Example of Autobiography Essay About Yourself: Official and Non-Official

Autobiographical papers let a student introduce another self to a college committee. Every paragraph must give a teacher a chance to see that a person is worth studying in the chosen college or university. Before you decide to write a paragraph about yourself, it is necessary to write samples in English to analyze what is required. The writing style depends on a tutor and the situation. In the article we will provide extensive guidelines on how to write a autobiography and 2 samples of autobiography essays with detailed analysis. With this, you’ll be able to get down to your own writing.

Bonus! Try our quiz to find out if you’re ready to write your own autobiography.

 

If you lack the skills needed to arrange a quality and logical essay, look for professional guidance from expert essay writing services. One should mention the following autobiographical facts:

• childhood;
• personal characteristics;
• goals;
• difficult and best life moments;
• conclusion.

Tips on Writing Autobiography Examples for Students

An autobiography essay for college is often either a task of a writing course, the ice-breaker exercise for a group of newbies, or an alternative to a CV in the application process. Here are some tips on developing each of those. 

My autobiography as a writing assignment

First and foremost, your most likely audience is no one but your professor in this case. The requirements should have specified what style to use; if not, make sure to clarify it. Also, it`s your lucky chance to get the professor to know you more as a person rather than just a student. Not calling it a cheat code, but still… The course may not suppose a lot of interpersonal communication, or you may have a lot of information to cover, so that is the chance to make your college experience more sincere and human-ish. 

• For a writing assignment, start by considering what is an autobiography to you. Use the questions like “ What points of my life and personality do I want to highlight?” or “What are the qualities in my personality that are the most related to our course?”. 

Write an autobiography for an ice-breaker game 

Here, things may get a little nerve-racking. Exposing your life to strangers is an uncomfortable experience. Thus, write your own autobiography as you fill out the profile on social media. This information is open to everyone, so use some neutral small-talk topics, like your hobbies and the kind of rock band you prefer. Your classmates would not need to know your family story in the first months together but would rather appreciate some fun facts you don`t mind sharing. 

• Consider the prompts like this to describe your love of music: “ I am sorry if I did not reply to your “Hi” even without a headset in my ears: it meant that the music was playing in my head directly at the moment.”

Writing a biography essay when applying to university

For the people who decide your destiny in studying in that place or not, it is essential to know why to chose you among others. Define autobiography for such cases as your recommendation letter, but the one who recommends the person is to. Try distancing yourself from the bone-crushing gravity of the situation and analyze their requirements critically.  Speak the language of facts, but present them colorfully. For example: 

• Do not say, “ I am responsible and hard-working”. Illustrate those qualities: “Apart from my regular school days, I took the local youth leader’s responsibilities in exploring the region’s ecology.”

Below, you can find two essays. Each of them is an autobiography, but they differ in the presentation style. The first essay is more formal. It introduces a few dry facts mixed with several emotional sentences. The second sample has a free writing style and resembles a creative paper or a memoir. Nevertheless, both papers have a standard structure with an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. A student needs to write a paper about personal life. A standard example enlists things in chronological order. A non-standard essay about yourself can have retrospection and perspectives that hold a reader’s attention from the very beginning till the final words.

Sample Essay About Myself: Official Style

I am Alice Müller. I was born on October 3, 2002, in Hamburg, Germany. I am not married and do not have children at the moment. There are two children in my family, I am the second child. My mother’s name is Katherine Müller. She is a shop assistant. My father’s name is Heinrich Müller. He is a farmer. My elder sister Josephine is a lawyer. She is 30. She is married and has a 2-year-old son.

I took both primary, elementary, and secondary education in kindergarten and the International School in Hamburg.

I had a difficult childhood because my parents were always working and my sister and I had to help our father take care of domestic animals. Weekends were the happiest moments in my life. My parents organized family picnics, and we played lawn tennis and ate barbecue.
I studied in the International School. It was great to meet people from various countries and representatives of different cultures. I liked to do assignments in small groups with them. We read examples of classical literature, liked to describe things we had seen and events we had participated in. I also liked to spend my winter holidays with them. Afterward, we introduced our experiences in personal writing.

I am creative. My hobbies are painting, knitting, and designing clothes. I am also fond of writing. My English teacher recognized my short narrative composition about the winter holidays as the best one. I dream of becoming a writer. I want to write poems and novels about life challenges for children. They will learn how to handle duties and cope with difficulties paragraph by paragraph.

I always wanted to meet new faces, enjoy diversity, and see new places. My parents were not rich enough to afford traveling, but I managed to win a scholarship to acquire a profession of a journalist at Northwestern University in Chicago. This profession echoes with writing. Moreover, I can try my luck in journalism. If I do not succeed, I will test myself in writing. Journalism can help me discover new places, people, and things that I will be able to introduce in reflection writing or made-up stories.

At the moment, I have only “A” and “B”. I have a part-time job. These things give me a chance to graduate successfully from college and get positive recommendations. I hope to get a good job in a Chicago newspaper to initiate my writing career as a journalist or article writer.

The Analysis of the Sample

Most likely, while reading an autobiography example above, you thought it was hardly outstanding or poorly written. You may notice repetitive short sentences that only state bold facts or the simplicity of the vocabulary. But on the other hand, this autobiographical essay is purposely written in an official style. Aren’t these concerns a requirement? How to distinguish poor-quality biography essays and some mistakes from style peculiarities? Here is how. 

