Diary Entry Guide PDF

Diary Entry  What is a Diary Entry? A diary entry is a personal account that describes what you did, saw or felt on a particular occasion. These could be straightforward events outlining what you did in the course of the day. A good diary entry is likely to contain your though...

Diary Entry  What is a Diary Entry? A diary entry is a personal account that describes what you did, saw or felt on a particular occasion. These could be straightforward events outlining what you did in the course of the day. A good diary entry is likely to contain your thoughts, feelings and reflections on the events of the day.  Writing to an Audience Unlike most texts, in real life diaries are private, rather than public. Some diary writers like to write to the diary as if it were a good friend. This technique is called direct adress and allows you to talk to your diary as “you”. Because you are writing to yourself, a diary can be a place where you can write down your thoughts, feelings in secret and confidence. Structure Your diary entries could be a straightforward (narrative-driven) account of a day’s events. However, many people keep diaries as a method of examining their lives. So in terms of structure, such diary entries do not have a chronological structure. Format ❑ Write in the first person ‘I’ or “We” ❑ Date/day ❑ Salutation ‘Dear Diary’ ❑ Heading of the entry (Something to star the entry with) ❑ Contents of the diary entry ❑ Signature (A farwell) The format of diary writing: 1. Always right date and time in the left top corner of your diary page. 2. Start with writing a perfect title to describe your topic on which you want to write. 3. Then pour your thoughts into paragraphs. Write about your event of the day. 4. End your diary entry with the closing but future concentrated action words.  Frequently the writer’s opinions give structure to writing rather than the events themselves. You might start with a phrase to focus the reader on the main event you wish to relate. You could use an exclamation “What a day this has been!” or you could start with and opinion, “I have never felt so insulted” Rules, rules… Diary writing is spontaneous and therefore the language and the ideas should sound fresh. Nevertheless you should still use the basic rules of paragraphing with each paragraph having a topic sentence and a clear focus. You could finish with a final thought. This might be a concluding statement about the events in the diary entry or a question on the lines of “I wonder what will happen next…” A note on grammar Diary writers are not always certain about their ideas so it is useful to begin some sentence with phrases like: I wonder, I suppose, I think, I reckon, I imagine, I hope, I doubt. Use verbs in the conditional tenses: I wonder what will happen if I go. (future) I wonder what would happen if I went… ( theoretical situation in the present) I wonder what would have happen if I had gone… (theoretical situation in the past)  Great Job! If you have any questions, please contact your teacher.