How to set up my essay

Dustyfeathers
Thu, 27 Sep 2018 18:16:06 +0000

lookingforward has some good tips.

I would add to that the following; It might help if you focus on one anecdote. One event in your life that highlights adoption, that stands out to you.

By focusing on one event, that will help you mold the essay’s form (See OUTLINE below.)

To find the right anecdote this is a good exercise. Write down 10 possible anecdote topics that have something to do with your adoption even if it’s tangential. Don’t censor yourself. All roads lead to Rome. Just brainstorm 10 things or events you could possibly write about. Not knowing you at all, examples might be:

getting braces

finding the car in the parking lot that one crazy night

how we organize the fridge

getting our new cat

getting lost on Rte 66

my audition for West Side Story

and so on. Once you’ve listed at least 10, start crossing off the ones you know aren’t going to work. That will help narrow down topics. Maybe one won’t work because you just don’t want to really write about it. Maybe the next one won’t work because it’s too personal and won’t reflect well on you. But maybe the 7th one will work because it will highlight your strengths and yet show some of the complications in your life because of adoption.

Once you have your anecdote, tell it like a story. For example, “getting braces” might be about going to the dentist and you know getting braces, but then the dentist asks you about your allergies and medical history. You don’t know that, maybe, because of your adoption. That allows you to discuss adoption and how it figures into areas of your life that you may not expect, for example – or whatever your personal story will be. Probably not this one! This is just a random example.

OUTLINE
One strong outline might be–
BEGIN STORY/ ANECDOTE – start showing your story: I sat in the orthodontists chair. The smell of the mouthwash made me run my tongue over my teeth wondering if they were clean enough — and so on.
DROP BACK TO THE INFORMATION ABOUT ADOPTION – can be very short. You just need enough to inform the orthodontia story.
END STORY/ ANECDOTE – finish the orthodontia story – with whatever change you experienced because of the challenge you faced. Or however the story resolved itself. Ideally you will be able to show how resilient you are and how capable you are at finding creative solutions to problems.

Best of luck.