If you are writing chiefly about yourself and your own experience, your aim is self-expression. You seek not so much to affect the reader or to explain the outside world to him or her as to express your personal thoughts, feelings, experiences, and recollections. You will need a statement of thesis that expresses the main point of your essay by making a precise, specific assertion about the topic. An effective thesis is more than a vague generalization. Escaping from a mine with my friend Ellie showed me how mutual dependence can lead to independence.
Every essay needs a title.
It should be short but sharply focused on the main point of the essay. Compare the titles on the left with those on the right. While the titles on the left merely identify a general topic, those on the right make the topic specific and tell the reader what to expect. Sometimes thinking of a good working title as you outline your essay can guide you through the writing of the essay itself. When you finish writing, you can reword the title, if necessary, to make it more precise.