playlists for different moods, save favorite art or graphics in a digital folder or keep printed versions in your home or office, write down affirmations or notes-to-self in a journal or app, and so on. 

Reflect on past accomplishments and setbacks

Even if you aren’t a fan of journaling, writing about yourself is far easier if you take the time to reflect, if only mentally. If you know you have a deadline to write about yourself in the near future, you may want to physically or mentally jot down a few real-life examples or experiences that come to mind. 

But how do you get in the right headspace to reflect? What if you only witness recurring thoughts about past events while trying to fall asleep? Be sure to practice the first tip in this section: Give yourself some space to think. For once, limit the distractions, keep all other screens put away or turn on your "do not disturb" feature.

Now, think about some past accomplishments or setbacks that may not even seem relevant to the topic of the assignment. You may have an epiphany about unrelated things or discover something about how you operate. For example, you might realize that you feel less nervous in social and professional settings if you call out your anxiety as being excited. 

Examples of Writing About Yourself

Even if you feel super confident about writing about yourself now, we wanted to provide a few short examples to help you get started. Your tone, word choice, and more may differ depending on which piece you’re working on.

Here are some tips for writing or publishing your life story you may also find helpful. 

In a memoir or essay

Those were probably the best and the worst days of my life. I had never felt more happy and never felt more sad. I felt as though I were so close to having everything I had ever wanted, yet it seemed with every step forward, I had to take two steps back. It was exhausting. How did I get through it? To be quite honest, I have no damn idea. 

Perspective helped. I knew I could have had it way worse; I knew that my struggle wasn’t unique. I knew, too, that even when the small wins would come they’d have yet another loss right on their tails. I paid dearly for having too much heart and optimism, so I regularly had to hose myself down with logic and pessimism. 

On your blog or website

If you’re reading this, it’s too late. Just kidding! That’s just a really good Drake album. I wanted to take some time to talk about what’s been going on in my life lately for those of you who are nosey enough to care. Again, kidding, I know some of you really care. I’m so grateful to have even this small following that I have. It’s wild, really. Who would have thought that people want to know what’s going on in my head at any given time? Joke’s on you guys, though, because I don’t fully know all the time. 

I guess I’ll start off by saying that work has been a whirlwind. As you all know, it isn’t an easy time for anyone, so please don’t take this declaration as a complaint. I’m thrilled to still have a job despite everything going on. However, leaving this reflection at just that would be doing both myself and you all a disservice. It’s weak. It doesn’t really describe what’s been going on. Allow me to continue.  

In a college essay

When I was young, my grandmother told me I couldn’t please everyone — that some people just wouldn’t like me for no reason at all. This was very hard for me to swallow at times. What does this have to do with who I am today and why I plan to attend your university? 

Well, this early lesson demonstrates that in order for this world to keep spinning, we all have to be unwavering in our own pursuits. We are ourselves. We can’t be anyone else. In that, we all have the responsibility to bring our unique talents, wisdom, and heart to the table — even when we’re seated across from people who may not like us. 

Sometimes Only You Can Do It

Writing about yourself may always be challenging for you, but who better to do so than who knows you best? If you work through the process in every situation and give yourself some patience, there’s no question that you can’t craft something amazing. You may also be interested in this article about how to write family stories .

Your written words mean more than you think. This becomes a part of your legacy when you're gone, and it's one of the ways you'll be remembered. While many families choose custom urns from Foreverence or even to craft memorial diamonds from Eterneva , your words are something that live after you're gone.

While it might not seem natural at first, learning to write about yourself, your perspective, and your experiences carries a lot of significance. Who knows who might read these words when you're gone?

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9 Tips for Writing an Essay About Yourself

You know yourself better than anyone else, but writing about yourself can still be tough! When applying for scholarships or to college, essay prompts  can feel so general (and yet so specific!) that they leave us stumped.  So we’ll show you 8 tips to write an essay about yourself, so that you can land more scholarships. (Psst – Going Merry makes applying easy .)

1. Create a List of Questions

2. brainstorm and outline, 3. be vulnerable, 4. use personal examples, 5. write in the first person, 6. don’t be afraid to show off…but stay on topic, 7. show personality , 8. know your audience, 9. proofread and edit.

Let’s start with some examples of personal essay prompts:

• Tell me about yourself.
• Describe a challenge or event that made you who you are today.
• What are your short and long-term goals, and how do you plan to achieve them?
• Write about a time you failed at something. How did it affect you?

These are just a few of many scholarship essay prompts that require you to look internally, to answer a question, solve a problem, or explain a scenario in your life.  

We get it. You might not be a big fan of bragging about yourself, or you might want to keep your personal stories to yourself. But by opening up and sharing your story, you can show scholarship providers, colleges and universities who you are, and why you’re deserving of their scholarship.

(Don’t just take our word for it – check out our scholarship winners page full of students like you who were brave enough to share their stories with us).

To get started, check out these 9 tips on how to write an essay about yourself:

After reading through the scholarship essay prompt, breathe, and make a list of smaller questions you can answer, which relate to the big essay prompt question. 

Let’s say the main essay prompt question asks you, “What were challenges or barriers you had to work to overcome?” Then the smaller questions might be something like:

• What is your background? Family, finances, school.
• What was challenging about that background?
• What’s your greatest accomplishment? How did you get there? How have previous challenges influenced your goals?

Think of these questions as mini-prompts. They explain your story and help you answer the main essay prompt with more details than if you just answered it without a plan in place.

After considering smaller questions, it’s time to brainstorm your answers.  Take out a pen and paper – or open up a document on a computer – and take your time in answering each mini-prompt. Organize your responses in order:

• Intro to main essay prompt.
• Answer about 3 mini-prompt questions.
• Conclude by rewriting the answer to the main essay prompt with a summary of your mini-prompt answers.

This organization will help you stay on topic and answer the prompt directly. (Or check out these 6 scholarship essay examples for alternative essay structures.)

Don’t be afraid to let your strengths, challenges, and personal stories shine through in your essay! Scholarship and admissions committees love to see that you’re self-aware how you can improve as a person, or how you’ve grown because of your experiences. Honest writing can help tell the best stories (in this case, YOUR story).

Since this essay is all about you , you should make your answer as specific as possible! Avoid using generalizations (e.g., “I’m really good at music). Instead, go for more personalized statements (e.g., “My fourth-grade teacher Ms. Matay really inspired me to pursue my interest in the clarinet”). Your personal examples are what will help your scholarship essay stand out among the thousands of applicants..

 You’re telling your story, so write from your perspective! You can narrate your story. You can provide an overview of what you learned from your experiences. However you choose to answer the prompt, we recommend writing in an active tone, and using “I” and “me” throughout your essay.

Most students worry about bragging in their essay, but we say go for it! This is your time to shine, so highlight your accomplishments and strengths.  Review your essay to make sure that you’re keeping the tone informative and that you’re still on topic. (Brag while answering the essay prompt; don’t just mention random, unrelated but impressive facts about yourself!)You can use this brag sheet where you can brainstorm your accomplishments. While the worksheet is geared toward requesting letters of recommendation , you can still use it to write out your hobbies, interests, college list , and strengths to help you answer your scholarship essay prompt.

Just because it’s an essay doesn’t mean it has to be dry and boring. This essay is all about you, so let your personality shine through. If you’re the class clown, you can use a bit of humor. If you wear your heart on your sleeve, don’t be afraid to show emotion. Trying your best to express who you are as a person will have a huge effect on the admissions or scholarship committee!

If you’re applying for a scholarship, research the scholarship provider. If you’re applying to college, research the school. Understanding what makes the provider/college unique and what their motivations are, will allow you to incorporate that information in your essay. For example, many scholarships are funded by private companies that sell products. You might want to reference those products in your essay. A good example of this is Emily Trader’s essay for the Life Happens organization , where she uses her personal narrative to explain the importance of insurance planning, since that is the mission of the organization (which is funded by insurance companies).

The last step in answering your essay prompt is to double-check your work! One typo can be distracting and cause scholarship providers to scratch their head while reading the essay. ( Psst, humble brag: Going Merry’s application platform includes spellcheck because we’ve got your back .) In addition to proofreading for typos and grammatical errors, also consider whether the sentence or paragraph structure makes sense. Are you breaking paragraphs in the right place? Are you using topic sentences well to signpost your main ideas? Does the essay flow? Consider these “bigger” structural questions too.  You might also want to ask a friend, family member, teacher, or guidance counselor to review your essay. They might catch something you didn’t see the first time around, and that can really help your essay! In fact, that is scholarship winner Daniel Gill ’s #1 tip. (Another tip is to apply for scholarships using Going Merry !)

Also, check out this helpful list of the 10 most common scholarship essay topics while you’re brainstorming!

Now that you know how to write an essay about yourself, it’s time to start applying for scholarships! Remember: You’ve got this. 

Sign up for your free Going Merry profile . From there, you can easily upload and submit your essay for thousands of scholarships. We make it easy so you’ll only need to enter your profile information once! And then, you can apply away. In fact, we even have some bundled scholarships so that you only enter your essay once, to apply for multiple scholarships at the same time.

Or if you’re not ready to register, simply sign up to receive an email with 20 new scholarship opportunities each week. Just enter your email address below:

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• Educational Assessment

Good Questions for Better Essay Prompts (and Papers)

• April 8, 2020
• Jessica McCaughey

Most professors would admit that they’ve found themselves frustrated when grading papers. Yes, sometimes those frustrations might stem from students ignoring your clear, strategic, and explicit instructions, but more often, I’d argue, “bad” papers are a result of how and what we’re asking of students, and how well we really understand our goals for them. Further, we often struggle to strike a balance between providing too much information and too little, and placing ourselves in a novice’s shoes is difficult. In an effort to combat these challenges, I present a series of questions to ask yourself as you begin developing or revising prompts.

1. What do you want your students to learn or demonstrate through this writing assignment? Is an essay the best way reach these goals? If so, do they understand those learning goals? Assigning an essay is, for many instructors, our go-to. But paper writing isn’t always the best assessment tool. Think hard about what it is you’re hoping for your students to take away from an assignment. Are there other, better forms the assignment might take? And if the answer is a resounding, “This paper is the right venue!” you should consider whether you are explicitly conveying to your students why you’re asking them to do certain work. Transparency benefits them tremendously. Transparent assignment design—being explicit about how and why you are facilitating their learning in the ways that you are—helps all students, but it particularly helps those students who may not have the experience, networks, or models in college that other students have, such as first-generation college students, minorities, or students with disabilities. Whether in class discussion or in the written prompt itself, strive to follow these transparent assignment design principles .       2. Who is the audience (real or imagined) for the assignment, and what is the purpose of the text? For most writing assignments, the “audience” is, of course, the instructor, and students strive to meet that instructor’s expectations, even if they’re guessing about what this instructor knows, wants, and expects.Even assignments as specific as “Write a letter to the Editor on X topic” beg for more detail. (Is this for my hometown paper or the New York Times ? Those letters will of course read very differently.) And when it comes to purpose or goals, while it might seem obvious to you what the purpose of this paper is, it might not be to your students. Work to be as explicit as possible as you can in what you’d like them to achieve in their paper. You might use language such as, “In this paper you are writing to an audience of scholars in X field, who are/are not familiar with your topic,” or “Your overarching purpose in this paper is to persuade your reader towards a specific, implementable solution to the problem at hand, and support your argument with scholarship in the field.”

3. Do you want to read their papers? This question may seem silly, but it’s not. In every field, professors have the capacity to set students up for authentic, engaging assignments. If you don’t feel excited to read the paper, you can likely imagine how difficult it will be for students to engage in the much more substantial process of writing it. So, consider retooling the assignment into something you look forward to spending time reading. Might you consider new genres, audiences, or purposes for their writing? Develop a traditional essay into a problem-solving task ?

4. What does good writing look like in your field? How can you convey this to students? We all know what good writing looks like in our fields, but students sometimes don’t even understand that writing forms, expectations, and conventions vary from discipline to discipline. Whether we like it or not, and whether we think we have time for it or not, it is our job to teach students about texts in our specific disciplines. Maybe that includes offering them annotated sample papers. Maybe this happens over a series of beginning-of-class conversations as they’re drafting. Maybe it’s showing them some of your own work or looking closely at the writing in a flagship journal. Regardless of how you do it, be sure that a part of the writing process for your students includes exposure and at least an introductory understanding to what “good” writing is to you and your field.

5. Are your grading criteria clear—and thoughtful and reasonable? We know that clear grading criteria—whether in the form of a rubric or a narrative—is key to student writer success, but it’s not as simple as assignment weights to columns such as “Grammar” and “Thesis.” In order to think deeply about how we’re grading, we also have to interrogate what assumptions we have about our student writers? What do we think they already know? Why do we think this? What do we prioritize in an essay, and more importantly, why is that the priority? Do our priorities align with our learning goals for students? These answers to these questions too should be transparent to students as they embark on your writing assignments.

6. What support and structure are you able to provide? Traci Gardner’s Designing Writing Assignments illustrates that the kinds of prompts that allow students to write strong papers share certain characteristics, and among the most important is providing support, both materially and in their process (35). How are you going to facilitate the writing that you want to see your students develop and showcase it in your prompt? Can the assignment be broken down into smaller, scaffolded steps? Or, if you want the students to practice managing projects and figure this out themselves, how can you serve as a guide as they work through time and resource management in order to do so? As scholars, we are not expected to create excellent work without feedback, and we shouldn’t expect it of our students either. We’re not only teaching content and, as noted above, what writing looks like in our discipline, but we’re also working to instill a writing process. Before assigning a paper, be clear about how you’ll build in steps, support, and this process of feedback and revision into your assignment.

7. Does it make sense for this particular assignment and your particular class to include a reflective element? Research shows that metacognition and reflection aid in the transfer of knowledge and skills , so building in some way for students to reflect on the writing and learning they’ve done through your assignment is a valuable way to help them take that knowledge forward, into other classrooms and, later, the workplace. 8. How can you go through the writing process yourself to create the most productive possible prompt? Ask for feedback from colleagues—or your students! There’s no shame in showing students a prompt and revising it based on their questions, perceptions, and, after the semester ends to benefit your next class, their writing.

Bio: Jessica McCaughey is an assistant professor in the University Writing Program at  George Washington University , where she teaches academic and professional writing. In this role, Professor McCaughey has developed a growing professional writing program consisting of workshops, assessment, and coaching that helps organizations improve the quality of their employees’ professional and technical writing. In 2016, she was nominated for the Columbian College’s Robert W. Kenny Prize for Innovation in Teaching of Introductory Courses, and in 2017, she won the Conference on College Composition and Communication’s Emergent Researcher Award.

