How to Write an Essay about Someone Who Inspires You

Do you need to know how to write an essay about someone who inspires you? Don’t panic! I’m here to help.

I’m a teacher. I’ve written loads of essays myself and taught lots of students how to write them as well.

I’ve also scoured the internet for some of the very best articles, posts and videos on how to write an essay and how to write about people who inspire you!

Did you know that the word “essay” was first used for a piece of writing in the 16th century by a French writer named Michel de Montaigne? “Essayer” is the French word meaning to try or attempt something, and Montaigne was trying to express his ideas.

In the same 500-year-old tradition, you will be expressing your ideas about how you were inspired by someone in your essay.

If you’ve been asked to write an essay about someone who inspires you, you may be worrying about how you will complete this task. Maybe you don’t think of yourself as a very accomplished writer.

A good way to approach an essay like this is to imagine that you are just talking to a friend. What would you want to say to a friend about a person in your life who means a lot to you and why?

You can also look for examples online to help you get started, but make sure that you don’t use their phrasing in your own essay.

Why Write an Essay About Someone Who Inspires You?

Your answer to this question might be “because I have to for a class.” That may well be the case, but your teacher or professor has probably chosen this topic over another one for a good reason!

Identifying the people who have inspired you and what you have learned from them can help you live up to the expectations that they have for you or that you have for yourself because of your admiration for them.

This video about why the people who inspire you are important goes into more detail:

That video will also help you brainstorm ideas for your essay as described below.

Looking at other essays can also help you come up with ideas, but be sure to go here when you have finished writing your essay to make sure you have not used someone else’s language.

What to Ask Yourself Before Writing This Essay

Getting started can feel like the hardest part of writing any type of essay! How to start an essay about someone who inspires you?

However, it isn’t really that hard. Brainstorming is a great way to start.

Think about three or four people that you admire. You might want to come up with a mix of people you know in person and public figures so that you have plenty of choice.

However, if you do choose a public figure, make sure that it is someone that you truly relate to in a meaningful, personal way. You are not just supposed to write about this person’s accomplishments but also why they affect you in the way they do.

This video can help you think about how to choose a person and why it’s important to make the right choice:

Write down the people that you have thought of. Then, make a list of a few qualities you admire about each of them.

Which of these is the most compelling to you? The answer to this question will help you decide what to write.

Essay Structure: The Parts of an Essay

All essays have the same basic parts regardless of their length or complexity.

They all have an introduction that contains a thesis statement. In some essays, that thesis statement can be implied, but for now, you should focus on always having a clearly stated thesis.

Essays also have a body that can be one paragraph long or dozens of paragraphs. They all end with a conclusion.

1. Your Introduction and Thesis Sentence

Every paper should start with an introduction that is around 3-5 sentences. One of those sentences needs to be the thesis sentence.

The thesis sentence lets the reader know what the main idea of the paper will be. It’s usually the last sentence of the introduction. Same thing may happend when you write about someone who inspires you.

Even though the introduction is the beginning of your paper, you don’t have to write it first. Sometimes, it’s easier if you wait until you have finished the rest of the paper to write your introductory paragraph.

However, you should write your thesis sentence first. This will help you stay focused on developing that thesis sentence throughout the essay.

2. The Body

You may or may not have been taught at some point to write a five-paragraph essay.

In this type of essay, you have an introduction followed by three paragraphs that make up the body. The last paragraph is the conclusion.

Each paragraph in the body of the five-paragraph essay has a topic sentence that supports the thesis. The rest of the paragraph supports and expands on that topic sentence just as your overall essay is supporting and expanding on your thesis statement.

You can still follow this basic structure whether your essay is five or fifteen paragraphs. The difference is that in the body of your essay, you will have more than one paragraph supporting your points, or you may have more than three points to make that support your thesis.

I recently wrote an article on a writer that I admired.

My thesis sentence stated that I admired this writer because of her use of language, her character development, and her strong plots.

I then addressed each of those points in turn in my essay.

Just as my overall essay supported the thesis sentence, each paragraph had a topic sentence, which is like a mini thesis sentence. The rest of the paragraph developed and supported that topic sentence.

One thing to remember when you are looking at examples of other essays for inspiration is that you should avoid copying their language. It can be easy to do this accidentally, so you can go here to make sure that you have not plagiarized someone else’s work.

3. Conclusion

Like your introduction, your conclusion should be 3-5 sentences long. Try to restate your thesis using different language and wrap up the essay in this paragraph.

This video looks at one way to break down your thoughts when you are planning an essay. Note that it is about how to write about a person in general and not about someone who inspires you, so your subheadings and points will be different.

However, you can still use the advice in it to structure your own essay.

Writing About Someone Who Inspires You: Putting It All Together

How do you apply this specifically to how to write an essay about someone who inspires you?

The first step, as discussed above, should be to think about some people who inspire you and write down the qualities that are important to you.

As you write, you should be concrete. Words like “great” or “amazing” or “brilliant” do not tell your reader very much about the person you admire.

Instead, choose specific qualities, back them up with a story that illustrates that quality and explain why this is meaningful to you.

For example, I once wrote an article about how much I admired my grandfather.

One of the qualities I chose was perseverance. To illustrate this, I wrote about how his dreams were to live in a cabin that he built with his own hands and to run his own business.

I then described how he spent decades of his life working toward these goals, finally achieving them in his 60s.

You should also show how these qualities are meaningful to you when you write about someone who inspires you. I then explained how I used this example of his perseverance to inspire me as I set out to start my own business.