---
title: "Personal Stories"
source: The Turing Way
source_url: https://github.com/the-turing-way/the-turing-way
licence: CC-BY-4.0
domain: data-and-analysis
subdomain: turing-way
date_added: 2026-04-25
---

(sectioninitials-filename)=
# Personal Stories

***Please remove all the Blockquotes (sentences that start with ">")***

> A personal story is a case study about an individual who practices the main ideas from your chapter in their work.
> Personal stories should give readers a first-hand perspective and insight about how they may go about introducing your chapter's concepts in their own work.

> A personal story should be short, engaging, and have a clear call-to-action. 
> How you format it is up to you, however you may consider one of the following options:
> - An interview with the subject - for reference, see the [personal story](https://book.the-turing-way.org/reproducible-research/vcs/vcs-personal-stories.html) in the Version Control chapter
> - A blog-style article about the subject written from their perspective - for reference, see the [personal story](https://book.the-turing-way.org/reproducible-research/rdm/rdm-stories.html) in the Research Data Management Chapter.
> - A blog-style article written about the subject written from your perspective - in this case, it may be beneficial to include direct quotes from the subject in your article where possible. 

## `Subject Name`: `Story Caption`

> The title of the personal story should start with the name of the subject followed by a short caption that captures the overall message of the story.
> For example, the [personal story](https://book.the-turing-way.org/reproducible-research/rdm/rdm-stories.html) in the Research Data Management chapter is aptly titled: `Susanna-Assunta Sansone: From FAIR Co-Author to FAIR Doer`

> Regardless of how you choose to format the personal story, ensure that it contains the elements itemised in list below. 
> Use the items to structure your content but do not include them in your contribution. 
> Feel free to use images, external resources, or code blocks to tell a compelling story.
> Above all, centre the personal story around how readers are expected to benefit from the subject's experiences.

> ### Key Elements of a Personal Story
> - Introduce the subject, their role, what they are working on/have worked on, and provide links to their online activities and profiles (if the subject consents).
>   - An introduction will help readers connect and engage with the subject better
> - Describe how the subject is practicing your chapter's concepts in their work.
>   - The personal story should give the reader some background about what the subject is working on
> - Explain how your chapter's concepts has impacted the subject's work.
>   - Impact could be positive or negative. It is important that readers get a nuanced view of how your chapter's key ideas work in a real-world context.
> - Describe any challenges the subject faced while practicing the chapter's key ideas
> - Communicate any thoughts or reflections the subject has about your chapter's topic.
>   - What did the subject learn from practicing the chapter's ideas in their project? What would they have done differently? What are they most proud of?


## BEFORE YOU GO

> - Use this template to create a personal story.
> - Refrain from writing very long content as readers may be unwilling to read them. Rather, you should split long content into smaller subchapters if necessary.
> - Have a look at the Style Guide and the Maintaining Consistency chapters to ensure that you have followed the relevant recommendations on
>   - Avoiding HTML
>   - Consecutive headers
>   - Labels and cross referencing
>   - Using images
>   - Latin abbreviations
>   - References and citations
>   - Title casing
>   - Matching headers with reference in table of content
