Inspiration means that people are motivated to complete a task.  Our developmental writers indicated that writing about themselves and about things they had experienced provided a sense of inspiration that aided their writing process.  Cognitivists Sondra Perl and Janet Emig also indicated that reflexive or personal writing caused students to write longer with fewer errors.[1]  Alice Brand also found in her study a relationship between personal writing and an increase in positive emotions among writers of various skill levels (112).[2]  Linda Flower[3] has also suggested that personal writing is a natural mode that writers use in the beginning stages of writing and idea-development.

     In order to prepare developmental writers for the types of expository writing they will need to produce in college-level courses, many instructors use the personal essay in the beginning of the course and then shift to non-personal essays to prepare developing writers with the writing process as it is prescribed by academic institutions.   Below are recommendations for how the personal essay can be used as a bridge to academic writing that calls for a response to what readers have read.

Strategies for Using the Personal Essay

1. Before assigning an essay, have students talk about the qualities of good writing.   These same attributes should apply whether the mode is personal or objective.
2. Have students to read and respond to one or more personal narratives.
3. Work with students to identify the theme in the work (s).
4. Have students to write journal entries about how the writer makes his or her point; how they supported their ideas with examples and illustrations; how they organized their points. 
5. Have students to write essays that connect to the reading in some valuable way.
6. Model how to brainstorm and discover ideas with students.
7. Help students to establish a purpose and an audience for writing.  One of the ways to do this is to have them write a proposal. (see example)
8. Help students to choose logical ways to organize their writing.
9. To bridge personal writing and academic writing, you may have students to produce reading responses, wherein they respond to something an author or character has said or done (see example).  You can then extend the assignment so that students provide evidence from outside sources to support their claims.

Helpful Resources