References:

Elon Statement on Writing Transfer. (29 July 2013). Retrieved from http://www.elon.edu/ e-web/academics/teaching/ers/writing_transfer/statement.xhtml  

Gardner, Traci. (2008).  Designing Writing Assignments . National Council of Teachers of English.  https://wac.colostate.edu/books/gardner/  

• Jessica McCaughey is an assistant professor in the University Writing Program at George Washington University, where she teaches academic and professional writing. In this role, Professor McCaughey has developed a growing professional writing program consisting of workshops, assessment, and coaching that helps organizations improve the quality of their employees’ professional and technical writing. In 2016, she was nominated for the Columbian College’s Robert W. Kenny Prize for Innovation in Teaching of Introductory Courses, and in 2017, she won the Conference on College Composition and Communication’s Emergent Researcher Award.

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7 Powerful Questions to Ask Yourself Before You Start Your Essay

Do you ever find yourself diving into writing without much planning before you start your essay?

I see this A LOT with the students I work with and a few things tend to happen:

– the writing process takes a lot longer – the writing process is more stressful – they end up having to cut loads of words that aren’t relevant – they go off on tangents and don’t answer the question – they get lower grades because of it.

I don’t want this to happen to you. Instead, follow my simple planning process before you start your essay, and you’ll find the whole process much easier AND you’ll achieve higher grades.

In this episode, I take you through a worked example essay question, and teach you the 7 simple but powerful questions you should ask yourself before you start your essay to ensure your arguments are strong, coherent, and that you actually answer the task you’ve been set.

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How to Actually START Your Essay

Workbook + video training to take you from procrastination and overwhelm to understanding your question and mapping out your ideas with momentum. Easier, faster essay writing (and higher grades) await.

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• Find out more and enrol in Essays With Ease .

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How to Write an Essay about Yourself

Although you may know yourself better than anybody else, writing an autobiographical essay — an essay about yourself — can be hard. But don’t worry because you’ve come to the right place! 

I’m Constance, and I’ll show you how to write an essay about yourself in five simple steps. We’ll also write a sample essay together! 

Let’s get started!

Write an essay about yourself in five easy steps:

Step 1. Plan the word count for each paragraph.

Planning the word count for each paragraph will be much easier when you know the exact number of words you need for an essay. It will help you organize your ideas and present them clearly and concisely.

Any essay has three key elements:

• The introductory paragraph (introduction).
• Three body paragraphs.
• The concluding paragraph (conclusion).

For example, you can follow the diagram below to easily distribute 300 words across the five paragraphs in a 300-word essay:

Step 2. Choose your essay’s main point and its supporting ideas.

First, you need to come up with one main, overarching point. To do that, you can choose one quality that describes you best. It doesn’t really matter if it is something people can see (your appearance) or not (your kindness, intelligence, etc.) as long as you pick just one.

What do you want to say about yourself? What do people say about you? Whatever you think of, it will be your essay’s main point — your thesis.

For example, “ I am a kind person .” This thesis will be enough for now. In the next step, you’ll better understand how to expand it into an entire essay.

Now, divide your topic using the Power of Three to prove your main point using three supporting ideas.

The Power of Three effectively divides an essay’s main idea into supporting points. It is a three-part structure that helps produce your body paragraphs .

Let’s try it for an example of an autobiographical essay with the thesis, “ I am a kind person.”

For example, here are three supporting ideas describing a kind person:

• I am a good listener .
• I always try to speak positively and avoid criticism .
• I am always ready to lend a helping hand .

Excellent! Now we’re all set for the next step!

Step 3. Write your introductory paragraph.

Here are the key components of an introductory paragraph in writing any essay:

The first sentence is the introduction, which should catch the readers’ attention and make them want to know the person in the essay (you).

The rest of the paragraph is the thesis statement and three supporting points.

Example of an introductory paragraph about yourself

“Although I am not perfect, others see my good qualities. Many people say I am a kind person because I am a good listener, I always try to speak positively, and I love helping others with their tasks. I like listening to my family and friends when they need support. I also like to use kind words and avoid negative and forceful language. And I am always ready to lend a helping hand whenever someone needs it.”

Note that our introductory paragraph goes from a general statement to three specific ideas that support our main idea.

A general statement (our introductory sentence) briefly sets the essay’s context. Next comes our thesis statement and three supporting ideas.

Step 4. Write your essay’s body paragraphs.

After the introductory paragraph, you will write body paragraphs containing the supporting ideas for your thesis. Here’s how to structure a body paragraph:

Keep this diagram in mind when writing your body paragraphs. Start with a topic sentence, and then provide a brief explanation and example/s.

Paragraph 1

“Many people tell me that I am a good listener. I listen carefully whenever people talk to me, making sure they know I’m willing to hear them out and that they have my support. For example, whenever my friends want to talk to me about their problems, I listen carefully and avoid interrupting them. After they talk, I ask questions about their feelings and thoughts about their situation before giving them advice.”

As you can see, our first sentence in this body paragraph is a topic sentence . It gives context to our body paragraph and briefly summarizes it.

Our second sentence describes an empathetic person. And the remaining sentences illustrate our main point (topic sentence) by providing examples.

Paragraph 2

“Regardless of whom I am talking to, I always try to speak positively to make them feel good. I try to talk in a positive manner that inspires and encourages others and expresses my respect and gratitude for them. I also avoid mocking, insulting, or cursing at people. And even in uncomfortable situations, I try to offer constructive feedback instead of complaining or grumbling because I do not want any negative energy to rub off on the other person. The other day I spoke with my friend who had made a mistake. I never criticized her and offered some good advice to help her correct the situation.”

Just like paragraph 1, paragraph 2 follows the same structure outlined in the diagram. It proceeds from a general statement to more specific points .

Paragraph 3

“I am always willing to lend a helping hand. I love helping others and finding ways to make tasks easier for them, especially my family. I always wash the dishes and clean our kitchen without my mother telling me to do so. I also like helping my dad fix things in the garage and repair things in our house. And I also like helping my siblings with their school projects and homework.”

Once again, paragraph 3 follows the body paragraph structure. Now, we’re all set for the final step — the conclusion.

Step 5. Write the conclusion.

If you want an easy and quick way to write a concluding paragraph for your essay about yourself, just restate your main idea and its supporting points using different words.

Let’s try this method to write the conclusion for our essay.

“No one is perfect, but it is great if people know you best for your positive qualities. Many people tell me I am a kind person, and it tends to draw them to me. I listen carefully and attentively whenever people talk to me. I speak in a positive manner. And I love helping others and making things easier for them.”

Note how we paraphrased our introductory paragraph to restate the points we’ve already made. Keep this in mind when writing any essay.

I hope you find this tutorial helpful! Now go ahead and write an essay about yourself!

Tutor Phil is an e-learning professional who helps adult learners finish their degrees by teaching them academic writing skills.

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87 Self-Reflection Questions for Introspection [+Exercises]

Do you sometimes take time to clarify your values in a moment of doubt or uncertainty?

If you answered “yes,” you are no stranger to self-reflection and introspection (terms that will be used more or less interchangeably in this article), an important psychological exercise that can help you grow, develop your mind, and extract value from your mistakes.

Read on if you’d like to learn the meaning of self-reflection and introspection, reasons why it’s important, and tools and techniques for practicing it yourself.

Before you continue, we thought you might like to download our three Self-Compassion Exercises for free . These detailed, science-based exercises will not only help you increase the compassion and kindness you show yourself but will also give you the tools to help your clients, students, or employees show more compassion to themselves.

This Article Contains:

What is introspection a definition, what is the importance of introspection, 70 self-reflective questions to ask yourself, 10 self-reflection exercises, activities, and techniques for adults and students, 4 self-reflection worksheets and tools, the 3 best books on self-reflection and introspection, a take-home message.

Introspection can be practiced both as an informal reflection process and a formal experimental approach, and the two have different definitions. Still, both processes can be undertaken by anyone with curiosity and determination (Cherry, 2016).

The informal reflection process can be defined as examining one’s own internal thoughts and feelings and reflecting on what they mean. The process can be focused on either one’s current mental experience or mental experiences from the very recent past.

The formal experimental technique is a more objective and standardized version of this, in which people train themselves to carefully analyze the contents of their own thoughts in a way that’s as unbiased as possible.

The original idea of introspection was developed by Wilhelm Wundt in the late 1800s (McLeod, 2008). Wundt focused on three areas of mental functioning: thoughts, images, and feelings. Wundt’s work eventually led to the current work on perceptual processes and the establishment of the field of cognitive psychology .

Researchers have shown that we think more than 50,000 thoughts per day, of which more than half are negative and more than 90% are just repeats from the day before (Wood, 2013).

If you don’t make the time and effort to refocus your mind on the positive through introspection, you won’t give yourself the opportunity to grow and develop.

Enhancing our ability to understand ourselves and our motivations and to learn more about our own values helps us take the power away from the distractions of our modern, fast-paced lives and instead refocus on fulfillment (Wood, 2013).

The importance of doing it right

Reflecting on ourselves and our environments is a healthy and adaptive practice, but it should be undertaken with some care—there is, in fact, a wrong way to do it.

When your focus on introspection has morphed from a dedication to an obsession, you have taken it too far. In fact, those who take self-reflection too far can end up feeling more stressed, depressed, and anxious than ever (Eurich, 2017).

In addition, it is all too easy for us to fool ourselves into thinking we have found some deep insight that may or may not be accurate. We are surprisingly good at coming up with rational explanations for the irrational behaviors we engage in (Dahl, 2017).

To help stay on the right path with your self-reflection, consider asking more “what” questions than “why” questions. “Why” questions can highlight our limitations and stir up negative emotions, while “what” questions help keep us curious and positive about the future (Eurich, 2017).

With this important point in mind, let’s move on to the questions, exercises, and worksheets that you can use to work on your own self-reflection.

Read through the following three lists to get some ideas for introspective questions. Answering them can take you from feeling like you don’t understand yourself to knowing yourself like the back of your hand.

These 10 questions are great ways to jumpstart self-reflection (Woronko, n.d.):

• Am I using my time wisely?
• Am I taking anything for granted?
• Am I employing a healthy perspective?
• Am I living true to myself?
• Am I waking up in the morning ready to take on the day?
• Am I thinking negative thoughts before I fall asleep?
• Am I putting enough effort into my relationships?
• Am I taking care of myself physically?
• Am I letting matters that are out of my control stress me out?
• Am I achieving the goals that I’ve set for myself?

The following 30 questions are questions you can ask yourself every day to get to know yourself better (William, n.d.):

• Who am I, really?
• What worries me most about the future?
• If this were the last day of my life, would I have the same plans for today?
• What am I really scared of?
• Am I holding on to something I need to let go of?
• If not now, then when?
• What matters most in my life?
• What am I doing about the things that matter most in my life?
• Why do I matter?
• Have I done anything lately that’s worth remembering?
• Have I made someone smile today?
• What have I given up on?
• When did I last push the boundaries of my comfort zone?
• If I had to instill one piece of advice in a newborn baby, what advice would I give?
• What small act of kindness was I once shown that I will never forget?
• How will I live, knowing I will die?
• What do I need to change about myself?
• Is it more important to love or be loved?
• How many of my friends would I trust with my life?
• Who has had the greatest impact on my life?
• Would I break the law to save a loved one?
• Would I steal to feed a starving child?
• What do I want most in life?
• What is life asking of me?
• Which is worse: failing or never trying?
• If I try to fail and succeed, what have I done?
• What’s the one thing I’d like others to remember about me at the end of my life?
• Does it really matter what others think about me?
• To what degree have I actually controlled the course of my life?
• When all is said and done, what will I have said more than I’ve done?

Finally, the following 30 prompts and questions are great ways to put your journal to use (Tartakovsky, 2014):

• My favorite way to spend the day is . . .
• If I could talk to my teenage self, the one thing I would say is . . .
• The two moments I’ll never forget in my life are . . . (Describe them in great detail, and what makes them so unforgettable.)
• Make a list of 30 things that make you smile.
• “Write about a moment experienced through your body. Making love, making breakfast, going to a party, having a fight, an experience you’ve had or you imagine for your character. Leave out thought and emotion, and let all information be conveyed through the body and senses.”
• The words I’d like to live by are . . .
• I couldn’t imagine living without . . .
• When I’m in pain—physical or emotional—the kindest thing I can do for myself is . . .
• Make a list of the people in your life who genuinely support you, and whom you can genuinely trust. Then, make time to hang out with them.
• What does unconditional love look like for you?
• What things would you do if you loved yourself unconditionally? How can you act on these things, even if you’re not yet able to love yourself unconditionally?
• I really wish others knew this about me . . .
• Name what is enough for you.
• If my body could talk, it would say . . .
• Name a compassionate way you’ve supported a friend recently. Then, write down how you can do the same for yourself.
• What do you love about life?
• What always brings tears to your eyes? (As Paulo Coelho has said, “Tears are words that need to be written.”)
• Write about a time when your work felt real, necessary and satisfying to you, whether the work was paid or unpaid, professional or domestic, physical or mental.
• Write about your first love—whether it’s a person, place or thing.
• Using 10 words, describe yourself.
• What’s surprised you the most about your life or life in general?
• What can you learn from your biggest mistakes?
• I feel most energized when . . .
• “Write a list of questions to which you urgently need answers.”
• Make a list of everything that inspires you—whether books, websites, quotes, people, paintings, stores, or stars in the sky.
• What’s one topic you need to learn more about to help you live a more fulfilling life? (Then, follow through and learn more about that topic.)
• I feel happiest in my skin when . . .
• Make a list of everything you’d like to say no to.
• Make a list of everything you’d like to say yes to.
• Write the words you need to hear.

For example, the five self-examination exercises listed below (Bates, 2012) are a good way to get started with self-reflection. They’re simple and easy to do, but they can familiarize you with the process for more in-depth reflection in the future.

Self-Examination Exercise 1

Consider whether or not you tend to analyze people or diagnose their problems for them without their encouragement or request.

Often when we hold information that has helped us to make sense of the world, we want to share it. This information, when unprompted and delivered to another person, sometimes doesn’t feel so good. They may feel like you are telling them that something about them is wrong, something that they might not necessarily agree with.

Remind yourself that this information needs to be asked for and not prescribed by you, no matter how valid it feels to pass it on (Bates, 2012).

Self-Examination Exercise 2

This is a good exercise if you tend to expend a lot of energy trying to understand what upsets you about another person’s actions. You may also spend a lot of energy thinking of ways to address that person about what upsets you.

Not only does this burn a lot of your energy, but it also can have an unintended effect on the person who has upset you. When you place a clear emphasis or focus on what is wrong when speaking with someone, it implies that you are dissatisfied and unhappy.

Usually, the issue you have is not something that is making you terribly unhappy, just an annoyance or irritation, so this doom and gloom is not the message you want to deliver. It’s just a single issue that needs attention, but it can seem much bigger and more pervasive to the person you are planning to discuss it with.

