How to Write a Descriptive Essay

More than many other types of essays, descriptive essays strive to create a deeply
involved and vivid experience for the reader. Great descriptive essays achieve this
affect not through facts and statistics but by using detailed observations and
descriptions.

What do you want to describe?

As you get started on your descriptive essay, it's important for you to identify exactly
what you want to describe. Often, a descriptive essay will focus on portraying one of
the following:

a person
a place
a memory
an experience
an object
Ultimately, whatever you can perceive or experience can be the focus of your
descriptive writing.

Why are you writing your descriptive essay?

It's a great creative exercise to sit down and simply describe what you observe.
However, when writing a descriptive essay, you often have a particular reason for
writing your description. Getting in touch with this reason can help you focus your
description and imbue your language with a particular perspective or emotion.

Example: Imagine that you want to write a descriptive essay about your grandfather.
You've chosen to write about your grandfather's physical appearance and the way that
he interacts with people. However, rather than providing a general description of these
aspects, you want to convey your admiration for his strength and kindness. This is
your reason for writing the descriptive essay. To achieve this, you might focus one of
your paragraphs on describing the roughness of his hands, roughness resulting from
the labor of his work throughout his life, but you might also describe how he would
hold your hands so gently with his rough hands when having a conversation with you
or when taking a walk.

How should you write your description?

If there's one thing you should remember as you write your descriptive essay, it's the
famous saying: show don't tell. But what's the difference between showing and
telling?

Consider these two simple examples:

I grew tired after dinner.

As I leaned back and rested my head against the top of the chair, my eyelids began to
feel heavy, and the edges of the empty plate in front of me blurred with the white
tablecloth.

The first sentence tells readers that you grew tired after dinner. The second sentence
shows readers that you grew tired. The most effective descriptive essays are loaded
with such showing because they enable readers to imagine or experience something
for themselves.

As you write your descriptive essay, the best way to create a vivid experience for your
readers is to focus on the five senses.

sight
sound
smell
touch
taste
When you focus your descriptions on the senses, you provide vivid and specific
details that show your readers rather than tell your readers what you are describing.

Quick Tips for Writing Your Descriptive Essay

Writing a descriptive essay can be a rich and rewarding experience, but it can also feel
a bit complicated. It's helpful, therefore, to keep a quick checklist of the essential
questions to keep in mind as you plan, draft, and revise your essay.

Planning your descriptive essay:

What or who do you want to describe?

What is your reason for writing your description?

What are the particular qualities that you want to focus on?

Drafting your descriptive essay:

What sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures are important for developing your
description?

Which details can you include to ensure that your readers gain a vivid impression
imbued with your emotion or perspective?

Revising your descriptive essay:

Have you provided enough details and descriptions to enable your readers to gain a
complete and vivid perception?

Have you left out any minor but important details?

Have you used words that convey your emotion or perspective?

Are there any unnecessary details in your description?

Does each paragraph of your essay focus on one aspect of your description?

Are you paragraphs ordered in the most affective way?

Descriptive Writing

The last day of my high school career is fast approaching and I can only imagine how
I'll be feeling when I step out of Valley High School grounds for the very last time.
Throughout these four years, I have felt a lot of urgency about graduating high school.
I didn't think that the time to graduate would come soon enough. But now, that time is
finally nearing. I cannot believe that it has come this fast.

I remember my first days of high school. I was just dying to experience all the new
and exciting things that awaited me. From sports to girls to all the partying, I just
wanted to know what everything was like. Now that I've done all those things and
many more, I am about to embark on a new adventure that will take me to many more
new experiences. Some say that, "high school was the best time of my life. " Just like
others say that high school was the worst time in their lives. To be honest, I am not
sure which category I fall into. I've had plenty of good times, as well as just as many
bad times, in high school. The only thing I can say is that I learned a lot while I was
here. I know not just what I was taught through books, but I learned about life and the
road ahead of me.

From being an inexperienced freshman to a somewhat mature senior, things have

really changed for me. I started high school as a disrespectful and cocky athlete, dying
to conquer the world, which I did not know much about. I will leave high school as a
world-weary senior, knowing that there are many dangers to encounter in the real
world. Realistically, I do not know what the world out there holds for me. All I can do
is enter it with a guarded optimism and hope for the best.

