Impressive Tips to Write a Descriptive Essay

[Nicholas Thomson]

Descriptive essays are full of evocative sensory details that help readers picture scenes in their minds. But, to create these vivid images your essay must be more than just a list of nouns and verbs. You can use several descriptive writing techniques to give your descriptions depth and meaning.

Learn how to write a descriptive essay by following the steps below.

1. Define your purpose

Before you begin, make sure you understand the requirements of the assignment. It's important to know how long you have for this essay and what exactly is expected of you. If there are any questions, ask your English teacher or consult the student handbook. Once you're clear on expectations, stick to them.

1. Brainstorm sensory details

For a moment, forget the requirements of your assignment and brainstorm as many sensory details as you can think of for a typical school day. Keep it simple at first by describing only five items: classroom, teacher, student desk, pencil, and computer screen. You might even want to try listing these items in random order.

For example, you can usually think of at least a dozen sensory details for one simple object. For example, a student desk could have dry eraser dust on it from the previous day's lesson, or there might be an irritating pen mark on the desktop that won't come off when you try to erase it. A classroom can have the faint scent of an air freshener mixed with the stronger smell of floor polish.

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1. Describe each detail in your own words

It's now time to return to these sensory details and use them to describe your school day. However, it's important that you don't copy the list directly into your essay. Instead, try to put each detail into your own words and provide details that the reader won't find on a typical classroom desk or in your school's hallway.

1. Use sensory details to create a vivid picture

A descriptive essay is ultimately about painting a picture of something in the reader's mind. To do this, you need to provide more than just isolated sensory details that stand alone. They are part of your overall story, so put them into context. 

Ask yourself how each detail contributes to your story and what it means.

The description is the aspect of any text in which the author tells what something or someone looks like, sounds like, smells like, tastes like, and feels like. 

In this genre, you must use your five senses (sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste) to make it as realistic as possible for the reader. It's a "feeling" type of writing.

1. Use figurative language to add texture

Figurative language adds depth and beauty to your description by using unusual comparisons, similes, metaphors, or personification. For example, instead of saying that the classroom was noisy, you could say that it was "buzzing with activity." 

Instead of saying that a student's desk was grey, you could say that it was "like an elephant" and instead of saying that the pencil looked like a bullet, you could say it looked "deadly."

1. Include the 5 Ws

Almost every essay should include who, what, where, when, and why. Even in descriptive essays, these "W" questions are helpful in guiding your writing.

When describing a character, it is often useful to include what they look like (who), where they live or work (where) and when you first encountered them. You might also consider including their profession or background

1. Provide some background information

When describing a character, it's often useful to include their history, profession, or some other type of background information that will help the reader understand your description. 

For example, if you're describing a boy in your class who you've never spoken to, it helps to know what his family is like and why they moved to your neighborhood.

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