Try to remind yourself that this problem, no matter how valid an issue it is or how important it is to you, is not the whole of your feelings. When you deliver this information, remember that a person who loves you does not want to be the cause of your unhappiness—do not make them feel an unnecessary amount of pain as a result of the unhappiness they’ve caused you.

Download 3 Free Self-Compassion Exercises (PDF)

These detailed, science-based exercises will equip you to help others create a kinder and more nurturing relationship with themselves.

Download 3 Free Self-Compassion Tools Pack (PDF)

By filling out your name and email address below.

Self-Examination Exercise 3

Do you frequently interrupt people or constantly think of your own stories to share while they are talking? If you’re like a lot of social people, the answer is probably yes.

In order to relate to others, we have to share a little bit of ourselves with them—your stories can help you establish common ground with others or make you closer with them. However, if you’re only focused on sharing your stories, it can distract you from the greater purpose of a conversation.

In our eagerness to relate, please, entertain, and share, we often remove ourselves from the present, reducing our ability to be sensitive and engaged listeners. Even if we spend our whole lives trying to be good listeners , sometimes we slip out of practice in empathizing or identifying with the person we’re talking to, or we lose an opportunity to comfort or entertain the other person.

Next time you have a conversation with a loved one and you find yourself thinking ahead of them, take a moment to pause and truly listen. Don’t think about how you can personally identify with what they are talking about, and don’t search your memory bank for a relevant story of your own—just listen.

It’s a rewarding experience to truly soak in what another person is saying, both for you and the other person (Bates, 2012).

Self-Examination Exercise 4

Sometimes when we work very hard to do good things, we get to a level of comfort with that fact, and we begin to talk about it to others. That can be a great thing in that it allows us to own our efforts and our actions and, with that, acknowledge our goodness to ourselves.

But for this exercise, consider how you might feel if you were to do things that are good, but only for your own knowledge. The next time you do something really wonderful, try keeping that wonderful thing to yourself and not sharing it with anyone.

Often when a person is good and loving, they don’t have to tell anyone; it’s a truth that shines from every angle of their person. As an experiment, keep some knowledge to yourself, as a gift to you (Bates, 2012).

Self-Examination Exercise 5

For this exercise, you need only to do one thing: Consider what you don’t know.

When we get to a place of comfort in our skin and in the world, we tend to lose the ability to see things from a different perspective. Things make sense to us in our own point of view, so what’s left to know?

Everything, it turns out.

By this, we mean to try and remind yourself of these facts: You cannot know or understand everything, and you are not the judge of what is right for another person.

You can neither read minds nor know what the future holds. You can only exist in one moment at a time, and you are changing every day.

Trust that sometimes others know themselves and their lives better than you ever could. Listen with the awareness that you might learn something new.

Be open to the fact that you might one day feel totally different about something that you believe to be fixed—and that includes your sticking points, the “unchangeables” you thought were forever set in stone. Let what you don’t know and can’t know be a comfort rather than something to fear, because it means that anything is possible (Bates, 2012).

Once you have found your footing with these self-examination exercises, the following introspective exercises are a great next step.

4 Self-reflection technique – OER Africa

Affirmations

Creating affirmations is a helpful way to clear your mind and put things in perspective. Affirmations can be defined as positive phrases or statements used to challenge  negative or unhelpful thoughts .

For this exercise, write a list of at least 50 affirmations. They should address what you want to embrace, improve, and achieve in your life.

Follow these instructions when composing and practicing your affirmations:

• Write the affirmations in the present tense and be sure to use the word “I” throughout the affirmations;
• Focus on the things that are occurring now that will lead to your future success. You may have negative thoughts pop up, but do your best to let go of the negative thoughts and replace them with positive thinking;
• Repeat your affirmations aloud to help reprogram your mind with more positive thoughts.

Following these steps can help you open yourself up to the positive in your life and take steps that will lead you to the future you want (Holothink, n.d.).

Subconscious Mind Exercise

In this exercise, you will dive into your subconscious. Don’t worry, it’s not as painful or scary as it sounds!

Your subconscious mind is where your self-image is stored. All of your attitudes, experiences, beliefs, and values are stored deep in your subconscious, driving your behavior and forming the core of who you are.

We don’t often take time to think about ourselves on this level. So in this exercise, take some time and put a concerted effort into thinking about your attitudes, experiences, beliefs, and values. It may take a few sessions of self-reflection to really uncover your core beliefs, but it’s worth the effort it takes to learn about yourself.

Reflecting on this core component of yourself will help you gain greater self-awareness . Much like meditation, it will help you achieve a new, higher level of consciousness, and it may just help you find valuable information and answers about yourself and your beliefs (Holothink, n.d.).

Visualization Exercise

This exercise offers you an opportunity to put your creativity to use.

Create a box, a vision board, or some other medium to store and display who you are and what your hopes and dreams are for the future. You can create or decorate your box or board however you’d like. Use whatever you feel represents yourself and what’s important to you.

Place pictures, words, drawings, poems, or small items of personal significance on your board or in your box. The more details you include, the better.

The end result is a visual representation of yourself and what you love. Come back to the box or board when you’re having a dilemma or trying to figure out the best course of action, and draw from this visual representation of yourself to help you make decisions (Holothink, n.d.).

For this exercise, feel free to put your imagination to good use—the sky’s the limit when it comes to visualization.

Questions About Yourself

This exercise is simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. All you need to do is ask yourself some questions.

Ask yourself questions about yourself. Write down the questions, then write down your answers to the questions. Ask yourself about your past, present, and future, and compose answers to the questions that are positive, insightful, and motivating to you.

Don’t worry about coming up with the “right” answers—there aren’t any right answers, and your answers will likely change over time. And be as creative as you’d like with the questions and answers since no one else needs to answer or read them but you.

Be sure to structure your questions to include details about your hopes and dreams. The more detailed your questions and answers, the more opportunity you have to dig into some valuable self-reflection (Holothink, n.d.).

Write and Reflect

Journaling is great for many reasons, and it can be used in several applications for introspection.

For this exercise, get a journal , diary, or notebook with plenty of pages to write in.

Every day, write down three things in your journal:

• At least one positive thing that happened to or around you today;
• A question for yourself (you can use one of the questions from the previous exercise, a question from the lists we covered earlier, or something entirely new), but don’t answer it yet;
• A reflection on the question you wrote the previous day for yourself and an answer to it.

Following these steps, you will write only the first two components on the first day but will write three components every day thereafter (Holothink, n.d.).

Self-Awareness Worksheet

This worksheet is a treasure trove of exercises and ideas to help you think about yourself, including your talents, qualities, values, and perceptions.

The point of this worksheet is to help you know and understand:

• Your beliefs and principles;
• What you value and what is important to you;
• What motivates you;
• Your own emotions ;
• Your thinking patterns;
• Your tendencies to react to certain situations;
• What you want out of life.

There are several sections to this worksheet, each of which has its own set of questions and prompts:

– Talents

• What are your greatest talents or skills?
• Which of your talents or skills gives you the greatest sense of pride or satisfaction?

– Traits/Qualities

• What are your five greatest strengths?
• What do you feel are your two biggest weaknesses?
• What qualities or traits do you most admire in others?

– Values

• What are ten things that are really important to you?
• What are the three most important things to you?
• What are the values that you hold nearest to your heart?

– Perception

• How is the “public you” different from the “private you”?
• What do you want people to think and say about you?
• Is it more important to be liked by others or to be yourself? Why?

– Accomplishments

• What three things are you most proud of in your life to date?
• What do you hope to achieve in life?
• If you could accomplish only one thing before you died, what would it be?

– Reflection

• What is something that represents you (e.g., song, animal, flower, poem, symbol, jewelry, etc.)? Why?
• What three things would you like to change most about yourself?
• List three things that you are.

– Finish the Sentence

In the final section, you will be shown several prompts to complete:

• I do my best when . . .
• I struggle when . . .
• I am comfortable when . . .
• I feel stress when . . .
• I am courageous when . . .
• One of the most important things I learned was . . .
• I missed a great opportunity when . . .
• One of my favorite memories is . . .
• My toughest decisions involve . . .
• Being myself is hard because . . .
• I can be myself when . . .
• I wish I were more . . .
• I wish I could . . .
• I wish I would regularly . . .
• I wish I had . . .
• I wish I knew . . .
• I wish I felt . . .
• I wish I saw . . .
• I wish I thought . . .
• Life should be about . . .
• I am going to make my life about . . .

Once you finish this worksheet, you should have plenty of insight into who you really are and what is most important to you. Use your answers to inform your decisions about what goals you choose to strive toward, what you would like to do in the future, and what moves to make next.

You can view, download, or print this worksheet for yourself.

The average human has more than 50,000 thoughts per day; more than half of them are negative, and more than 90% are just a repetition from the day before (Wood, 2013).

This means refocusing your mind on positive thoughts through introspection is essential for personal ascendance and growth. Most people take the end of the year as an opportunity to reflect on the past and set goals for the following year. However, reflections and introspection are critical at any point in time and enable your clients to grow.

Wilhelm Wundt developed the concept of introspection in the late 1800s (McLeod, 2008). According to him, introspection is focused on thoughts, images, and feelings. Introspective questions are often used in the field of cognitive psychology.

Understanding your clients allows you to learn more about their values, internal thoughts, and feelings. Furthermore, it takes the focus away from fast-paced lives and allows your client to be in the present moment and refocus on fulfillment (Wood, 2013).

Besides asking your client reflective questions, another tip is to practice active listening. Being able to stay entirely in the present moment without interruption or projecting your own story onto someone is key to helping your clients flourish. When the urge to share your story arises, pause and take the time to listen.

Tool 1: Persona

Before moving on to the empathy map below, first create a “persona,” or a clear character representation of your actual self, your ideal self, and your “ought” self (Kos, n.d.).

In order to create this persona, you will need to thoroughly analyze who you are, who you want to become, and what the social expectations connected to your feelings and behaviors are like in different situations.

Answering questions like the following can help you define these three important selves:

• Why do I want to become [enter a characteristic important to you] ? Who in my life was or is like that?
• Who would I be proud if I were [enter a characteristic important to you] ? Why?
• How are my feelings in certain situations connected with my actual, ideal, and ought self?
• Am I pushing myself to be something I’m actually not?
• Am I being something I’m not just because others expect it of me?

Use your answers to these questions to help you get an idea of who you are, who you want to be, and who you feel you ought to be. Once this preparation has been completed, move on to creating an empathy map.

Tool 2: Empathy Map

An empathy map can help you engage in a valuable and informative process of self-reflection, using all of your senses to help you identify your needs and the disconnections between what you say and what you do (Kos, n.d.). Don’t worry—we all have a disconnect between what we say and what we do.

This exercise can help you figure out where you have these disconnects and how you can best address them to become the person you want to be.

To create your empathy map, simply draw four quadrants on a piece of paper. Each quadrant represents a different aspect of yourself:

Next, consider a situation that evokes a specific strong emotion in you, like having a fight with your spouse or significant other. In each quadrant, write down the relevant aspects of each perspective.

For example, for the fight scenario, you could write down something like the following:

• Seeing: What are some of the things you saw during the situation?
• Doing: What actions did you do and which behaviors did you notice in yourself? What is the behavioral pattern you can identify?
• Thinking: What were you thinking in that situation? What does this tell you about your beliefs?
• Feeling: What emotions were you feeling? Why? Which past situation do they most remind you of?

On the backside of your piece of paper, on another piece of paper, or next to your four quadrants, create a fifth section. Here, you will write down your insights and ideas based on your empathy map.

The following questions can help you with the self-reflection process while you’re working on your map:

• How is the situation connected to your fears and hopes? What are your fears? What are your hopes? Which of your needs are met or not met in that situation?
• What was the environment in which you encountered the situation? What do you remember from the environment? How did you find yourself in that environment and why? What was your sight focused on?
• What hurts you most in the situation or makes you feel good about the situation?
• What was the feedback you gathered from your environment or other people?
• What are all the positives about the situation? What can you learn about yourself, others, and the world by experiencing that kind of a situation?

Do your best to avoid falling prey to cognitive distortions or reinforcing negative feelings while answering these questions. Go deep, and identify why you feel like you do. Observe, but don’t judge (Kos, n.d.).

Tool 3: Life Satisfaction Chart

A life satisfaction chart is a great way to assess how well you are meeting your goals and furthering your hopes for the future. You can complete this chart periodically to track your progress toward your goals and see what needs to be revised, improved, reduced, or eliminated to help you strive toward them.

Draw a scale from 1 (not at all satisfied) to 10 (extremely satisfied) horizontally, and list the following ten areas of life vertically:

• Relationships;
• Competencies;
• Spirituality ;
• Technology.

Assess your satisfaction in each of the 10 areas using the scale you created.

Next, take a second look at all the areas where you are only somewhat satisfied (where you used a rating between 4 and 7). It can be hard to effectively reflect when you don’t have a clear idea of whether you are satisfied with a specific area or not.

Go back through these “somewhat satisfied” areas and rate your satisfaction again, but use only ratings between 1 and 3 or 8 and 10. Limiting your options to either “very satisfied” or “not very satisfied” will help you to make a more decisive judgment about your satisfaction in each area.

Highlight every section rated with a 1, 2, or 3 with red, and highlight every section rated with an 8, 9, or 10 with green. Finally, for all ten areas of life, ask yourself, Why did you rate each area how you did? What would make you change your rating?

Repeat this exercise as often as you’d like to help you keep track of your satisfaction with the way your life is going (Kos, n.d.).

17 Exercises To Foster Self-Acceptance and Compassion

Help your clients develop a kinder, more accepting relationship with themselves using these 17 Self-Compassion Exercises [PDF] that promote self-care and self-compassion.

Created by Experts. 100% Science-based.

There are many books out there on self-reflection, self-awareness , and introspection, but we recommend the books below as resources to help you start your journey.

1. Question Your Life: Naikan Self-Reflection and the Transformation of Our Stories – Gregg Krech

Like the physical bags we carry when we go on a journey, our hearts and our minds only have so much room—but instead of carrying luggage, they carry stories. Some stories inform our lives and help us understand ourselves, while others don’t serve a purpose and can weigh us down.

In this book, Krech will guide the reader through several powerful examples of people who had an important change of heart or mind as a result of quiet self-reflection, including a woman who hated her mother, a man estranged from his father, a pregnant woman hit by a train, a couple who was struggling with their marriage, and a rabbi who neglected his shoes.

Read this book to open yourself up to seeing the world differently, and finding a better path forward.

You can find it on Amazon .

2. Being Present: A Book of Daily Reflections – David Kundtz

Being present can be defined as:

• Paying full attention to what is going on right now;
• Staying in the moment;
• Observing what is, without criticism or judgment;
• Having a balanced concern for things exactly as they are;
• Accepting whatever experience one is having;
• Having an awake participation in ongoing life.

