WORK PAPER

“DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY”
Arranged To Fulfill the Assignments for the Advanced Writing Course

Supporting lecturer
Dr. Utami Dewi, S.Pd, M.Hum.

Arranged By:
Group 1 TBI-3
Arya Wiranda : 0304213049
Aulia Yunus : 0304213092
Ayumi Seftina : 0304213104
Fadlah Putri Sabila : 0304213037
Miftahul Jannah : 0304213040
Qorri Fadilah : 0304213065
Sania Oktavia Nasution : 0304213088

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF TARBIYAH AND TEACHER TRAINING
ISLAMIC STATE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH SUMATERA
MEDAN
2023
 PREFACE

‫الر ِحيم‬ َّ ‫بِ ْس ِم اللَّ ِه‬

َّ ‫الر ْح َم ِن‬

Alhamdulillahirabbil’alamin, first of all, thanks to Allah SWT because of the help of

Allah, writers finished the paper entitled "DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY" right in the calculated
time. The purpose in writing this paper is to fulfill the assignment that given by Ma’am Dr.
Utami Dewi, S.Pd, M.Hum., as lecturer in advanced writing subject. In arranging this paper,
the writers truly get lots challenges and obstructions but with help of many individuals, those
obstructions could pass. Writers also realized that there are still many mistakes in process of
writing this paper.

Because of that, the writers say thank you to all individuals who helps in the process
of writing this paper. Hopefully, Allah replies all helps and blesses you all. The writers
realized that this paper still imperfect in arrangement and the content. Then, the writers hope
the criticism from the readers can help the writers in perfecting the next paper. Last but not
the least, hopefully, this paper can helps the readers to gain more knowledge about advanced
writing subject.

Medan, 25th February 2023

Group 1

ii
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE..............................................................................................................................i
PREFACE..................................................................................................................................ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS..........................................................................................................iii
CHAPTER I...............................................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................1
A. Background Of Study......................................................................................................1
B. Problem Formulation......................................................................................................1
C. Purpose............................................................................................................................1
CHAPTER II..............................................................................................................................3
DISCUSSION............................................................................................................................3
A. The Definition of Descriptive Essay...............................................................................3
B. The Purpose of Descriptive Essay...................................................................................3
C. The Type of Descriptive Essay.......................................................................................4
D. The Generic Structure or Organization of Descriptive Essay.........................................5
E. The Language Features of Descriptive Essay.................................................................6
F. How to Design the Descriptive Essay Outline................................................................7
G. The Example of Descriptive Essay.................................................................................9
CHAPTER III...........................................................................................................................10
CLOSING................................................................................................................................10
A. Conclusion.....................................................................................................................10
B. Sugestion.......................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................11

iii
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background Of Study

Essay is a written work that is based on the author's ideas or ideas. Writing essays in
English requires the ability to choose words and use grammar according to the rules.
Language, including writing, reflects the mindset of the writer. Therefore, to be able to write
well and correctly, it is important for writers to understand the mindset of native speakers of
the language used. It is not uncommon for an essay written by Indonesians to use English
words but the logic, structure, and mindset of writing reflect the language of the essay writer.
Essays have several types, one of which is a descriptive essay.

A descriptive essay is an essay that describes something an object or person, an event

or place, an experience or emotion, or an idea. The goal of this kind of essay is to provide
readers with enough detailed descriptions for them to be able to picture or imagine the chosen
topic.

In this paper the author wants to provide an explanation of descriptive essays: how to
write descriptive essays through the explanation of the meaning of descriptive essays, the
structure of descriptive essays, types of descriptive essays, purpose of essays, language
features of descriptive essays and the most important thing is how to write essays well.

B. Problem Formulation

1. What is the meaning of descriptive essay?

2. What are the purpose of descriptive essay?
3. What is the type of descriptive essay?
4. What is the generic structure of descriptive essay?
5. What the language features of descriptive essay?
6. How to write a descriptive essay?
7. How the example of descriptive essay?

1
C. Purpose
1. To understand the meaning of descriptive essay
2. To understand the purpose of descriptive essay
3. To understand the type of descriptive essay
4. To understand the generic structure of descriptive essay
5. To understand the language features of descriptive essay
6. To understand write a descriptive essay
7. To understand the example of descriptive essay

2
 CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

A. The Definition of Descriptive Essay

Descriptive essay is outlined as an essay which describes a particular animal, people
or things to the readers in specific ways. The particular information which can be described
with a descriptive essay is: the aroma, feels, sounds, appearance and the sense of the object.
Besides, descriptive essay not only tells about a particular object but also a favorite object
which the writer adores such as someone's personality, character, and feeling.