Descriptive Essays - The Human Body:

The Human Body

The human body is made up of a number of different systems. Each system has a
separate function, but some work together.

One system is the skeleton, which serves to support the body and protect the internal
organs. The respiratory system enables us to breathe and take oxygen into the blood,
which moves around the body by means of the circulatory system. The digestive
system enables us to take in food needed for growth. Waste matter is ejected from the
body by means of the urinary system. The nervous system controls the other systems
and enables human beings to think.

The endocrine system consists of various glands, such as the thyroid, sex and adrenal
glands. The function of these glands is to secrete chemicals, known as hormones, into
the blood. These hormones control various processes in the body, such as growth,
sexual activities and digestion..

Each system is made up of organs. The lungs, for example, are part of the respiratory
system. The heart is an organ in the circulatory system. The liver functions as part of
the digestive system and other systems.

Every organ is composed of several kinds of tissue. Epithelial tissue, which includes
the skin, forms a covering over organs. Connective tissue supports and holds together
parts of the body and includes bone and cartilage. Other types of tissue include nerve
tissue and blood tissue.

All tissue consists of cells. These are so small that they are measured in thousandths
of a millimeter and can only be seen with a microscope. Each cell is covered with a
thin membrane which surrounds a nucleus, and a jelly-like substance, called
cytoplasm. This in turn contains minute particles, each with its own special function.

How to Write a Narrative Essay

Writing a Narrative Essay

There's nothing like reading a great narrative. Whether in novel or essay form, a
narrative piece of writing transports readers into the time and space of the world
portrayed by the writing.
There's also nothing like writing a great narrative. Through reflecting upon an event,
and through recreating the experience for other readers, writing a narrative essay can
enable you to develop new, subtle, and rewarding perspectives.
Basic qualities of a narrative essay:
A narrative essay is a piece of writing that recreates an experience through time.
A narrative essay can be based on one of your own experiences, either past or present,
or it can be based on the experiences of someone else.
In addition to telling a story, a narrative essay also communicates a main idea or a
lesson learned.
First steps for writing a narrative essay:
Identify the experience that you want to write about.
Think about why the experience is significant.
Spend a good deal of time drafting your recollections about the details of the
experience.
Create an outline of the basic parts of your narrative.

Writing about the experience:

Using your outline, describe each part of your narrative.
Rather than telling your readers what happened, use vivid details and descriptions to
actually recreate the experience for your readers.
Think like your readers. Try to remember that the information you present is the only
information your readers have about the experiences.
Always keep in mind that all of the small and seemingly unimportant details known to
you are not necessarily known to your readers.
Communicating the significance of the experience:
It's often effective to begin your narrative with a paragraph that introduces the
experience and communicates the significance. This technique guarantees that your
readers will understand the significance of the experience as they progess through the
narrative.
Another effective technique is to begin the essay by jumping directly into the
narrative and then ending the essay with a paragraph communicating the significance
of the experience. This approach allows your readers to develop their own
understanding of the experience through the body of the essay and then more deeply
connect to your expression of the significance at the end.
You might also consider introducing the experience in the first paragraph but delaying
your expression of the significance of the experience until the end of the essay. This
approach heightens your readers' sensitivity to the significance of the narrative.

Revising your narrative essay:

After spending time away from the draft of your narrative essay, read through the
essay and think about whether the writing effectively recreates the experience for your
readers.
Ask other people to read through the essay and offer their impressions.
Identify where more details and descriptions are needed.
Identify and consider removing any information that seems to distract from the focus
and main narrative of the essay.
Think about whether you've presented information in the most affective order.

