Understanding Narration Narrative writers retell events to readers and relive the experiences themselves. Types Description Personal Essay Is similar to a personal narrative in that it shares an event or experience but also reflects on the significant of the event or experience Autobiography and Memoir Provides a detailed account of a specific aspect of the writer’s life © 2016. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Reviewing Your Narrative Essay Check your organization and content Use a Timeline Did you follow key actions in the order they occur? Does your narrative answer the 5 W’s and H Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? Record Sensory Details Did you include sensory details—sight, sound, smell, taste and touch © 2016. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Your Personal Narrative Your narrative should focus on a special moment in your life. Take a fresh look at your topic: Review your timeline to verify that you have organized your details chronologically. Add showing details to make your story interesting. They include, sight, sound, smell, taste and touch but also: © 2016. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Revising the Writing Improve your writing by making nouns, verbs, and modifiers more specific. wellphoto, 2014/Used under license from Shutterstock.com

© 2016. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Form-class Words Nouns Verbs Adjectives adverbs brilliantly beautiful secret happy virtue Infinitely angered hunger perfectly © 2016. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

Editing the Writing Include dialogue in your narrative to reveal the personalities of the people involved in the story. (someone’s exact words) (reporting rather quoting exactly) Pressmaster, 2014/Used under license from Shutterstock.com

Editing the Writing Correctly punctuate dialogue:

Editing the Narrative Before submitting your narrative: Use an editing checklist (Figure 10.8) to revise for style and correctness Finish by adding an attention-getting title Use a phrase from the piece Use a main idea Paint a picture in the readers’ minds Elena Elisseeva, 2014/Used under license from Shutterstock.com

© 2016. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. More Editing Advice Revision is not merely correcting your spelling and grammar and inserting a few commas. Revision stage strategies: reorganizing cutting adding details polishing There are two parts to the revision stage: small-scale revision and large-scale revision. © 2016. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

© 2016. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Large Scale Revision Large-scale revision alters the proportions of an essay. Are all paragraphs fully developed? Large-scale revision also rearranges the sequence of the body paragraphs. Is spatial organization used correctly with paragraphs? Is chronological organization used correctly to connect paragraphs? Is Climactic order used effectively? © 2016. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

© 2016. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Small Scale Revision Small-scale revision involves looking at the words, phrases and sentences. Check your verbs. The majority of your verbs should be action verbs; they should not be passive verbs. Check your words; make sure they are concise and specific. Check you phrases; place most of your phrases either just before or just after the word they modify. © 2016. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.

© 2016. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved. Small Scale Revision Check your sentences. Your essay should contain a mix of simple, compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences. Pay attention to sentence length. Remember to use short sentences only for emphasis. Your essay should contain a good mix of long and short sentences. © 2016. Cengage Learning. All rights reserved.