Students are assigned to complete dozens of types of incredibly complicated academic assignments during studies. However, writing a personal essay usually causes the highest number of questions and difficulties. What are the most winning narrative essay topics for college students? How can you come up with an astonishing and quality paper? Discover the handiest narrative essay prompts that will help you succeed in completing your college task within the shortest terms.
Personal Essay: Exploring the Basic Concepts
Before diving into the world of professional writing tips, it is vital to understand the core concepts of this academic paper. This type of essay is intended to represent the events and encounters that happened to you at a particular time. This means you will need to share your memories and extraordinary episodes from the past. However, it is important to note that this type of essay shouldn’t have a precise chronicle of events.
How to Pick Up a Topic for a Narrative Essay
First of all, it is necessary to try to tell a particular story. It might be a life lesson you’ve received in the past, the events that have shifted your attitude towards particular things, or the description of how you’ve gained some important skills.
Second, try to pick up some personal narrative ideas that can be easily discussed in a class. It might be some disputable solution that has different sides, benefits, and drawbacks. Avoid choosing too common or outdated topics for a narrative essay not to make the readers feel bored.
Third, don’t be afraid to experiment. You can choose a topic that covers several episodes from your past that are connected with each other. However, don’t expect your essay to be loaded with tons of various events. You can share your emotional experience while describing the only case, too.
It is also good to determine the ideas for a narrative essay with its traditional structure in mind. Can you develop the main subject of your paper? How can you connect the main part with the introduction? Remember that most types of academic papers are based on the golden rule of meeting a traditional essay structure.
Make sure a chosen topic can cover at least three claims that will become the key sentences in each paragraph of your essay’s body. They will endorse your thesis statement.
How to Find Good Personal Narrative Topics Related to Experience
Sharing experiences is one of the easiest ways to compose a winning academic paper. You are expected to describe some cases you had in the past that caused a significant impact on your entire life. It is worth mentioning that these events might be either positive or negative.
Make sure not to share any too personal matters to feel more comfortable in a class. It is better to avoid touching any sensitive topics for narrative essays. Don’t be afraid to add more detail to your narration to make it brighter and more sapid.
Here is a list of narrative speech topics you can use for composing your assignment:
- An extraordinary experience that changed your character
- The scariest moment in your life
- The most remarkable moment of your childhood
- The way you found your best friend
- The story about how someone saved your life
- How did you come through the fear
- A story of getting your first job
- A story that describes the way you coped with a certain difficulty in an uncommon way
- The event that helped you choose the niche you would like to learn more about
- An unpleasant case you had in your life
- Your most terrible mistake
- How did you impress your friends
- The best Christmas you ever had
- Natural disaster: your story of the survival
- The way you found out a secret truth about a particular person
- Your feelings about becoming a winner for the first time
- A time you had a serious disease
- The first time you’ve got a reward or prize
- The toughest decision in your life
- The story of making a wrong decision you regret
- A story of visiting a concert of your favorite group
- A story about meeting a celebrity
- The most drastic changes in your life
- The time you got a serious injury doing something stupid
- Unforgettable event that has happened in your life
- A moment you saved someone’s life
Personal Narrative Essay Topics: Childhood
There is nothing new that childhood is one of the brightest periods in the lives of many people. You might have had incredible adventures, believed in odd and fantastic things, and experienced ridiculous cases. All of these can become a perfect topic for your essay. Feel free to choose one of the solutions below if you don’t know where to start.
- The most exceptional birthday celebration
- A holiday you didn’t like and why
- Your first trip to the beach
- How your childhood dreams came true
- What experience from your childhood appeared to be helpful
- Your first day at school
- Your favorite book in childhood and how it changed your attitude to life
- The best present you gave your parents when being a kid
- The fairytale or cartoon heroes you admired
- The most valuable toy in your childhood
- Your first visit to the zoo or circus
- The moment you’ve seen your younger brother/sister for the first time
- The best thing you liked to do in the kindergarten
- The oddest childhood belief
- A story of how you met a new friend in unusual circumstances
- The time you got to the emergency room
- The best holiday with your parents
- Your first visit to a summer camp
- Your first skiing or skating experience
- A story about how a particular person treated you in an unfair way
- Your first visit to the seaside
- The most unforgettable hiking memories
- Your first trip on a plane
- The funniest moment in your childhood
- The ways you’ve been punished in childhood and your attitude towards it
Personal Paper Topics: Student Life
Your life in college or university is surely different from high school. You can share your stories of meeting new friends, learning difficult subjects, and much more. How did you become more independent? Did college life meet your expectations? You can use these ideas for composing a fantastic story:
- The first job you get during your studies
- The way you’ve chosen a college to continue learning after high school graduation
- The most difficult exam you had during your studies
- The story about how you first met your roommate
- An unforgettable student party
- Your thoughts about meeting people from different countries and cultures
- How did you cope with the depression during learning at college?
