Understand the assignment

What is a descriptive essay? The purpose of a descriptive essay is to describe a person, place, object, or event. The description should have a clear purpose and be directed toward a general audience. These essays are typically written in the present tense and use more adjectives and adverbs than a non-descriptive essay.

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

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 the Christmas holiday around the world. There will be too many things to write about in a 2-3 page essay. Instead, choose a smaller event, like your family Christmas last year.

It is important that descriptive essays provide enough detail and explanation that the reader can visualize what is being described without seeing or experiencing it. In order to do this, a writer needs to incorporate words that relate to the five senses: sight, taste, touch, hearing, and smell.

Once you have your topic chosen, think about your item in as much detail as possible.

• What can you see?
• What can you smell?
• What can you hear?
• What can you feel?
• What can you taste?

Spend five minutes answering these questions. This will help make the memory vivid in your mind. If you do not have a vivid memory, you will not be able to paint a clear picture for your reader. It's okay to start writing in short (or even incomplete) sentences.

Choose a focus

If the item you are describing is too large to describe in one essay, you may need to focus on more specific features of the item (e.g., Living in Utah. > Student life in Provo, Utah.). Do not choose an item that is too big or complicated for a short essay.

Outline your descriptive essay

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.

Before outlining, a helpful tool is to free-write. Free-writing is when you write whatever comes to your mind, not worrying about the structure or grammar of what you are writing. The key is to keep writing without stopping.

Now, organize your writing into paragraphs.