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How to write a First Person Essay and Get a Good Grade

First-person essays are fun essays to write. The reason is that they are usually written in the first-person perspective. In this article, you will discover everything crucial you need to know about first-person essay writing.

By reading this article, you should be able to write any first-person essay confidently. However, if you need assistance writing any first-person essay, you should order it from us. We have competent writers who can write any first-person essay and deliver ASAP.

What is a first-person Essay?

A first-person essay is an academic writing task written from the first-person perspective. A typical first-person essay will involve the author describing a personal experience. This is the reason why first-person essays are also known as personal essays .

Since first-person essays are personal, they are usually written in a casual tone and from the first-person point of view. However, there are occasions when such essays must be written in a formal tone (calling for using citations and references). Nevertheless, as stated, they are often written in a casual tone.

The best first-person essays are those with a casual tone and a solid first-person point of view (POV). A casual tone is a conversational tone or a non-formal tone.

And a solid first-person POV writing is writing that is characterized by the generous use of first-person pronouns, including “I,” “me,” and “we.” It differs from the academic third-person POV writing that is characterized by the use of third-person pronouns such as “her,” “he,” and “them.”

Types of First-person Essays

There are several types of first-person essays in the academic world. The most popular ones include admission essays, reflective essays, scholarship essays, statement of purpose essays, personal narrative essays, and memoirs.

1. Admission essays

An admission essay, a personal statement, is a first-person essay that potential students write when applying for admission at various universities and colleges. Most universities and colleges across the US require potential students to write an admission essay as part of their college application.

They do this better to understand students beyond their academic and extracurricular achievements. As a result, the best college admission essays are often descriptive, honest, introspective, meaningful, engaging, and well-edited.

2. Reflective essays

A reflective essay is a first-person essay in which the author recalls and evaluates an experience. The objective of the evaluation is usually to determine whether an experience yielded any positive or negative change. Professors typically ask students to write reflective essays to encourage critical thinking and promote learning.

Reflective essays can be written in various styles. The most popular style is the conventional introduction-body-conclusion essay writing style. The best reflective essays follow this style. In addition, they are introspective, precise, well-structured, and well-edited.

3. Scholarship essays

A scholarship essay is a first-person essay you write to get a scholarship. Most competitive scholarships require students to submit an essay as part of their application. The scholarship essay submitted is one of the things they use to determine the scholarship winner.

Usually, when scholarship committees ask applicants to write a scholarship essay, they expect the applicants to explain what makes them the most suitable candidates/applicants for the scholarship. Therefore, when you are asked to write one, you should do your best to explain what makes you deserve the scholarship more than anyone else.

The best scholarship essays are those that are honest, direct, useful, and precise. They also happen to be well-edited and well-structured. 

4. Statement of purpose essays

A statement of purpose essay is a first-person essay that graduate schools require applicants to write to assess their suitability for the programs they are applying to. A statement of purpose is also known as a statement of intent. The typical statement of purpose is like a summary of an applicant’s profile, including who they are, what they have done so far, what they hope to achieve, and so on.

When you are asked to write a statement of purpose essay, you should take your time to assess what makes you a good candidate for the program you want to join. You should focus on your relevant academic achievements and what you intend to achieve in the future. The best statement of purpose essays is those that are well-structured, well-edited, and precise.

5. Personal narrative essays

A personal narrative essay is a first-person essay in which the author shares their unique experience. The most successful personal narrative essays are those that have an emotional appeal to the readers. You can create emotional appeal in your personal narrative essay by using vivid descriptions that will help your readers strongly relate to what you are talking about. You can also create emotional appeal in your personal narrative essay by generously using imageries.

The typical personal narrative essay will have three parts: introduction-body-conclusion. In addition, the best ones usually have good descriptions of various settings, events, individuals, etc. Therefore, to write an excellent personal narrative essay, you should focus on providing a detailed and engaging description of whatever you are talking about.

A memoir is a first-person essay written to provide a detailed historical account. Memoirs are usually written to share confidential or private knowledge. Retired leaders often write memoirs to give a historical account of their leadership era from their perspective.

You may not be worried about the prospect of being asked to write a memoir as a college student, but it is good to know about this type of first-person essay. It may be helpful to you in the future. Moreover, you can always write a memoir to be strictly read by your family or friends.

 Structure and Format of a First-Person Essay

You are not required to follow any specific format when penning a first-person essay. Instead, you need to write it just like a standard format essay . In other words, ensure your essay has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.

1. Introduction

Your essay must have a proper introduction paragraph. An introduction paragraph is a paragraph that introduces the readers to what the essay is all about. It is what readers will first read and decide whether to continue reading the rest of your essay. Thus, if you want your essay to be read, you must get the introduction right.

The recommended way to start an essay introduction is to begin with an attention-grabbing sentence. This could be a fact related to the topic or a statistic. By starting your essay with an attention-grabbing sentence, you significantly increase the chances of readers deciding to read more.

After the attention-grabbing sentence, you must include background information on what you will discuss. This information will help your readers know what your essay is about early on.

The typical essay has a body. It is in the body that all the important details are shared. Therefore, do not overshare in the introduction when writing a first-person essay. Instead, share your important points or descriptions in the body of your essay.

The best way to write the body of your first-person essay is first to choose the most important points to talk about in your essay. After doing this, you are supposed to write about each point in a different paragraph. Doing this will make your work structured and easier to understand.

The best way to write body paragraphs is, to begin with, a topic sentence that sort of declares what the writer is about to write. You should then follow this with supporting evidence to prove your point. Lastly, you should finish your body paragraph with a closing sentence that summarizes the main point in the paragraph and provides a smooth transition to the next paragraph.

3. Conclusion

At the end of your first-person essay, you must offer a conclusion for the first-person essay to be complete. The conclusion should restate the thesis of your essay and its main points. And it should end with a closing sentence that wraps up your entire essay.

Steps for Writing a First-Person Essay

If you have been asked to write a first-person essay, you should simply follow the steps below to write an excellent first-person essay of any type.

1. Choose a topic

The first thing you need to do before you start writing a first-person essay is to choose a topic. Selecting a topic sounds like an easy thing to do, but it can be a bit difficult. This is because of two things. One, it is difficult for most people to decide what to write about quickly. Two, there is usually much pressure to choose a topic that will interest the readers.

While it is somewhat challenging to choose a topic, it can be done. You simply need to brainstorm and write down as many topics as possible and then eliminate the dull ones until you settle on a topic that you know will interest your readers.

2. Choose and stick to an essay tone

Once you choose a topic for your essay, you must choose a tone and maintain that tone throughout your essay. For example, if you choose a friendly or casual tone, you should stick to it throughout your essay.

Choosing a tone and sticking to it will make your essay sound consistent and connected. You will also give your essay a nice flow.

3. Create an outline

Once you have chosen a topic and chosen a tone for your essay, you should create an outline. The good news about creating an outline for a first-person essay is that you do not have to spend much time doing research online or in a library. The bad news is that you will have to brainstorm to create a rough sketch for your essay.

The easiest way to brainstorm to create a rough sketch for your essay is to write down the topic on a piece of paper and create a list of all the important points relevant to the topic. Make sure your list is as exhaustive as it can be. After doing this, you should identify the most relevant points to the topic and then arrange them chronologically.

Remember, a first-person essay is almost always about you telling a story. Therefore, make sure your points tell a story. And not just any story but an interesting one. Thus, after identifying the relevant points and arranging them chronologically, brainstorm and note down all the interesting details you could use to support them. It is these details that will help to make your story as enjoyable as possible.

3. Write your first draft

After creating your outline, the next thing to do is to write your first draft. Writing the first draft after creating a comprehensive outline is much easier. Consequently, simply follow the outline you created in the previous step to writing your first draft. You already arranged the most relevant points chronologically, so you shouldn’t find it challenging to write your first draft.

When writing this first draft, remember that it should be a good story. In other words, ensure your first draft is as chronological as possible. This will give it a nice flow and make it look consistent. When writing the first draft, you will surely remember new points or details about your story. Feel free to add the most useful and interesting ones.

4. Edit your essay

After writing your first draft, you should embark on editing it. The first thing you need to edit is the flow. Make sure your first draft has a nice flow. To do this, you will need to read it. Do this slowly and carefully to find any gaps or points of confusion in your draft. If you find them, edit them to give your story a nice flow.

The second thing you need to edit is the tone. Make sure the draft has a consistent tone throughout. Of course, ensure it is also in first-person narrative from the first paragraph to the last. The third thing you need to edit is the structure. Ensure your essay has a good structure with three parts: introduction, body, and conclusion.

5. Proofread your essay

After ensuring your essay has a nice flow, a consistent tone, and a good structure, you should proofread it. The purpose of doing this is to eliminate all the grammar errors, typos, and other writing mistakes. And the best way to do it is to read your essay aloud.

Reading your essay aloud will help you catch writing errors and mistakes. However, you should also proofread your essay using an online editor such as Grammarly.com to catch all the writing errors you may have missed.

After proofreading your essay, it will be crisp and ready for submission.

Topic ideas for a first-person essay

Below are some topic ideas for first-person essays. Since there are several distinct types of first-person essays, the ideas below may not be relevant to some types of first-person essays. However, the list below should give you a good idea of common first-person essay topics.

• A story about losing a friend
• A story about your first foreign trip
• A story about the best thing that happened to you
• A dangerous experience that happened to you
• A high school friend you will never forget
• A story about how you learned a new skill
• The most embarrassing thing that happened to you
• The first time you cooked your own meal
• The first time you did something heroic
• The first time you helped someone in need
• Your first job
• The most fun you’ve ever had
• The scariest thing that ever happened to you
• A day you will never forget
• The biggest life lesson you have learned
• How you met your best friend
• Your first time driving a car
• Your first time, feel depressed and lost
• A story from a vacation trip
• Your cultural identity

Sample Outline of a First-person Essay

Below is a sample outline of a first-person essay. Use it to create your first-person essay outline when you need to write a first-person essay.

• Attention-grabbing sentence
• Background info
• Thesis statement
• Body Paragraph 1
• First major point
• Closing sentence

2. Body Paragraph 2

• Second major point

3. Body Paragraph 3

• Third major point

4. Conclusion

• Thesis restatement
• Summary of major points
• Concluding statement

Example of a first-person essay

My First Job Your first job is like your first kiss; you never really forget it, no matter how many more you get in the future. My first job will always be remarkable because of the money it gave me and how useful it made me feel. About two weeks after my 17 th birthday, my mother asked me if I could consider taking a job at a small family restaurant as a cleaner. I agreed. I could say no if I wanted to, but I didn’t. My mother was a single mother working two jobs to care for my three younger siblings and me. She always came back home tired and exhausted every single day. I had always wanted to help her, and as soon as the opportunity presented itself, I grabbed it with my two hands. My mother had heard about the cleaner job from a close friend; hence she hoped I could do it to earn money for our family. Once I agreed, I went to the restaurant the next day. I took the train and arrived at about seven in the morning. The restaurant was already packed at this time, with the workers running around serving breakfast. I asked to speak to someone about the cleaning job, and I was soon at the back office getting instructions about the job. Apparently, I was the first to show genuine interest in taking the job. For the first three days, the other staff showed me around, and after that, I started cleaning the restaurant daily at $8 an hour. Now $8 an hour may seem like little money to most people, but to me, it meant the world! It was money I didn’t have. And within the first week, I had made a little over $400. I felt very proud about this when I got my first check. It made me forget how tired I was becoming from working every day. It also made me happy because it meant my mom didn’t have to work as hard as she did before. Moreover, within a month of working at the restaurant, I had accumulated over $250 in savings, which I was very proud of. The little savings I had accumulated somehow made me feel more financially secure. Every weekend after work was like a victory parade for me. The moment I handed over half my pay to my mother made me feel so helpful around the house. I could do anything I wanted with the remaining half of the pay. I used quite a fraction of this weekly to buy snacks for my siblings. This made me feel nice and even more useful around the house. After about three months of work, my mom got a promotion at one of her places of work. It meant I no longer needed to work at the restaurant. But I still went to work there anyway. I did it because of the money and how useful it made me feel. I continued working at the restaurant for about five more months before joining college.