A descriptive essay is one that describes something, defines something or paints a

picture. There is a thesis but it isn't necessarily argumentative. A cousin of the narrative
essay, a descriptive essay paints a picture with words. A writer might describe a person,
place, object, or even memory of special significance. However, this type of essay is not
description for description's sake. The descriptive essay strives to communicate a deeper
meaning through the description. In a descriptive essay, the writer should show, not tell,
through the use of colorful words and sensory details. The best descriptive essays appeal to
the reader's emotions, with a result that is highly evocative.

Writers use the descriptive essay to create a vivid picture of a person, place, or thing.
Unlike a narrative essay, which reveals meaning through a personal story, the purpose of a
descriptive essay is to reveal the meaning of a subject through detailed, sensory observation.
The descriptive essay employs the power of language and all the human senses to bring a
subject to life for the reader.

If readers come away from a descriptive essay with the feeling that they have really
met a person, gone to a particular place, or held a certain object, the writer has done a good
job. If readers also feel an emotional connection and deep appreciation for the subject's
significance, the writer has done a great job.

B. The Purpose of Descriptive Essay

A descriptive essay is an essay that aims to describe something, someone, or a place

in sufficient detail to help the reader create a mental picture of it. When you write a
descriptive essay, your job is to paint a mental picture of a person, place, or thing for your
readers. It is very important to remember that descriptive essays should contain colorful

3
language. Try to use as many adjectives as you can in your essay. Descriptive essays do not
tell a story, convince someone to think a certain way, or present a report about something. In
a descriptive essay, your purposes are:
1. To describe as many characteristics of a person, place, thing, or feeling as you can.
2. To describe and gives some information about person, thing, plant, animal or place in
specific.
3. To share your experience with readers through making your audience see, hear, taste,
smell, or feel what you are writing about.
Vivid details and accurate, lively verbs, as with narrative essays, are keys to
descriptive essays, enabling your audience to picture and experience what you describe.
4. To persuade and delight readers through affecting their emotions and senses as yours have
been affected by the experience or object of your expressive description.
If you write movingly about finding a worn sweater of your grandmother’s, you will
evoke related feelings in your audience: “As the lavender-scented tissue paper fell away from
the neatly folded layers of soft, pale-yellow wool, Nona seemed to float silently into the
room”.

C. The Type of Descriptive Essay

There are many types of descriptive essays – the human essay deals with different
aspects of human character like appearance, behavioral traits, and psychology, - the
occupational essays describe dream job, and other types of work, - the place essay give
exceptional insights about any place of historic importance, vacation essays describe events
and occasions, and descriptive essays are also written on nature and living beings.
Meanwhile, the description writing can be divided into two forms based on the way
the writer’s dominant impression to the readers.
1. Personal/Expressive/Subjective/impressionistic Descriptive Essays
When you work on a thesis statement for a descriptive essay based on something you
have experienced, or someone you know, ask yourself, “What do I feel (or think of) when I
see (my topic) in my mind?” or “What words come to mind when I think about (my topic)?”.
This kind of essay describes objects and people as the author sees them. They rely on the
author's five senses to paint a picture in the minds of readers.

4
 In this type of descriptive essay, your thesis (or point) is your overall response to
something or someone, the dominant impression that this person, place, or thing makes on
you. Your dominant impression must be broad enough to cover all the aspects of, and all your
observations about the item or person that you will include in your essay. Your thesis
statement, then, sums up and previews for your reader the range of emotions, sensations,
observations, and/or responses that you will describe in your essay. Your descriptive essay
will go on to break down that dominant impression into the key reactions you have to your
topic. The example is a thesis for a descriptive essay about a motorcycle trip could be
something like this:
The trip that was such a thrilling idea was, in reality, grueling days of bone-chilling
wind and stinging rain.
2. Objective Descriptive Essays
In an objective descriptive essay, the author describes objects, as anyone would see -
their shape, color, length, height, width, weight, etc. The objective essay does not contain
anything the author likes or dislikes or feelings about the object being described.
If you write scientific or objective descriptions, for example, your dominant
impression will be a kind of preview statement, of your subject. In objective descriptions,
your goal is not to present your emotional response to your subject, but to offer an overview
of the scope of what you will describe. Here is a thesis by Rebecca Tahir, an environmental
geography student. She is writing a description of land types on the north shore of Lake Erie:
Eight main areas represent important communities on Pelee and Middle Islands; the
community types range from forests and savannas to aver and wetlands.

D. The Generic Structure or Organization of Descriptive Essay

A descriptive essay is usually written coherently and has a good thesis statement at the
end of the introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. A description, however,

5
does not necessarily have a structure. However, the generic structure of descriptive essay may
be divided into two points, there are:
1. Identifications that contain the introduction of a person, place, animal, or object that will
be described.
2. Description that contains a description of something such as animals, things, places, or
persons by describing its features, forms, colors or anything related to what the writer
describes.

