Descriptive essay writing tips

A Descriptive Essay is a kind of academic writing, which contains a detailed description of a thing, person, event, concept, place, etc. The main goal of a writer, who is working on a descriptive essay, is a vivid and detailed description of the subject so that readers can effortlessly picture it in their own minds.

If you have no idea how to write a Descriptive Essay, but you were assigned to write such kind of paper, follow these easy steps:

  1. First, you should determine the topic of your essay. Select the object that interests you.
  2. Sketch a list of characteristics, facts and features of the object you have selected. You will develop this plan in your essay.
  3. Gather necessary information for an introductory paragraph, if you are writing about a particular holiday, place, well-known figure, historical event, etc.
  4. When writing descriptive essays, you have to choose the main idea for each paragraph in the main body section.
  5. When writing each paragraph, start with the topic sentence and then go into details.
  6. Write a conclusion that summarizes all the main ideas contained in your essay.
  7. Put your writing aside for a few hours, and then reread it and do a thorough correction.

A descriptive essay definition presupposes some key points to consider when writing it.

This type of an essay, just like any other academic papers, should be clearly structured. Working on this kind of writing, start with the introduction of the person, object or place that you are going to describe. Indicate your relationship to this person, the purpose of the object, the location of the place, etc.

Take some time for thinking about what or who you want to describe and why. Do you want to describe a significant person in your life, or a place or an object that holds a great meaning? The topic does not have to be unusual. You may write about your grandmother, a tree house, favorite book or any other piece of art.

Once you have chosen the object of your writing, think about the qualities you want to describe. When writing a descriptive essay, you should focus on specific qualities of the chosen subject and give a detailed characteristic of each quality in separate paragraphs. For example, if you have chosen for your writing a description of the thing, you can include a paragraph, which describes its origin, another one with its characteristics and purpose, and the third paragraph of the body of the essay can be an external description of the object. Brainstorm each important detail you associate with this topic. Try to reflect on the surrounding – the location of the object, the place where the person lives. Consider feelings, memories and ideas that evoke when you think of the subject.

In the conclusion you can describe your personal attitude to the chosen topic, explaining its effect on you personally, and the reason why you have decided to write about it.

A descriptive essay should contain a lot of details, so be more detailed in your description. Include bright colorful adjectives to give contrast to details. Another trick is to include certain thoughts, facts, words or situations that you associate with the object that you are describing. The more unique and original descriptions you will get, the better.

Useful descriptive essay ideas also lie in grouping opposing and similar qualities together to make the paper sound more versatile. Use as well as, also, in addition to; for the opposite qualities use nevertheless, at the same time, however, in spite of this, although.