DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY WRITING

1)What Is Descriptive Writing?  Descriptive writing creates a  picture of a person, place, thing, or
event. Description tells what something looks, sounds, smells, tastes, or feels like.
2) Elements of Descriptive Writing Good descriptive writing is comprised of five  elements; Sensory
Details, Figurative Language, dominant impression, precise language, and Careful Organization.
1) Sensory Details  Good descriptive writing includes many vivid  sensory details that paint a picture
and appeals to all of the reader's senses of sight, hearing, touch, smell, and taste when appropriate.
Descriptive writing may also paint a pictures of the feelings the person, place or thing invokes the
writer
2) Figurative Language  Good descriptive writing often makes use of figurative  language to help
paint the picture in the reader's mind. There are many ways to use figurative language, and it is a
talent that should be practiced until perfected. -A simile uses like or as to compare two unlike things. 
Example: Her smile was like sunshine.  -A metaphor compares two unlike things without using  like
or as: Example: Her smile was a light that lit up the room.  -Personification suggests comparison
between a  nonliving thing and a person by giving the nonliving thing human traits
3) A DOMINANT IMPRESSION When you plan a descriptive essay, your focus on  selecting details that
help your readers see what you see, feel what you feel, and experience what you experience. Your
goal is to create a single dominant impression, a central theme or idea to which all the details relate-
for example, the liveliness of a street scene or the quiet of a summer night. This dominant impression
unifies the description and gives readers an overall sense of what the person, place, object, or scene
looks like(and perhaps what it sounds, smells, tastes, or feels like). Sometimes_but not always_ your
details will support a thesis making a point about the subject you are describing
4) PRECISE LANGUAGE Good descriptive writing uses precise language.  Using specific words and
phrases will help the reader “see” what you are describing. If a word or phrase is specific, it is exact
and precise. The opposite of specific language is language that is vague, general, or fuzzy
5) CAREFUL ORGANIZATION Good descriptive writing is organized. Some ways  to organize
descriptive writing include: of chronological (time), spatial (location), and order importance

Spatial Order Uses location such as Best for describing

top to bottom, front to place
back and left to right
Order of Importance Puts the most Best for describing
important details in people and object
the beginning or at the
end
Chronological Arranges details in Best for describing
importance time order events
3)TRANSITION WORDS AND PHRASES THAT SIGNAL DESCRIPTION.
Transitions used in descriptive writing  vary depending on whether you are describing a person, a
place, or a thing. Here are some examples of transitions that might be used in descriptive contexts:
TO SHOW SPATIAL ORDER OR DIRECTION

above below behind Beside beyond

around Next to nearby In front of/ over
back of
there On top of under To the Turning
right/left right/left/south

TO SHOW ORDER OF IMPORTANCE

amazingly But the equally Increasingly Even more

most important striking
important
initially strikingly foremost The major The main
primarily Best of all The most One reason Most
is that significantly

TO SHOW TIME ORDER

during finally Next suddenly Then

when concurrently nearby In front of/ meanwhile
back of
afterwards shortly formerly This afternoon
morning
evening tomorrow today From then At present
on

4)THE STRUCTURE OF A DESCRIPTIVE ESSAy

Word bank for description