INTEGRATING NARRATION INTO AN ESSAY

The essay “The Alternate History of Susan Chung: One Woman’s Quest to Find Her Birth Parents” later in this chapter uses multiple patterns of development to convey her ideas.

In many of your essays, you will want to use both narration and one or more other patterns of development to support your thesis. For example, although “Right Place, Wrong Face” is primarily a narrative, it also uses cause and effect to explain why the author was detained despite evidence that he was a respectable, law-abiding citizen. Similarly, “Writing about What Haunts Us” is a narrative that also uses cause and effect to explain why the author stole from his dad and how this act affected him.

Although most of your college essays will not be primarily narrative, you can use stories — to illustrate a point, clarify an idea, support an argument, or capture readers’ interest — in essays that rely mainly on another pattern of development or use several patterns. Here are a few suggestions for combining narration effectively with other patterns of development:

  1. Use a story. It should illustrate your main point (or thesis) accurately and well (not just because it’s funny or interesting).
  2. Keep the narrative short. Include only the details readers need to understand the events you are describing.
  3. Introduce the story with a transitional sentence or clause. It should indicate that you are about to shift to a narrative and make clear the connection between the story and the point it illustrates.
  4. Use descriptive language, dialogue, and action. These will make your narrative vivid, lively, and interesting.