If you’re looking for a simple way to write an essay about your identity, then you’ve found the perfect tutorial!
Writing an essay about your identity can be a great way to highlight who you are as a person and explore your values, experiences, and characteristics. So, in this tutorial, I will show you how to write such an essay in five simple steps effectively. We’ll also work on a sample essay so you can see how to put these steps into practice.
Let’s get started!
Step 1. Plan the word count for your essay’s paragraphs.
Doing this first step is important if you want to make things simpler for you while writing an essay. You’ll get to know exactly how many words each paragraph will have, which makes the process quicker.
Note that essays have three parts you must include:
- The introductory paragraph
- Three body paragraphs
- The concluding paragraph
For example, suppose you need a 300-word paragraph. How would you distribute 300 words across five paragraphs? Here’s a simple way to do that:
That’s all you need for your essay — short introductory and concluding paragraphs and three concise body paragraphs.
Step 2. Select your main idea and supporting points.
You need to come up with a central idea that will give you a frame of reference for the rest of your essay. To do this, you can first consider what your identity is. Then, determine what shapes this identity.
For example, are you an artist? Maybe you’re imaginative and creative! Do you have a unique perspective on things? Do you like expressing yourself visually?
Or maybe, you’re a doctor? Do you have extensive knowledge and expertise in the field of medicine? Do you possess strong problem-solving and critical-thinking skills?
Whatever they are, you will use them as your basis — your essay’s thesis.
For our sample essay, we can use this as our main idea: “My identity as an educator has been shaped by my faith, parenthood, and my inborn creativity.”
Next, we will use the Power of Three to divide this main idea into three supporting points.
The Power of Three is a three-part structure that helps you produce your body paragraphs.
Let’s see how it works for our sample essay. In this case, we will use three things that could shape someone’s identity as an educator:
- My faith is an integral part of my identity.
- Parenthood has had a significant impact on my identity.
- Creativity has been a part of my identity for as long as I can remember.
Now we have what we need to start writing our essay. Let’s go to the next step!
Step 3. Write the introductory paragraph.
To write an introductory paragraph, you can follow the diagram below:
First, you need an introduction — an opening sentence that briefly sets the essay’s context. Next, you will include your thesis and three supporting points.
Here’s an example:
Introductory Paragraph
“Different factors, including beliefs, experiences, and innate qualities, shape our identities. For me, my identity as an educator has been shaped by my faith, parenthood, and my inborn creativity. My faith guides my values and principles in teaching. My experiences as a parent have also helped me develop empathy and understanding toward my students. And my inborn creativity allows me to come up with innovative ways to present lessons, engage my students, and foster a positive learning environment.”
As you can tell, the introductory paragraph proceeds from general to specific, starting from the introduction, followed by the thesis and three supporting points.
Step 4. Write the body paragraphs.
Our essay will contain three body paragraphs that expound our supporting points. Here’s how to structure a body paragraph in any essay:
Body paragraphs start with a topic sentence that briefly summarizes the entire paragraph. Next, you will explain and illustrate your point using example/s.
Paragraph 1
“My faith is an integral part of my identity. My faith guides me in creating a safe and positive learning environment for my students. I strive to make my classroom a safe space where my students feel welcomed and valued. I model kindness and compassion, which I hope inspires and encourages my students to treat each other with the same level of respect and understanding.”
Note that the topic sentence gives context to the entire body paragraph. The following sentences explain the supporting point, and the rest illustrates it with an example.
Paragraph 2
“Parenthood has had a significant impact on my identity as an educator. It has taught me to approach teaching with compassion and empathy. As a parent, I learned that everyone has unique needs and struggles that require understanding and, if possible, a personalized approach to teaching. I apply this principle in my classroom by taking the time to get to know my students and understand their personal learning styles and circumstances. I schedule one-on-one meetings with students and offer them encouragement and resources to help those struggling to catch up.”
Paragraph 3
“Creativity has always been a part of my identity, especially as an educator. It is essential in creating engaging learning experiences for my students. I constantly look for fun and innovative ways to present lessons that will help them foster a love for learning. I incorporate hands-on activities and projects in my lessons to challenge my students creatively and critically about the material. For example, when I taught animal classification last academic year, I organized a field trip to a local zoo where the students observed and learned firsthand about the animals and ecosystems they were studying.”
Like paragraph 1, body paragraphs 2 and 3 follow the exact same structure outlined in the diagram above. It proceeds from the topic sentence to the explanation and example.
Excellent! Now we’re ready for the final step.
Step 5. Write the concluding paragraph.
The most time-proven way to write a concluding paragraph for any essay is to simply paraphrase all the points you’ve already mentioned in the introductory paragraph. Don’t copy and paste it! Instead, you can check your introductory paragraph and write the concluding paragraph based on it.
Let’s try this method to write the concluding paragraph in our sample essay:
Conclusion
“A combination of our beliefs, experiences, and characteristics shape our identities. As an educator, my identity has been shaped by my faith, parenthood, and creativity. My faith guides me in modeling important values in my classroom. Parenthood has taught me to approach teaching with empathy. And my creativity enables me to present material in innovative and engaging ways, which helps foster a love for learning in my students.”
We only restated the points in the introductory paragraph but used different words. Doing so makes writing the concluding paragraph pretty quick and simple.
And now we’re done! I hope you find this tutorial helpful.
Now it’s time for you to write your essay about your identity!