Potential prompts for your narrative essay:

If you're having trouble choosing an experience to write about, take a quick glance
through these prompts. They might help you remember or identify a particularly
interesting or significant experience to focus on.
A childhood event. Think of an experience when you learned something for the first
time, or when you realized how important someone was for you.
Achieving a goal. Think about a particularly meaningful achievement in your life.
This could be something as seemingly minor as achieving a good grade on a difficult
assignment, or this could be something with more long-lasting effects, like getting the
job you desired or getting into the best school to which you applied.
A failure. Think about a time when you did not perform as well as you had wanted.
Focusing on an experience like this can result in rewarding reflections about the
positive emerging from the negative.
A good or bad deed. Think about a time when you did or did not stand up for yourself
or someone else in the face of adversity or challenge.
A change in your life. Think about a time when something significant changed in your
life. This could be anything from a move across town to a major change in a
relationship to the birth or death of a loved one.
A realization. Think about a time when you experienced a realization. This could be
anything from understanding a complicated math equation to gaining a deeper
understanding of a philosophical issue or life situation.
Narrative – My Foolish Faith:

Length: 533 words (1.5 double-spaced pages)

Rating: Red (FREE)
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Narrative – My Foolish Faith

Life without hope in a dull, frustrating world congeals the stuff of human
existence...almost. To some, born-lived-died is more than the plot of too many bad
novels; it dooms them, chaining their lives to a Maslowian fate. Others drown the raw
truth in unrelenting labor, raucous revelry, sunlit spring breezes, cigarettes at
noontime, or the bottle. Yet some find hope in this droll, frustrating world, but they
will not agree and cannot be sure of that hope. Or can they?
Once I could not find hope. I still can't. That's why I leaped for joy when it found me
instead. Somehow, by the Grace of God, I find myself with the only, single true hope,
a nonsensical faith, a belief I cannot prove with mortal things, a book that turns a
hopeless, droll, frustrating world into a beautiful, hopeful, droll, frustrating world
where smallest intricacies and biggest setbacks bring joy alike.

Did I say my faith makes no sense? I was right. No sane person in his wrong mind
would agree to a divine Creator, Revealer, Saviour, Lord, and Friend. Unfortunately,
human depravity ensures sane human wrong-mindedness.

Once one obtains this hope, the difficulty of Christianity shifts from the foolishness of
believing myths to the stupidity of doing what they say. This is my challenge, for God
has revealed His will plainly and has promised to help His adopted children
understand His Word, the Bible. Once a person agrees to accept the entire Bible as
God presents it in the Bible, the test of faith (or mere hope) comes. A mere hoper
won't bother (or dare) to keep exactly what God says; a person with true faith will not
only try but succeed when he does.

Because I have faith in Christ, have escaped the corruption that is in the world, am a
partaker of the Divine Nature, and have received many great and precious promises
from God Himself, my goal in life is to be diligent in my service of righteousness to
God. The society we live in, like any that has seen the noonday sun since the day God
spoke it into existence, is utterly depraved, and I am too. It is God himself in my life
who works anything in my life that may seem to be faith, virtue, knowledge, self-
control, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity. Yet there is a war in my
life, a war I am very grateful for yet very weary of. Its existence is an indication of the
Spirit in my life, but it is also a painful reminder of my lingering depravity. Yet I toil
on, knowing that the riches of Christ are greater than anything this world has to offer.

This foolish faith through which I cling to my Divine Creator, Revealer, Saviour,
Lord, and Friend, overwhelmingly dwarfs any of my other life influences. My
foolishness makes me live differently than I would naturally live. It makes me chuckle
when called names, for my goal is simply to exercise Faith in God with my mind and
feet. And if I can show a doomed, droll, frustrated world a Divine Creator, Revealer,
Saviour, Lord, and Friend, the more the merrier.
How to Write a Persuasive Essay
When writing a persuasive essay, your purpose is to convince your audience to
embrace your idea or point of view. Keeping this purpose in mind is the key to
writing an effective persuasion.
How to Write an Essay
Essay Writing

Essential steps for writing a persuasive essay:

Identify your main idea or point of view. Your purpose will be to persuade your
audience to accept this idea or point of view.
Identify your audience. To write an effective persuasive essay, try to understand your
audience. For example, are your readers undecided about your issue? Or are your
readers hostile to your point of view?
Considering your audience, identify the strongest supporting points for your
persuasion.
Identify the most significant opposing view. Explaining and then refuting the
opposing view strengthens the credibility and scope of your essay.