Final Thoughts!

First-person essays are essays written from the first-person perspective. There are several first-person perspective essays, including personal narrative essays, scholarship essays, admission essays, memoirs, etc.

In this post, you learned everything crucial about first-person essays. If you need help writing any first-person essay, you should contact us. We’ve got writers ready to write any type of first-person essay for you.

Any of our writers can ensure your first-person essay is excellent, original, error-free, and ready for submission.

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How to write a first person essay

• November 18, 2023

A first person essay is a type of academic essay written in the first person point of view that presents a significant lesson learned from a writer’s personal experience.

The aim of a first person essay is to establish a bond with the reader. You encourage the reader to accompany you on your personal journey when writing this type of essay .

Step 1: First person essay example

Before we go further into the steps, analyze  the following first person essay example This will give you an overall idea of what a first person essay is.

First person essay example

When I think of my past life, one of the memories I remember the most vividly is my first day at school. Hook: Engaging first sentence that helps the reader grasp the importance of the event. I have always been a student that loved school and studying; I am what you might consider a nerd. Therefore, I don’t think it’s necessary for me to say how excited I was to start school. Personal information: Information that connects the reader with the writer.

In the weeks leading up to the first school day, I remember checking my stationary my parents had bought me for school every day and admiring them, thinking how excited I was to finally start using them. Opening sentence: Vivid explanation of the past events, creating a more appealing story. I had already learned to read and write before starting elementary school, and I could not wait to see the look on my teacher’s face when I told them, “I already know this stuff!”. Yes, I was an annoying kid. Insights: Insight into the writer’s personality, which creates a more sincere tone. You can ask my childhood friends if you would like to hear someone else’s thoughts on this; I am sure they will tell you the same thing. Concluding sentence: Casual and humorous tone that eases the reader.

You probably expect a happy first day of school story from me right now. Emotional connection: Addressing the reader, therefore strengthening the emotional connection. The truth is far from that. As much as I was a nerd, I was a mamma’s kid. Insights: Further insight into the writer’s personality. So, when my parents dropped me off at school, I started crying my eyes out. Event: Vivid description of the event. I did not want them to leave, but I also wanted to begin my first school day. So, my mother set eyes on a blonde girl that she thought looked like a good kid and made me sit next to her. After starting to chat with my new friend, I slowly eased off and was ready to put on a show. Needless to say, that blonde girl became one of my best friends in elementary school. Feelings: Description of feelings felt by the writer. This helps strengthen the bond between the writer and the reader. Even though it did not go quite according to my plans, I still cherish the memory of my first day at school. Concluding sentence: Concluding sentence of your paragraph which should be memorable and descriptive.

The rest of the school year was much more eventful because, being a crybaby, I started crying even at the slightest of inconvenience. Emotional connection: More insight into the writer’s personality. Adding these details creates an emotional bond with the reader. Naturally, this created a problem for my teacher and classmates, in so much that the deputy headteacher was telling kids to keep quiet, not because it disrupted the class, but because it made me cry. Emphasizing memories: Recounting of more memories in a casual tone. Thinking back to my first school day and generally, my elementary school experience always makes me happy. Therefore, I always have so much fun talking about my school experiences. Final sentence: Your finishing sentences, make sure to make it memorable for your reader.

Step 2: Structure of a first person essay

When it comes to first person essays, both structured academic writing or casual personal narratives can be used.

But remember that the style of first person essays is typically conversational . You need to combine a mixture of personal anecdotes, an emotional connection, and a clear point of view.  So personal pronouns are highly common in first person essays.

First person pronouns

First person pronouns example.

Pronouns such as “ I ,” “ me ,” and “ we ” First person pronouns must be used when writing first person essays. This contrasts with the third person point of view, which uses third person pronouns such as “ he ,” “ she ,” and “ they ”. Third person pronouns

Second person pronouns

Second-person pronouns example.

First person essays also contrast with the second-person point of view, which uses second-person pronouns such as “ you ,” and “ yours ”. Second-person pronouns

Now that we have learned the essentials of first person essays, we can continue with the steps to write an excellent one.

Step 3: Choosing a first person essay topic

Almost any topic can be written in a first person essay. But this should not scare you, as we have some tactics for you to easily choose your topic .

• It doesn’t matter what you write as long as it’s something you’re enthusiastic about.
• Ask yourself this question: “What have I experienced in the past that has had an emotional appeal on me?”
• Choose a topic that is amusing, compelling or moving.
• If you’re having trouble choosing what to talk about, think about what makes you happy or sad.

First person essay topic examples

• Your first day at school
• Your new life in a new city​
• The funniest day of your life​
• A sad event you have gone through​
• A memory from your childhood​

For this guide, we’ve chosen the topic of “ your first day at school .” Above, you’ll see the example essay . When you’ve worked out what you want to say, move on to the next step: figure out your tone.

Step 4: Define your tone

Before starting your first draft, think about your essay’s tone and language (see UK and US English ). 

Your writing style will need to change depending on the purpose of your essay. For instance, i f you’re writing an argumentative or persuasive essay, you may want to use a calculated and rational first person viewpoint .

This will persuade the reader to agree with your key argument. But when you’re writing a reflective essay , you may want to use satire to keep the reader entertained.

So for first person essays, ask yourself these questions to see if your tone is appropriate:

• Is my tone clear?
• Is my writing intimate and appealing?​
• Can my first person storytelling connect with the reader?​

If your answers to these questions are “ yes ,” you are probably doing a good job.

Step 5: Create an outline

It’s time to make a brief outline now that you’ve selected your topic and decided on the right tone. The outline will help you get your thoughts organized. It will also help you with the order of your headings in the writing process .

Your first person essay should follow the traditional introduction , body paragraphs , and conclusion essay structure, unless stated otherwise.

Example of a first person essay outline

• Personal information
• Concluding sentence
• Final sentence

Ask yourself these questions while creating your outline:

• What are your story’s or argument’s key points?
• What are the places, people, and events that are important for my essay?​
• What do you want people to understand from your first person essay?​
• What feelings do you want to inspire or trigger?​
• What do you want your readers to think about you? ​

Step 6: Write your first draft

Now, let’s get to writing. The first draft of your essay is an important step toward creating a well-thought-out and concentrated academic essay .

First person essay introduction first draft example

Introduction (Hook, Personal information) I was always attracted by the stars in the night sky as a youngster. They appeared to be tiny pinpricks of light, far away and enigmatic. My passion in astronomy only grew as I grew older, and I began to spend countless hours studying the stars and planets. I didn't realize the enormous power of a telescope until I was in college. I could see aspects of the world that I had never dreamed conceivable with such a little tool. I've been studying the stars as an amateur astronomer for almost a decade. I've always been captivated by the universe's beauty and complexity, and I feel is no greater thrill than learning something new about our surroundings.

Things to consider

• Don’t be too harsh on your first draft. You’ll have plenty of time to revise it later.
• All you have to do now is identify your story's basic elements: characters, locations, and incidents.​
• It’s fine to stop, gather your thoughts, and remind yourself of your main idea when writing your first draft.​
• If you can, give yourself a few days to rest after writing the draft, then come back and revise it. ​

More on first draft

Step 7: revise your draft and finish writing, first person essay introduction final draft example.

Introduction (Hook, Personal information) I was always attracted by the stars The stars always attracted me in the night sky as a youngster. They appeared to be tiny pinpricks of light, far away and enigmatic. My passion in astronomy only for astronomy grew as I grew older, and I began to spend spent countless hours studying the stars and planets. I didn't realize only realized the enormous power of a telescope until once I was in college. I could see aspects of the world that I had never dreamed of conceivable with such a little tool. I've been studying studied the stars as an amateur astronomer for almost a decade. I've always been captivated by the universe's beauty and complexity, and I feel and there is no greater incredible thrill than learning something new about our surroundings.

Important things to consider while revising

• Don’t just tell the reader what’s going on; use vivid common words, phrasal words , transition words , and transition sentences to describe the situation and depict the storyline.
• Avoid excessive emotions. It’s perfectly appropriate to convey happiness, frustration, or sadness, but you must strike a balance.​
• Proofread the essay for common mistakes , spelling and grammar mistakes ( active and passive etc.), capitalization rules , punctuation, and repetitions.
• Examine the writing and see if it’s straightforward and to-the-point and whether you’re sharing your ideas in an understandable way.
• Is there consistency in the essay, both structurally and contextually?
• Are there any passive voice sentences that I can rewrite in active voice?​
• Is there enough sensory information in my essay to touch the reader and make them feel like they’re a part of my experience?​

Key takeaways

• A first-person essay is a type of essay that is written from the perspective of the author, using "I" statements and personal experiences.
• To write a first-person essay, you must be willing to share personal details and experiences with your reader.
• Begin your essay with a clear introduction that provides context for your topic and establishes your voice as the author.
• Use personal anecdotes, sensory details, and other techniques to bring your experiences to life and engage the reader.
• End your essay with a conclusion that reflects on your experiences and provides a final thought or message for the reader.

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Table of Contents

Collaboration, information literacy, writing process, the first person.

• CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 by Frederik DeBoer

The first person—“I,” “me,” “my,” etc.—can be a useful and stylish choice in academic writing, but inexperienced writers need to take care when using it.

There are some genres and assignments for which the first person is natural. For example, personal narratives require frequent use of the first person (see, for example, “ Employing Narrative in an Essay ). Profiles, or brief and entertaining looks at prominent people and events, frequently employ the first person. Reviews, such as for movies or restaurants, often utilize the first person as well. Any writing genre that involves the writer’s taste, recollections, or feelings can potentially utilize the first person.

But what about more formal academic essays? In this case, you may have heard from instructors and teachers that the first person is never appropriate. The reality is a little more complicated. The first person can be a natural fit for expository, critical, and researched writing, and can help develop style and voice in what can often be dry or impersonal genres. But you need to take care when using the personal voice, and watch out for a few traps.

First, as always, listen to your teacher, instructor, or professor. Follow the guidelines given to you; if you’re not supposed to use the first person in a particular class or assignment, don’t! Also, recognize that, while it is not universally valid or helpful, the common advice to avoid the first person in academic writing comes from legitimate concerns about its misuse. Many instructors advise their students in this way due to experience with students misusing the first person.