You can use this book as a reminder to be more present through every season of the year and every season of life. The book draws inspiration from poets, scientists, spiritual teachers, children, butterflies, and big cities, and teaches you to accept each day as one full of possibilities and potential surprises.

3. 52 Weeks of Self Reflection – Erika R. Dawkins

You can use this book to guide you through self-reflection. No matter your goal, this guidebook will help you clear your head, see the world from a new perspective, and build a greater understanding of yourself.

In this piece, we defined introspection, described the importance of self-reflection (especially healthy self-reflection), and provided many example exercises, activities, and worksheets for you to enhance your understanding of yourself.

Keep in mind that self-reflection is an intensely personal process. If you find other activities that work better for you, feel free to focus on those—but we’d love for you to come back here and share with us what works.

Do you have any other techniques for self-reflection that you like to use? How important do you think introspection is for the average person, or for yourself? Let us know in the comments.

We hope you enjoyed reading this article. Don’t forget to download our three Self Compassion Exercises for free .

• Bates, S. M. (2012, November 11). Check yo’ self: An exercise in self-reflection. Hello Giggles. Retrieved from https://hellogiggles.com/fashion/check-yo-self-an-exercise-in-self-reflection/
• Cherry, K. (2016, June 14). What is introspection? Wundt’s experimental technique. Very Well. Retrieved from https://www.verywell.com/what-is-introspection-2795252
• Dahl, M. (2017). Sometimes ‘introspection’ is you just making stuff up. Science of Us. Retrieved from http://nymag.com/scienceofus/2017/03/sometimes-introspection-is-you-just-making-stuff-up.html
• Eurich, T. (2017). The right way to be introspective (yes, there’s a wrong way). TED. Retrieved from https://ideas.ted.com/the-right-way-to-be-introspective-yes-theres-a-wrong-way/
• Holothink. (n.d.). The art of self-reflection – 5 exercises to find peace in your life. Holothink.org. Retrieved from https://holothink.org/the-art-of-self-reflection-%E2%80%93-5-exercises-to-find-peace-in-your-life/
• Kos, B. (n.d.). Tools to help you with self-reflection. Agile Lean Life. Retrieved from https://agileleanlife.com/tools-to-help-you-with-self-reflection/
• McLeod, S. (2008). Wilhelm Wundt. Simply Psychology. Retrieved from https://www.simplypsychology.org/wundt.html
• Tartakovsky, M. (2014). 30 journaling prompts for self-reflection and self-discovery. Psych Central. Retrieved from https://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2014/09/27/30-journaling-prompts-for-self-reflection-and-self-discovery/
• William, D. K. (n.d.). 30 thought-provoking questions you should ask yourself every day. Lifehack. Retrieved from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/30-thought-provoking-questions-you-should-ask-yourself-every-day.html
• Wood, K. (2013). The lost art of introspection: Why you must master yourself. Expert Enough. Retrieved from http://expertenough.com/2990/the-lost-art-of-introspection-why-you-must-master-yourself
• Woronko, M. (n.d.). The power of self-reflection: Ten questions you should ask yourself. Lifehack. Retrieved from http://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/the-power-self-reflection-ten-questions-you-should-ask-yourself.html

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Fantastic article and each of the Reflective Question is like a light house taking us deep inside of our life experiences. Thank You with deep appreciation in preparing this.

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Introduction

Background on the Course

CO300 as a University Core Course

Short Description of the Course

Course Objectives

General Overview

Alternative Approaches and Assignments

(Possible) Differences between COCC150 and CO300

What CO300 Students Are Like

And You Thought...

Beginning with Critical Reading

Opportunities for Innovation

Portfolio Grading as an Option

Teaching in the computer classroom

Finally. . .

Classroom materials

Audience awareness and rhetorical contexts

Critical thinking and reading

Focusing and narrowing topics

Mid-course, group, and supplemental evaluations

More detailed explanation of Rogerian argument and Toulmin analysis

Policy statements and syllabi

Portfolio explanations, checklists, and postscripts

Presenting evidence and organizing arguments/counter-arguments

Research and documentation

Writing assignment sheets

Assignments for portfolio 1

Assignments for portfolio 2

Assignments for portfolio 3

Workshopping and workshop sheets

On workshopping generally

Workshop sheets for portfolio 1

Workshop sheets for portfolio 2

Workshop sheets for portfolio 3

Workshop sheets for general purposes

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Choose the type, level, urgency, and length to start off

Do You Know How to Write an Essay About Yourself? You Will!

Writing an essay is a creative task that nevertheless requires following some rules. Learn how to write a perfect essay about yourself form this article!

How to Write an Essay

Tips on personal writing with examples.

What does the phrase "Tell about yourself" actually mean? We face this question all the time - at job interviews, at meetings, speaking with new people, getting to know new colleagues. We use this phrase to inquire about someone else's life, but what kind of information are we supposed to provide when asked this question? And it's one thing to talk about it, but it's so much harder to deal with it when you're asked to write an essay about yourself.

You obviously have a lot of questions on your mind, and as soon as you start trying to put them in order, they become too messed up and scattered, and you totally run out of ideas. However, writing a personal narrative essay is not difficult if you follow our simple tips. Let's find out how to write about yourself!

How to Start an Essay about Yourself

The introduction.

While the main question in this whole personal writing discourse is "How to start an essay about myself," essay writing of this type requires an initial understanding of who your readers are and what the purpose of your writing is. So, a good introductory paragraph for an essay about yourself should serve to attract attention. You have to persuade people that your essay is worth reading, and your personality is so fascinating that they absolutely need to read about it.

Here are several tips on how to introduce yourself in an essay. Some guidelines will advise you to start with some basic information about you (name, age, education, family, place of living, etc.), which is correct. But if you just think about the number of narrative essays your teachers or instructors had read before, you will realize that the traditional way to start isn't necessarily the smartest one. Remember, you must impress from the very beginning and make your readers interested so that they will want to continue reading your paper. Think about the mood you want to set for your essay - it depends on the overall purpose of your text. If you're applying to college, focus on the situation or event that outlines your personality and shows off your strongest suit, your interests, one might even say, your personal brand.

Let's see how the introduction to a paper about yourself may look like. Remember that this is only a sample that shouldn't limit your creativity.

My name is Grace Smith. I grew up an only child, and along with this, I was the only grandchild on both sides. Accustomed to being around predominantly adults, I was always mature for my age. Even my own friends often annoyed me during my adolescent years. I had a lot of people who invested in me, and I excelled at most of my many and varied hobbies.

How to Write about Yourself

To create excellent personal writing, you have to demonstrate your presentational skills and sound as a confident person. The main secret of the 'how to write about yourself' issue is not to brag. You want them to know how amazing you are, but you have to be careful not to come off as arrogant. For people who have never done anything like that before, it can be the biggest challenge. When we talk about bragging, we mean that you need to feel the difference between the following sentences.

You need to learn how to walk that fine line that defines the way of how to write an essay describing yourself. Writing an essay about yourself means being a storyteller. So don't get too embarrassed talking about yourself. Make it captivating! Try to produce a positive impression on readers. Think of a story from your life that showcases your good traits, and roll with it. What was the conflict in the situation? How did you deal with it? Which positive characteristics of your personality helped you come out victorious? Did you make any mistakes, and how did you fix them? Try it out!

I was the best student in my class, and all the teachers were admiring my thirst for knowledge. That is why I find myself a worthy applicant to enroll in your college.

I studied a lot to have all my academic assignments come easy. That is the reason why I ended school with a good GPA with an average of 5.0.

To sum up, here are the general ideas that have to be included when you write a personal essay.

• Depending on the topic, add some short info related to your personality (your talents, educational background, goals, etc.).
• Determine the message you want to convey with your essay. The storyline should focus on one specific thing.
• Avoid generalizing, try to write about something you are unique in.
• Don't use the essay about your life as the opportunity to brag, but sound confident so that the readers understand you know your self-worth.
• Choosing your topic, focus on situations where you had to overcome obstacles, and solve certain problems using your skills and abilities.
• Focus on one single topic; don't try to cover too many new things. It will only serve to confuse the reader.
• Choose a complex topic; don't be afraid to show your struggles to make a difficult choice. It shows that you're not perfect, but you're still doing your best.
• Remember the word limit and other requirements. Starting your story from the very beginning is important. Otherwise, you risk filling up the quota and still not getting to the main point.
• Add bright and realistic details to your story. Make a list of them and pick the best ones to add to the paper.
• The flow of the story should be dynamic. You don't want your readers to lose interest in the middle of the essay.
• Your entire story about how you rose to the challenge or other situations in your life is concentrated in body paragraphs. So, make at least three of them. The limit is only your tutor's requirements on the length of the paper.

Many people get frustrated when asked to talk about themselves. That is why writing "tell me about yourself" essay looks even more complicated. It doesn't have to be this way! If you need help writing a personal narrative and feel that all the recommendations you've found on the Internet puzzle you even more, you can simply turn to us! Our company provides professional writing help for students struggling with writing and finding proper ideas for their essays. Our writers are creative and resourceful, and they're always happy to help you.

To see how essay writing guide may be applied in practice, you may have a look at the following example.

In high school, when I realized I am tired of the pressure placed by my family and their high expectations, I gradually stopped my extra-curricular activities, including music and art lessons. Instead, I chose to start my career. I graduated at the top of my class and then announced to my parents the decision to finish education.

It caused a big disagreement between them and me. My parents said the importance of getting a college degree wasn't clear to me then, but I wouldn't go far without it. Then, I told them I had set a goal to become a specialist, and I want to delve into my profession without wasting my time studying. My main argument was that if I enter the world of work straight out of school, I would learn on the job and gain three or more years' industry experience than college leavers. But my parents were adamant.

Eventually, things got extremely tense, but I wasn't ready to give up the goals in my career. That is how I got my first interview.

The Conclusion

So, it looks like everything important is included in your essay except for one last thing - a conclusion. You obviously want to know how to end an essay about yourself as you feel there are still peculiarities which you shouldn't miss. What are they? To write an essay about yourself with a powerful conclusion, you have to utilize your writing superpowers. The closing part plays a vital role in the essay, and it may be even more important than the main body. Why? Very often, the teacher or a committee read the introduction and the essay conclusion and just briefly skim through the main body. When you're done with your body paragraphs, you can make a small transition so that the readers understand they are moving to the final part of your story. If your essay has a thesis statement, don't simply rewrite it, but focus on the results you got: what did the situation you've described teach you? Your conclusion can have some emotional appeal, but don't overuse it. Think of the feeling you want the readers to experience and try to evoke it. Don't make the conclusion too long or detailed - always leave them wanting more!

Here is one of the good examples of how to end your essay.

At that very moment, I understood that it was a good thing to heed the voice of reasoning and understand the value of college education in my life. The career that doesn't require a college degree and which I was initially interested in turned out to be not my cup of tea.

The college taught me the things fundamental to my dream specialty. Also, it is exactly there that I practiced my negotiation skills as well as my networking connections.

Now, I have learned how to sell myself in the labor market and have enough fundamental knowledge of my profession to get job experience.

Several Basic Tips on Writing a Narrative Essay

No matter the purpose of your paper, there is a preset number of points that you will be expected to address when you are to tell your story of your life.

• Before writing an essay, note the parts you want to make the highlight of your paper. An outline written for the essay will make the writing process easier.
• Do not forget about emotional words and phrases. The more passionate you are, the more effective your assignment will turn out.
• If you want to appeal to the reader's emotions and make them engaged in what you say about yourself, don't be greedy on details. Let the reading audience seem, feel, and experience the situations you are narrating.
• Do not hand in your paper before making sure it is polished and mistakes-free. Even the most absorbing story about when you overcome challenges will lose its power if there are trivial spelling or grammar mistakes.
• Do not get stuck with material possessions as the main achievements in your life. Remember that it is your feelings and emotions that define you as a personality.
• If you lack ideas for your narrative in the first person, try organizing a brainstorming session. There are certainly some things that are important to tell about your personality. It can be your achievements, experiences, skills, or anything you like. It is even more important when writing college application essays as your task is to get remembered at a college you are applying for. So, do your best to make your piece of writing different from any other paper that the admission committee will read.
• If you are going to write about a usual thing, describe it in a way that would help the reader want to know you better. Choose the right perspective you want to be seen from.
• If you need a narrative essay for a cover letter to complement your resume, tell the employer about the gaps that may be there in your CV. Cover letters are the second chance to impress the employer, so the narrative in a cover letter should tell about things that cannot be mentioned in a strict resume. With your cover letter, you can add personality to your application.

Examples of the Best and Worst Topics for an Essay about Yourself

Certain topics allow you to bring out the best in you and show different traits of your character. While others may serve to present your personality in not the most flattering light. The choice is up to you in any way, but we recommend turning your attention to the themes that give higher chances of creating a memorable and compelling story.

Speaking of great topics for "an essay about myself" for yourself, these are:

• One of the hardest choices in my life.
• One of the biggest lessons I learned from my experience.
• The personality trait I'd like to change over time.
• One of the most significant moments in my life.
• What career I've been dreaming of as a child.

At the same time, when writing a narrative paper, try to keep away from controversial topics. Do you think that talking about religion or politics is what will reveal your personality? If not, remember these topics and try to avoid them.

• What philosophy of politics I maintain.
• What amount of money would make me happy.
• How my religion leads me through life.
• Why I like to be a woman or why I cannot imagine having another gender.
• Why I myself am confident there shouldn't be any racial prejudices.

Why Face the Challenge on Your Own?

We hope that our brief writing guide for school and college students will help you write a brilliant paper and present your personality in the best light. From this article, you can see that the task is somewhat hard. But with our tips, you can get an idea of what to include in your personal writing. If you still feel that the task to write about how you want your personality to be presented is not what makes you enthusiastic about, there is someone ready to get your back.

Why not use the help of professionals? Our creative writers have tens of similar papers on good personal writing under their belt. They are ready to write any assignment you need, whether it is an essay for class homework, an analysis essay, a descriptive or a narrative one, so that is why they know exactly how to present your personality so that the reader is able to say you are an interesting and many-sided person.

If you are eager to know what an essay will look like, you can ask us to send you a piece of writing about yourself. Or, it may be any other topic of your choice. We will write a custom example of a part of an essay to help you get an idea of the quality of our writing, and if you find it well, we will send you the full version of your custom paper. All you need to do is to leave your e-mail address. Get your own paper in top quality!

