Name: _______________________________________
Date: __________ Period: ____
Personal Narrative Essay Outline
Title: ____________________________________
Introduction
Catch the reader’s attention with an interesting opening sentence or two (hook}._________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Give a little background information about your topic. Set the scene, but do not begin telling the story
yet. Try to create a mood._______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Introduce your topic and the main idea (thesis statement) you want to communicate about your topic.
(Was it scary? emotional? painful? life altering? Etc.) __________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Include answers to who, when, and where. (Tell how old you were, what grade you were in, where you
where living, etc.) _____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________________________________
Lead in to telling what happened, but don’t tell the story. End this paragraph with a cliffhanger, perhaps,
which will make the reader want to know more. _____________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Body - Tell your story. Explain what happened. Tell it in the order in which it happened. Use
chronological order. Guide the reader through the experience. Use “time” transition words and phrases
to develop the sense of time and to connect ideas. Be sure to include your thoughts and feelings as you
tell the story. Try to use specific nouns, vivid action verbs, and descriptive adjectives and adverbs in
describing the experience and your thoughts and feelings. Make the experience come alive. Paint
pictures in the reader’s mind. Make us think and feel as you did.
Topic Sentence – Major Point: ____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________________________