- The most disappointing thing about college
- What made you choose your field of study?
- Your thoughts and expectations about your school social life
- The way you coped with the first academic failure
- Your impressions of having the first exam at college
- The most unusual way you prepared for the exams
- A person who supported you during your studies
- The day you’ve graduated from high school
- An epic failure you had in a class
- Would you like to become a leader?
- The most effective ways you achieve your goals
- Your dreams via reality
- The most effective tips that helped you get the job of your dreams
Personal Narrative: Topics About the Relationships
Building relationships with other people is an inevitable part of our lives. However, sometimes it might be difficult or make you feel frustrated. Describing your feelings and emotions related to communication and establishing connections with other people might be a perfect fit for completing your assignment. You can freely write about your relationships with friends, family members, classmates, colleagues, and loved ones. However, avoid making your essay too personal.
- The story about the most unexpected friendship breakup
- A funny misunderstanding with another person
- The role of the best friends in your life
- The most serious disagreement you had with your friend
- The way you successfully coped with bullying or threatening
- The problem of conflict of generations
- Love and passion: what is the difference for you?
- What is true love for you?
- The way you resolved a serious conflict
- The story about how you helped your friend
- The ways to solve conflicts between siblings
- The most heartbreaking loss in your life
- The most effective way you communicate with your parents
- Personal beliefs on family
- The role of charity in your life
- Your first volunteering experience
- Your attitude towards cheating
- The most serious conflict you had
- The ways you cope with rejections
- The way you found true love
- Your long-distance relationship experience
- The story of how your friendship turned out to be love
- The way to cope with emotional pain
- Breakup issues: how to cope with pain
- Online relationships: your experience
- Your thoughts about online dating
- Making friends on social media: is it possible?
- The role of messengers in building relationships
The Best Ideas for a Personal Narrative: Interests and Hobbies
A hobby is an activity you really enjoy. It might make you feel inspired, happy, and relaxed. Moreover, a hobby might bring you lots of positive emotions you might want to share with the audience:
- The story of how your hobby became your job
- Talents and creativity: what do you do to discover your dowry
- The way you discovered the best hobby for you
- The most effective ways to develop your hobbies
- What makes you happy?
- The best way to find a balance between learning and hobbies
- The way you usually get inspired
- Did your parents help you find your hobbies?
- Have you ever been inspired by a book or a movie?
- How to reach success and follow your interests?
- Keep trying: was this advice helpful for you?
- A character or person who might get your inspired
- Being a perfectionist: how does it feel for you?
- Working, learning, and having a hobby: is it possible for you?
- Hobby as a new way to achieve your goals
Personal Topics: Traveling and Adventures
Most people enjoy traveling, meeting new friends, and visiting the most amazing places and events. If you are one of them, you can share some of your traveling adventures with the readers. You can pick up one of these ideas to cover this exciting topic:
- The role of traveling in your life
- The most unforgettable trip abroad
- A story of how you got lost in a new city
- Your favorite place in the world
- The most amazing trip you had with your friends
- Budget traveling: myth or reality?
- The place that truly amazed you
- The most beautiful place you’ve ever seen
- The first time you’ve tried your favorite dish
- The most remarkable event you’ve ever visited
- The first time you’ve seen the sea
- The first time you’ve seen mountains
- Cruise trips: your own experience
- Your favorite way of traveling
- The best trip you ever had
Top Tips on Writing an Essay on Personal Topics
Many learners face some difficulties when writing a personal academic paper. However, we are here to make your job easier. Discover some personal narrative writing prompts that will help you complete your academic assignment in no time.
Focus on Emotions
The most important thing for writing this type of paper is that you need to focus on feelings and emotions rather than actions. This means you might write a brief description of the event or case but pay maximum attention to your susceptibility. The most winning topics are those that provoke a strong empathetic response. You can also describe some issues that were experienced by most of your classmates. However, your story should contain something special (for example, an out-of-the-box solution on how to cope with the difficulty.)
Add More Sensory Descriptions
The more detailed your descriptions are, the easier you can grab the reader’s attention. Try to draw the scene in your imagination and then turn your feelings into words. Your story might be touching, provoking, or intriguing. However, it shouldn’t leave your audience indifferent.
Follow the Traditional Structure
When writing an essay on a personal topic, you might start feeling nostalgic and become too emotional. However, it is necessary to remember that an academic paper is not your diary. Therefore, it should meet the requirements shared by the professor, have a precise but creative plot, and have proper formatting. Not to mention, it is always a great idea to have the introduction, the main part, and the conclusion when completing this type of academic assignment.