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19.2 Getting Ready: Questions to Ask Yourself About Your Research Essay

If you are coming to this chapter after working through some of the earlier chapters in this book, then you are ready to dive into your research essay. By this point, you probably have done some combination of the following things:

• Thought about different kinds of evidence to support your research;
• Been to the library and/or the internet to gather evidence;
• Developed an annotated bibliography for your evidence;
• Written and revised a working thesis for your research;
• Critically analyzed and written about key pieces of your evidence;
• Considered the reasons for disagreeing with and/or questioning the premise of your working thesis;
• Categorized and evaluated your evidence.

In other words, you already have been working on your research essay through the process of researched writing.

But before diving into writing a research essay, you need to take a moment to ask yourself, your peers, and your teacher some important questions about the nature of your project.

What is the specific assignment?

It is crucial to consider the teacher’s directions and assignment for your research essay. The teacher’s specific directions will in large part determine what you are required to do to successfully complete your essay. They may specify how many sources you need to consult, how your essay should be organized, and how long it should be. The directions may even determine your topic. If you have been given the option to choose your own research topic, the assignment for the research essay itself might be open-ended. Alternatively, your instructor may have assigned you a topic to write about.

What is the main purpose of your research essay?

Has the goal of your essay been to answer specific questions based on assigned reading material and your research? Or has the purpose of your research been more open-ended and abstract, perhaps to learn more about issues and topics to share with a wider audience? In other words, is your research essay supposed to answer questions that indicate that you have learned about specific subject matter (usually a topic that your teacher already more or less understands), or is your essay supposed to discover and discuss an issue that is potentially unknown to your audience, including your teacher?

The “demonstrating knowledge about a specific topic” purpose for research is quite common in academic writing. For example, a political science professor might ask students to write a research project about the Bill of Rights in order to help her students learn about the Bill of Rights and to demonstrate an understanding of these important amendments to the U.S. Constitution. But presumably, the professor already knows a fair amount the Bill of Rights, which means she is probably more concerned with finding out if you can demonstrate that you have learned and have formed an opinion about the Bill of Rights based on your research and study.

“Discovering and discussing an issue that is potentially unknown to your audience” is also a very common assignment, particularly in composition courses. As the examples included throughout this chapter   suggest, the subject matter for research essays that are designed to inform your audience about something new is almost unlimited.

How do you select a topic?

If your instructor allows you free choice of topics, the choices can be almost overwhelming. How do you narrow the task to something that interests you, is manageable, and that has enough sources in the library or online to sustain an engaging argument? The best place to start looking for a research project topic is to examine your own interests, passions, and hobbies. What topics, events, people, or natural phenomena, or stories interest, concern you, or make you passionate? What have you always wanted to find out more about or explore in more depth?

To narrow the focus of your topic, you may try freewriting exercises, such as mindmapping or brainstorming. As the example below suggests, you can create a map with both images and text, which are related to branches centered on the main focus, “time management.” Based on this kind of mindmap, you have to narrow down or choose specific parts of your ideas instead of including all the ideas and topics that you had during the mindmapping process. You simultaneously want to ask a question–a broad, open-ended question that will guide your research. It is not necessary to propose a possible answer or working thesis at this stage, but you can speculate about a kind of argument that you can build through research. You may use your research question and working thesis to create a research proposal. For this part of writing, see “ Identifying Issues for Research .”

Looking into the storehouse of your knowledge and life experiences will allow you to choose a topic for your research project in which you are genuinely interested and in which you will be willing to invest plenty of time, effort, and enthusiasm. Simultaneously with being interesting and important to you, your research topic should, of course, interest your readers. As you have learned from the chapter on rhetoric, writers always write with a purpose and for a specific audience.

Therefore, whatever topic you choose and whatever argument you will build about it through research should provoke a response in your readers. And while almost any topic can be treated in an original and interesting way, simply choosing the topic that interests you, the writer, is not, in itself, a guarantee of success of your research project.

Here is some advice on how to select a promising topic for your next research project. As you think about possible topics for your paper, remember that writing is a conversation between you and your readers. Whatever subject you choose to explore and write about has to be something that is interesting and important to them as well as to you.

When selecting topics for research, consider the following factors:

• Your existing knowledge about the topic
• What else you need or want to find out about the topic
• What questions about the topic (or what aspects of it) are important not only for you but for others around you
• Resources (libraries, internet access, primary research sources, and so on) available to you in order to conduct a high quality investigation of your topic.

Read about and “around” various topics that interest you. As we argue later on in this chapter, reading is a powerful invention tool capable of teasing out subjects, questions, and ideas which would not have come to mind otherwise. Reading also allows you to find out what questions, problems, and ideas are circulating among your potential readers, thus enabling you to better and more quickly enter the conversation with those readers through research and writing.

If you have an idea of the topic or issue you want to study, try asking the following questions

• Why do I care about this topic?
• What do I already know or believe about this topic?
• How did I receive my knowledge or beliefs (personal experiences, stories of others, reading, and so on)?
• What do I want to find out about this topic?
• Who else cares about or is affected by this topic? In what ways and why?
• What do I know about the kinds of things that my potential readers might want to learn about it?
• Where do my interests about the topic intersect with my readers’ potential interests, and where they do not?
• Which topic or topics have the most potential to interest not only you, the writer, but also your readers?

Let’s practice how to select a topic and how to narrow down a scope for a research paper within a reasonable timeline. Suppose that, in one first-year seminar on Sociology, you are assigned to write a research-based argumentative essay on social media and privacy.

• Start a free writing or draw a mindmap in relation to the two key terms: social media and privacy. What words come to your mind? How would you relate them to the key terms or to one another? What questions do you have? Write and/or draw them down.
• Examine your initial thoughts. What part of your free writing or mindmap particularly attracts your attention and why? As if you have a magnifying glass, let’s zoom in that part. What specific topics do you like to have under the umbrella of social media and privacy? What would you argue about them?
• List what kinds of information and studies you may need to delve into these topics for an argument.
• Consider where you can find them including campus and local libraries, databases, and other digitally open sources.
• Assume that you have two weeks to complete a five-page research essay. Then, how would you plan a research and writing schedule to meet the deadline? By considering the steps above, make a timeline for the project.
• Compare your timeline with those of your classmates, and exchange each other’s rationales of timelines. Why do they look alike or different? How are the timelines realistic or ideal? After the discussion, if you’d like to revise your schedule for the research and writing, what compels you to reconsider the initial plan?

Continue Reading: 19.3 Planning Your Research

Composition for Commodores Copyright © 2023 by Mollie Chambers; Karin Hooks; Donna Hunt; Kim Karshner; Josh Kesterson; Geoff Polk; Amy Scott-Douglass; Justin Sevenker; Jewon Woo; and other LCCC Faculty is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The 5 Best Questions About Writing to Get You Into the “Write” Mindset

by Joe Bunting | 35 comments

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Do you have questions about writing? Maybe you wonder, “How do I make a living as a writer?” or, “How do I write a bestselling book?”

I hear questions like this all the time, but if I'm honest, there are  good  questions about writing and there are bad ones, and the two questions above are the second type.

Which of course raises the question, what are the best questions to ask about your own writing? If you want to go from an aspiring writer to published author and maybe even best-seller, what should you be asking?

In this article, I'm going to share a list of questions aspiring writers should ask themselves if they want to accomplish their writing goals.

The Power of Questions

I first decided that I wanted to become a writer when I was seventeen years old.

I was in my room reading A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens for high school, and for some reason the main character (and supporting cast) and the story touched me so deeply that—for a moment—I felt connected.

It was one of the first books that made me feel not alone.

You see, like many kids, I was bullied in school, and it had the effect of silencing me. I didn't trust people, and I had very few friends. But for some reason, reading that book at that time, it was as if Charles Dickens had reached through 120 years of history and spoken directly to me.

In that moment, that question people always ask when you're growing up popped into my head: “What do you want to be when you grow up?

Somewhat naively, I thought, “Maybe I should do this? Maybe I should be a writer.”

Because wouldn’t it be amazing to inspire this feeling in others?

To reach through words and pages and connect with a reader so they knew they also weren't alone, that there is one person, at least, who feels like they do?

In other words, I wanted to become a writer so I could connect to others.

And by asking myself great questions—specifically these five essential questions about writing—I started to overcome writer's block and hold onto my reason to not only write, but finish my book.

And all the ones after that.

5 Good Questions for Writers

There are five questions that have been most transformative for me in my writing, and I believe they're important for you, too. Ask yourself:

1. Why do you write?

George Orwell, in an essay about why we write , said this:

[We write out of] sheer egoism. Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend this is not a motive, and a strong one…. Serious writers, I should say, are on the whole more vain and self-centered than journalists, though less interested in money.

In other words, Orwell says we write to be admired.

But honestly, I think George Orwell was wrong. Fame, admiration, self-centered vanity aren't really what we're looking for.

We write to connect to others. Writers or not.

The truth is, being known, being loved, is so much better than being admired. Being loved gives us a chance for a personal experience that changes lives.

Just look at what Amanda Palmer said :

For most of human history, artists have been part of the community. Connectors and openers, not untouchable stars. Celebrity is about a lot of people loving you from a distance. But the internet—and the content we’re freely able to share on it—is about taking it back. It’s about a few people loving you up close, and about those people being enough.

Ask yourself, “Why do you write?”

Why do you really write? Is it about fame? Vanity? Celebrity? Or is it deeper than that?

Do you write to connect?

Good writing comes from writers who pour words onto the page with their heart.

And while asking published writers craft questions like, “How did you choose your point of view?” and “How much world building do you do before writing your story?” are great interview questions to ask for writing advice, they won't necessarily give you the momentum you need to write through the tough times.

Resistance will come.

All writers experience hardship at one point or another. But when you ask the right questions, the ones that empower your writer's mindset, you will find the reason to write through the difficult parts.

And then, you'll finish your book.

2. How do you change people?

I think it's great to make money at writing. I think it's important to get paid for your work.

However, the question, “How do I make a living writing?” is the wrong question (and type of question) to ask yourself.

Instead, ask yourself how you CHANGE people with your writing. How can you change people with your stories?

Because if you can inspire transformation in readers, they will pay whatever you ask for your book.

3. What can you write that no one else can?

If you can write something unique, something different from anything else in the market, something that people also like, your fans will buy everything and anything you ask.

While there are no original stories, it's always important for writers to put their own creative twist on stories that have already been done—and that have proven their impact on readers.

If you're interviewing a writer, this could be a cool question to ask: “What have you written that no other writer could write?”

What makes your writing unique? Why can nobody else write this book?

It's also an important question to ask yourself before you write your own book.

4. How do you connect your emotions to your story?

“No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader,” said Robert Frost.

How do you get so deep into your characters (or else choose characters similar to you and your story) so that you can summon the emotional depth necessary to tell an entertaining and transformative story?

What this mean is how can a reader live vicariously through the main character's journey that they, like the protagonist, change after reading the book?

While plots drive the external parts of a story, the internal arcs of characters are what communicate theme. And these messages are what readers carry with them after they're done reading, and likely try to apply to their own mindsets about life.

Don't underestimate the emotional influence you can have on readers. In fact, prioritize it.

5. How can you live a story as interesting as the ones on the page?

Look at the writers you most admire. See how they took risks with their lives?

Ernest Hemingway, Mary Shelley, John Steinbeck, Virginia Woolf—they all lived lives as interesting as the ones they wrote about. Part of their marketing (their platform you might say) was based on how they lived , not just how they wrote.

The best writing comes from experience.

And so, your biggest asset as a writer comes from your experiences.

How are you going to create experiences that help you be a better writer? How will this help you connect with multiple readers, instead of one particular type of person?

What Questions Do You Bring to Your Writing?

Here are some questions I've heard from other writers:

• Why do I struggle at the end?
• What if no one connects with my art?
• What if I try to write one story and it becomes something else?
• What do I do with my fear?
• What if I’ve outgrown my story?
• Does rewriting always make your story better?

All of these are questions about writing worthy of your time and attention. However, if you want to become a writer—one with the motivation to make a career as an author—consider the five questions in this post.

These are the questions that will change your writing mindset first.

How about you? What questions are you bring to your writing? Let me know in the comments .

Pick one person you would like your writing to connect with.

Then, write something just for him or her.

Write for fifteen minutes . When you're finished, share your practice in the Pro Workshop here . And if you share, please be sure to give feedback on a few practices by your fellow writers.

Not a member? Join us here .

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Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

35 Comments

Hey Joe 🙂 I’m back! not sure for how long but at least for this post. I’ve been struggling for a long time and quite recently with my writing. Everyone seems to be pushing it down and inserting their opinions as fact and I’m starting to get lost in it. I might do this whenever you have a post to try to pull myself out. I hope I can keep up with my writing. Here’s my practice and thanks for the wonderful post.

It’s not easy to be a dreamer. To have so much light and imagination in your being that people notice, and shun you for it. It’s not easy to stand out from the crowd of different or flawed. It’s not easy to be different. But different is the only thing that the world needs so much but lacks greatly. Few dreamers share their dreams with the world and bend to conformity. Each instance of this is a dreadful loss, we lose something, something important.

I know it’s hard to be bullied and told to conform. The words will stick forever, growing stronger with age. “You’re not good enough, why try? You can’t win, you don’t know what you’re talking about. You’re not a professional, why would anyone listen to your voice, your message?”

Don’t listen to the voices inside your head. You’re so much better then they portray you. Keep going, don’t stop. We need your gift and your message. Without it the world won’t survive. Keep reading keep dreaming, don’t listen to what others say you are. Follow your heart, dream like there is no tomorrow, sing as if no one is watching. Dream on, dream on, we need your light.

I agree: it’s not about money. It’s about a compulsion to connect. But you’ve nailed my questions: 1) What do I do with my fear?–certainly not what I’m doing now, editing the life out of my finished manuscript. 2) Does rewriting make my manuscript better? I’m beginning to doubt it. I think rewriting is a fear of submission. Even though it has already won a contest, and they are waiting for my final draft.

I think writers write for different reasons. I find the strongest reason I write is to escape into my stories. I love to create. There is something amazing about becoming lost in your novel, watching a world unfold at your fingertips.

I think connection is really fulfilling after I write. The connections I make with people and their interest in my writing drives me to complete my stories and to edit them.

When I’m truly lost in my story and my characters, their emotions become evident. Its amazing to take the adventures along with my characters, to not only see, write, but also feel their emotions.

If I ever make money at this hobby I love, it will be completely incidental.

Most people want to be in the arts assuming they value the arts. So we try to be in one of the major three, painting, music or writing. Soon enough we realize that physically or mentally we are not fit to be musicians or painters or writers and we eliminate those that for some reason turn out only to be fantasies.

For me to be a painter was something that I thought I can do and I would be able to do if I put effort into it, and I went in it wholeheartedly trying to learn it the best I can and do it as much as I can even though I spent most of my adult years in something else, the sciences. But I , also, always had the urge to write but writing does not come easy as painting does. So if you ask me why I want even to try to do it, my answer is simply why not if it gives me self-fulfillment one way or another. Because writing does not come easy for me I do not do it everyday even though I wished I were able to, reason being the difficulty and frustration that I always face when I try to write.

