[ti:Writing the Narrative Essay How to Find the Words] [ar:Jeri Watson] [al:Education Report] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]This is the VOA Learning English Education Report. [00:04.89]A student from overseas did well on a research paper [00:09.74]for an American college. [00:11.53]She said, "Research takes up space, [00:15.63]and the words in the research are correct [00:19.12]because the writing is in English." [00:21.26]Now, however, she has to write a narrative essay in her own words. [00:28.17]She is afraid she does not know enough English. [00:32.95]Such a paper can be hard for anyone. [00:37.19]Experts at Purdue University in Indiana [00:41.77]define a narrative essay [00:44.21]as "often anecdotal, experiential and personal." [00:49.65]In other words, [00:51.37]this kind of essay usually tells a story [00:55.01]from the writer's experience. [00:56.95]It is about something the writer has lived. [01:00.79]A narrative essay usually provides an insight. [01:05.52]For example, such essays might be named [01:09.71]"How I Won the 100-Meter Dash" [01:13.04]or "How I Came to Study in the United States." [01:17.62]It is often written in the first person ¨C [01:21.70]the "I" form. And it offers a chance for creative writing, [01:27.21]for expressing yourself about yourself in the paper. [01:31.39]The Purdue experts say [01:34.58]that if your narrative essay is written as a story, [01:38.40]you need to provide an introduction, [01:41.21]a plot, a setting, a climax and a conclusion or ending. [01:48.58]Often the narrative essay requires characters as well. [01:54.55]And this essay usually follows events in the order they happened. [02:00.49]Judith Baumel is a poet and a professor [02:04.72]at Adelphi University in New York. [02:08.11]"Sometimes I ask students to remember an early moment [02:13.53]with their parents and sort of think about [02:17.32]where they were physically. [02:19.17]Think about what was in front of them, [02:20.78]what was behind them, [02:21.93]what was above them, below them. [02:23.87]Just describe it out." [02:24.86]Professor Baumel describes the exercise as remarkable. [02:29.60]She says she learned it from another writer, [02:32.74]graphic novelist Lynda Barry. [02:35.88]Ms. Baumel also has advice for English students [02:40.97]who worry about not using the right words. [02:44.16]She says the language has a great vocabulary. [02:48.64]"And that's a real bonus for students [02:52.13]who are just learning English. [02:53.53]You really can play around with the vocabulary pretty early [02:57.76](in the process of learning the language)." [02:57.78]She says she introduces language learners to the thesaurus, [03:03.80]which she calls "a great resource." [03:06.44]A thesaurus is a kind of dictionary. [03:10.93]It can help you replace a word with a synonym, [03:15.11]another word having the same or similar meaning. [03:18.99]Sometimes it also provides antonyms -- [03:23.02]words with opposite or nearly opposite meanings [03:27.44]from the word you are replacing. [03:29.49]Judith Baumel notes the example of words [03:34.01]that all describe a place to sit, [03:36.46]words like chair and sofa and couch and chaise. [03:42.59]"All of this is available online now. [03:45.82]Anybody in the world can just go online [03:48.71]and get an online thesaurus." [03:52.19]And that's the VOA Learning English Education Report for today. [03:57.58]I'm Jeri Watson. [03:58.88]¸ü¶àÌýÁ¦Çë·ÃÎÊ51voa.com