E. The Language Features of Descriptive Essay

A descriptive essay can be observed with the language features which includes:
1. Specific Participant
When the students begin to write, the first thing they have to do is deciding the topic
sentence. Boardman and Frydenberg (2008:4) define the topic sentences actually are the
subject of the paragraph. Knapp and Watkins (2005:66) add, “the subject is a person or thing
in a sentence or clause that operates ‟the verb”. Therefore, the students need to pay attention
on the object they are going to describe because they have to be aware of the use of specific
rather than general descriptive words in descriptive writing.

The most important thing that the students need to do to produce a descriptive essay is
to make sure that they choose a specific participant (I, my mother, my teacher, my cat, etc.)
on their writing. It is because a specific participant will allow the students to explore and
develop their writing easier. The students can choose any specific participant they want, such
as: a person, an animal, or a thing. The example given above shows how to generate a single
general word to be more specific in order to facilitate the students to focus their writing about
certain participant (a person, an animal, or a thing. For example: Bandengan beach, my
house, Borobudur temple, Uncle Jim.
2. The Use of the Adjective
As Hutchinson (2005:10) explains, adjectives give more information about nouns or
pronouns. It is because adjectives are used to describe colors, shapes, sizes as well as tastes,
sounds, smells, and feelings. Murphy (1994:194) states that there are many adjectives which
end in -ing and -ed. While the -ing adjectives explain about the job, the -ed adjectives explain
about how someone feels (about the job).
Even though it is taken from the same adjective, the adjectives which end in -ing and -
ed contain different meanings each other. Murphy (1994:196) also explains that there are fact
adjectives and opinion adjectives. Fact adjectives (new, large, round, long, etc.) give factual

6
information, while opinion adjectives (nice, beautiful, delicious, interesting, etc.) just tell
about what someone thinks of. The opinion adjectives should go first before fact adjectives.
The special order below is provided when the writer uses two or more fact adjectives.
(1)How big? → (2) How old? → (3) What color? → (4) Where from? → (5) What is it made
of? → NOUN
Examples:
A tall young man (1-2) Big blue eyes. (1-3) A small black plastic bag (1-3-5)
The special order above is started from opinion to fact adjectives. It is used to facilitate the
author in writing adjectives with the correct order by following the stage 1 up to 5 before
noun.
3. The Use of Simple Present Tense
The sentence pattern used is simple present because it tells the fact of the object
described. According to Knapp and Watkins (2005:94), “factual descriptions are generally
written consistently in the present tense, whereas narratives and arguments can move between
present and past tense.” It means that when the students write descriptive essay, they have to
use simple present tense to describe about daily habits or usual activities. Besides, it is also
used to express general statements of fact. As Savage and Shafiei (2007:65) define a simple
present tense used to write about general truths and scientific facts.

4. Figures of Speech: Similes and Metaphors

Similes compare two things not usually considered together, using the words like or
as. “The tiles on the roof shook like scared children”. While, metaphors also compare two
items not usually considered together, but without like or as. “Waves of spam and junk mail
flooded his inbox.” Lastly, Compare: “The orange cat ate from the dish.” with “The plump
ginger tabby hunched over his food dish, the shadowy stripes in his plushy fur like memories
of his jungle-cat past.”
5. Action verb: verbs that show an activity, for example, run, sleep, walk, cut etc.

F. How to Design the Descriptive Essay Outline

The outline of a descriptive essay contains the segments that should be included in
your essay writing. It is the structure of the essay that will guide you on how you should
format your essay to meet the requirements. A descriptive essay can be divided into three
parts, the introduction, the body and the conclusion. There are:
1. Introduction

7
 When learning how to write a descriptive essay introduction, remember – the first
paragraph of your paper is a part that can make your descriptive essay stand out from the
others. As with any college paper, a descriptive essay introduction must contain the following
points:
a. Hook sentence
Although the entire paper should be full of exciting and vivid descriptions, grabbing
the reader's attention from the very beginning is ideal.
b. Context/Background information
Tell the reader what you’re about to describe and explain why it is crucial to you.
Give them a brief context for your paper.
c. Thesis statement
The descriptive essay thesis should be a short yet concise summary of the work. It
must include the subject of your description, and your purpose for describing it.
2. Body paragraphs
How many body paragraphs to include in your descriptive essay is entirely up to you.
Sometimes it only takes a paragraph to tell a story, while other times it takes books. How to
write a body paragraph:
a. Start with a topic sentence. Ex. The orange looks familiar; it is a round citrus fruit
whose color matches its name.
b. Add sensory details. When describing the orange, appeal to relatable senses. Include
actual details. Always include descriptive information within your body paragraphs.
c. Finish a body paragraph by introducing the next. Transition sentences are essential
because they create immersion within your writing. Your writing will become better
and it won’t appear as if you are reading a list of facts.
3. Conclusion
According to the descriptive essay format, your conclusion should be a summary of
all of the main points in the body text. It is a good idea to write a final sentence that relates to
the main point of your paper. Once this is done, the paper is now complete. We advise that
you proofread your descriptive essay to correct any grammatical errors. Try to incorporate the
following into your conclusion:
a. The first thing to do at the end is to reflect on the initial purpose of the work. Spill the
beans on why you decided to write about this subject, and how this subject has
affected your life.

