The Five Paragraph Essay




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Narrative Essay and Prompts

     When you write a narrative essay, you are telling a story. Narrative essays are told from from a defined point of view, often the author's, so there is feeling as well as specific and often sensory details provided to get the reader involved in the elements and sequence of the story. The verbs are vivid and precise. The narrative essay makes a point and that point is often defined in the opening sentence, but can also be found as the last sentence in the opening paragraph. (For test taking purposes, it can be wise to put if first so that the person grading does not miss it.

     Since a narrative relies on personal experiences, it often is in the form of a story. When the writer uses this technique, he or she must be sure to include all the conventions of storytelling: plot, character, setting, climax, and ending. It is usually filled with details that are carefully selected to explain, support, or embellish the story. All of the details relate to the main point the writer is attempting to make.

     To summarize, the narrative essay

  • is told from a particular point of view
  • makes and supports a point
  • is filled with precise detail
  • uses vivid verbs and modifiers
  • uses conflict and sequence as does any story
  • may use dialogue

     For more information about narrative writing visit:

     Here are some narrative choices that have some additional guidance provided for development:

Here are some additional topics which may be useful.


Here are a few examples of rubrics.








Home Page  /  Structure  /  Getting Started
How to Write the Essay   /  Editing, Revising, and Evaluating
Expository and Prompts  /  Narrative and Prompts
Persuasive and Prompts  /  Varied Prompts
Tips and Techniques   /  Translate This Page