What Does A Descriptive Essay Mean?
A descriptive essay essentially is a kind of academic writing that describes a person, object, process, or event. The primary purpose of writing a descriptive essay is to paint a clear picture of the situation. That is what a descriptive essay is about.
A descriptive essay appeals to all five senses: taste, touch, smell, hearing, and sight. An example of a description is: Katie’s glass broke with a thud. Your explanation about the event should make the reader imagine that he is right there.
That is the entire motive of a descriptive essay. It is to make the reader entirely involved with the writing. Your description essay should bring attention to the senses. Your entire essay should have a purpose for what you are trying to explain.
This experience could range from a lesson to a personal experience. Therefore, your essay should be written in a comprehensive and detailed manner that appeals to all five senses. Your descriptive essay could also pan around an incident that has occurred in the past.
This you would very much like to describe in your own words. An excellent descriptive essay will make the reader enliven the experience along with you. In addition, it should have an impact on the reader who evaluates your essay.
How To Differentiate Between A Description And A Descriptive Essay?
Before you even begin to write, learn the difference between a descriptive essay and a description. A description is just a paragraph or many other paragraphs that have no particular structure.
On the other hand, a descriptive essay has five to six paragraphs with an entirely crafted structure. What a descriptive essay must have is clarity, an impressive thesis statement, and a compelling introduction.
Also, it must have three body paragraphs and a conclusion. With a description, you see there is no such clear structure. That is a significant difference between a descriptive essay and a description. A description is free-flowing with no academic context to writing, as it just describes the object.
What Issues Can You Highlight In Your Descriptive Essay?
- Person: With this paper, you can describe the moods, behaviors, and actions of a particular person or even, for a matter, write about their appearance.
- Place: When you describe a place, make it as unique and engaging as possible. Your reader should be transported to that location.
- Animal: Here, you can describe the appearance, biology, and habits of the animal.
- Event: You can describe events such as summer festivals, graduation ceremonies, or seminars.
- Occupation: Explain in detail the job or occupation
- Behavior: This could mean describing the strange or sweet behavior of a friend or an acquaintance.
How To Write A Descriptive Essay?
Two ways you can begin your essay
Your Individual Essay
With this approach, you can take the help of your feelings and responses. In this way, you invoke empathy with the reader. You connect with them even in a vague or unorganized way. You can make your descriptive essay lifelike in this manner.
Here are some descriptive essay topics you can choose from:
- Swimming in the deep blue of the pool
- Describing details of a movie that has got you thinking
- Explaining events that have happened in the past
Formal Description
This kind of essay is very close to an argumentative essay. With this kind of approach, you need to present a set of bullet points or spread it out in detail. In this essay writing way, you do not describe your personal feelings but explain the same categories of information you want to communicate. Do this more if your reader is interested in the topic or subject.
Descriptive Essay Topics
Exploring fantastic descriptive essay ideas is not that complex. You can describe your favorite restaurant to a movie you fancy. This will help you get started. Here are some descriptive essay topics you can write with.
Define a Person
You can choose to describe a family member like an aunt you like to visit. For that matter your friends or teachers. You can even tell celebrities or actors whose public life is on social media. Like Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Or Britney Spears. You can also describe a famous superhero like Batman or Wonder Woman. Widen your scope of detailing with them as your muse.
Define a Place or an Object
You can explain in detail any place or object you have special memories with. This could be a mall, movie theatre, playground, or even a childhood memory you hold close to your heart.
Explain an Emotion
In this part, you can explain a sincere emotion you have experienced and convert it into a descriptive essay. This could be anger, happiness, rage, or desire.
Crafting A Descriptive Essay Outline
Want to get good academic scores on your descriptive essay? Getting an exemplary structure of an essay and an outline is pivotal for this. This will help your thoughts get in line and get your essays a smooth flow.
Your descriptive essay should comprise the following elements:
- An introduction
- Hook sentence
- Context/Background details
- Thesis statement
- Body paragraphs
- Topic sentence
- Sensory information
- Primary facts
- Conclusion
- Brief of all key points
- Clincher Statement
Before you embark on writing your descriptive essay, keep in mind the object of your illustration.
Descriptive Essay Structure
Introduction
The introduction is the starting point of your essay. This will give the reader a brief overview of what was about to be overcome. However, it is the first few lines of your descriptive essay which make it outstanding. Therefore, your introduction should have the following points:
- Hook Sentence: This sentence should catch the attention of the reader
- Context/Background information: Let the reader know what you are about to describe. Please give them a concise description of what is about to come.
- Thesis Statement: The thesis of the descriptive essay should be short and to the point. This should comprise the subject of the essay and your objective of explaining it.
Body paragraph
A descriptive essay must contain three body paragraphs. These paragraphs cover three different points or arguments. This will depend on your professor on how many body paragraphs you can have in your descriptive essay.
When you write an excellent descriptive essay, just some sections with accurate descriptions are enough to narrate your story or information. Start a body paragraph with the topic sentence, like describing the object of your essay.
Next, add the sensory details to her hair as black, thick, and lustrous. Lastly, add the exact details. Finally, complete a paragraph by introducing the following transition sentence. This will make your essay appear less dull and more enjoyable to the reader.
Conclusion
Your descriptive essay conclusion must be a compilation of all the chief points discussed in the paragraphs. Your finishing sentence should have the critical soul of the entire essay.
Make it a point to proofread your essay before submission to avoid any grammatical errors.
Incorporate the following details into your conclusion:
- Go ahead and let your reader know about the aim of your essay and what went behind writing it. Mention how the subject topic has inspired you and in what way.
- Gloss over all the major stressing points of the essay and emphasize them. This will prepare your audience for a clear and precise understanding of the essay.
- Include a Clincher statement which will be your final sentence, like a punchline at the end. Even after reading your paper, the reader should be compelled to think.
Write And Evaluate Your Descriptive Essay Writing
Pre-writing: In this stage, you need to assess all your sources and decide whether they have any relevance to the topic of your essay.
Getting to the beginning: When you start writing, make sure the opening sentence should hook your reader. A powerful quote or a unique metaphor or a reference works like magic.
Design the first draft of your descriptive essay: This is the stage of writing where you just put all your thoughts together and jot them down on paper. Then, when you begin to write later, you can sift through these ideas down.
Details Addition: You can do this by working on some solid English words. For this, online dictionaries are of great help. Words from the English vocabulary can be used to give meaning to your thoughts, feelings, or ideas. This will provide a good and lasting impression on the mind of your audience.
Revise and Check: You can revise your completed essay for any errors using the available online tools.
You must not forget to check your paper for any spelling mistakes, so make sure you edit and proofread before submitting it.