8
 b. Signify the Importance of the Details: Go over some key moments of the paper. Give
a summary of what you have covered, and prepare the audience for the clincher
statement.
c. Clincher Statement: The clincher is the final sentence that reinforces your paper’s
overall purpose or leaves your audience with an intriguing thought, question, or quote.
You’ve probably spent a lot of time thinking of a hook to pull the audience in. Do not
allow the paper to escape your audience’s thoughts right after they have finish reading
it.

G. The Example of Descriptive Essay

A Swamp for All Seasons: The Appeal of an Ogre's Home
Home is where the heart is, but not everyone has the same heart. For some, a home is
four walls, some furniture, and a fireplace. For others, home is a cactus, sand dunes, and a
nearby oasis. Comfort is subjective, and the only comfort I have known is from the mud and
gunk of my humble swamp. INTRODUCTION
A swamp, a bog, a quagmire, whatever you might call it, my swamp is the only place
I would ever consider home. The climate ranges with the season, and the mud pits offer a
surprising level of insulation from the weather, never too hot or too cold. Nights are filled
with the sounds of crickets, toads, and the wayward donkey, the soft sounds of the angry
village in the distance. BODY

- Use all five senses to ground your description

- Draw from your experiences to bring the reader in

To many, the swamp might seem like a scary and unwelcoming space, but for me, that
is part of its charm. It is a place of warmth and love if you look close enough, and much like
an onion, it is a place of layers. The humble bog may be the most ideal environment to live,
and yet part of its appeal is that it is not for everyone. That is the ideal home; a place that
perfectly fits you. CONCLUSION

9
 CHAPTER III

CLOSING

A. Conclusion
A descriptive essay is one that describes something, defines something or paints a
picture. There is a thesis but not necessarily argumentative. A cousin of the narrative essay,
the descriptive essay paints a picture in words. In a descriptive essay, the writer must show,
not tell, through the use of colorful words and sensory details.

A descriptive essay is one that aims to describe something, a person, or a place in

enough detail to help the reader form a mental picture of it. When you write a descriptive
essay, your job is to paint a mental picture of a person, place, or thing for your readers.

Descriptive writing can be divided into two forms based on how the author conveys
the dominant impression to the reader: (1) Personal/Expressive/Subjective/Impressionistic
Descriptive Essays. (2) Objective Descriptive Essay. Descriptive essay can be divided into
three parts, introduction, body and conclusion. There are: (1) introduction (2) body paragraph
(3) conclusion.

B. Sugestion
An essay should be mastered by student as the writing skill competency through
following the implementation of writing process. In writing this paper, we realize that it is
still far from perfect; there are still many mistakes, both in the language, material and
preparation. Therefore, the authors really expect criticism, suggestions and input that can
build the writing of this paper.

10
 REFERENCES

Boardman, C. A., and Frydenberg, J. (2008). Writing to Communicate 2: Paragraphs and

Essays. New York: Pearson Education, Inc.

Hutchinson, E. 2005. Descriptive Writing. Irvine: Saddleback Educational Publishing.

John, S. 2021. “How to Write a Descriptive Essay”. https://essaypro.com/blog/descriptive-essay.

Accessed on February 25, at 10 a.m.

Knapp, P. and Watkins, M. 2005. Genre, Text, Grammar: Technologies for Teaching and
Assessing Writing. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press Ltd.

Langan, John and Sharon Winstanley. 2014. .Essay Writing Skills with Readings. Canada:
Mc. Grow-Hill Ryerson.

Mentan, Emmanuel Tatah. 2019. English Essay Writing Handbook. England: Author House.

Murphy, R. 1994). English Grammar in Use: A Reference and Practice Book for
Intermediate Students (2nd Edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Park, Alvin. 2022. “What is a Descriptive Essay? Examples and Guide”.

https://examples.yourdictionary.com/descriptive-essay-examples.html . Accessed on
February 25, 2023 at 10 a.m.

Rollins, Brenda Vance and Ed. D. 2009. How to Write an Essay: Writing a Descriptive
Essay. San Diego: Classroom Complete Press.

Sartika Novia and Mochamad Nurdin. (2019). Students’ Ability in Writing Descriptive Text
Based On Its Generic Structure at the Tenth Grade Student Of Vocational High
School. Professional Journal of English Education (Project), 2(4), 436-441.

Savage, A. and Shafiei, M. 2007. Effective Academic Writing 1: The Paragraph. New York:
Oxford University Press

11