Why do teachers often counsel against using the first person in an academic paper? Used too frequently or without care, it can make a writer seem self-centered, even self-obsessed. A paper filled with “I,” “me,” and “mine” can be distracting to a reader, as it creates the impression that the writer is more interested in him- or herself than the subject matter. Additionally, the first person is often a more casual mode, and if used carelessly, it can make a writer seem insufficiently serious for an academic project. Particularly troublesome can be constructions like “I think” or “in my opinion;” overused, they can make a writer appear unsure or noncommittal. On issues of personal taste and opinion, statements like “I believe” are usually inferred, and thus repeatedly stating that a statement is only your opinion is redundant. (Of course, if a statement is someone else’s opinion, it must be responsibly cited.)

Given those issues, why is the first person still sometimes an effective strategy? For one, using the first person in an academic essay reminds the audience (and the author) of a simple fact: that someone is writing the essay, a particular person in a particular context. A writer is in a position of power; he or she is the master of the text. It’s easy, given that mastery, for writers and readers alike to forget that the writer is composing from a limited and contingent perspective. By using the first person, writers remind audiences and themselves that all writing, no matter how well supported by facts and evidence, comes from a necessarily subjective point of view. Used properly, this kind of reminder can make a writer appear more thoughtful and modest, and in doing so become more credible and persuasive.

The first person is also well-suited to the development of style and personal voice. The personal voice is, well, personal; to use the first person effectively is to invite readers into the individual world of the writer. This can make a long essay seem shorter, an essay about a dry subject seem more engaging, and a complicated argument seem less intimidating. The first person is also a great way to introduce variety into a paper. Academic papers, particularly longer ones, can often become monotonous. After all, detailed analysis of a long piece of literature or a large amount of data requires many lines of text. If such an analysis is not effectively varied in method or tone, a reader can find the text uninteresting or discouraging. The first person can help dilute that monotony, precisely because its use is rare in academic writing.

The key to all of this, of course, is using the first person well and judiciously. Any stylistic device, no matter its potential, can be misused. The first person is no exception. So how to use the first person well in an academic essay?

• First, by paying attention to the building blocks of effective writing. Good writing requires consistency in reference. Don’t mix between first, second, and third person. Although referring to yourself in the third person in an academic essay is rare (I hope!), sometimes references to “the author” or “this writer” can pop up and cause confusion. “This author feels it is to my advantage…” is a good example of mixing third person references (this author) with first person reference (my advantage). If you must use the third person, keep it consistent throughout your essay: “This author feels it is to his advantage…” Be aware, however, that such references can often sound pretentious or inflated. In most cases it will be better to keep to the simpler first person voice: “I feel it is to my advantage.”
• Similarly, be cautious about mixing the second and first person. Second person reference (“You feel,” “you find,” “it strikes you,”) can be a useful tool, particularly when trying to build a confessional or conversational tone. But as with the third person, mixing second and first person is an easy trap to fall into, and confuses your prose: “I often feel as if you have no choice….” While such constructions can potentially be grammatically correct, they are unnecessarily confusing. When in doubt, use only one form of reference for yourself or your audience, and be clear in distinguishing them. Again, use caution: as the second person essentially speaks for your readers, it can seem presumptuous. In most cases, the first person is a better choice.
• Finally, consistency is important when employing either the singular or plural first person (“we,” “us,” “our”). The first person plural is often employed in literary analysis: “we have to balance Gatsby’s story with Nick’s skepticism.” Here, I would recommend maintaining consistency not just within a sentence or paragraph, but within the entire text. Shifting from speaking about what I feel or think to what we feel or think invites the question of what, exactly, has changed. If a writer has made observations of the type “we know,” and then later of the type “I believe,” it suggests that the writer has lost some perspective or authority.

Once you’ve assured that you’re using the first person in a consistent, grammatically correct fashion, your most important tools are restraint and caution. As I indicated above, part of the power of the first person in an academic essay is that it is a rarely used alternative to the typical third person mode. This power only persists if you use the first person in moderation. Constantly peppering your academic essays with the first person dilutes its ability to provoke a reader. You should use the first person rarely enough to ensure that, when you do, the reader notices; it should immediately contrast with the convention you’ve built in your essay.

Given this need for restraint, student writers would do best to use the first person only when they have a deliberate purpose for using it. Is there something different about the particular passage, paragraph, or moment into which you want to introduce the first person? Do you want to call attention to a particular issue or idea in your paper, particularly if you feel less certain about that idea, or more personally connected to it? Finally, have you established a consistent use of the third person, so that using the first person here represents a meaningful change? After a long, formal argument, the first person can feel like an invitation for the reader to get a little closer.

Think of the first person as a powerful spice. Just enough can make a bland but serviceable dish memorable and tasty. Too much can render it inedible. Use the first person carefully, when you have a good reason to do so, and it can enliven your academic papers.

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Using first person in an academic essay: when is it okay.

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Should I Use “I”?

What this handout is about.

This handout is about determining when to use first person pronouns (“I”, “we,” “me,” “us,” “my,” and “our”) and personal experience in academic writing. “First person” and “personal experience” might sound like two ways of saying the same thing, but first person and personal experience can work in very different ways in your writing. You might choose to use “I” but not make any reference to your individual experiences in a particular paper. Or you might include a brief description of an experience that could help illustrate a point you’re making without ever using the word “I.” So whether or not you should use first person and personal experience are really two separate questions, both of which this handout addresses. It also offers some alternatives if you decide that either “I” or personal experience isn’t appropriate for your project. If you’ve decided that you do want to use one of them, this handout offers some ideas about how to do so effectively, because in many cases using one or the other might strengthen your writing.

Expectations about academic writing

Students often arrive at college with strict lists of writing rules in mind. Often these are rather strict lists of absolutes, including rules both stated and unstated:

• Each essay should have exactly five paragraphs.
• Don’t begin a sentence with “and” or “because.”
• Never include personal opinion.
• Never use “I” in essays.

We get these ideas primarily from teachers and other students. Often these ideas are derived from good advice but have been turned into unnecessarily strict rules in our minds. The problem is that overly strict rules about writing can prevent us, as writers, from being flexible enough to learn to adapt to the writing styles of different fields, ranging from the sciences to the humanities, and different kinds of writing projects, ranging from reviews to research.

So when it suits your purpose as a scholar, you will probably need to break some of the old rules, particularly the rules that prohibit first person pronouns and personal experience. Although there are certainly some instructors who think that these rules should be followed (so it is a good idea to ask directly), many instructors in all kinds of fields are finding reason to depart from these rules. Avoiding “I” can lead to awkwardness and vagueness, whereas using it in your writing can improve style and clarity. Using personal experience, when relevant, can add concreteness and even authority to writing that might otherwise be vague and impersonal. Because college writing situations vary widely in terms of stylistic conventions, tone, audience, and purpose, the trick is deciphering the conventions of your writing context and determining how your purpose and audience affect the way you write. The rest of this handout is devoted to strategies for figuring out when to use “I” and personal experience.

Effective uses of “I”:

In many cases, using the first person pronoun can improve your writing, by offering the following benefits:

• Assertiveness: In some cases you might wish to emphasize agency (who is doing what), as for instance if you need to point out how valuable your particular project is to an academic discipline or to claim your unique perspective or argument.
• Clarity: Because trying to avoid the first person can lead to awkward constructions and vagueness, using the first person can improve your writing style.
• Positioning yourself in the essay: In some projects, you need to explain how your research or ideas build on or depart from the work of others, in which case you’ll need to say “I,” “we,” “my,” or “our”; if you wish to claim some kind of authority on the topic, first person may help you do so.

Deciding whether “I” will help your style

Here is an example of how using the first person can make the writing clearer and more assertive:

Original example:

In studying American popular culture of the 1980s, the question of to what degree materialism was a major characteristic of the cultural milieu was explored.

Better example using first person:

In our study of American popular culture of the 1980s, we explored the degree to which materialism characterized the cultural milieu.

The original example sounds less emphatic and direct than the revised version; using “I” allows the writers to avoid the convoluted construction of the original and clarifies who did what.

Here is an example in which alternatives to the first person would be more appropriate:

As I observed the communication styles of first-year Carolina women, I noticed frequent use of non-verbal cues.

Better example:

A study of the communication styles of first-year Carolina women revealed frequent use of non-verbal cues.

In the original example, using the first person grounds the experience heavily in the writer’s subjective, individual perspective, but the writer’s purpose is to describe a phenomenon that is in fact objective or independent of that perspective. Avoiding the first person here creates the desired impression of an observed phenomenon that could be reproduced and also creates a stronger, clearer statement.

Here’s another example in which an alternative to first person works better:

As I was reading this study of medieval village life, I noticed that social class tended to be clearly defined.

This study of medieval village life reveals that social class tended to be clearly defined.

Although you may run across instructors who find the casual style of the original example refreshing, they are probably rare. The revised version sounds more academic and renders the statement more assertive and direct.

Here’s a final example:

I think that Aristotle’s ethical arguments are logical and readily applicable to contemporary cases, or at least it seems that way to me.

Better example

Aristotle’s ethical arguments are logical and readily applicable to contemporary cases.

In this example, there is no real need to announce that that statement about Aristotle is your thought; this is your paper, so readers will assume that the ideas in it are yours.

Determining whether to use “I” according to the conventions of the academic field

Which fields allow “I”?

The rules for this are changing, so it’s always best to ask your instructor if you’re not sure about using first person. But here are some general guidelines.

Sciences: In the past, scientific writers avoided the use of “I” because scientists often view the first person as interfering with the impression of objectivity and impersonality they are seeking to create. But conventions seem to be changing in some cases—for instance, when a scientific writer is describing a project she is working on or positioning that project within the existing research on the topic. Check with your science instructor to find out whether it’s o.k. to use “I” in their class.

Social Sciences: Some social scientists try to avoid “I” for the same reasons that other scientists do. But first person is becoming more commonly accepted, especially when the writer is describing their project or perspective.

Humanities: Ask your instructor whether you should use “I.” The purpose of writing in the humanities is generally to offer your own analysis of language, ideas, or a work of art. Writers in these fields tend to value assertiveness and to emphasize agency (who’s doing what), so the first person is often—but not always—appropriate. Sometimes writers use the first person in a less effective way, preceding an assertion with “I think,” “I feel,” or “I believe” as if such a phrase could replace a real defense of an argument. While your audience is generally interested in your perspective in the humanities fields, readers do expect you to fully argue, support, and illustrate your assertions. Personal belief or opinion is generally not sufficient in itself; you will need evidence of some kind to convince your reader.

Other writing situations: If you’re writing a speech, use of the first and even the second person (“you”) is generally encouraged because these personal pronouns can create a desirable sense of connection between speaker and listener and can contribute to the sense that the speaker is sincere and involved in the issue. If you’re writing a resume, though, avoid the first person; describe your experience, education, and skills without using a personal pronoun (for example, under “Experience” you might write “Volunteered as a peer counselor”).

