gratitude letter/essay

In this essay, you will be creating a letter to someone you are grateful for, someone who had a positive impact on your life.

Introduction: Start with a salutation (Dear _____). Then give some background about your relationship with that person, connection, and why you appreciate him/her. Work down to a dominant impression thesis, a sentence or two that describes why that person is so memorable to you. Also, this singular, dominant impression will guide your paper’s focus, your “showing” body paragraphs. Some possible dominant impressions–“someone” gave you a strong work ethic, gave you faith, introduced you to music, gave unconditional love, always made you laugh, supported your dreams, taught you some practical or creative skill, etc. The possibilities are endless!

Body Paragraphs (3): Create visual, “showing scenes” that make your dominant impression come alive. You might move through time, experience. Be sure to make your paragraphs scene-like, incorporating specific verbs and sensory words. Place me, the reader, in your experience. You might start paragraphs with something like this, “I still remember the time…” Remember you are addressing that person, so the use of “you” is fine. Also, you will be using the first person point of view “I.”

Conclusion: After “showing” in the body paragraphs, in the conclusion, reflect on the impact of these experiences, how they tangibly moved you forward, sustained you in a positive manner. You could also speak to the future (full circle), how the person’s actions are ones you might want to emulate in other situations. Sign off as in a letter.