Write a Descriptive Essay
The key to writing the perfect descriptive essay is creating a vivid image in your reader's mind using the five senses. Here are some steps to help you create a descriptive essay.
Contents
Steps
Prewriting for your Essay
- Pick a topic. Descriptive essays generally focus on a person, a place, an event, or a thing. Writers convey an idea about their topic by describing the topic for the reader in a ‘show, not tell’ manner.<
- Showing and not telling means that you paint a picture for your reader. A better way to understand it is to relate it with a real life moment, like a time where you might have seen a tree next to a river. Later, you take down notes on the sensory type feelings you had and use that in your final draft.
- For example, instead of saying, “There were trees near the lake” you could say, “The lake stared through the trees, a wide grey eye trapped in a perpetual state of weeping.” Metaphors and other figurative language that you can find in poems are good.
- Showing and not telling means that you paint a picture for your reader. A better way to understand it is to relate it with a real life moment, like a time where you might have seen a tree next to a river. Later, you take down notes on the sensory type feelings you had and use that in your final draft.
- Create a thesis statement. A thesis statement is the idea that governs the whole essay. It states the purpose of the paper and governs all of the information that is in the paper.
- Descriptive-Essay-Guidelines.pdf
- An example of a descriptive thesis statement is: My backyard is like a jungle.
- This thesis statement does not mean that your backyard is literally a jungle, but that the different aspects of your backyard make it seem like a jungle.
- An example of a descriptive thesis statement is: My backyard is like a jungle.
- Draw five columns on a piece of paper with each column labeled one of the five senses. These include taste, touch, sight, sound, and smell. This list will help you keep your thoughts straight when writing your essay.
- Using your five senses, write down sensations and feelings you associate with your topic.
- Review your list and choose the most dominant details to write about. These details should be the items that best support your thesis and are the most interesting.
- These details will be made into your body paragraphs.
- Create an outline that lists what each paragraph of your essay is going to discuss. Typically, middle and high schoolers writing descriptive essays will be asked to write a 5 paragraph essay.College level students and above have more free-reign regarding how long to make their essays.
- 5 paragraph essays are structured to include an introductory paragraph that includes a thesis statement, three body paragraphs proving your thesis statement, and a concluding paragraph that summarizes what you have said in the rest of your essay.
Writing your essay
- Structure your essay in a way that makes sense for your topic. If you are writing about an event, give your paragraphs a chronological order. If you are writing about a place or thing, try ordering your paragraphs so that they go from general to specific.
- Example: First paragraph: The things you notice when you look at a house from the outside. Second paragraph: The sights, sounds, smells, tastes, feelings etc. that you experience when you are inside the house. Third paragraph: A description of your favorite section of the house.
- Write your introductory paragraph. The introductory paragraph establishes the main ideas of the essay and sets the tone. This paragraph should include an introduction to your topic followed by your thesis statement.
- Create a topic sentence at the beginning of each body paragraph. This sentence lets your reader know what the paragraph is going to be about. It should be clear and concise. Each topic sentence should relate back to the thesis statement.
- Example: Thesis statement: My backyard is like a jungle that I love to explore. Topic Sentence: When I climb a tree in my backyard, I feel like I am climbing a tall jungle tree.
- Write your body paragraphs based on your topic sentences. Body paragraphs are where you get to prove that your thesis is true. Always keep in mind that everything you write in your body paragraph should relate to your topic sentence and your thesis.
- Example: The trees in my backyard are filled with the music of birds. Emeralds leaves sway in sun-filled breeze. Etc.
- Provide sensory details that support your thesis. Use literary tools like descriptive adjectives, similes, metaphors and personification.
- Smells (“The scent of the newly opened rose danced sweetly upon the wind.”)
- Sounds (“When she laughed, a wild array of exotic birds burst from within her; it was pretty to look at but there was a lot of squawking involved.”)
- Sights (“The beach curved into a smile above a flowing blue beard that sometimes grew too high and was then shaved away.”)
- Taste (“The sugar plum filled my mouth with memories of Christmas mornings long past.”)
- Touch (“The ferns brushed like a whisper against my skin.”)
- Write your conclusion. Your conclusion should summarize everything you have written in your essay. It should also restate your thesis. It is important to have a well-written conclusion because it is the last thing the reader will read, and will stay in his or her mind the longest.
Finalizing your essay
- Take a break from working after you have finished writing. Stepping away from your writing helps you to clear your head. You will be able to look at your essay the way your reader would look at it once you have taken a break from working on it.
- Read your essay with the reader in mind. Ask yourself: Does the essay unfold in a way that helps the reader understand the subject? Are any of the paragraphs more confusing than descriptive?
- Does the word choice and figurative language convey what you are trying to express about the topic?
- Are there enough details to give the reader a complete picture?
- Do the details in the essay help the reader understand what the topic means to the writer?
- Read your essay out loud. By reading out loud, you can more easily locate sections of the essay that might be awkward or confusing.
- Get someone else to read your essay. Does it make sense to them? Do they think you should add or delete anything?
- Proofread your essay for grammar, spelling, and punctuation errors. Delete cliches.
Tips
- Use all of the senses in a descriptive essay.
- Try not to use the word "I" in your sentences.
- Don't use nondescript adjectives like "nice" , "bad ", or " good " . Use a thesaurus and get some new and interesting words, like "effervescent."
- Never repeat a point in the essay, unless it is very important.