A note on the second person “you”:

In situations where your intention is to sound conversational and friendly because it suits your purpose, as it does in this handout intended to offer helpful advice, or in a letter or speech, “you” might help to create just the sense of familiarity you’re after. But in most academic writing situations, “you” sounds overly conversational, as for instance in a claim like “when you read the poem ‘The Wasteland,’ you feel a sense of emptiness.” In this case, the “you” sounds overly conversational. The statement would read better as “The poem ‘The Wasteland’ creates a sense of emptiness.” Academic writers almost always use alternatives to the second person pronoun, such as “one,” “the reader,” or “people.”

Personal experience in academic writing

The question of whether personal experience has a place in academic writing depends on context and purpose. In papers that seek to analyze an objective principle or data as in science papers, or in papers for a field that explicitly tries to minimize the effect of the researcher’s presence such as anthropology, personal experience would probably distract from your purpose. But sometimes you might need to explicitly situate your position as researcher in relation to your subject of study. Or if your purpose is to present your individual response to a work of art, to offer examples of how an idea or theory might apply to life, or to use experience as evidence or a demonstration of an abstract principle, personal experience might have a legitimate role to play in your academic writing. Using personal experience effectively usually means keeping it in the service of your argument, as opposed to letting it become an end in itself or take over the paper.

It’s also usually best to keep your real or hypothetical stories brief, but they can strengthen arguments in need of concrete illustrations or even just a little more vitality.

Here are some examples of effective ways to incorporate personal experience in academic writing:

• Anecdotes: In some cases, brief examples of experiences you’ve had or witnessed may serve as useful illustrations of a point you’re arguing or a theory you’re evaluating. For instance, in philosophical arguments, writers often use a real or hypothetical situation to illustrate abstract ideas and principles.
• References to your own experience can explain your interest in an issue or even help to establish your authority on a topic.
• Some specific writing situations, such as application essays, explicitly call for discussion of personal experience.

Here are some suggestions about including personal experience in writing for specific fields:

Philosophy: In philosophical writing, your purpose is generally to reconstruct or evaluate an existing argument, and/or to generate your own. Sometimes, doing this effectively may involve offering a hypothetical example or an illustration. In these cases, you might find that inventing or recounting a scenario that you’ve experienced or witnessed could help demonstrate your point. Personal experience can play a very useful role in your philosophy papers, as long as you always explain to the reader how the experience is related to your argument. (See our handout on writing in philosophy for more information.)

Religion: Religion courses might seem like a place where personal experience would be welcomed. But most religion courses take a cultural, historical, or textual approach, and these generally require objectivity and impersonality. So although you probably have very strong beliefs or powerful experiences in this area that might motivate your interest in the field, they shouldn’t supplant scholarly analysis. But ask your instructor, as it is possible that they are interested in your personal experiences with religion, especially in less formal assignments such as response papers. (See our handout on writing in religious studies for more information.)

Literature, Music, Fine Arts, and Film: Writing projects in these fields can sometimes benefit from the inclusion of personal experience, as long as it isn’t tangential. For instance, your annoyance over your roommate’s habits might not add much to an analysis of “Citizen Kane.” However, if you’re writing about Ridley Scott’s treatment of relationships between women in the movie “Thelma and Louise,” some reference your own observations about these relationships might be relevant if it adds to your analysis of the film. Personal experience can be especially appropriate in a response paper, or in any kind of assignment that asks about your experience of the work as a reader or viewer. Some film and literature scholars are interested in how a film or literary text is received by different audiences, so a discussion of how a particular viewer or reader experiences or identifies with the piece would probably be appropriate. (See our handouts on writing about fiction , art history , and drama for more information.)

Women’s Studies: Women’s Studies classes tend to be taught from a feminist perspective, a perspective which is generally interested in the ways in which individuals experience gender roles. So personal experience can often serve as evidence for your analytical and argumentative papers in this field. This field is also one in which you might be asked to keep a journal, a kind of writing that requires you to apply theoretical concepts to your experiences.

History: If you’re analyzing a historical period or issue, personal experience is less likely to advance your purpose of objectivity. However, some kinds of historical scholarship do involve the exploration of personal histories. So although you might not be referencing your own experience, you might very well be discussing other people’s experiences as illustrations of their historical contexts. (See our handout on writing in history for more information.)

Sciences: Because the primary purpose is to study data and fixed principles in an objective way, personal experience is less likely to have a place in this kind of writing. Often, as in a lab report, your goal is to describe observations in such a way that a reader could duplicate the experiment, so the less extra information, the better. Of course, if you’re working in the social sciences, case studies—accounts of the personal experiences of other people—are a crucial part of your scholarship. (See our handout on  writing in the sciences for more information.)

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Scholarly Voice: First-Person Point of View

First-person point of view.

Since 2007, Walden academic leadership has endorsed the APA manual guidance on appropriate use of the first-person singular pronoun "I," allowing the use of this pronoun in all Walden academic writing except doctoral capstone abstracts, which should not contain first person pronouns.

In addition to the pointers below, APA 7, Section 4.16 provides information on the appropriate use of first person in scholarly writing.

Inappropriate Uses:   I feel that eating white bread causes cancer. The author feels that eating white bread causes cancer. I found several sources (Marks, 2011; Isaac, 2006; Stuart, in press) that showed a link between white bread consumption and cancer.   Appropriate Use:   I surveyed 2,900 adults who consumed white bread regularly. In this chapter, I present a literature review on research about how seasonal light changes affect depression.

Confusing Sentence:   The researcher found that the authors had been accurate in their study of helium, which the researcher had hypothesized from the beginning of their project.   Revision:   I found that Johnson et al. (2011) had been accurate in their study of helium, which I had hypothesized since I began my project.

Passive voice:   The surveys were distributed and the results were compiled after they were collected.   Revision:   I distributed the surveys, and then I collected and compiled the results.

Appropriate use of first person we and our :   Two other nurses and I worked together to create a qualitative survey to measure patient satisfaction. Upon completion, we presented the results to our supervisor.

Make assumptions about your readers by putting them in a group to which they may not belong by using first person plural pronouns. Inappropriate use of first person "we" and "our":

• We can stop obesity in our society by changing our lifestyles.
• We need to help our patients recover faster.

In the first sentence above, the readers would not necessarily know who "we" are, and using a phrase such as "our society " can immediately exclude readers from outside your social group. In the second sentence, the author assumes that the reader is a nurse or medical professional, which may not be the case, and the sentence expresses the opinion of the author.

To write with more precision and clarity, hallmarks of scholarly writing, revise these sentences without the use of "we" and "our."

• Moderate activity can reduce the risk of obesity (Hu et al., 2003).
• Staff members in the health care industry can help improve the recovery rate for patients (Matthews, 2013).

Pronouns Video

• APA Formatting & Style: Pronouns (video transcript)

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• Writing Tips

First-Person Point of View: Definition and Examples

4-minute read

• 13th August 2023

The first-person point of view is a grammatical person narrative technique that immerses the reader into the intimate perspective of a single character or individual.

In this literary approach, the story unfolds through the eyes, thoughts, and emotions of the narrator, granting the reader direct access to their inner world. Through the narrator’s use of pronouns such as I and me , readers gain a personal and subjective understanding of the narrator’s experiences, motivations, and conflicts. For example:

If the author uses the third-person point of view , the sentence would read like this:

Why Write From the First-Person Point of View?

This point of view often creates a strong sense of immediacy, enabling readers to form a deep connection with the narrator while limiting the reader’s knowledge to what this character or narrator knows. It’s a dynamic viewpoint that allows the rich exploration of a character’s or narrator’s growth and provides the opportunity to delve into their personal struggles.

First-person narration shouldn’t be used or should be considered carefully in some situations. Familiarize yourself with genre style and tone before making this decision.

Using the First-Person Point of View in Fiction

The first-person point of view is a powerful tool in fiction because it can create an intimate and engaging connection between the reader and the narrator. It is particularly effective for the following purposes.

Developing a Character’s Voice and Personality

First-person narration facilitates a deep exploration of a character’s or narrator’s unique voice, thoughts, and personality. It enables readers to experience the story through the lens of the narrator or a specific character, giving the reader direct insight into their emotions, motivations, and growth.

Portraying Subjective Experiences

When the story relies heavily on the narrator’s or a character’s subjective experience, emotions, and perceptions, the first-person point of view can help the reader connect on a personal level. This bond is especially beneficial in stories that explore complex internal conflicts and psychological themes.

Enhancing Reader Empathy

First-person narratives can foster empathy by enabling readers to see the world through the eyes of the narrator. This perspective can lead to a more emotional and immersive reading experience, allowing readers to relate to and invest in the narrator’s or a character’s journey.

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Conveying Unreliable Narrators

First-person narration is excellent for stories featuring unreliable narrators . Readers can uncover discrepancies between what the narrator says and what they actually do, revealing layers of intrigue and mystery.

Delivering Engaging Storytelling

When the narrative requires a strong and engaging storyteller, the first-person point of view can make the story feel more like a conversation or confession, drawing the reader in.

It’s also important to note that using the first-person point of view comes with limitations. The narrator’s perspective is confined to what they personally experience, possibly limiting the scope of the story’s atmosphere and the portrayal of events that occur outside the narrator’s awareness. Consider how authors of classic novels have utilized point of view in their writing.

The First-Person Point of View in Research Essays

Generally, it’s preferable to avoid the first person in academic and formal writing. Research papers are expected to maintain an objective, unbiased, and impartial tone, focusing on presenting information, data, and analyses clearly. The use of I or we may introduce subjectivity and personal opinions, which can undermine the credibility and professionalism of the research.

Instead, the third-person point of view is preferred because it allows a more neutral and detached presentation of the material. Follow the guidelines and style requirements of the specific field or publication you’re writing for: some disciplines may have different conventions regarding the use of first-person language.

The first person can lend itself to some types of research description when the researcher is discussing why they made a particular decision in their approach or how and why they interpret their findings.

But be aware that when writers attempt to write without reverting to the first person, they often overuse the passive voice . In nonfiction or academic writing, staying in the first person may sometimes be better than using the passive voice.

Ultimately, the decision to use the first person in fiction or nonfiction depends on the specific goals of the author. Fiction authors should consider how this narrative choice aligns with the story’s themes, characters, and intended emotional impact. Research writers should carefully consider whether the use of the first person is necessary to convey their findings and decisions or whether that information could be described as or more effectively without it.

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Using “I” in Academic Writing

Traditionally, some fields have frowned on the use of the first-person singular in an academic essay and others have encouraged that use, and both the frowning and the encouraging persist today—and there are good reasons for both positions (see “Should I”).

I recommend that you not look on the question of using “I” in an academic paper as a matter of a rule to follow, as part of a political agenda (see webb), or even as the need to create a strategy to avoid falling into Scylla-or-Charybdis error. Let the first-person singular be, instead, a tool that you take out when you think it’s needed and that you leave in the toolbox when you think it’s not.

Examples of When “I” May Be Needed

• You are narrating how you made a discovery, and the process of your discovering is important or at the very least entertaining.
• You are describing how you teach something and how your students have responded or respond.
• You disagree with another scholar and want to stress that you are not waving the banner of absolute truth.
• You need “I” for rhetorical effect, to be clear, simple, or direct.