For me Music is out of the question for many reason and I have tried dabbling in it but gave it up. Of the other two I wished writing was as easy for me as painting is, it would have been my first choice.

Just because writing doesn’t come easy doesn’t mean you can’t or shouldn’t do it. Every time I write I struggle. It doesn’t come easy to many writers. Writing is hard work, and you have to work at it. Most writers don’t have the words flowing effortlessly off their pens or off their fingertips on to the keyboard. They must work at it. If that’s what you want to do keep at it.

Elizabeth, you are correct, any activity that is worthwhile is never easy. I think what it all amounts to is self-fulfillment more so than a money-making proposition whether it is in painting or writing. Most artists have to depend on another income, painters rarely make a living off their artwork. They work for less than a dollar an hour selling their work, and I cannot imagine a writer or a poet is able to make a living off their writing unless they are so well known and consistently in demand that the publisher pays them lump sum in advance for any work they produce. What is important is that we do this first for ourselves. Yes, if our work is appreciated and gives others enjoyment and makes their life richer then that is a wonderful accomplishment even if it is not through monetary gains. But the way I look at it to call myself a writer I need to produce work consistently and it needs to be in a quality that I am satisfied with as the artist or the writer. For me the urge to write is so strong that I keep on trying with the hope that it will become much easier through hard work and in time. But, regardless it is worth the effort.

Why not combine writing and painting? I’m not very experienced in either yet, but I know that my strengths lie in visual storytelling. I’ve always wanted to be an author as a kid, but my imagination is better at conjuring images than words. So I tell stories through pictures. Try doing comics, or writing for animation. That way your experience in visual art will help you transition to writing as well.

Thanks Miko for your suggestion. I do write a monthly newsletter that deals with art subjects. It is actually a blog rather than a newsletter but I call it a newsletter on my website, because it goes only to subscribers. A blog, as I understand it, anyone can read.

The first book in which I became thoroughly engrossed was, ‘Of Human Bondage’, by Somerset Maugham. I was in the story and it was in me and; I was moved for all time by compassion and a strong sense of injustice. From that time onwards I have wanted to write, to put into words what moves humanity and find and record the lives of characters; and what moves, connects and relates difference. I am never sure of what I am writing and how a reader will read and take it to themselves. I am not frightened to write but I am frightened of being misunderstood or failing to relate the awe and wonder of human stories: the astonishment and sheer magic of what we are – the human condition of joy and sorrow, pain and death. So, having written that, I don’t know if it makes any sense at all or that where I am coming from will be rubbished. That’s what I fear. (164)

I think you are so on point Joe, especially about why we write. Orwell was definitely wrong. Your story about reading a Tale of Two cities and feeling relieve because of finally you Dickens understood something you were hungering for, something you wanted to hear, that’s where the power of writing is. In the connections.

Thank you, for making it so explicit because now we can easily tap into this internal motivation. I’ve had one great poetry teacher that told me, “whenever you write, address it to someone, whether it’s Rilke or your father.” The takeaway: as we write, the clarity of who we want to connect with is so important. Or the writing will suffer from a lack of personality, clarity and purpose.

Hi, Joe, here is my 15 minute Practice written for the person I’m thinking of:

Marie could look back over her life and see in all clarity how she became a member of the middle classes. It wasn’t her background, she was classed as Traditional Working Class. It wasn’t her money because what she had ever had she couldn’t hang on to. It wasn’t her education either. Marie never passed a scholarship or earned a diploma or a degree. She wasn’t very attractive or well-groomed: in fact she was rather plain and not a little bit peculiar looking. Yet she was personable, articulate and had a great sense of humour and seemed, on the front of it, quite creative.

Marie was just the sort of person the Church needed and it nearly killed her. She moved from pew to ministry training, to ordination and to being the vicar of seven parishes. Then she became lost in the class gaps. Marie never fitted; couldn’t keep up, felt socially excluded by the middle class, university culture and wealth of the national church. These days she keeps in touch, but only just. She spends her time whittling wood or drinking wine in the local pub and talks frequently to anyone who will listen about the socialisation of the Christian Church. (202)

Oooo, this is a fascinating character. I like this piece as a third-person narrator giving background, but it doesn’t feel like the story got started. The good thing is, this lays out an interesting story I’d like to read more of. And if Marie is in anyway related to the person you’re thinking of, I’m sure they’d find a character like this refreshing.

Marie is no relation of the person I’m thinking of, Ariel. But it is because of the kind of person I’m thinking of: middle class, wealthy, educationally and socially well-connected, that Marie finds herself alienated, (like so many others of her class), whittling wood and drinking wine in pubs. Marie simply doesn’t fit. The Church has almost lost a priest. That is Marie’s story thus far.

Ohh I see. That honestly makes it even more intriguing.

I posed this question to myself yesterday and I realized what the problem was – I cant ( and dont from past experiences) cant writ when I am happy in a relationship. Right now I am happy. When I am unhappy I can write what I want to happen. So if I want to continue writing and I do, I need to find another way to write or another style instead of love stories. Thats my new challenge.

Hi Debra. Someone once told me that for him living and writing were counterparts. When he is unhappy he writes happy storries and whan he is happy he is able to write unhappy storries. I wish you all the best and that your happy relationship opens a the door to a new dimension of writing.

Thanks Ingo I am exploring other ways to create from nothing, we’ll see what happens

To my childish heart I know that you are scared. You think you can never do it on your own. And there is nobody who can explain to how to do it. Don’t be scared. At least you found Socrates. You discovered that you are a bit like him. Asking people strange questions. Make them feel uncomfortable. Wondering about them self. He made you wonder about yourself and question yourself, what you know. But that was ok. It was more than that. It felt great. Oida ouk eidos – I know that I know nothing. These words solaced you. To know nothing was nothing to be ashamed of. On the contrary. It was fundamental. It was the first step on your journey to the truth.

Just a simple ‘thank you’, Ingo …

When I was a little girl, I would make little books out of “post it” notes and staple them together. I would have a title and “Scribble” the interior as the words. It looked so cute from what I remember. That was my 1st book. I think I have improved and have grown so much from that time……

That’s really cute! I think the whole process of kids discovering the writer in themselves is always a gem. I have fond memories myself–my “diaries” were more stories than anything else

Many thanks for your post, Joe. I write because I love it and because I would like to share my stories. I honestly admit that years back, I wanted to write for fun and money, but not for money any more. Writing is my favourite passtime. It takes my mind off every day problems and allows me to share my character’s lives. When writing, I also wish to satisfy myself by creating ‘good’ content, with choice words, descriptions, and a flowing, interesting text. To achieve this I’m constantly learning from posts on The Write Practice and dipping into manuals like The Elements of Style. Editing more than once, certainly improves my story as does re-reading it after a week or two. ! wish I could write like you, Joe, or like Hemmingway, Bronte, Steinbeck and many modern writers, too.

I haven’t done the exercise you sugggested, but will do.

The Writer and The Critic

“I am going to write a novel. I am going to write several pages a day until it is done. I will nurture my creative side with fun outings and buy pretty pens and pretty journals.” “Shut the hell up, you dumb red-head before I pimp slap you into hell.” The critic said. He pulled up a gold throne and took his place in my writing space. He smelled like crack smoke and looked like Don King mixed with Mr. T. I wrote some days and some days I procrastinated. The critic lit a smelly pipe and blew smoke in my face all day, every day. “I am writing. You should go away.” I begged, tears welling up in my brown eyes. “Bitch, I am here to stay. Turn up that reggae. I like that shit.” “Get the hell outta here, you fat pig mutha….. I hate you and what you stand for. I am going to write no matter what. It is my destiny. I am a red-headed bitch that is gonna write mutha…..and I don’t give a…..” I screamed at the obese black devil man. “I will go for awhile but I will return. It is a struggle and will always be a struggle. But one thing I hate is a woman who yells at me with confidence. I can’t handle a confident woman.” The critic whined then hauled ass. Poof, he was gone but the smell lingered. I sprayed with Glade then typed a few pages. I felt like a million bucks.

This was surprisingly moving! Part of me wants to suggest you rewrite it a couple of times, but a bigger part of me likes the “unfinished” quality of this piece.

I will not rewrite it. It is a true declaration of what my critic is like. He is a hatefilled stank mofo who I have to regulate daily. And he is capable of hitting and biting.

I have never been the kind of guy who was into reading or writing but then one day, when I hit the rock bottom of my life, I just got an idea for a story. An idea which didn’t let me sleep for countless nights till I bled it out. Given the fact that the idea was largely influenced by my experiences in personal life, I decided to name the story ‘Upset’. The word ‘upset’ has two meanings, one which means the state of anxiety, anger, guilt, etc. which summarises most of my life and the other, is an unexpected outcome of a fight which is how I hope my story ends. I am writing this story for all those people who have caused me pain, for the those boys who held me by my collar and pushed me into a wall, for those teachers who thought that I could never achieve anything in life and for those girls who rejected me for whatever reason. And don’t get me wrong, I am not trying to explain my pain to them, I am trying to hurt them back. I am not seeking to build a connection but to severe the connection between me and all of them. Writing about the helpless situations that I found myself in and the mistakes that I made on my own accord gives me a mild feeling of immoral satisfaction. I just simply do not seek anything more glorious than that from my writing.

Ironically, after reading this a dear friend asked about my trip to see BABYMETAL in Chicago last month. This is what I wrote:

BABYMETAL Live at Chicago’s House of Blues

As you know, I had been looking forward to the concert for a long time – nearly six months! The morning of the show, I woke to Doki Doki Morning.

I saw my wife off to work and our daughter off to school. I had had breakfast, shaved, and wore the outfit I had put together during my months-long wait. The outfit included the kitsune (fox) necklace I had made. The fox is BABYMETAL’s symbol.

I hopped into our new Chevy Trax, clicked OnStar and asked them to download directions to my vehicle. I listened to BABYMETAL the whole way, but I didn’t drive to the House of Blues. No way I was going to drive in “the city” on a night that was supposed to be fun! Instead, I drove to the Metra train station in Morton Grove, Illinois. I arrived and paid for my parking. Two bucks covered 24 hours, and I knew I’d be back long before then. It was about 10 a.m. I had a brief wait for the train and boarded. I didn’t get any weird looks from people, probably because I was pretty close to Chicago at that point, and there are all kinds of interesting-looking people there.

There was a Cubs game that day. (I think it was opening day, actually.) Several people on the train wore their Chicago Cubs gear, and there were even some children whose parents had pulled them out of school for the game. That made me feel good. More people at the ball game meant fewer people at the concert. Not that it would have mattered, as I found out.

Most of the passengers deboarded at Wrigley Field (home of the Cubs). I rode on. Oh, and my train ride only cost me five bucks. I wasn’t on a tight budget, and I was doing exceptionally well!

I arrived at Union Station. I pulled out my smart phone and opened the navigation app. (We live in the future!) I tapped in House of Blues and was easily guided through the streets of Chicago. Since I didn’t know where the House of Blues was, I figured I’d find it first, then pick out a nearby place to have some lunch. Very near Union Station, I passed by Al’s, a restaurant known for its Italian beef sandwiches. I wasn’t sure I wanted to walk all the way back to Al’s, but I made a mental note of it.

Before I even arrived, I saw the huge letters standing out from the side of the building declaring “House of Blues.” My heart leapt! I was nearly there!

As I approached I saw people standing outside. Not many, but some. The House of Blues was across the street from me, but looking I could see one person in a skeleton hoodie, and some others with various BABYMETAL T-shirts. Since I had no one with me, I figured I should cross the street and introduce myself. Maybe I could find a friend.

I passed the House of Blues so I could cross at the corner. Walking back toward the venue, I saw another group of people. There were more of them than in the first group I had seen. They were waiting in a roped-off queue. These were obviously the people with VIP tickets. I did not have a VIP ticket. VIP tickets cost an extra $200 and supposedly get the purchaser closer to the stage. (Because of the way the House of Blues is set up, this turned out not to be the case, making VIP tickets essentially worthless.) The purchaser does not get to meet BABYMETAL or the Kami Band (the band which plays behind the trio. Kami is a pun: Kami means “gods,” and in English the band is referred to as “The Gods of Metal.” But kami also means “hair.” Thus, the trio is backed by a hair band. Har har!). They do not get a photo of the girls (autographed or otherwise). They don’t even get a T-shirt. I wasn’t going to pay $200 just to get closer to the stage.

When I came to the first group I had spotted (three people at this point), I said, “I think I’ve found friends” and flashed a kitsune (“fox,” but also the name of the handsign BABYMETAL invented. It is a modified “devil’s horns” sign seen at other metal concerts.).

“You have,” a young woman said, and for a moment I thought she was going to take my hand. She didn’t, but she was most inviting. Introductions were made. There was Jay, an Asian man of about my age, Alex, a young man with kinky brown hair, and the young woman, Ruby. Alex immediately took over the conversation. He was very excited. He had seen BABYMETAL live before, and was certain we were in for a treat. He was an enthusiastic metalhead, and insisted BABYMETAL is very much a metal band (something which is hotly debated online). Soon enough two other people joined us. One was Mike, Ruby’s boyfriend (husband? Her “man?”). The other was Dylan, a 19-year-old from Wisconsin! Alex immediately began telling them how much they were going to enjoy the concert and how metal the band is.

“I’m not into metal,” Dylan said. “At all.” It took a moment for us to realize he was serious. It turns out Dylan enjoys electronic music. He loves the novelty of BABYMETAL, including their music. But comparisons to Metallica or Iron Maiden don’t impress him. That was when I realized what I had read about BABYMETAL fans was true: They come from all different backgrounds, and have a wide variety of tastes.

Dylan, as I’ve said, came from Wisconsin, but the Northern end of the state, almost in Minnesota. Ironically, BABYMETAL would be performing just a few miles from his home the very next day. But he had come to Chicago to see them because they would be performing at a festival, whereas they were the sole act at the House of Blues.

Mike and Ruby had come from Texas. They explained they were spending the weekend in Chicago, mostly so they could tell their friends back home that they went to Chicago for a vacation and not just to see BABYMETAL. They actually had few plans for what they would do for the rest of the weekend.

Another person joined our group, another Asian man. Jay recognized him and introduced him as Zach. Jay and Zach began talking to each other in Japanese! Here was my chance to practice a bit with them. Turns out they are both Japanese. Jay now lives in California, and Zach is working for a company in Ohio. They met at a previous BABYMETAL concert. In fact, Jay had just seen them a few days earlier in Boston. (It must be nice to have that kind of money.)

