How I Learned to Travel Solo

                This piece uses personal experience to give instruction on traveling alone. It is broken up in short sections that make it easy to read. This combined with the informal writing style allows the reader to connect with the article. It is not a format that would work for a formal essay, but it is something to keep in mind when blogging.

                While other personal narratives that we have read have been formatted like a story, this article reads more like a guidebook with personal anecdotes. This format makes the article accessible, but it lacks the fluidity of other educational narratives. For our own essays, a more formal and story like format may be superior; however, this format works well as a blog post. The purpose of this piece is clearly defined, to serve as a guide to people interested in traveling alone; whereas other narrative’s purposes are not as clear. Other articles are formatted as a personal narrative with a secondary message. This one is an inverted format; more closely formatted as an instructional guidebook, but containing a personal narrative as well. It is a refreshing change from other formats; however, the narrative is less cohesive and there is not enough personal experience revealed to serve as a story. The writing at times also seems a little forced, clearly defining their persuasive goal. This is something to keep in mind with our own writing. While it is important to convey a message, it should not be quite so obvious to the reader so that they feel as though they are being bombarded by it.

                The format of this article works very well for a blog post and is easy to read; however, it is not the best example of a personal narrative. The use of personal experience is secondary to the instructions given in the piece. A format closer to previous narratives we have read would most likely be more suitable for our own educational narratives.