Come up with a topic that is important to you and that you feel you can talk about in a personal way.

Another way to find a personal event is to look through your old social media posts, as they often chronicle important or meaningful events in your life.

Remembering the details of the event through your five senses will also help to trigger other details or images you may have forgotten. For example, maybe you remember the taste of coconut after your grandmother’s funeral, which will then help you remember that you all ate your grandmother’s favorite coconut cake at the gathering after the funeral. You can then try to find that recipe and use it as a way to jog other memories of your grandmother.

For example: “In this essay, I will discuss the issue of grief by discuss my grandmother’s sickness, discuss my grandmother’s death, talk about what happened afterwards. ” Adjust your first attempt so it is grammatically correct: “In this essay, I will discuss the issue of grief by discussing my grandmother’s sickness, my grandmother’s death, and what happened afterward. ”

You may want to create a thesis that is a bit more sophisticated and less stilted by removing the more formal phrase, “I will discuss”. For example: “Grief affects everyone’s life at one point or another, and it certainly has affected mine; when my grandmother became sick and passed away, I had to learn how to deal with the aftermath of her death. ”

Avoid packing too many ideas into one sentence. Your thesis should help ease the reader into your essay, not confuse them.