There are numerous personal papers of an academic nature that one writes while undergoing their studies either in high school or college. A large number of academic personal papers are used for evaluation, either on an informal or summative basis. The larger bulk of these personal academic papers include essays. Personal essays are pieces of writing done from the point of view of the author assigned to undertake them. There are numerous personal papers offered besides the regular personal essays that constitute a large part of the offered assignments.
A personal essay may vary greatly from another personal essay depending on the manner in which it handles the topic that constitutes its subject matter. The differentiation with regard to how the topic or subject is tackled is the biggest determinant of the classification of the personal essays category of personal papers. A personal essay may take one of these forms that are listed: argumentative personal essay, descriptive personal essay, illustration personal essay, narrative personal essay and many other forms that are defined by the assigning authority.
The writing of personal essays may also adopt various styles in term of academic writing styles depending on the topic they handle. There are numerous academic writing styles defined by the subject’s category, most academic writing styles are meant for specific writings such as the humanities, the biological sciences and so forth. Therefore, if the assigning authority does not offer the academic writing style to be used in the writing of the personal essay, it is prudent for the student to select the style that best befits the topic that is being tackled in the essay. For example if the student is writing for psychological sciences, it is advisable to adopt the APA style (The American Psychological Association academic Style). However, this may not be a strict practice, because at times students are asked to use styles that may not be directly recommended for that particular field of study. In such cases the student should not exercise discretion, but rather follow the stipulations of the lecturer or tutor that offered the assignment.
Despite the different writing formats dictated on the formatting of text within personal essays the general format of outlining the content never changes. The most common format for outlining a personal essay’s content is the thesis statement first, the introduction second, the literature review third, the main body fourth, the findings/discussions or analysis section fifth, then finally the conclusion and recommendations section.
The thesis is like the skeleton of the work on which the meat is to be attached, the introduction is the summary of the content to be covered, the literature reviews the past literary work on the same subject, the main body makes the new analysis of the topic, the analysis, discussion or findings section integrates the newly conceived content with the literature review and finally the conclusion offers a summary of all the work highlighted as well as its significance and meaning. The conclusion acts as a summary of all the work done. Adherence to this format is meant to enhance clarity and a good flow of ideas and thoughts for the readership and thus make the work of the author easily understandable. Other factors to be observed in a personal essay include the use of appropriate academic language and proper punctuation of the work.
dissertation discussion