1. Short sentences. Official autobiography format sets requirements for the tone of voice and the presence of informal conversational elements in the text. This does not directly concern the length of the sentence, so It does not count as a gross mistake. However, for the reader’s experience, it’s indeed better to unite such sentences as “My elder sister Josephine is a lawyer. She is 30.”. 
2. Simple vocabulary for writing an autobiography. This point heavily depends on your target audience. If you need a short autobiography when applying for a job, make it simple. The officers from the HR department do not want to be impressed by the autobiography; they want to extract data from it. However, if you present it to the audience, consider bringing more life into it. 
3. Requirements for autobiography format. The essay above presents all the needed information. It lists facts about Alice’s place and time of birth, education, skills, background, career ambitions, and a little bit of personality. You can use a similar autobiography outline for your essay in an official style. 

Sample Essay About Myself: Non-Official Style

I was born on the day when German citizens celebrated Unity Day. It was a happy day in Hamburg in 2002. My older sister was glad to get a sister. It was her decision to name me Katherine. She was nine, and she dreamt about having someone who would share home duties and responsibilities. Nobody likes to do all house chores alone while parents work hard.

Our mother, Katherine Müller, was a shop assistant at that time, and she is still working at 7/11. Our father has devoted his life to his farm full of domestic animals, orchards, and gardens. So, my early memories are connected with a farm. My mother says that I was very curious and loved to take care of bunnies because they were soft and warm. My sister was happy to entrust animal care to me because her responsibility was orchard trees and plants. My first poem was about my farm duties.

The farm inspired me in writing, painting, and creativity. My childhood was not always cloudless. My parents were often busy making money because education is expensive in Germany. My sister and I were responsible for the farm. The happiest days were when my parents had their weekends and organized unforgettable picnics. We liked to play tennis, and eat barbeque that was peerless.
I studied in a kindergarten and an International School in Hamburg. I always liked the diversity. That is why I was happy to study with representatives of different cultures, nations, and races. I liked to make projects with them and write about our summer and winter holidays spent together. One of such papers was announced as the best essay by our school mentor. Except for writing, I am fond of knitting and designing.

My hobbies let me enter Northwestern University in Chicago and win a scholarship because my parents were not able to cover my education completely. I am going to become a journalist first. I want to acquire the precious experience of a person who has seen a lot and described many things and events, after having interviewed dozens and seen many places. My dream is to become a writer. I want to write books for children who are defenseless. I want to inspire them to succeed because children need stories that navigate in the darkness.

I have no chance to fail. My parents worked hard to dress, feed, and give me elementary and primary education. That is why I got a part-time job. It is hard because I have to get only “A” and “B” to get recommendations after college graduation. I hope to get a prestigious job to prove to my parents that their efforts were not in vain. I have to work hard, but my goal is worth it.

The Analysis of the Sample

Non-official types of autobiography are a matter of journalistic and fiction literature. You may come across such a sample at the beginning of the book when the author introduces a character. The same author may give an interview for the bellowed readers in some pop-culture magazine. An example of autobiography essay of such kind is picturesque, thorough, eye-catching, and captivating. 

1. A creative example of autobiography about myself. Look at the example above. The personal writer`s style here is about providing not visual information but short descriptions of actions and desires. Sister was the one to name her,  father devoted his life to the farm, and my mother says… The author is keen on small actions and affections, but do not repeat after her. Think of your personal preferences and make them look out of the lines. 
2. These are examples of autobiography, not examples of memoirs. An autobiography is a biography – the narrative of life – from the I-persective. The memoir is a genre of describing historical events from an I-perspective. Your life is not a history that should be precisely noted. The biography essay example above does well to spice personal facts with the context.  
3. Keep the balance. What is questionable in this example is the volume of the information hardly related to the biography. An autobiographical essay is not descriptive, and the author may have overdone the task. For instance, the paragraph about her dreams seems slightly out of context. The essay is thus closer to casual storytelling than autobiography. Nothing critical, but still, keep that in mind. 

What Is an Autobiography Essay and How to Write One Easily

“How to write an autobiography” is about balancing between sharing the truth and selecting. The readers want to know something special about you, but not the names of your ten cats. They want to figure out your personality but not to become the free pair of ears for your life story. Here are some extra tips on how not to overcomplicate it all. 

• An autobiography essay is like a lift-talk. If you are unfamiliar with this term, lift-talk is a form of a short presentation of a product or idea that may fit into a time while the lift moves. However, this does not apply to educational autobiography examples, like applying for university or job. 
• Make the structure understandable and coherent. Another handy tip is to imagine explaining autobiography examples for kids. Add some glimpses of what a five-year-old would like to know about you. Most adults have brains of 30+ years olds, but the attention span of 5 years olds.
• Write an autobiography of your friend using your life facts. This tip is for introverts, shy people, or ones with social anxiety. If you struggle to write an autobiography essay about yourself or worry about what they would think, imagine it’s not about you. Pick your favorite book character of close friends and imagine you are writing about them. Just switch the facts, that’s all.

Quiz: Are You Ready to Start Writing Your Autobiography?

Writing an essay is easier said than done. However, constant diligence and practice make perfect. If you are here not only to scroll down to this point but to learn something, make your memory work a little. The quiz starts with the questions you can literally search above but ends with ones for your logic. Good luck!

References:

1. “Autobiography | Definition, History, Types, Examples, and Facts.” Encyclopedia Britannica, www.britannica.com/art/autobiography-literature. Accessed 31 Jan. 2022.
2. “Tell Your Story by Writing Your Autobiography.” ThoughtCo, 27 Oct. 2018, www.thoughtco.com/how-to-write-your-autobiography-1857256.