Examples of When “I” Should Be Given a Rest

• It’s off-putting to readers, generally, when “I” appears too often. You may not feel one bit modest, but remember the advice of Benjamin Franklin, still excellent, on the wisdom of preserving the semblance of modesty when your purpose is to convince others.
• You are the author of your paper, so if an opinion is expressed in it, it is usually clear that this opinion is yours. You don’t have to add a phrase like, “I believe” or “it seems to me.”

Works Cited

Franklin, Benjamin. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin . Project Gutenberg , 28 Dec. 2006, www.gutenberg.org/app/uploads/sites/3/20203/20203-h/20203-h.htm#I.

“Should I Use “I”?” The Writing Center at UNC—Chapel Hill , writingcenter.unc.edu/handouts/should-i-use-i/.

webb, Christine. “The Use of the First Person in Academic Writing: Objectivity, Language, and Gatekeeping.” ResearchGate , July 1992, doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2648.1992.tb01974.x.

J.S.Beniwal 05 August 2017 AT 09:08 AM

I have borrowed MLA only yesterday, did my MAEnglish in May 2017.MLA is of immense help for scholars.An overview of the book really enlightened​ me.I should have read it at bachelor's degree level.

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Dr. Raymond Harter 25 September 2017 AT 02:09 PM

I discourage the use of "I" in essays for undergraduates to reinforce a conversational tone and to "self-recognize" the writer as an authority or at least a thorough researcher. Writing a play is different than an essay with a purpose.

Osayimwense Osa 22 March 2023 AT 05:03 PM

When a student or writer is strongly and passionately interested in his or her stance and argument to persuade his or her audience, the use of personal pronoun srenghtens his or her passion for the subject. This passion should be clear in his/her expression. However, I encourage the use of the first-person, I, sparingly -- only when and where absolutely necessary.

Eleanor 25 March 2023 AT 04:03 PM

I once had a student use the word "eye" when writing about how to use pronouns. Her peers did not catch it. I made comments, but I think she never understood what eye was saying!

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How To Write A First Person Essay | Types, Format and Steps on How To Write A First Person Essay

April 11, 2023 by Prasanna

How To Write A First Person Essay: What Do You Mean By The First-Person Essay? The first-person essay means an essay that should be written in first-person, mainly using phrases or words like me, mine, my, I, etc. It means one should write this kind of essay as if he/she has had the experienced of the stories or the topics discussed or explained in the piece. The first-person essay lets the readers imagine and experience the uniqueness of the information mentioned in the essay. It affects the reader’s mind; it starts to make them think about how one particular incident changed the life of the writer forever.

To make this happen, it is a must that the writer writes the essay in first-person. Writing the same essay in a third person will never have the same effect on the readers. No matter how great the story is. The writer’s sole aim here is to engage the readers in the development and make them believe that they are present in that particular situation.

This is what the first-person essay is all about. Further, in the essay, I will be discussing the types of First-person essays.

You can also find more  Essay Writing  articles on events, persons, sports, technology and many more

Types Of The First-Person Essay

• Personal Narrative Essay: This type of the first-person essay generally deals with sharing the writer’s unique experience. The story that the writer is narrating in the essay must have an emotional impact on the readers. In order to do so, the writer has to use such descriptions that will enable the readers to relate to the situation. Another essential aspect of narrative writing is the use of various imageries. The must be able to help the readers imagine the details of the surroundings, scenario. To impact this on the readers, the narrator must keep in mind the intrinsic information and mention it while describing a particular scene and its importance.
• Reflective Essays/Memoirs: Reflective essays refer to the essays in which the writer tests their real-life experiences. It helps them understand whether that experience has brought a positive or an adverse change. It helps them to understand their personal growth, identify their fears, and understand themselves better. To determine the difference in the lives of the writer, one can write a reflective essay. In most cases, reflective essays are written in first-person so that it is easier to recreate the experiences that took place. Talking about the format of the reflective essay, it entirely depends on the audience. For example, writing a reflective essay for a college and writing a reflective essay for a job will have different materials in it. It will also cover various topics and other aspects of individual growth.
• Memoirs: Memoirs are usually historical accounts or essays written from personal knowledge or experience. It should have been reported in first-person as it involves the sharing of confidential or private information of a person. Memoirs don’t require or have to have a broad audience. The writer may write a memoir only for a limited group of people like the writer’s family or friends. It is completely upon the writer with whom he/she wants to share the memoir.
• Personal Statements: It is a written description of the writer’s achievements, interests, academics, etc. it is mainly associated with job applications, college applications, applications for further studies, etc. As its statements are mostly applications, it must be in first-person. When the essay is written in the third or second person, it would absolutely make no sense.

Format Of A First-Person Essay

There is no specified or distinct format for writing a first-person essay. It thus follows the basic rules of an essay. It mainly consists of an introduction, a body, and a conclusion that the writer will have to write in first-person.

Introduction: the essay must have a proper introduction. This is the part that will decide whether the readers will be reading the essay or not. So, the writer needs to have a substantial and impactful introduction.

The introduction paragraph should introduce the topic and give the readers the slightest idea about the essay. It should be crisp yet exciting, grabbing the attention of the readers.

Body: The body of the essay deals with all the descriptions, essential points, and stories of the essay. The body consists of All the crucial elements, turns of events. It is the longest part of the essay. To make sure that the body is written with facts and theories, making it an exciting piece, the writer should continuously keep the body’s content in check.

The writer should write the climax in this part of the essay.

Conclusion: this marks the end of the essay. After the climax, in this section of the essay discusses the post climatic part of the essay. It brings all the points together, joining all the loose ends. This leaves the readers with a sense of completeness and a proper ending.

Writing The First-Person Essay In Five Steps

In the case of writing a first-person essay, it might turn out to be a hassle. But in order to avoid such hassle, one can follow the following steps to write a perfect essay in a hassle-free manner.

Select a Topic: Choosing a topic may seem to be a very confusing task. It is also the most crucial task that must be accomplished with efficiency. This is the most important work of the writer as the essay will be revolving around this topic. It has a vast impact on the readers. If the chosen topic is not up to the mark, the readers will find it too dull. If the topic’s selection is appropriately made then, the essay will be a complete hit.

The Essay’s Voice Must Be Considered: it is a must to consider the voice of the essay throughout. The writer shall always ensure that he/she is writing the entire essay in first-person. One should never mix up the voices or the tense while writing an essay.

If the writer is writing an argumentative essay, the essay will be written in first-person in such a manner that the main point of the argument is conveyed to the readers. On the other hand, if a writer is writing a reflective essay, there should be some humor in the story order to entertain the readers and engage them with the essay. The ultimate aim here is to maintain the essay’s tone so the reader feels connected with the first-person narrative.

Make a Rough Outline:  Once the topic is chosen and the choice of the tone of the essay is made, the next step is to make a rough sketch of the story’s plot. The stories, places, and people who will be a part of the essay should be jotted down on a piece of paper. The list should be made according to their occurrence in the essay. Which character comes after which incident, what happens in which place, etc.

The job of the writer here is to make sure that the story is following a trail, and it should not sound abrupt at all. To put in words that will make the readers feel the situation, it will make them think that they are facing the situation and not that they are reading an essay. Writing all these down in points will help the writer to a great extent.

Write a Draft:  After all of the previous steps are complete, it is time to start writing. In this context, one thing to keep in mind is that one should not make it boring, repeating the same points. It should have heavy emotions, candidness, and a few personal references. In first-person writing, the writer is the main protagonist, so he/she should make sure that there is an essence of their personality being reflected in the essay.

Edit: Last but not least, the job of the essay is editing. After roughly writing the essay, one should always go back to the start and re-read the essay. Make all the necessary changes and make the writing crisp yet to the point. There are a few tips that the writer has to ensure in the end. The writer needs to make sure that the essay is not too long as if it is so, the readers will lose interest.

One will also have to make the required grammar changes, make sure that the tenses are correct, etc. after all of this is complete, the essay will be ready for submission to the concerned party.

These are a few effective steps mentioned in the above paragraph that has a vast impact on the writers.

FAQ’s On How To Write A First-Person Essay

Question 1. Is it okay to use first-person in an essay?

Answer: It is definitely okay to use or write an essay in first-person. In the majority of the cases, the first-person essay must be written. In essays like an application for college, jobs, only first-person should be used; in these cases, using second-person to write an essay is absolutely inappropriate and makes no sense.

Question 2. What can be an example of a first-person essay?

Answer: A first-person essay can be of several types and variety. It could be a job application, a written application for studying purpose, essays sharing real-life stories, incidents, personal account of a person, autobiography of a renounced person, and several other topics that fall under this category.

These are only a few examples of first-person essays. First-person essays can be written to serve many other purposes as well. A well-known example of the first-person essay is ‘The diary of a young girl’ written by Anne Frank. She was a thirteen-year-old girl who shows the view of World War II and the Jewish people’s suffering.

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The “no first-person” myth

• First-Person Pronouns
• Research and Publication

In this series, we look at common APA Style misconceptions and debunk these myths one by one.

Many writers believe the “no first-person” myth, which is that writers cannot use first-person pronouns such as “I” or “we” in an APA Style paper. This myth implies that writers must instead refer to themselves in the third person (e.g., as “the author” or “the authors”). However, APA Style has no such rule against using first-person pronouns and actually encourages their use to avoid ambiguity in attribution!

When expressing your own views or the views of yourself and fellow authors, use the pronouns “I” or “we” and the like . Similarly, when writing your paper, use first-person pronouns when describing work you did by yourself or work you and your fellow authors did together when conducting your research. For example, use “we interviewed participants” rather than “the authors interviewed participants.” When writing an APA Style paper by yourself, use the first-person pronoun “I” to refer to yourself. And use the pronoun “we” when writing an APA Style paper with others. Here are some phrases you might use in your paper:

“I think…” “I believe…” “I interviewed the participants…” “I analyzed the data…” “My analysis of the data revealed…” “We concluded…” “Our results showed…”

This guidance can be found in Section 4.16 of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Seventh Edition and in Section 2.16 of the Concise Guide to APA Style, Seventh Edition . It represents a continuation of a long-standing APA Style guideline that began with the second edition of the manual, in 1974.

Keep in mind that you should avoid using the editorial “we” to refer to people in general so that it is clear to readers to whom you are referring. Instead, use more specific nouns such as “people” or “researchers.”

As always, defer to your instructors’ guidelines when writing student papers. For example, your instructor may ask students to avoid using first-person language. If so, follow that guideline for work in your class.

Now that we’ve debunked another myth, go forth APA Style writers, using the first-person when appropriate!

What myth should we debunk next? Leave a comment below.

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Essay writing: first-person and third-person points of view, introduction.

People approach essay writing in so many different ways. Some spend a long time worrying about how to set about writing an informative piece, which will educate, or even entertain, the readers. But it is not just the content that's the issue; it is also the way the content is - or ought to be - written. More may have asked the question: what should I use, the first-person point of view (POV) or the third-person?

