Autobiographical

Incident

Describing an important event in your life . . .

Writing an autobiographical incident, or firsthand

account, can help you and others to see an important
event in your life more clearly.

You will need to use vivid sensory details, vocabulary,

dialogue, and figurative language to engage the reader
and reveal the significance of the event.
 Autobiographical
Incident

Describing an important event in your life . . .

-The beginning of the essay captures the reader’s interest

-Your autobiographical narrative will be about one significant event in
your life
-The narrative needs to include the people, times, places, and objects
-During your description of the event you need to include your feelings
(how you felt then), but at the end of the narrative you need to tell your
reader your feelings now as you look back on it (how you feel now)
 Autobiographical Incident at a
Glance
Middle

Beginning
-Write about a single End
incident
-Identify the people,
places, times and
objects involved • Tells the outcome
-Introduces the and importance of
-Describes the
incident in an the incident
incident using
interesting way descriptive details • Presents the writer’s
-Includes the people and dialogue feelings about the
involved and the experience NOW
-Describe your
setting feelings THEN
-Tell why the incident
is important to you
RUBRIC STANDARDS FOR
WRITING
A successful autobiographical
incident should:

• Grab readers’ attention at the beginning

• Focus on one incident that is important to you
• Identify people, places, times, and objects involved in the experience
• Describe your feelings then
• Describe your feelings now
• Have vivid descriptions
• Include dialogue
Planning Your Autobiographical Incident Essay

1.Free-write about the incident.

Take a few minutes to write down
everything that you remember about the
incident. What happened? When?
Where? Who was involved? How did you
feel at the time?
Planning Your Autobiographical Incident Essay

2. Fill in the details. Go back to

what you wrote about the incident.
Flesh out the description of the time,
the place, and the people involved.
Planning Your Autobiographical Incident Essay

3. Think about the significance of the

event. Why do you remember the
incident? What did you learn? Did it
change you?
 Planning Your Autobiographical Incident Essay
4. Tell your story aloud. Share your
story with others. Can they
visualize, or picture, what
happened? Do they have
questions about the order of
events? Then start your first draft.
 Writing Your Autobiographical Incident

5. Begin drafting your essay. Remember that you can

revise and reorganize your writing later. Try to give
readers a strong sense of the incident. Show rather than
tell why it is important to you. Include well chosen
sensory details and dialogue as you plan your essay.
Remember to start off with a strong beginning and
conclude with a memorable ending.
 Sensory Detail Practice
Tell me about your favorite home-cooked meal:
-Sense of smell
-Sense of sight
-Sense of touch
-Sense of taste
-Sense of hearing
* Thoughts and emotions
 A Captivating Beginning
What sounds better:

A. One day this past

summer I went to the
beach.

B. It was a warm summer

day and I could smell the
salt in the ocean breeze.
 Figurative Language
Simile -A comparison of two things that are not the
same using the words like or as.
• She was strong as the wind.
• The clouds look like spilled milk.
• I am as fast as an eagle.
Metaphor-A comparison of two things that are not
the same without using the words like or as.
• She was the strong wind.
• The clouds are spilled milk.
• I am a fast eagle.
 Figurative Language
Personification-Attributing human qualities to objects, animals, or
things.
• The wind was her mother.
• The clouds talked to the sun.
• The eagle commanded attention.
• Hyperbole -An obvious and intentional exaggeration. An
extravagant statement not to be taken literally
• We waited for eternity.
• I told you a million times.
• Her hair is ninety feet long.
Idioms- An expression where the meaning is not understood from the
actual definition of the words.
• She broke my heart.
• I fell in love.
• He kicked the bucket
 Figurative Language Practice
• Create a simile or a metaphor for each
person, place, thing, or idea:
-A parent
-Your best friend
-A subject in school
-A T.V. show
-Something special to you
 REVISION
Adding
• Detail
• Description
• Figurative language
• Specifics
• Clarification
• Sentence expansion
• Idea expansion
• New info
 REVISION
Deleting
• Repetitions
• Unimportant, irrelevant info
• Sentence combining
• Parts to ANOTHER story
 REVISION
Re-arranging
• Re-sequence
• Re-order to produce a DESIRED effect
• Re-order for logic
 REVISION
Substituting: Increasing the VIVIDNESS of
language
• Replace DEAD Words
• Replace OVERUSED words
• Replace one idea for a better one
Writing Your Autobiographical Incident

TARGET SKILL:
MAKING THE ORDER OF EVENTS CLEAR
To help your readers understand the order in
which things happened, use transitional words
and phrases. Some words that indicate time
include: to start off, at first, second, next, then,
after, earlier, before, later, finally, and at the
present time.
Writing Your Autobiographical Incident

TARGET SKILL :
MAKING THE ORDER OF EVENTS CLEAR
Transitions are especially important if you
begin your narrative in the middle of the
incident or at the conclusion of the
incident.
 EDITING
Correcting
“Errors” &
“Mistakes”
 EDITING
• Spelling
• Punctuation
• Capitalization
• Grammar & Usage
 EDITING
Punctuation
• Periods at the end of sentences
• Quotation marks for dialogue
 EDITING
Capitalization
• of proper nouns
• Letters of the first word in
sentences
 EDITING
Grammar & Usage
• NO Run-on sentences
• NO sentence fragments
• Subject-Verb Agreement
 That’s All

Make sure you edit before

Monday!!! You must have your
rough draft done to get points for
the activity on Monday!!!