I was rapidly making friends with this group. By now others had shown up. There was a woman whose outfit left no doubt she was a BABYMETAL fan. She had brought snacks to share and games to play while waiting in line. I wondered what she would do with her backpack when we entered the venue, but it turned out they had bins for all kinds of extra gear. There was also a young man from the south side of Chicago who was being very funny. I made the mistake of saying how funny he was and for the next four or more hours he never shut up. He only had about 30 minutes of good material.

Mike had disappeared, but he returned and was talking to Ruby. They let us in on a secret (a secret which Mike admitted he wasn’t sure he wanted to share): Anyone who goes to the restaurant at the House of Blues and spends a minimum of $20 can skip ahead of the line we were in, entering immediately after the VIP line. This was our chance to get something to eat and get a good spot in the hall! All of our little group went, except for Alex. I’m not sure if he didn’t have any money, or what, but he didn’t choose to go with us.

The food was excellent (I ordered a French dip sandwich) and reasonably priced. We actually had a hard time getting to $20! Fortunately we could supplement our meal with purchases from the gift shop to make the $20. Mike bought a fedora (ala Blues Brothers) which looked great on him, and I bought some chocolate bars to share in the line, which seemed appropriate since one of BABYMETAL’s songs is Gimme Chocolate.

We only had about three more hours to wait until they opened the doors. (And another hour and a half inside before the show started, Dylan noted.) A few people walked the length of the line making videos with their cell phones as the rest of us threw up kitsune. (I don’t say kitsunes because nouns in Japanese are both singular and plural.)

Soon a white limousine drove by. “There they are!” I cried and waved a kitsune in the limo’s direction. Some waved kitsune, but others laughed, assuming I was joking. It seems reasonable to me that if you are waiting for a show featuring celebrities and a limo drives by, there is a very good chance the celebs are riding in that limo. In any case the comedian we had met was still cracking what he thought were jokes and missed the limo entirely. He apparently thought I was saying the fire hydrant across the street looked like the members of BABYMETAL.

The powers that be moved us to just behind the VIP line, then moved us again when the VIP line got long. Two girls in Japanese kawaii outfits walked by with their parents. “かわいいね！” I exclaimed.

“かわいい。かわいい、” Jay agreed.

Not long after the limo drove by, Jay showed us a Twitter post on his phone. It was from the House of Blues, and showed BABYMETAL in their street clothes rehearsing for the show.

“That means they’re right on the other side of this wall!” I said to Dylan. He and I both jumped and squealed, flapping our hands like a couple of penguin flapping their wings. An awkward moment of silence followed.

“We totally fangirled on that,” I said.

“Yeah we did,” Dylan agreed.

When the doors finally opened for our group, we were instructed to form two lines, men on the right and women on the left. This was so security could frisk us. I was surprised how casual the frisking was. The guy found my wallet, keys and phone, but did not even check my legs, socks, the small of my back or my waistband. It would be pretty easy to sneak something in. This was also where people put backpacks, etc. into the bins.

When we went into the concert hall, our little group was separated. Jay and Zach had balcony seats. I was on the main floor, and the others had a spot in the モシュシュ (mosh’sh, a word invented by BABYMETAL. It is supposed to be a mosh pit in which no one gets hurt; all of the fun and no violence. As it turns out, that is exactly what it is.). I was not as close as I had hoped, but I was as close as I could get without being in the モシュシュ. In fact, I could look over the pit, so that was a good thing.

The concert started and the excitement in the air was almost a tangible thing. I forgot to mention that Alex had suggested ear plugs, insisting the show would be extremely loud. Everyone turned down his suggestion. Dylan said he would be deaf by the time he is 30 anyway, and I said as an old guy who has listened to a lot of rock n’ roll with headphones at high volumes, it was too late for me. As it turned out, the show was not unusually loud. I’ve heard much louder concerts. I don’t know if that was because of the band or the venue.

Probably the biggest thing BABYMETAL has brought to metal is dance. Iron Maiden and Slipknot aren’t dancing around the stage, but BABYMETAL is. When they performed Karate I had my first hint that this would be an unusual concert. The song is not about karate, but rather about striving to do one’s best, even against seemingly impossible odds. At one point in the song, the three girls collapsed onto the stage. Su-metal struggled to her feet then helped the other two to stand, singing the encouraging refrain as she did. I realized there was symbolism in their dancing. This didn’t surprise me, as there is a lot of symbolism in their lyrics. (That may be the subject of another missive, if you’re interested.)

They have fun songs, of course, touching on the joys of eating chocolate or chewing bubble gum. They performed these as well. But then came a part of the show in which the stage went dark, almost (but not quite) completely black. We could hear the girls speaking in English, telling about how the Fox God (BABYMETAL comes with their own religion) instructed them to tell the world bullying must stop. Then they sang Ijime, Dame, Zettai (Bullying No More, Forever). A partial translation reads:

Those who got hurt were not only I myself,

But also those who kept watching me. It was you.

During the guitar duet, Yuimetal and Moametal engage in a stylized fight as Su-metal covers her eyes, not wanting to see bullying. She then joins in their fight, demonstrating everyone gets hurt by bullying.

I was surprised to find tears in my eyes. I hadn’t expected this concert to be emotional. But there was more to come.

For a finale, they performed The One entirely in English. This time I was outright bawling as they sang about how we are all one and that we are strongest when we are united.

The last notes of The One faded as the audience cheered. The trio exited and I was in shock. Here I was at a concert featuring three teenage girls and I was crying my eyes out. Of course I didn’t want it to end (I’m sure none of us did), so I began to shout, “アンコレ！アンコレ！(Encore! Encore!)” But the audience was very American, and began to chant “Ba-by met-al.” They didn’t even attempt the Japanese pronunciation bebimetal.

After an appropriate hiatus, the three returned and sang Road of Resistance. It was a fitting end to the concert with an inspiring sing-along portion.

When they had finished singing, Moametal said, “You make me sooo happy!” (Yes, in English!) Yuimetal followed with, “I’m so happy to see you!” Then Su-metal wrapped it all up with a nice, brief speech, also entirely in English (their English is better than my Japanese). Then they gave their signature “See you!” and exited.

After the show I reconnected with Mike and Ruby, Jay and Zach. The crowd to purchase merchandise after the show was very thick, so I didn’t bother. I figure I can get all of that stuff on Ebay anyway.

There was an after party in a sort-of private bar at the House of Blues, but it was noisy, so I didn’t stay. It was pouring rain outside, but when it had slacked off a bit I called an Uber car. I’ve driven for Uber, but this was my first time as a passenger. I think my services are slicker, just sayin’. That turned out to be the most expensive part of my experience, going just over the $20 I had spent on lunch. I went back to the train station, got in my SUV and drove home, listening to BABYMETAL the whole way.

There are some details I’ve left out, such as the fact that the interior of the House of Blues is one of the gaudiest I’ve ever seen. I may edit this someday, but right now I want to get it to you.

Thanks for being my friend and taking an interest in what interests me.

All love, Bruce

“Where’s Eaton?”

I roll my eyes. The question everyone loves to ask me and that I never have an answer to. “Really, Mom? I don’t know.”

She stops whirling at the pot over the stove. Then reaching for the sugar, she asks, “Well why don’t you ever know?”

Shouldn’t the question be, why is he never here, or, why don’t you ever know where he is? I stand up from the table. “You’ve been asking me this question since I was five. And, I always give you the same answer. No one will ever know where he is. Just accept that, Mom.” I shrug.

She whines. “Well I can’t just accept that, I care about him and he’s your brother. And he doesn’t talk to me but once a year—if that!”

I shift my weight, glancing at the bright green palm leaves swaying by the window. “I’m going to go find him.”

Mom smiles. “Conversation always goes the same way, doesn’t it?”

I turn away, holding back an eye roll. I guess that’s why they always ask me.

It’s really their fault for naming their son after the cousin they themselves could never find. Like a…modern-day pirate, or something. Or a nomad sage. Maybe I should start at the top of the hill. I’ll find him standing at cliff’s edge breathing in ocean spray. Running away from wife and children.

I slap the yellow wall on the way out. “This is ridiculous! He lives right down the street!”

“Huh?” Mom’s already moved her mind on to other things. Must be nice having children to do your dirty work.

I step into the bright sunlight, plop into my car. I start the engine and roll slowly out the gravel driveway. The sun beams off my old yellow house. I sigh, rolling down the windows. First day back home, and I’m looking for Eaton. I have to laugh.

Welcome home indeed.

This is great! I love the fascinating twist of the two Eatons and the reason why. And I like the hints of lost Eaton’s personality and the guesses of where he might be. I’m guessing lost Eaton is a frequent topic of discussion if he’s the one the narrator assumed Mom was asking about.

The line “Well I can’t just accept that, I care about him and he’s your brother. And he doesn’t talk to me but once a year—if that!” doesn’t sound quite natural and true as dialogue to me. The sentiment does, but not the words. On the flip side, you’ve done a great job of sprinkling in action and description to keep the scene moving and show us what’s going on and how the characters are responding to each other. Nicely done, and thank you for sharing!

Thanks Alice! Yes, I see what you’re saying. Thanks for pointing that out. I appreciate the feedback!

I know you’re feeling alone right now. I know you feel like no one ever could or ever will feel the way you do. I’m not here to tell you everything will get better, that God will make a way (although he will.) I’m just here to sit and listen.

Why do you feel so lonely? You’re part of a race of 6 billion people. Not even counting all those who have gone before you, or all those who are still to come. Yet isn’t it strange that out of six billion, out of the millions you share your city with, the thousands who stream past you on your way to work, the hundreds you bump shoulders and jostle with on the train, and the multitudes of colleagues in your office, you still feel so alone?

You aren’t alone. I know this sounds like a platitude, but it’s true. Going on statistics alone, at least one person – whether alive or dead, whether known to you or not – has felt the same way you’re feeling right now. And statistics don’t lie. (42% of statistics are made up on the spot.)

I want to sit here and listen. I know how it feels to have so many people talking to you (talking at you?) and not a single one of them listening. I was laid off recently. Friends, family, well-wishers from all corners of life, saturating me with texts and Facebook messages and well-meaning advice. I hear this firm still has vacancies, have you considered applying there, why don’t you become an academic? And yes, they listened at the start, to my answers to their opening questions. How are you feeling? Have you started applying? But would you want to stay there anyway? But after a while, their voices took over. And I was alone in a storm of well-meaning advice.

Hey, you just used the phrase ‘well-meaning advice’ twice in the same paragraph. That’s not good form. But that’s okay, because I’m not here to pepper you with a beautiful speech. I’m here to listen.

Why do you feel so lonely? Really dig down deep – why? Are you trapped in a family where love is in short supply? Are you stuck in a career where no one values your contributions? Do you bear all the trappings of success yet feel that something deeper inside you is missing? I don’t know what your situation is, and maybe you don’t either. After I was laid off, I was depressed for weeks, and it had nothing to do with my prospects for finding another job. But maybe putting a finger on why you feel the way you do could be the first step to finding a way out.

And that’s another thing. If you don’t want to find a way out, that’s fine too. It’s perfectly alright to feel alone. It’s perfectly alright not to want to do anything about it. I struggled so much with feelings of legitimacy when I was laid off. Almost an anxiety-inception: first you get anxious that you’ve been laid off, then you get anxious that you are anxious that you’ve been laid off. After all, shouldn’t I be moving on? There’s still so much that I have – good friends and good family and good health – so why am I still so depressed? Why can’t I just suck it up and get on with life?

I don’t know if you’ve watched the movie Inside Out, but there’s a reason why it’s one of my favourites. Because it reminds us that sadness is legitimate. It’s okay to feel sad. You don’t always have to banish her to a little chalk box in the corner so that joy can run your life instead. And it’s okay to feel lonely. You don’t have to feel like it’s only okay to feel lonely for X amount of time, before it suddenly becomes Not Okay.

I don’t know who you are, and probably never will. Yet I hope reading this helped you somehow. That you found a listening ear, even though you didn’t say a word.

Take care. And remember that you’re not alone.

This is a great list of questions! I’m going to use them in my author about page.

I found your fifth question really interesting. It touches on the one topic that I believe can’t be set in stone, that some write to explore what they can not. Others write what they know. More often than not it ends up being a hybrid of the two.

I have to say that the most interesting life of a writer I’ve come across has had to have been Tolkien. To have been in the trenches of Verdun? You see that in nearly all of his writing he stays away from any themes connected to the War, but then you have the Dead Marshes.

I used to write for the joy of losing myself in a story, for the satisfaction of the words tumbling out on to the page. Words transcribed from Voices in my head. I used to write. So it was interesting reading this article and questioning why I used to call myself a writer and why I stopped. It’s been a whole year now since the voices and the urgency stopped. Interesting ( for me at least) too t I should chose to write a reply. Maybe, just maybe that small flame can be rekindled. Thanks Joe

I write because my characters have been following me for the last twenty years and they want their story to be told this is the third attempt putting their lives on paper (in my case on computer) even though I know the ending, I’m coming close this last four chapters are proving the most challenging but I just love being in their world and knowing them, yes I feel like they are good and bad friends this is why I write

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Questions to Ask When Writing an Essay

Most teachers do not make use of a very important aspect of writing essays and papers. And that aspect is that the student should ask him/herself questions as a pre-writing preparation. Asking these questions will ultimately result in a better piece of writing. So, here are questions you should ask yourself as you get ready to write any essay or paper.

You may have a general topic area, but within that topic area, you will need to select a smaller sub-topic for your essay or paper. Here is what you need to ask yourself:

• What sub-topic will interest me the most? Check through your text and lecture notes for topic ideas, and pick one in which you have good interest. Writing an essay or paper on a topic you don’t like is like getting a root canal – painful, very painful!
• Is there enough information on the topic to fulfill the length requirement? If you need an 8-page paper on the Civil War, the Battle of Antietam will probably not cut it. Before you finalize your topic, check out what’s available for resource information.

Thesis Statement

Every essay or paper has to have a thesis statement. So, here is what you need to ask as you formulate that statement:

• Why is it important for the reader to know this?
• What is the main point I am trying to make?
• What is my opinion about these topics?

[WIDGET:GET_YOUR_PAPER_2]

There may be a large number of potential resources to use, but they are not all created equal. By the time you are in college, you can dump the idea of using encyclopedias of any kind. They are not appropriate for the type of research expected of you. So, here are your questions?

• Is the author of this book or journal article considered an expert on this topic?
• Can I find and use primary resources on this topic?
• If I have to use only secondary resources, are these the most current and relevant?

Choose your resources wisely – your professor will expect them to be of high quality.

Organizing Your Information

Before you make an outline for writing, ask yourself the following:

• Should the information or data be organized sequentially?
• In what order should the points I make be given? Most important to least important, or the other way around?

