The Narrative Paragraph and The Narrative Essay

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The Narrative Paragraph
and The Narrative Essay
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What specific types of narrative reports
have you written in other courses?
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What specific types of narrative reports
might you write in your career?
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As a witness to an accident, a crime, or
some other incident, you might report what took
place.Whenever readers need to understand what
happened, narrative reporting is essential.
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Narration is a piece of writing that
tells a story of an event or experience.
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The events you include and the way you
describe them create a story that is based on
your point of view.
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A good Narration

• Reveals something of importance to you (your main
  point)
• Includes all of the major events of the
  story.
• Uses details to bring the story to life
• Presents the events in a clear order, usually
  according to when it happened.

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Common time transitions

• Before
• After
• During
• First
• Next
• Second
• Then
• Finally
• while

• Later
• At last
• Last
• Eventually
• Meanwhile
• Since
• Now
• Soon
• when

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Guidelines of a Narrative Paragraph

• Write out the topic sentence and circle the point
  of view.
• List any background information
• Briefly summarize the incident (write several
  sentences telling what happened in your own
  words)
• Do all of these sentences support your point of
  view?
• Are the events in the story in chronological
  order?

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Read the following paragraph.My
twelfth birthday was originally a disappointment
that turned into my best birthday ever. For five
or six months preceding the big day, I begged my
parents for a certain new bicycle. I had seen
one in a medium price range that I figured my
folks could afford. I hinted and even pleaded
outright, promising to do extra chores if I got
it. Pointing out that the only bike I had ever
had was a hand-me-down from my older brother. I
showed them how rusted the frame was. Meanwhile,
my brother was begging for a set of tires for the
car he had bought. When my birthday finally
came, my hopes were so high. Instead of the
bicycle, though, I got a new shirt, a pair of
sneakers, and an envelope. At first, I thought
it was just a card, but it turned out to have
enough money for the bike in it. It also
contained five contracts for extra work around
the house that I could do to earn enough money
for a much nicer bicycle. My parents gave me the
gift of upgrading from the bike I settled for. I
ended up getting a great new bicycle that I
helped to buy with money I had earned myself.
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1. What is the topic sentence?2.
Which sentence is not in unity with the rest of
the paragraph?3. What do you think is the
writers reason for writing this paragraph?
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-II-Guidelines for a Narrative Essay1.
Set the scene immediately.Place readers right
at the center of the action. If you open with
some sort of background explanation, keep it
short and sweet.
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2. Convey your main point.If you simply
report, then there is no main point. You need to
have a main point to help you present or explain
the major events of the story.
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In a narrative essay, the Thesis
introduces the action that begins in the first
paragraph.Now, as I watched the bus driver set
my luggage on the airport sidewalk, I realized
that my frustration had only just begun.
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These major events will become the
topic sentences for the body paragraphs in your
essay. The paragraphs in the body will develop
the story.
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3.Choose details that directly advance your
story in your support and bring the experience to
life for the reader.
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4. Choose details that are concrete and
specific enough to show clearly what happened.
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5. Order details in a clear sequence.
Chronological ordering often works best in a
narrative because it enables readers to follow
events as they occurred.
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6. Control your tenses and transitions.
Indicate a clear time frame for each event
present, past, past perfect, or even future. If
you move from one time frame to another, be sure
to keep the tense consistent within each frame.
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Transitions will help signal the end of
action in one paragraph, and provide a link to
the action of the next paragraph. They give your
story unity and allow the reader to follow the
action easily.
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7. Tell us what all this means and what we
should remember about it
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You finish describing the action in the
essay in the concluding paragraph. The final
sentence can have two functions
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1. It can deliver the moral of the
story, or tell the reader what the characters or
you learned from the experience.2. It can make
a prediction or a revelation about future actions
that will happen as a result of the events in the
story.
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MoralThe little boy had finally learned
that telling the truth was the most important
thing to do.
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Prediction/revelationI can only hope
that one day I will be able to do the same for
another traveler who is suffering through a
terrible journey.Every Christmas Eve, my wife
and I return to that magical spot and remember
the selfless act that saved our lives.
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When you think of a topic for your
narrative essay, try to remember something
exciting, difficult, wonderful, or frightening
that has happened to you. Can this event be
developed into an interesting narrative essay?
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Ask yourself questions

• When was an important time in my life?
• What has happened in my experience that I would
  enjoy writing about?
• Is there an event in my life that other people
  would enjoy hearing about?
• How did I feel about a particular experience?
• Who was involved?
• Why do I remember this event so strongly?
• What effect did it have on me?
• Did anything change because of this experience?
• What interesting experiences do I know of that
  happened to other people?

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If you are answering some of these
questions about a specific experience that you or
someone else had, then you may have a topic for a
narrative essay.
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Write a narration paragraph or essay on one
of the following topics.
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1.Explain the most important or interesting
event that has happened to you in college.
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2.Tell about a recent experience or incident
you witnessed that left a strong impression on
you.
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3. Write about an event when you were
proud of someone in your family.or Write
about an event when you were proud or ashamed of
your behavior.
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4. Think of a time when you had to do
something against your wishes.OrThink of a
memorable experience you have had it could be
frightening, sobering, or amusing.
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5. Talk about an interesting, incredible
story you heard on the news recently.6. How
did you meet your sweetheart?
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After you have a suitable topic,
brainstorm some ideas about your topic.Organize
your ideas. Remember that its not necessary to
tell every detail of the story. Include only
the most important actions or events that move
the story forward.
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IntroductionWhat is the basic idea of
the story?Where is the story taking place?When
is the story taking place?Who is in the
story?a) lead-inb) connecting informationc)
Thesis statement
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BodyWhat feeling or atmosphere do you
want to create in the story? What will happen in
the plot?A) Paragraph 2 Topic
sentence 1. 2. 3. transition sentence
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ConclusionWhat will happen last in
the story? How will you finish the plot?Will
your narrative essay have a moral or make a
prediction or a revelation?A) close of the
actionB) final sentence (moral, prediction or
revelation
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The End!