Understand the assignment

What is descriptive writing? The purpose of descriptive writing is to give the reader details about a person, place, object, or event. The writer's goal is to help the reader create a mental picture of what the writer is describing. The description should have a clear purpose and be directed toward a general audience. Descriptions are usually written in the present tense, and they use more adjectives and adverbs than non-descriptive writing.

In contrast to narrative writing, descriptive writing does not tell what happened (a story). Instead, descriptive writing chooses one thing to describe and only describes that thing.

Brainstorm

Brainstorm to find a topic

Think about something that you can describe. It could be a person, place, thing, or event.

If you choose to write about an event, don't choose an event that is too big. For example, don't try to describe how people celebrate Christmas all around the world. There will be too many things to write about. Instead, choose a smaller event, like your family Christmas traditions.

Choose a focus

If what you are describing is too large to describe well in one paragraoh/essay, you may need to focus on a more specific part of it (e.g., "ELC student life in Provo" instead of "living in Utah"). Do not choose something that is too big or complicated for a paragraph or short essay.

Brainstorm details to include

When writing a description, it is important for a writer to provide enough detail in the description. The reader should be able to visualize what you are describing without directly seeing or experiencing it themselves. In order to do this, a writer needs to incorporate many adjectives and adverbs. In other words, you should include many words that are connected to the five senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell. Depending on the prompt, you may also need to include feelings or emotions in your description.

Once you know what you will describe, think about it in as much detail as possible. Questioning can be a useful way to brainstorm the details you need to include to help your reader picture what you are describing. Questioning is when you create a list of questions and then answer them. Some examples of good questions for descriptive writing are:

• What can you see?
• How does _____ smell?
• What can you hear?
• What does _____ feel like?
• What can you taste?
• How do you feel?

Spend five minutes answering these questions. This will help make the thing you are describing vivid in your mind. If you do not have a vivid mental picture of what you are describing, you will not be able to create a clear picture for your reader. It's okay to start writing in short (or even incomplete) sentences. You can use a chart like the one below to organize your questioning brainstorming. 

Free-writing can also be a helpful brainstorming tool once you have chosen your focus. Free-writing is when you write down whatever comes to your mind, no matter what it is, even if it's not connected to the prompt or your topic. You write without worrying about the organization of your ideas, your grammar, your spelling, or even your punctuation and capitalization. Free-writing is usually easiest to do when you set a timer for a specific amount of time--maybe five or ten minutes, or even just one minute if you are having a hard time getting started. The key to successful free-writing is to continue writing no matter what, even if you are writing the same thing over and over. When your free-writing time is over, you can organize your ideas, delete repetitive or unrelated words and sentences, and fix your grammar and spelling.

Outline your description

A descriptive essay follows typical essay organization with an introduction paragraph, body paragraphs, and a conclusion paragraph.

Introduction

Descriptive essays have an introduction paragraph that gives an overview of the topic and states the thesis. Make sure your introduction paragraph ends with your thesis. The thesis should state the item being described and the focus of the description (The ideal roommate is someone that is respectful, communicates honestly, and will do their part to help.).

Body

The body paragraphs in your descriptive essay contain descriptions of the major features of the topic. Divide your story up into major features of the item you are describing and explain each feature in each of your body paragraphs. Each feature you choose should support the thesis of your paper. The topic sentences for your body paragraphs should introduce the feature that you will describe in that paragraph.

Conclusion

The conclusion should start by restating the thesis. After giving a final, general overview of the topic, it should then end with a closing statement that in some way makes a prediction, suggestion, or opinion.

Exercises