The Personal Component in Autobiographical Research Papers

An autobiographical research paper is a research document which is written on a given topic, theme or situation and includes the personal experiences of the writer. Autobiographical research papers are not commonly assigned tasks to students, but are assignments more commonly found in other forms of writing like journals, newspapers and magazines.

Writing an autobiographical research paper is something which students should know how to write because it could be helpful to them during the course of their lives, especially if they choose journalism as their academic or career option. Writing an autobiographical research paper is different from regular research paper writing in which the prime emphasis is on the development of a thesis which is then proven through arguments and claims using external sources. In contrast, an autobiographical research paper does not use outside sources or references; but includes personal experiences and instances form the writer’s life.

When writing an autobiographical research paper, it is important for the student to include events from personal life. Since the paper is personal and highly subjective in nature, an autobiographical research paper will include the use of personal pronouns like ‘I’, ‘My’, ‘Me’ to present personal opinion and viewpoint. This aspect of an autobiographical research paper is once again something which sets it apart from all other research papers, which do not allow the use of personal pronouns or writing in the first person.

In autobiographical research papers, the primary element is the personal experiences of students which are used to authenticate the claim made by the student. For instance, if a student writes an autobiographical research paper on racial discrimination as a student, the experiences and occurrences in the student’s life will support the claims made by the student, and not outside resources or references.