Choosing between the two has confused more than a few essay-writing people. Sure, it can be easy to fill the piece up with healthy chunks of information and content, but it takes a deeper understanding of both points of view to be able to avoid slipping in and out one or the other - or at least realize it when it happens. Sure, a Jekyll and Hyde way of writing may be clever, but it can be very confusing in non-fiction forms, like the essay.

Why is all this important?

Continually swapping from the first-person to the third-person POV may leave the reader confused. Who exactly is talking here? Why does one part of the essay sound so detached and unaffected, while the next suddenly appears to be intimate and personal?

Indeed, making the mistake of using both points of view - without realizing it - leaves readers with the impression of the essay being haphazardly written.

Using first-person: advantages and disadvantages

The use of the first-person narration in an essay means that the author is writing exclusively from his or her point of view - no one else's. The story or the information will thus be told from the perspective of "I," and "We," with words like "me," "us," "my," "mine," "our," and "ours" often found throughout the essay.

Example: "I first heard about this coastal island two years ago, when the newspapers reported the worst oil spill in recent history. To me, the story had the impact of a footnote - evidence of my urban snobbishness. Luckily, the mess of that has since been cleaned up; its last ugly ripple has ebbed."

You will see from the above example that the writer, while not exactly talking about himself or herself, uses the first-person point of view to share information about a certain coastal island, and a certain oil spill. The decision to do so enables the essay to have a more personal, subjective, and even intimate tone of voice; it also allows the author to refer to events, experiences, and people while giving (or withholding) information as he or she pleases.

The first-person view also provides an opportunity to convey the viewpoint character or author's personal thoughts, emotions, opinion, feelings, judgments, understandings, and other internal information (or information that only the author possesses) - as in "the story had the impact of a footnote". This then allows readers to be part of the narrator's world and identify with the viewpoint character.

This is why the first-person point of view is a natural choice for memoirs, autobiographical pieces, personal experience essays, and other forms of non-fiction in which the author serves also as a character in the story.

The first-person POV does have certain limitations. First and most obvious is the fact that the author is limited to a single point of view, which can be narrow, restrictive, and awkward. Less careful or inexperienced writers using first-person may also fall to the temptation of making themselves the focal subject - even the sole subject - of the essay, even in cases that demand focus and information on other subjects, characters, or events.

Using third-person: advantages and disadvantages

The third-person point of view, meanwhile, is another flexible narrative device used in essays and other forms of non-fiction wherein the author is not a character within the story, serving only as an unspecified, uninvolved, and unnamed narrator conveying information throughout the essay. In third-person writing, people and characters are referred to as "he," "she," "it," and "they"; "I" and "we" are never used (unless, of course, in a direct quote).

Example: "Local residents of the coastal island province suffered an ecological disaster in 2006, in the form of an oil spill that was reported by national newspapers to be worst in the country's history. Cleaning up took two years, after which they were finally able to go back to advertising their island's beach sands as 'pure' and its soil, 'fertile.'"

Obviously, the use of the third-person point of view here makes the essay sound more factual - and not just a personal collection of the author's own ideas, opinions, and thoughts. It also lends the piece a more professional and less casual tone. Moreover, writing in third-person can help establish the greatest possible distance between reader and author - and the kind of distance necessary to present the essay's rhetorical situations.

The essay being non-fiction, it is important to keep in mind that the primary purpose of the form is to convey information about a particular subject to the reader. The reader has the right to believe that the essay is factually correct, or is at least given context by factual events, people, and places.

The third-person point of view is more common in reports, research papers, critiques, biography, history, and traditional journalistic essays. This again relates to the fact that the author can, with the third-person POV, create a formal distance, a kind of objectivity, appropriate in putting up arguments or presenting a case.

• Criminal Justice

9 great first-person essays from 2015

by Eleanor Barkhorn

In 2015 we worked hard at Vox to explain the biggest news stories of the year with charts, maps, videos, and lots of explainers . And in our First Person section we turned to you — our readers, our friends, and the experts we trust most — and asked for your insight and personal experiences. Here are nine of our most unforgettable first-person essays from 2015.

"I'm a black ex-cop, and this is the real truth about race and policing" by Redditt Hudson

Many Americans believe that police officers are generally good, noble heroes. A Gallup poll from last year asked Americans to rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in various fields: Police officers ranked in the top five, just above members of the clergy. The profession — the endeavor — is noble. But this myth about the general goodness of cops obscures the truth of what needs to be done to fix the system. It makes it look like all we need to do is hire good people, rather than fix the entire system. Institutional racism runs throughout our criminal justice system. Its presence in police culture, though often flatly denied by the many police apologists that appear in the media now, has been central to the breakdown in police-community relationships for decades in spite of good people doing police work.

READ THE STORY

"I live in Iran. Here's how sanctions have shaped my life" by Pedestrian

Those of us born after the revolution have lived our whole lives under sanctions. Following the November 1979 takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran, the United States imposed its first round of sanctions against Iran. Except for a brief period from 1981 to 1984, they have never been lifted. In March 1995, President Bill Clinton signed an executive order significantly expanding the scale of the embargo, preventing US companies from doing business with Iran.

I was 4 years old before we had a phone. When I was 5 we finally bought furniture — a table and two chairs. Throughout the war we heard news of young boys perishing on the front lines, entire families wiped out by bombs. For a while, street bombings became frequent in our neighborhood, and when my father left home in the morning, my mother remained fearful till nightfall, uncertain if he would return.

"I'm a doctor. Preparing you for death is as much a part of my job as saving lives" by Shoshana Ungerleider

I never knew Mr. Azarov, but I realized then that this man had been dying for a long time. He had a brutal, impersonal end, one he received by default. Who would die that way if they had a choice? Expiring in a hospital room, doctors screaming and scurrying and cracking your ribs, away from your friends and family — I wondered how many opportunities there had been to explain his end-of-life options to him or his family. Did they understand his prognosis? I'll never know. But as he lay there alone in the hospital bed, curtains drawn, still attached to machines, I felt as if we'd failed him.

"The internet is full of men who hate feminism. Here's what they're like in person" by Emmett Rensin

In the popular imagination, men's rights activists are "neckbeards": morbidly obese basement dwellers with a suspect affection for My Little Pony. But Max is remarkably unassuming in appearance, handsome enough and normally tall; equally imaginable in board shorts and a snapback as he is in the sort of graduation suit one wears to a first post-collegiate interview downtown. He was raised in St. Louis, one of two children. (He has a brother, younger: "He goes to school in Seattle. Kind of a hippie.") His parents are alive and married. Before Max was born, his father was a unionized carpenter in Newark, New Jersey, part of a long line of the same until the 1980s came around and Max Sr. followed the dawn of management consultancy into a white-collar job and the Midwest suburbs. When Max came to Chicago in 2006, it was for college ("not the first in my family to go to college but the first to go at the normal time" — that is, at age 18). Four years after graduating, he has a solid entry-level job at an area financial institution. "Plenty of women work there," he offers in the middle of a preliminary biographical rundown. "They're getting paid the same as me." We had not yet begun discussing politics.

"9 things I wish I'd known before I became a stay-at-home mom" by Lisa Endlich Heffernan

When your kids are tiny, you don't foresee the day when they will see you as something other than just their parent. Yet the day arrives when they remark positively on a mom who is a teacher, an executive, or a doctor. There is nothing quite as demoralizing as trying to convince your kid that you had once been something, done something. That you had once mattered in some very small way in the larger world.

"I used to lead tours at a plantation. You won’t believe the questions I got about slavery" by Margaret Biser

There is a surprisingly prevalent belief out there that slaves' rations and housing were bestowed upon them out of the master's goodwill, rather than handed down as a necessity for their continued labor — and their master's continued profit.

This view was expressed to me often, usually by people asking if the family was "kind" or "benevolent" to their slaves, but at no point was it better encapsulated than by a youngish mom taking the house tour with her 6-year-old daughter a couple of years ago. I had been showing them the inventory to the building, which sets a value on all the high-ticket items in the home, including silver, books, horses, and, of course, actual human people. (Remember that the technical definition of a slave is not just an unpaid worker but a person considered property.)

"My wife has depression. There’s finally a TV show that understands our relationship" by Todd VanDerWerff

A friend once told me that loving someone else is easy, that it's harder to learn to accept yourself as worthy of being loved. As someone with his own baggage (as we all have), this spoke deeply to me. Loving my wife was easy. Letting myself believe she loved me — even in the worst times — was hard. Once we got there, I could truly help her — not to get rid of the depression but to find her way through the mazes it keeps throwing up.

"I'm Latino. I’m Hispanic. And they’re different, so I drew a comic to explain" by Terry Blas

"I own guns. Here's why I'm keeping them" by Jonathan Blanks

During the early part of the 20th century, the KKK were a social and political force in Indiana. They would march in town and through the black neighborhood where my father's family lived. Growing up, I was told about my grandfather standing at the door of the house with his gun drawn, calling the kids home while the Klan marched up the street.

As far as I know, my grandfather never had to fire his gun in defense of his family, but like many blacks in the years following emancipation, he believed firearms were a necessary part of protecting them. Particularly in the South — but in fact throughout the United States — blacks could not rely on the government to protect them from crime or terrorism.

First Person is Vox's home for compelling, provocative narrative essays. Do you have a story to share? Read our submission guidelines , and pitch us at [email protected] .

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Is using first person in academic/technical essays always bad?

For as long as I can remember, my teachers have taught me never to use first person in an essay. Yet, some of the examples we read in classes, or older writings we have to annotate, are written in first person. So what is the actual rule here? Why is using first person in essays considered unacceptable?

• academic-writing
• grammatical-person

• 1 Are you sure that your teachers haven’t confused first person and first person singular? –  Wrzlprmft Commented Feb 10, 2019 at 20:41
• I removed [technical-writing] because it is specifically about creating documentation, not essays (even though the term is used for essays outside of Writing.SE). –  Cyn Commented Feb 10, 2019 at 23:37

6 Answers 6

This depends on your style guide and potentially your teacher/school/boss/etc.'s guidelines. If your teacher (for example) says to avoid using the first person you may be able to negotiate to change their position, but ultimately they are the ones evaluating your work so you need to follow their rules.

None of the three major American style guides forbids using first person.

This is what the APA Blog has to say about the first person:

I am often asked why APA Style prohibits the use of  I or we . I love this question, because the answer is always a pleasant surprise:  I or  we is perfectly acceptable in APA Style! In fact, the  Publication Manual actually recommends using first person, when appropriate, to avoid ambiguity.

(Another APA blog post also addresses this issue.)

According to a Q&A on the CMOS website , the CMOS says this:

Please see CMOS 5.220, s.v. I; me: “When you need the first person, use it. It’s not immodest to use it; it’s superstitious not to.”

Another Q&A on their site says:

Avoiding the first person used to be considered proper, but now it’s considered very formal, if not old-fashioned. It’s not a question of correctness, however; both styles are correct. If you feel strongly that the first person is out of place in your work, don’t use it.

MLA , on their webpage, says:

Let the first-person singular be, instead, a tool that you take out when you think it’s needed and that you leave in the toolbox when you think it’s not.

