Rhetorical Pattern #2: Narration



Rhetorical Pattern #2: Narration

What is Narration?

Narration tells a story by presenting events in an orderly, logical sequence. Narration can be the dominant pattern in many kinds of writing as well as in speech. Histories, biographies, and autobiographies follow a narrative form, as do personal letters, diaries, and journals. Narration is the dominant pattern in many works of fiction and poetry, and it is an essential part of casual conversation.

Using Narration

Although the purpose of a narrative my be simply to recount events or create a particular mood or impression, in college writing a narrative essay is more likely to present a sequence of events for the purpose of supporting a thesis. For instance, in a narrative about your first date, your purpose may be to show your readers that dating is a bizarre and often unpleasant ritual. Accordingly, you do not simply tell the story of your date. Rather, you select and arrange details to show your readers why dating is bizarre and unpleasant. As in any other kind of essay, you may state your thesis explicitly (“My experiences with dating have convinced me that this ritual should be abandoned entirely”), or you may imply your thesis through your selection and arrangement of events.

Suggestions for Narrative Essays

▪ Include Enough Detail

o Use sensory details and other attributes of descriptive writing, such as imagery, to make the narrative interesting and rich

▪ Vary Sentence Structure

o When narratives present a long series of events, all the sentences can begin to sound alike. Use a variety of sentence openings or combine simple sentences.

▪ Maintain a Clear Narrative Order

o Many narratives present events in the exact order in which they occurred, moving from first event to last. Whether or not you follow a strict chronological order depends on the purpose of your narrative. You may decide to begin in the present and then use one or more flashbacks to tell your story.

▪ Use Accurate Verb Tense

o Verb tense is extremely important in writing that recounts events in a fixed order because tenses indicate temporal (time) relationships—earlier, simultaneous, later. When you write a narrative, you must be careful to keep verb tenses consistent and accurate so your readers can follow the sequence of events.

▪ Use Transitions

o Transitions—connecting words or phrases—help link events in time, enabling narratives to flow smoothly. Without them, narratives would lack coherence, and readers would be unsure of the correct sequence of events. In narrative writing, the transitions commonly used for these purposes include first, second, next, then, later, at the same time, meanwhile, immediately, soon, before, earlier, after, afterward, now and finally.

From PATTERNS FOR COLLEGE WRITING by Laurie G. Kirszner and Stephen R. Mandell

Structuring a Narrative Essay

Like other essays, a narrative essay has an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. If your essay’s thesis is explicitly stated, it will, in most cases, appear in the introduction. The body of your essay will recount the events that make up your narrative, following a clear and orderly plan. Finally, your conclusion will give your readers the sense that your story is complete, perhaps by restating your thesis or summarizing key points or events.

Suppose you are assigned a short history paper about the Battle of Waterloo. You plan to support the thesis that if Napoleon had kept troops in reserve, he might have defeated the British troops serving under Wellington. An informal outline of your essay might look like this:

Writing Options for Narration

1) Write a personal narrative looking back from some point the far future on your own life as you hope others will see it. Use third person like you are writing your own biography OR use first person, assessing your life in a letter to your great grandchildren.

2) Write a historical narrative tracing the roots of your family or your hometown or community. Be sure to include specific detail, dialogue, and descriptions of people and places.

3) Write an account of one of these “firsts”: your first date, your first serious argument with your parents, your first experience with physical violence or danger, your first extended stay away from home, your first encounter with someone whose culture was very different from your own, or your first experience with illness or death.

4) Write a narrative essay summarizing what happened in one of the following: a short story, a television show, a conversation, a fairy tale.

5) Write about a time when you were an outsider, isolated because of social, intellectual, or ethnic differences between you and others. Did you resolve the problems your isolation created?

6) Trace the history of an object of great value to you. If you do not the object’s history, research it or create one based on what you do know.

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