Essay Writing

DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY INFORMATION

Descriptive writing portrays people, places, things, moments and ideas with enough vivid detail to help the reader create a mental picture of what is being written about. Description creates impressions through sensory details (touch, taste, sight, smell, sound) and imagery. Refer to pages 124-127 of your course textbook under the title, “The Language of Description,” for word usage instruction. Page 173 of your book lists “Strategies for Writing Description” as well. Also refer to the “Description Checklist” on pages 178 and 179 of your text before you submit your work.

Things to Consider as You Write Your Descriptive Essay

· Think of an instance that you want to describe. Why is this particular instance important?

· What were you doing?

· What other things were happening around you? Is there anything specific that stands out in your mind?

· What sights, smells, sounds, and tastes were in the air?

· Did the sights, smells, sounds, and tastes remind you of anything?

· What were you feeling at that time?

· What do you want the reader to feel after reading the paper?

· What types of words and images can convey this feeling?

· Can you think of another situation that was similar to the one you are writing about? How can it help explain what you are writing about?

· Is there enough detail in your essay to create a mental image for the reader?

Conventions of Descriptive Essays Illustrated by Sample Paragraphs

· Appealing-to-the-Senses Description: Let the reader see, smell, hear, taste, and feel what you write in your essay.

The thick, burnt scent of roasted coffee tickled the tip of my nose just seconds before the old, faithful alarm blasted red a distorted top-forty through its tiny top speaker. Wiping away the grit of last night's sleep, the starch white sunlight blinded me momentarily as I slung my arm like an elephant trunk along the top of the alarm, searching for the snooze button. While stretching hands and feet to the four posts of my bed, my eyes opened after several watery blinks. I crawled out of the comforter, edging awkwardly like a butterfly from a cocoon, swinging my legs over the side of the bed. The dusty pebbles on the chilled, wood floor sent ripples spiraling from my ankles to the nape of my neck when my feet hit the floor. Grabbing the apricot, terri-cloth robe, recently bathed in fabric softener and October wind, I knotted it tightly at my waist like a prestigious coat of armor and headed downstairs to battle the morning.

· Spatial-Order Description: Show the reader where things are located from your perspective.

Billy Ray's Pawn Shop and Lawn Mower Repair looked like a burial ground for country auction rejects. The blazing, red, diesel fuel tanks beamed in front of the station, looking like cheap lipstick against the pallid, wrinkled texture of the parking lot sand. The yard, not much larger than the end zone at General G. Patton High School on the north end of town, was framed with a rusted metallic hedge of lawn mowers, banana seat bicycles, and corroded oil drums. It wasn't a calico frame of rusted parts, but rather an orchestra of unwanted machinery that Billy Ray had arranged into sections. The yellow-tanked mowers rested silently at the right of the diesel fuel. Once red, now faded orange, mowers stood at attention to the left. The bikes rested sporadically throughout the lot. In the middle of it all was the office, a faded, steel roof supported by cheap two-by-fours and zebra paneling. Billy Ray was at home, usually, five blocks east of town on Kennel Road.

Principles, Conventions, and Strategies for Descriptive Writing

· A descriptive essay can be objective or subjective, thus giving the author a wide choice of tone and diction. For instance, an objective description of one's dog would mention such facts as height, weight, coloring and so forth. A subjective description would include the above details, but would also stress the author's feeling toward the dog, as well as its personality and habits.

· The purpose of a purely descriptive essay is to involve the reader enough so he or she can actually visualize the things being described; therefore, it is important to use specific and concrete details.

· The descriptive essay relies on concrete, sensory details to communicate its point. Remember, we have five senses, not one or two.

· Description very often relies on emotion to convey its point. Because of this, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives convey more to the reader than do nouns. Select an emotion and try to describe it. It might be more difficult to get started, but it can be worthwhile.

· Try moving your reader through space and time chronologically. For instance, you might want to describe a train ride from start to destination, or a stream from its source to the point at which it joins the river.

· Use a then-and-now approach to show decay, change, or improvement. The house where you grew up might now be a rambling shack. The variations on this strategy are endless.