• 1 Everyone seem to forget that we is also first person ! –  Zeus Commented Feb 11, 2019 at 7:21

My recommendation is to use first-person pronouns only for attribution. If you do something original, such as a thesis or other research, it makes sense to use "we" for things you did with your supervisor, or "I" for what you managed on your own. It's important to examiners/reviewers to know what is one, what is the other and what is instead due to previous academics, and to be confident of your non-plagiaristic honesty on that front. Laurel's answer shows a number of style guides for such writing gives similar advice.

If your essay contains nothing original, such as when you give an overview of the arguments for and against philosophers' views on an issue, the fact you wrote the essay is immaterial, and you should effectively be as anonymous as a Wikipedia article's author(s). Although you don't go into detail about where you read an author using "I", my best guess is it was when they made a case for something of their own.

• 1 The second paragraph hints at a reason that is grammatical. The I verb clauses on sentences are redundant with a single author and ambiguous if there are coauthors. –  Dan D. Commented Feb 11, 2019 at 12:59
• @DanD Well, I can be necessary when contrasting with what third parties did, thought etc., while "first-person" pronouns include both I and we , and you'll sometimes need these with co-authors. –  J.G. Commented Feb 11, 2019 at 13:01

Like with so many other issues of style, it depends on your audience.

For a school essay, your audience is your teacher. So write the essay your teacher wants, no matter if it's okay to do it another way elsewhere.

If you submit an essay or article for publication, the audience is the publisher, and you should follow its rules. A publisher curates for a larger audience and will have rules and expectations for authors that fit those needs.

Some academic essays need to be in first person. Imagine a college application essay written in 3rd person. I'm sure people have done it. I wouldn't advise it. If you're writing an essay to read out loud at a conference or other presentation, and it's about your work, you also need to use first person or it's just weird and confusing.

Figure out your audience and adjust your writing accordingly.

• I had a number of classmates in college who wrote their college application essays in the 3rd person. While I don't know exactly what the issue was, the effectiveness of the technique was suggested by the fact that they were all going to the public college I was going to, which did not have a college application essay. I think there were a few people I met at my school who had said they'd used the first person on their application essays, so it clearly wasn't the only factor. But it was apparently a common practice among those who applied to prestigious schools and didn't get accepted. –  Ed Grimm Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 2:02
• @EdGrimm Back in my day, college application essays were always things like "what is something that defines my character?" or "why I want to go to your school". I even once got "what animal would I be and why?" Writing anything like that in 3rd person would be completely nuts, IMHO. But maybe they got some questions where the topic could be in 3rd person? Or something that could go either way? –  Cyn Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 2:21
• For all of the ones I even vaguely remember, the people who wrote them thought they were nuts to write in the third person, but did so anyway due to having learned in high school to always write in the third person. –  Ed Grimm Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 2:31
• 1 Oy vey. Talk about the wrong lessons to take away from high school. And ugh that their schools didn't have counselors to help with this stuff. –  Cyn Commented Feb 12, 2019 at 2:33

The restrictions on 1st person (singular or plural) does depend on:

• The genre of writing
• The style guide being followed
• The opinion of the teacher/instructor/advisor/publisher/editor
• The context within the paper

Genre of Writing

Generally speaking, it is research writing that tends to favor not using 1st person. The reason for this is that research ought to be objective, not subjective, and too many inexperienced students (i.e. college undergraduates or younger, though even some graduates) doing research writing tend to write opinion , rather than properly researched and documented facts . So for these types of students, it is often safest for a teacher to say avoid 1st person . This helps force the student not to be thinking about what they "believe," but rather what they can "prove" via their research.

Style Guides

Style guides vary on what is allowed, but generally have some similar ideas. For instance, The Concise Rules of APA , 6th edition (2010) states for an appropriate use of 1st person (bold added):

Innappropriately or illogically attributing action in an effort to be objective can be misleading. ... To avoid ambiguity, use a personal pronoun rather than the third person when describing steps taken in your experiment .    Correct:     We reviewed the literature.    Incorrect:     The authors reviewed the literature. (sec. 1.09, pp. 19-20)

But then further clarifies use (bold added):

For clarity, restrict your use of we to refer only to yourself and your coauthors (use I if you are the sole author of the paper). Broader uses of we may leave your readers wondering to whom you are referring. (sec. 1.09, p. 20)

So in short, don't include in a "we" (1) the readers, (2) other people in the field of study who did not author the paper with you.

Similarly, A Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, 9th edition (2018), which tends to follow The Chicago Manual of Style in a lot of respects, says the following about avoiding 1st person (bold added):

Most instructors and editors do agree that two uses of I should be avoided: Insecure writers begin too many sentences with I think or I believe (or their equivalent, In my opinion ). Readers assume that you think and believe what you write, so you don't have to say you do. Inexperienced writers too often narrate their research: First I consulted ..., then I examined ... , and so on. Reader care less about the story of your research than about its results. (sec. 11.1.7, p. 120)

And then later notes two more with respect to the 1st person plural as well:

But many instructors and editors object to other uses of we : the royal we used to refer reflexively to the writer the all-purpose we that refers to people in general (sec. 11.1.7, p. 121)

Between the above inappropriate uses, the manual notes some positive uses:

The first person is appropriate on two occasions ... An occasional introductory I (or we ) believe can soften the dogmatic edge of a statement ... The trick is not to hedge so often that you sound uncertain or so rarely that you sound smug. ... when it's the subject of a verb naming an action unique to you as the writer of your argument. Verbs referring to such actions typically appear in introductions ( I will show/argue/prove/claim that X ) and in conclusions ( I have demonstrated/concluded that Y ). Since only you can show, prove, or claim what's in your argument, only you can say so with I . ... On the other hand, researchers rarely use the first person for an action that others must repeat to replicate their research. Those words include divide, measure, weigh, examine , and so on. ... Those same principles apply to we , if you're one of two or more authors. (sec. 11.1.7, pp. 120-121)

Authority's Opinion

Style guides give some "allowance," but whoever an author is writing for has ultimate say on what precisely is allowed. This is generally noted in the style guides as well.

For instance, the second bullet point in the preceding quote about "appropriate" uses would not be a valid use by a number of people in authority who believe such metadiscourse (or signposting ) that gives a discussion of what the author "will do" in the paper is bad writing for a couple of reasons: (1) regarding whether an author "proves" the point or not is up to the reader, whether the author believes it was proven or not; (2) what the author is showing, arguing, claiming, etc., should be evident within good writing without it being explicitly stated.

The point, however, is that the one the author is writing for (whether a class or a publication) determines the appropriate uses of 1st person; the author just needs to follow the rules laid down.

Context within the Paper

This relates directly to the caveats noted in the style guide section above, and also relates to the authority's acceptance or not. Some places in a paper may be appropriate to use 1st person, other places not. If an author is giving a personal illustration, it would be appropriate; but in a research paper, a personal illustration is generally not often used (since it cannot be verified; it is subjective). So whether or not it is allowed in a particular place will no doubt depend much on the context within the paper itself.

I will try to convey the request and explanation of one of my professors. He specifically asked me to change generic speaking to 1st person singular.

(His) explanation:

It is OK to use generic speaking or 3rd person if you talk about something that is generally known, or it was published / researched by somebody else. But if you describe your own work, it is confusing to use anything else than 1st person singular.

It was very reasonable (and very awkward - to learn to take responsibility and credit for my own work), but it became my own thinking meanwhile.

It depends on what your goal is. If your essay is supposed to say something about the world in general, you should maybe avoid the first person, because that could make it seem as if your essay's conclusions are based on a sample size of one, which would detract from its validity.

On the other hand, if you want to share something you personally accomplished, or discovered, or witnessed, then using the first person could add validity to your essay, because hey, you were there, right?

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first-person

Definition of first-person

 (Entry 1 of 2)

first person

Definition of first person  (Entry 2 of 2)

Examples of first-person in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'first-person.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

1751, in the meaning defined at sense 1

15th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Articles Related to first-person

Point of View: It's Personal

First, second, and third person explained

Dictionary Entries Near first-person

first personal

Cite this Entry

“First-person.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/first-person. Accessed 18 Jun. 2024.

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Essays That Worked

The essays are a place to show us who you are and who you’ll be in our community.

It’s a chance to add depth to something that is important to you and tell the admissions committee more about your background or goals. Below you’ll find selected examples of essays that “worked,” as nominated by our admissions committee. In each of these essays, students were able to share stories from their everyday lives to reveal something about their character, values, and life that aligned with the culture and values at Hopkins.

Read essays that worked from Transfer applicants .

Hear from the class of 2027.

These selections represent just a few examples of essays we found impressive and helpful during the past admissions cycle. We hope these essays inspire you as you prepare to compose your own personal statements. The most important thing to remember is to be original as you share your own story, thoughts, and ideas with us.

Ordering the Disorderly

Ellie’s essay skillfully uses the topic of entropy as an extended metaphor. Through it, we see reflections about who they are and who they aspire to be.

Pack Light, But Be Prepared

In Pablo’s essay, the act of packing for a pilgrimage becomes a metaphor for the way humans accumulate experiences in their life’s journey and what we can learn from them. As we join Pablo through the diverse phases of their life, we gain insights into their character and values.

Tikkun Olam

Julieta illustrates how the concept of Tikkun Olam, “a desire to help repair the world,” has shaped their passions and drives them to pursue experiences at Hopkins.

Kashvi’s essay encapsulates a heartfelt journey of self-discovery and the invaluable teachings of Rock, their 10-year-old dog. Through the lens of their companionship, Kashvi walked us through valuable lessons on responsibility, friendship, patience, and unconditional love.

Classical Reflections in Herstory

Maddie’s essay details their intellectual journey using their love of Greek classics. They incorporate details that reveal the roots of their academic interests: storytelling, literary devices, and translation. As their essay progresses, so do Maddie’s intellectual curiosities.

My Spotify Playlist

Alyssa’s essay reflects on special memories through the creative lens of Spotify playlists. They use three examples to highlight their experiences with their tennis team, finding a virtual community during the pandemic, and co-founding a nonprofit to help younger students learn about STEM.

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Home — Essay Samples — Literature — The Outsiders — How Does S E Hinton Use Inner Self in The Outsiders

How Does S E Hinton Use Inner Self in The Outsiders

• Categories: The Outsiders

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Published: Jun 13, 2024

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Reflections on the Final Utterance: the Profound Impact of Last Words

This essay about the profound impact of final words explores how last statements in literature, film, and real life resonate with audiences. It discusses how these utterances encapsulate characters’ journeys, emotions, and thematic significance. From Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” to historical figures like Winston Churchill, final words reveal insights into human nature, existential themes, and the complexities of closure. Whether conveying acceptance, defiance, or reflection, last words leave a lasting impression, shaping narratives and provoking contemplation on mortality, identity, and the human experience.

How it works

In literature, film, and real life, the final words spoken by individuals hold a profound significance. Whether uttered in moments of triumph, despair, or reflection, these last statements often encapsulate the essence of a person’s journey and leave an indelible mark on those who hear them. The power of “the last thing he said” lies not only in its immediate context but also in its ability to resonate far beyond the moment of utterance.

Firstly, the significance of final words can be understood through their emotional weight.

