- Pre-writing stage. Here you need to examine all of the sources you have and define if they all offer important information on the topic of your choice.
- Writing the beginning. You should start your paper with a powerful, engaging hook that will grab the readers' attention. It may include an unusual metaphor or an interesting literary quote.
- Creating the first draft of your descriptive essay. Here is where you just need to write down all of the words that come to your mind
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Finding descriptive essay topics isn’t hard. You can describe pretty much anything—from your favourite car to today’s weather. We’ve gathered some ideas to help you get started. Hopefully, you’ll find good descriptive essay topics to spark your imagination.
A descriptive essay outline is composed of the following:
Body Paragraph(s)
- A descriptive essay about climate change, politics, or historical events.
- A news story that provides a summary of an event or information about the place where it occurred.
There are usually three body paragraphs in a paper. They cover three different points or arguments. How many body paragraphs to include in your descriptive essay is entirely up to you—or your professor. Sometimes it only takes a paragraph to tell a story, while other times it takes books.
When you come back to your descriptive essay, here are some questions to ask yourself:
- An introduction
- Hook sentence
- Context/Background information
- Thesis statement
- Body paragraphs
- Topic sentence
- Sensory details
- Actual details
- A conclusion
- Summary of all main points
- Clincher Statement
You will be best off using a strong opening line that captivates the attention of the reader. After that, end your introduction with the thesis statement.
But don’t introduce anything new at this point. Your aim here is to just evaluate your thoughts and wrap up things with a short, sweet, final sentence.
A descriptive essay refers to a category of essays that requires students to describe something. It could be a person, an experience, an object, or a place among other things. Descriptive essays encourage students to give a written account of a specific experience. Also, it gives you a lot of artistic freedom.
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Write a Thesis Statement
Otherwise, keep reading to learn how you can write a compressive descriptive essay that gets a nod from your instructor.
For example, you could describe your mother as “tough”, scented with jasmine, and “ferociously intelligent”.
Similes are when you use words like “as” or “like” to show the comparison between things. For example, you could write: “My mother was like a toughened soldier in PTA checkout lines at the grocery stores and PTA meetings”.
The subject is best described using a list of sensory details you wrote down before starting to write the essay.
Nowadays, we all know what a tropical island looks like, thanks to the wide availability of media. Even if you’ve never been to such an island, surely you’ve seen one on TV. This might explain why few books on the craft of writing address descriptive writing. The focus is usually on other elements, like language, character, plot, theme, and structure.
If you have any descriptive writing practices to add to this list, feel free to share them in the comments.
However, I think it’s safe to say that technology has spoiled us. Thanks to photos and videos, we’ve become increasingly visual, which means it’s getting harder to use words to describe something, especially if it only exists in our imaginations.
But many writers are challenged by description writing, and many readers find it boring to read — when it’s not crafted skillfully.
Descriptive Writing Tips
Writing description is a necessary skill for most writers. Whether we’re writing an essay, a story, or a poem, we usually reach a point where we need to describe something. In fiction, we describe settings and characters. In poetry, we describe scenes, experiences, and emotions. In creative nonfiction, we describe reality. Descriptive writing is especially important for speculative fiction writers and poets. If you’ve created a fantasy world, then you’ll need to deftly describe it to readers
I’ve encountered descriptive writing so smooth and seamless that I easily visualized what was happening without even noticing that I was reading description. Some authors craft descriptions that are so lovely, I do notice — but in a good way. Some of them are so compelling that I pause to read them again.
- Use distinct descriptions that stand out and are memorable. For example, don’t write that a character is five foot two with brown hair and blue eyes. Give the reader something to remember. Say the character is short with mousy hair and sky-blue eyes.
- Make description active: Consider the following description of a room: There was a bookshelf in the corner. A desk sat under the window. The walls were beige, and the floor was tiled. That’s boring. Try something like this: A massive oak desk sat below a large picture window and beside a shelf overflowing with books. Hardcovers, paperbacks, and binders were piled on the dingy tiled floor in messy stacks. In the second example, words like overflowing and piled are active.
- Weave description through the narrative: Sometimes a character enters a room and looks around, so the narrative needs to pause to describe what the character sees. Other times, description can be threaded through the narrative. For example, instead of pausing to describe a character, engage that character in dialogue with another character. Use the characters’ thoughts and the dialogue tags to reveal description: He stared at her flowing, auburn curls, which reminded him of his mother’s hair. “Where were you?” he asked, shifting his green eyes across the restaurant to where a customer was hassling one of the servers.
For contemporary writers, the trick is to make the description as precise and detailed as possible while keeping it to a minimum. Most readers want characters and action with just enough description so that they can imagine the story as it’s unfolding.
The Five-Step Writing Process for Descriptive Essays
Professional writers know one thing: Writing takes work. Understanding and following the proven steps of the writing process helps all writers, including students. Here are descriptive essay writing tips for each phase of the writing process:Once a topic is chosen, students should spend time thinking about the qualities they want to describe. Brainstorm about all the details associated with the topic. Even when not writing about a place, reflect on the surroundings. Where is the object located? Where does the person live? Consider not just physical characteristics, but also what memories, feelings, and ideas the subject evokes. Memory and emotion play an important role in conveying the subject’s significance. Plan the focus of each paragraph and create an outline that puts these details into a logical sequence.
5. Publishing a Descriptive Essay
Sharing a descriptive essay with the rest of the class can be both exciting and a bit scary. Remember, there isn’t a writer on earth who isn’t sensitive about his or her own work. The important thing is to learn from the experience and take whatever feedback is given to make the next essay even better.3. Revising a Descriptive Essay
In the revision phase, students review, modify, and reorganize their work with the goal of making it the best it can be. In revising a descriptive essay, students should reread their work with these considerations in mind:Parents, does your student need assistance with writing a descriptive essay? Our teachers can help. Sign up for either our Middle School Essay Writing or High School Essay Writing course for 1-to-1 guidance.
Always keep the reader in mind from opening to concluding paragraph. A descriptive essay must be precise in its detail, yet not get ahead of itself. It’s better to go from the general to the specific. Otherwise, the reader will have trouble building the image in their mind’s eye. For example, don’t describe a glossy coat of fur before telling the reader the essay is about a dog!
Enjoy the process of describing the subject—it can be a rewarding experience. A descriptive essay doesn’t rely on facts and examples, but on the writer’s ability to create a mental picture for the reader.
The house frowned with a wrinkled brow, and inside it creaked with each step, releasing a scent of neglected laundry.
The statement will be the most prominent idea in your essay. The statement will set the perspective and framework of your essay as well as control the information you convey
The outline should list details of what you intend to discuss in your paragraphs that supports your thesis statement. Each paragraph should have its main idea but group all your paragraphs along a similar theme
Descriptive essays tend to take an open and relaxed writing approach and as such, the flow of thoughts can be incoherent making it hard for the reader to follow and visualize your object of description
There are common mistakes often overlooked while writing that can lower your grade. It’s important you avoid them if you intend to produce an exceptional piece of writing. They include:
Choose a topic
Not utilizing similes and metaphors in the description of the essay by over-relying on adjectives alone
Common mistakes you should avoid while writing a descriptive essay
Review your work and proofread it for any grammar, punctuation, and spelling mistakes before you submit it