How to organize your persuasive essay:

Introduction

Your introduction should hook your reader's attention and provide background
information on your topic or controversy.
The paragraph should end with a clear statement of your main idea or point of view.
Body paragraphs
Your body paragraphs should present the points in support of your main idea.
Each body paragraph should focus on one point.
Be sure to provide evidence or examples for each point.
Opposing view
After presenting your supporting points, develop one paragraph to accurately explain
and then refute the most significant opposing view.
Conclusion
Creatively restate your main idea and supporting points.
Try to leave your audience even more connected to your topic and persuaded by your
main idea or perspective.

Persuasive Essay - We Can Stop Teens from Smoking:

Stopping teens from smoking is a big challenge many communities face today. Many
communities can only watch without action while local businesses continue to sell
tobacco products to minors, even under risk of penalty of law.
Recent studies show that a large percentage of teens today are getting their cigarettes
from stores, mostly gas stations or convenience store. As teens continue to be able to
buy their own cigarettes, more and more communities begin to impose stronger
punishments on merchants who sell to the teens.
One community has experienced success in their attempts to stop the sale of tobacco
products to minors. Woodridge, Illinois, started a program seven years ago which
forbade and strictly punished the sale of tobacco products to minors. The entire
program includes local licensing of vendors, repeated undercover inspections to see if
the sale to minors has stopped, and education programs in schools. Woodridge has
become a model community as other communities are moving to stop teen tobacco
use.
A recent national study showed that 36.5% of females, and 40.8% of males buy their
cigarettes from stores, whether it be a gas station or a supermarket. Hopefully, as
more and more merchants see the trouble they face if caught selling to minors, they
will stop selling.
True, tightening down on stores that sell tobacco to minors isn¹t going to completely
stop the problem of teen tobacco use. Teens continue to get them from other sources.
But it definitely does hamper their efforts. With more education in schools, and
perhaps stronger punishments for teens caught with tobacco, more and more teens
will see the problems with the tobacco usage, and will stop the habit.

The five paragraph essay follows a defined format. The first paragraph introduces us
to the thesis of the essay and directs us to the three main supporting subtopics. The
second through fourth paragraphs are all similar in format. They individually restate
the subtopics, and are developed by giving supporting information. The fifth and last
paragraph restates the main thesis idea and reminds the reader of the three main
supporting ideas that were developed. All of these paragraphs are important.

The introductory paragraph is the place in which the writer introduces the reader to
the topic. It is important to make this a clear and limited statement. This is where the
writer grabs the reader's attention. Because of its purpose, it is often the first sentence
of the paragraph. It is followed by three subtopics that develop the thesis. Between
this paragraph and all paragraphs of the essay, there needs to be some kind of a
transition word, phrase, or sentence.

Next, the body of the essay contains paragraphs two through four. They are all
similarly constructed. Their topic sentences are restatements, often in original form, of
the three supporting ideas presented in the first paragraph. The subtopic of each of the
body paragraphs is again supported by three or more supporting sentences. These
cement, in the reader's mind, the relevancy and relationship of each of the subtopics to
the thesis statement.

Finally, the fifth paragraph is the summary paragraph. It is important to restate the
thesis and three supporting ideas in an original and powerful manner as this is the last
chance the writer has to convince the reader of the validity of the information
presented. Because the purposes of the first and fifth paragraph are so similar that
some writers construct them at the same time. They will edit them, as necessary, as
they do with each and every part of the essay.

It is important to reiterate that each of the paragraphs is joined together by a

transition word, phrase or sentence. Transitions help the reader to follow the flow of
the logic and sequencing. All of the essay types follow this basic transition format.
However, there is more latitude with the narrative essay because of its nature.
INTRODUCTION
Provides Background Information necessary for understanding

Title and author

Brief summary or definition
Thesis – Argument to be proven
Must use ACTIVE VERB
BODY PARAGRAPHS
Used as data to support thesis statement

Topic sentence – Read 1st sentence then ask yourself if your whole paragraph is
about this topic
Explain topic, add supporting details to topic
SPECIFIC EXAMPLE
1. Background information – what the reader needs to know to understand
the example
2. Quotation that proves your point
3. Explain how this example proves topic
Conclusion – Explain how topic proves thesis

CONCLUSION
(OR SO WHAT?)

How is your thesis accurate? What else could help prove or disprove your
thesis?
Why is knowledge of the thesis of value?
Why does the author construct the text in this way?
How does knowledge that your thesis is true affect the reading of the text?