After the Rough Draft is Finished

You know you are not going to turn in the first draft of whatever you write. You have to review it and fix your errors – structural and grammatical. So, as you read through that draft, ask yourself the following:

• Do I have a logical flow of the points I am making?
• Do I have good transitional sentences between paragraphs and, for longer works, sections?
• Have I varied the length of my sentences?
• Does my introduction begin with something that will capture the reader’s attention right away?
• Have I stated my thesis in the introduction and made it very clear?
• Have I used spell and grammar checkers to catch errors?

Asking the right questions gets you to a “better place” in your writing and, ultimately, a better grade. If you have any concerns about your topic, resources, or the quality of your writing, send it over to some good  custom writing services like EssaySupply.com for a full review and edit. It will be returned to you polished and ready to go

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How to ask a question in an essay (with tips and examples)

An essay question is designed to test your understanding of a given subject. It is typically framed as a statement, or series of statements, that require you to answer with an essay-length response. The purpose of asking questions in an essay is to explore ideas, concepts, and topics in greater depth, enabling you to demonstrate your knowledge and critical thinking skills.

Essay questions are often composed of several parts. The introduction sets the stage, giving the reader an overview of what’s to come. The body of the question will typically contain the main points you need to discuss in your response. Finally, the conclusion will ask for your overall thoughts on the topic and provide you with a final chance to drive home the overall argument of your essay .

Sometimes an essay question can be divided into two or more sections, each containing a separate, but related, set of instructions. This type of question requires you to break down the topic into chunks, focusing on one element at a time before connecting them together in a cohesive way.

Essay questions are a great way to show off your understanding of the material, so make sure to read the question carefully and provide thoughtful, comprehensive answers. Think about the key concepts and relationships that are being addressed and focus on the underlying message or point of the question. Doing so will ensure that you are providing the best possible answer to the essay question.

Asking the right questions can be a major factor in writing a successful essay . The goal is to craft questions that are both thoughtful and direct – questions that will help you uncover and explore the key ideas within the essay topic. Here are some tips on how to ask questions in an essay:

Focus on the Big Picture

When crafting questions, it’s important to keep the big picture in mind. Start by thinking broadly about the topic and narrowing it down to a specific question. Ask yourself, “what overall insight can I gain from this topic?” or “what relevance does this topic have to the present world?”

Use Open-ended Questions

Open-ended questions allow for more creative exploration of the topic than closed-ended questions. An open-ended question is one that requires the reader to think critically and offer more than a single answer, while closed-ended questions are ones where the reader sees only one possible answer. Examples of open-ended questions include: “What are the most important considerations to make when exploring this topic?” and “How could this topic impact future generations?”

Be Mindful of the Structure

Questions should have a clear structure and logical flow. When crafting questions, make sure that each subsequent question builds upon and expands upon the previous ones. This helps to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the topic.

Think Critically

Asking critical questions encourages deeper thinking and analysis. Questions that require the reader to reflect on the implications or consequences of their answers are especially effective. Examples of critical questions include: “What are the ethical implications of this topic?” and “How can this topic be used to better the world?”

Incorporate Problem-solving Questions

Problem-solving questions are those that challenge the reader to consider an issue from multiple points of view and to develop an appropriate solution. In addition to being interesting and thought-provoking, these types of questions also allow the reader to apply their own knowledge and skills towards solving the issue. Examples of problem-solving questions include: “What steps can be taken to reduce environmental damage?” and “What legal policies should be instituted to prevent discrimination based on gender or race?”

By following these tips, you can ensure that your questions are well-crafted and thoughtfully constructed. Asking the right questions will enable you to uncover important insights and make your essay a success!

Tip 1: Read the Prompt Carefully and Analyze Keywords

Understanding the essay prompt is key to coming up with questions that are relevant and meaningful. You should begin by carefully reading the prompt and evaluating any keywords or topics to consider. This will help you to stay focused on the task at hand and ensure that your questions address the relevant points.

It is a good idea to make a list of all the keywords in the prompt and then come up with a few questions for each keyword. This will help you to tailor your questions to the specific points of the essay and ensure that you don’t miss any important details. Additionally, make sure to focus on the main topic and try to avoid getting sidetracked by tangential topics.

Finally, it is important to remember that the essay question should be clear and concise, so you need to make sure that your questions provide an effective way to explore the topic in depth. Avoid asking too many questions that are overly general or provide little insight into the subject matter.

Tip 2: Brainstorm Ideas

Brainstorming is an important step in the essay writing process. It involves generating ideas and topics related to the essay prompt or topic. Brainstorming can help you come up with a range of possible questions related to the essay prompt, as well as the many ways those questions could be addressed.

First and foremost, it’s important to carefully read the essay prompt and analyze any keywords or key topics within the prompt. Then, think of broader topics that may relate to the prompt. For example, if the prompt is about the history of the civil rights movement in the United States, consider what specific events, people, or legislation could be included in an essay about this topic.

It can also be helpful to generate ideas related to the prompt by doing research online or by consulting additional texts. This way, you can find new facts, data, or examples that can be used when forming questions and developing arguments for your essay. Additionally, conducting research and familiarizing yourself with other essays on the same topic can help you gain a better understanding of vocabulary and sentence structure related to the prompt.

Finally, brainstorming can involve coming up with multiple questions from a single prompt. This means exploring different angles on the same topic and creating questions that can be answered in various ways. For instance, if the prompt is asking you to write an essay on the effect of the civil rights movement on public education, consider how this topic can be approached and what unique points you can make using evidence and facts.

Seeking Feedback to Ask Engaging Questions

When you are writing an essay , it is easy to get stuck on coming up with the right questions. Seeking feedback from peers or editors can be a great help in this process. Having someone else read your work can help identify areas that need improvement or need more thought. It also gives you the opportunity to get outside perspectives and develop new ideas for asking questions.

Having feedback from others can help you answer questions more effectively. It can also help you see your own essay from a different angle, helping you to come up with more engaging questions. Sometimes, even just talking about the essay idea to someone else can provide insight into the topic and help you come up with new and interesting questions.

When seeking feedback, it’s important to explain your goal: to come up with engaging questions. That way, the person reviewing your work can offer more help in that area. Additionally, it can be helpful to share any research you’ve already done, sources you’ve consulted, or any reading material you’ve found that could support your ideas.

To get the most out of feedback, it’s important to ask questions that will help you better develop your ideas. You might want to ask questions such as “What other questions could I ask to explore this topic further?” or “Are there any other points I could make to support my ideas?” Asking these types of questions will help you get the most out of the feedback and gain valuable insight into the topic.

Seeking feedback from peers and/or editors is a great way to improve your essay and come up with engaging questions. By leveraging feedback from others who are familiar with the essay topic , you can gain valuable insight, identify potential gaps in your understanding, and develop better questions. Ultimately, seeking feedback can help you write a better essay and ask questions more effectively.

Tip 4: Ask Clarifying Questions

Asking clarifying questions about the essay prompt or topic can be extremely helpful when trying to select the right question. It is important to focus on the key elements of the essay and try to understand the overall message or purpose being conveyed in the prompt. This can help guide you in finding the best question to ask in order to get the most out of your essay.

What Are Clarifying Questions?

Clarifying questions are questions that are used to help better understand a given topic or prompt. They are asked to gain a clear, concise understanding of what is being asked in the essay. For example, if the prompt for an essay was “Describe the changes that occurred in the economy during the Industrial Revolution”, a clarifying question might be “Which countries are being referenced when discussing economic changes during the Industrial Revolution?”.

How Can Asking Clarifying Questions Help?

Asking clarifying questions can help you hone in on the right question to ask in your essay. It can also help to provide context which can make it easier to craft an effective essay. Crafting the right questions before starting the actual writing of the essay can give you an advantage over other students who may not have put in the same time and effort to think through their essay topics.

Tips for Asking Clarifying Questions

When asking clarifying questions there are a few tips to keep in mind to make sure you get the necessary information from the prompt:

• Be precise – use precise language that is easy to understand and doesn’t leave room for interpretation.
• Ask why – don’t just ask what, but also ask why the prompt is asking what it is.
• Be specific – make sure the questions you are asking directly relate to the essay prompt.

Asking clarifying questions can help you develop a deeper understanding of the essay topic and ensure that you are crafting the best question for your essay. Taking the time to ask clarifying questions will be well worth the effort as it can help you construct an engaging and effective essay.

Tip 5: Be Specific

Writing effective questions for an essay requires some thought and consideration. Asking the right question can mean getting the most comprehensive answer or uncovering significant detail. For this reason, it’s important to be specific and avoid vague descriptions when writing your questions.

The difference between a specific and a general question can be seen in the wording and detail provided. A specific question will ask for detail, analysis, and examples, while a general question will provide broad statements or multiple choice answers.

For example, let’s say you are writing an essay about the Revolutionary War. A specific question might be, “What role did African Americans play during the Revolutionary War?” This question requires more detailed research and thinking as it is specific. A general question such as, “Who fought in the Revolutionary War?” is much too broad and does not require any further thought on the matter.

When writing your question, consider what information you need to answer the prompt. A good rule of thumb is to write out a sentence that contains the main idea or point of the question and then break it down into two or three parts. Each part should ask for more detail or analysis. For instance, a more detailed question than the one above could be, “What contributions did African Americans make to the Revolutionary War effort, and how did this influence the outcome of the war?”

In addition, be sure to avoid creating questions that have no real answer. Your questions should always be able to be answered with evidence and/or research. For example, avoid questions like “Do you think the Revolutionary War was good or bad?” as there is no clear answer or evidence to back up either side.

By taking the time to create specific questions for your essay, you are ensuring that you are asking the right questions and getting the most out of the research and thought process. Being specific will also help focus your research and answer the essay prompt more efficiently.

Overall, when writing questions for an essay, you must be sure to create specific questions that ask for detailed answers and provide evidence to back them up. Avoid general questions and questions that can’t be answered with evidence or research. With practice and careful consideration, you will be well on your way to creating specific and effective essay questions.

Tip 6: Avoid Vague Descriptions

When asking questions in an essay, it’s important to avoid making statements that are too vague. Vague descriptions can easily lead to confusion and may cause the reader to misinterpret the intention of the question.

By avoiding vague descriptions, you can ensure that your essay is clear and concise. This will also make it easier for readers to understand the message that you are trying to convey.

Vague descriptions generally contain words or phrases that have unclear meaning. These may include words such as “many”, “some” or “most”, as well as phrases like “it varies”. It’s important to avoid these types of words and phrases when asking a question in an essay .

In some cases, you may need to use a vague description. In these cases, it’s important to provide additional context so that the reader can interpret the intention of the question. You can do this by providing specific examples or additional details about the topic.

For example, if you wanted to ask how technology has changed our lives, you could provide an example of a specific type of technology and ask how it has impacted our lives. This would provide clarity on the exact question that you are asking and make it easier for the reader to understand.

Overall, avoiding vague descriptions is essential when asking questions in an essay. This will help ensure that your questions are clear, concise and easy to understand. Additionally, provide additional context and examples if you do need to use a vague description. This will make it easier for readers to interpret the message of the question and understand the point that you are trying to make.

Examples of Good Questions to Ask in an Essay

Asking the right question can make all the difference when writing an essay. A good question will do more than just state a fact—it will help you to explore an idea, argue a point, or provide insight. That’s why it’s important to understand what makes a good question.

When asking a question in an essay, it should be direct, pointed and relevant to the topic. Here are few examples of good questions to ask in an essay:

• What is the historical context of this issue?
• How does this argument fit into current debates on the topic?
• What are the implications of this argument for future research?
• What do other scholars have to say about this issue?

When using example-based questions, it’s important to make sure that the example is relevant to the subject and that the question being asked isn’t too broad or difficult to answer. Here are some examples of good example-based questions:

• How did John F. Kennedy’s speech on civil rights inform current policy debates?
• What impact did the invention of the printing press have on the spread of literacy?
• What role did the French Revolution play in the development of modern democracy?
• What are the implications of the Eurozone crisis for economic growth in Europe?

These types of questions encourage deeper exploration of a topic and can help you to develop a more nuanced argument. Remember to always focus on asking relevant questions that are directly related to the essay prompt.

Conclusion:

Writing an essay is a great way to answer questions, express your opinion, and tell a story. It’s important to make sure you ask the right questions in your essay. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself what you are trying to get out of this essay. Will it help you prove a point? Explain something? Move the reader’s understanding along? If you can answer these questions, you’ll be better prepared to pick the best questions for your essay.

Here are some key takeaway points to remember when asking questions in an essay:

• Read the prompt carefully and analyze keywords.
• Brainstorm ideas and develop multiple questions from one prompt.
• Seek feedback from peers and/or editors to refine your thoughts.
• Ask clarifying questions to help guide your question selection.
• Be specific when asking questions.
• Avoid vague descriptions.

By following these tips, you’ll be able to easily identify the right questions to ask in any essay. Asking the right questions will help you get clear answers and move the conversation forward. This will ultimately help you write a better essay that expresses your thoughts more effectively.

Making sure you reference the sources of information that you use in your essay is important for acknowledging the work of others and also for avoiding plagiarism. Including references in your essay can help to support your arguments, add credibility and make your writing more compelling.

When writing an essay, it is important to look for outside sources of information or data that backs up your argument, but always make sure to cite them properly. You should include a list of references at the end of your essay, providing details such as the authors’ names, the year the source was published, and the title of the source.

When formatting your reference list, check with your teacher or professor to find out if there is a preferred style, such as MLA or APA. The format may vary depending on the type of sources you used. For example, books require different information than online sources.

• For books: author name(s), title, edition number, publisher name, place of publication, date of publication.
• For articles: author name(s), title of article, name of magazine or journal, volume and issue number, page numbers, date of publication.
• For websites: author name(s) (if available), title of page/article, website name, web address, date of publication or last update.

It is good practice to cross-check your reference list with the in-text citations that you have used throughout your essay. Make sure the two match up. If you have any doubt about whether something should be referenced, it’s best to include it. It is also important to keep track of all information used in your research, so you can easily create a comprehensive list of references.

• Last Edit 01 MAY 2023

Nick Radlinsky

Nick Radlinsky is a devoted educator, marketing specialist, and management expert with more than 15 years of experience in the education sector. After obtaining his business degree in 2016, Nick embarked on a quest to achieve his PhD, driven by his commitment to enhancing education for students worldwide. His vast experience, starting in 2008, has established him as a reputable authority in the field.

Nick's article, featured in Routledge's " Entrepreneurship in Central and Eastern Europe: Development through Internationalization ," highlights his sharp insights and unwavering dedication to advancing the educational landscape. Inspired by his personal motto, "Make education better," Nick's mission is to streamline students' lives and foster efficient learning. His inventive ideas and leadership have contributed to the transformation of numerous educational experiences, distinguishing him as a true innovator in his field.

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