In literature, characters’ last words often serve as a culmination of their narrative arcs, reflecting their growth, regrets, or acceptance of fate. For instance, in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” the protagonist’s final words, “The rest is silence,” encapsulate his journey from doubt to acceptance of mortality. Similarly, in real life, historical figures like Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I’ve seen the promised land” or Steve Jobs’ “Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow” reveal moments of deep introspection and profound realization.

Moreover, final statements often carry thematic weight, providing insight into larger philosophical or moral themes. In George Orwell’s “1984,” the protagonist Winston’s final words, “He loved Big Brother,” underscore the novel’s exploration of totalitarianism and the loss of individual autonomy. Likewise, in film, iconic last lines such as “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” from “Gone with the Wind” symbolize themes of resilience and personal freedom amidst societal upheaval.

Beyond literature and film, the impact of last words extends to real-world contexts, shaping historical narratives and public memory. Consider Winston Churchill’s poignant last words, “I’m bored with it all,” which humanize the larger-than-life figure and reveal his weariness after a lifetime of leadership and wartime challenges. Similarly, the final radio transmission from the Apollo 1 crew, “Fire, I smell fire,” serves as a tragic reminder of the risks inherent in space exploration and the courage of those who venture into the unknown.

In conclusion, “the last thing he said” represents more than just a concluding remark; it embodies the culmination of a journey, encapsulates profound truths, and leaves a lasting impression on audiences. Whether in literature, film, or real life, final words serve as poignant reminders of the human experience—its complexities, triumphs, and inevitable farewells. By reflecting on these moments of closure, we gain deeper insights into the characters who utter them and the narratives they conclude. Ultimately, the power of final words lies in their ability to transcend time and circumstance, resonating with audiences long after they are spoken.

In essence, “the last thing he said” invites us to contemplate the significance of closure, the weight of words, and the enduring impact of individual expression. Through literature’s portrayal of characters’ final utterances, we glimpse the essence of human experience—its joys, sorrows, and unending quest for meaning. Whether poignant, defiant, or contemplative, these last words leave an imprint on our collective consciousness, reminding us of the power of language to shape our understanding of the world and ourselves.

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Reflections on the Final Utterance: The Profound Impact of Last Words. (2024, Jun 17). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/reflections-on-the-final-utterance-the-profound-impact-of-last-words/

"Reflections on the Final Utterance: The Profound Impact of Last Words." PapersOwl.com , 17 Jun 2024, https://papersowl.com/examples/reflections-on-the-final-utterance-the-profound-impact-of-last-words/

PapersOwl.com. (2024). Reflections on the Final Utterance: The Profound Impact of Last Words . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/reflections-on-the-final-utterance-the-profound-impact-of-last-words/ [Accessed: 19 Jun. 2024]

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PapersOwl.com. (2024). Reflections on the Final Utterance: The Profound Impact of Last Words . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/reflections-on-the-final-utterance-the-profound-impact-of-last-words/ [Accessed: 19-Jun-2024]

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A Childhood Video Of Sabrina Carpenter Is Going Seriously Viral Because It Proves That She Has Always Had That Iconic Sense Of Humor

After watching the resurfaced clip, one person said of Sabrina’s quirky personality: “I find it endearing and actually funny because you can tell it’s not forced.”

BuzzFeed Staff

While she has been in the entertainment industry for more than a decade, it’s fair to say that Sabrina Carpenter has only recently ascended to superstardom.

After first finding success as a child actor, including one of the lead roles in the Disney Channel sitcom Girl Meets World back in 2014, Sabrina turned her attention to music that same year.

Since then, she has released five studio albums, and it was her most recent one — Emails I Can’t Send — that really catapulted her into the mainstream following its 2022 release.

Sabrina appeared to win over a new audience with her sassy lyrics and tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, which was only exemplified when she toured the album later that same year.

The star became renowned for her seriously NSFW “Nonsense” outros that she would personalize for every single performance, as well as her social media activity that proves she doesn’t take anything too seriously.

For example, when Sabrina posted a video of herself playing her song to a lamp for the first time.

sabrina carpenter playing nonsense to a lamp pic.twitter.com/YKJe33wS60 — AARON (@lidolmix) May 16, 2024

She also references her sense of humor not being for everybody in her songs, with “Things I Wish You Said” including the lyric: “Nobody gets my jokes, everyone here thinks I'm fucking rude.”

Sabrina’s most recent singles have actively leaned into this playful new brand, with both becoming hugely popular summer hits ahead of the release of her sixth studio album, Short n’ Sweet , in August.

As you’re probably aware, “Espresso” immediately went viral for Sabrina’s quirky chorus, where she repeats: “That’s that me, espresso,” as well as her on-point delivery of the line: “I’m working late, coz I’m a singer.”

“Please Please Please” had similar success, with fans going wild over the overriding theme of the song being Sabrina’s all-too-relatable fear that her boyfriend will humiliate her. 

She sings in the chorus: “Heartbreak is one thing, my ego’s another — I beg you don’t embarrass me, motherfucker.”

The accompanying music video was even better, with Sabrina casting her real-life actor boyfriend , Barry Keoghan , to play her outlaw love interest.

And after years in the business, Sabrina recently shared her joy that she has been able to utilize and showcase her true personality in her most recent work.

Speaking to Rolling Stone , the singer said of her ever-growing stardom: “I just love that people get my sense of humor.”

While it is common for people to question the authenticity of the personality that celebrities present as part of their brand, a recently resurfaced video of Sabrina as a kid has gone viral for proving that she has always been pretty quirky.

The clip is believed to have been taken from a YouTube video uploaded by the star when she was just a child, and it shows her confidently pretending that she can talk to her pet cat. 

Speaking to the camera while standing beside a cat, Sabrina says: “OK, I’ve got this, I’ve got this real good. I went to animal communication school, trust me, we’re, like, tight.”

She then leans toward the cat and slowly enunciates: “Meow. Purr. Hiss.”

Turning back to the camera, she exclaims: “He intimidated, you see that intimidation in his eyes?”

Seemingly catching herself off-guard, she then gasps: “I’m deep, I’m so deep, oh my god, I gotta-" before walking off-camera in apparent awe of her skill.

The video has been doing the rounds on social media for a while now, but started to gain prominence last month when a pop culture account tweeted it alongside the joke : “sabrina carpenter has been talking nonsense since forever.”

This tweet went viral at the time with more than 4 million views and tens of thousands of responses.

However, the clip has gained fresh traction in recent days after somebody shared Sabrina’s response to one of her fan’s TikToks.

and i love how it’s not even forced like sabrina been strange since she gained consciousness😭😭 pic.twitter.com/8hPQDEQO9V https://t.co/igfJ0AXTqJ — AARON (@lidolmix) June 15, 2024

In the video, the fan is left horrified when her young son shouts “motherfucker” while she is singing “Please Please Please,” and Sabrina apologized for her bad influence as she commented: “just dropped the clean i am so sorry.”

If you’re wondering, in the clean version of the song, Sabrina replaces “motherfucker” with “little sucker.”

Sharing Sabrina’s comment to X, somebody tweeted : “she is the funniest pop girlie out there right now like let's bfr,” and somebody responded by quote-tweeting the childhood video and writing: “and i love how it’s not even forced like sabrina been strange since she gained consciousness 😭😭”

This tweet has already been seen more than 15 million times, and thousands have shared their agreement with the OP’s sentiment.

“That’s why I find it endearing and actually funny cause u can tell it’s not forced,” one person replied . Another agreed : “tbh the more i follow this girl the more i become her fan lmaoooo it's not even about her music, she's so weird as a person and i love it.”

“her job is being a comedian, being an artist is her hobby,” somebody else joked . 

One more wrote : “I fully support anyone who’s been a delightful weirdo all their life!”

While another referenced a “Please Please Please” lyric as they tweeted : “I love how unserious she is with life and her music like wym the ceiling fan is so nice.”

Sabrina's new album, Short n' Sweet is due for release on Aug. 23.

Topics in this article.

• Sabrina Carpenter

A guide to the competitive races on the Virginia primary election ballot

After months of speculation, tens of millions of campaign dollars spent, and 45 days of early voting, Virginia's 2024 primary elections will take place on Tuesday.

All of Virginia's contested House of Representatives seats—six Democratic and three Republican—and a Republican primary for the U.S. Senate—are up for election, but only a handful of primaries are competitive.

Early voting concluded on Saturday, and 110,044 Democratic voters and 72,857 Republican voters across the commonwealth cast their ballots ahead of June 18, according to Virginia Public Access Project data.

U.S. Senate Republican primary

Five Republican candidates are on the June ballot, seeking their party's nomination to challenge Democratic U.S. Senator Tim Kaine. The Republican primary race has seen approximately $5.7 million in spending, including funds from independent groups and withdrawn candidates. Despite the Democratic stronghold label from the Cook Political Report, Republican hopefuls continue to pursue Kaine's seat.

The top three contenders are Hung Cao , a retired Navy captain who ran unsuccessfully in 2022 and launched a super PAC in 2023, Edward "Eddie" Garcia , a combat Army veteran, and Scott Parkinson, the Vice President for Government Affairs at the conservative non-profit, Club for Growth.

U.S. House District 5

In the solidly Republican 5th Congressional District, Trump-endorsed state senator John McGuire has challenged incumbent and head of the Freedom Caucus Representative Bob Good . The race has been fiercely fought , with 14,125 Republican voters casting early ballots. An estimated $12 million has been spent, and the primary winner is expected to win the seat in November.

U.S. House District 7

Following Representative Abigail Spanberger's decision not to seek re-election to Congress in favor of running for Virginia governor in 2025, over a dozen candidates have entered the race for U.S. House District 7. Six Republicans and seven Democrats are on the ballot for the June election. Early voting saw 15,310 Democrats and 9,461 Republicans cast their ballots. The region leans Democrat, but Republicans are aiming to win the seat.

About $4.3 million has been spent on the Republican primary. The top contenders are Derrick Anderson, a former U.S. Army combat veteran, and Cameron Hamilton, a retired Navy SEAL pledging allegiance to the House Freedom Caucus if elected.

In the Democratic primary, approximately $6.5 million has been spent, and five out of seven candidates remain competitive. These candidates are Eugene Vindman, Briana Sewell, Elizabeth Guzman, Margaret Angela Franklin and Andrea Bailey.

U.S. House District 10

In U.S. House District 10, more than a dozen candidates are running after Wexton chose not to seek re-election due to health reasons. Four Republicans and 12 Democrats will be on the June ballot. 18,453 Democratic voters and 8,455 Republican voters have cast their early votes in the northern Virginia district. District 10 is considered "solidly Democrat" by the Cook Political Report, but some Republicans are hoping to win the seat.

Approximately $746,200 has been spent on the Republican primary. The leading candidates are Mike Clancy, a senior executive and lawyer at a global tech company, and Aliscia Andrews, a Marine Corps veteran who previously won the Republican primary for the 10th Congressional District in 2020. Andrews currently serves as Virginia's Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security, appointed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2022.

Around $11.1 million has been spent on the competitive Democratic primary in Virginia, with five out of 12 candidates vying for the nomination. The contenders include Eileen Filler-Corn, Suhas Subramanyam, Dan Helmer, Krystle Veda Kaul, and Jennifer Boysko.