After hooking your readers with a strong introduction, you need to keep them satisfied as they read the body of your reflective essay. Remember, the body of your essay narrates an event you experienced or witnessed, revealing key details in a logical and interesting way. What will make readers stick with you as you share this memory? The same tricks fiction writers use to create thrilling stories: dialogue, pacing, and descriptive details.
| Dialogue | Include conversations set off by quotation marks to bring your writing to life. "Hearing" characters' voices helps readers feel more connected to the story part of your essay. |
| Pacing | How quickly will readers move through your narrative? How quickly should they move? Keep the body of your essay flowing by focusing on the most important details rather than unnecessary information. |
| Descriptive Details | Show your readers what happened; don't just tell them. Use specific language to describe what happened, so that readers can experience the event through their five senses. |
Take a look at these two examples from reflective essays. Decide which one will keep readers interested.
Example 1
Example 2
Now I had been absent from school for several consecutive days, and Papi was walking with me, holding tightly to my hand as we navigated the two blocks from our apartment building on Tiffany Street to my school building on E. 167th Street. The November wind blew my ponytail so that it slapped my face.
Papi, whose role it was to take care of anything related to the English-speaking world, instructed me on how to explain myself to the teacher.
“The teacher will ask why you have been absent. You must tell her: ‘I had estomek egg.”
I frowned and asked him to repeat it.
Papi let go of my hand, grasped his stomach, and said, “I had estomek egg.”
My father walked me to school from our apartment. He gave me an excuse to tell the teacher why I had been absent several days. It was November and windy. Even though my father knew English, I misunderstood him because of his accent. I was confused, so I asked him to repeat himself, but I was still confused.
Question
Which example is a stronger body? Why?
Example 1 is much stronger because it includes specific details readers can visualize, uses dialogue, and is organized well. The second example "tells" rather than "shows," and is arranged in an unclear way.
