A descriptive essay refers to a piece of writing that details the physical details of a scene, event or happening. Characterized by its sensory, the aim of writing a descriptive essay is to appeal to the senses of the reader and make them feel they are in fact experiencing the scene. It elicits the sense of empathy among the readers and they related to the story being told in your writing.
In other words, “descriptive writing says what happened or what another author has discussed; it provides an account of the topic,” using scenes and images. The description does not necessarily mean high-flown and long-sentence structures. Descriptive essay employs figurative, connotative, language including metaphors and simile.
Many students remain unaware of the intricate details of writing a descriptive but in this post, we will make it easy for students to understand how to write a descriptive essay and write it well.
In simpler words, the goal of a descriptive is to describe a scene where readers can connect with you and understand what is happening. It does not include well-researched studies as experience and scenes are the pre-dominant throughout the essay.
A descriptive essay does not mean that you write an essay describing something irregularly. The tone and scene has to be described throughout the essay.
Starting Out
The pre-writing stage is a crucial one. You need to choose the topic first. Make sure the topic you are starting to write can have sensory details. Keep these ideas in mind before starting: your essay must contain descriptive scenes about people, events, behaviour, places and trips.
Parts of Descriptive Essay
Introduction: This is the important part. You are setting your readers up to engage with your writing. Make sure the introduction quickly appeals to the reader and captures their imagination. Quickly detail what the essay is about to discuss and detail. Give a brief background of the scene, people, or event you are going to discuss in the essay. It must include a strong thesis statement which will resonate throughout your essay.
Body Paragraphs: Unlike other essay types, a descriptive essay has a three-paragraph structure. Other essay types usually include 5 paragraphs a sentence but that is not the case here. You need to make sure that thesis statement is elaborate and clear to the readers in each of your body paragraphs. Include as much as sensory details surrounding the topic.
Conclusion: The conclusion should sum up all the details you have already mentioned. It has to be crisp and succinct. You should avoid long sentences in the conclusion part. Your readers have already read the entire story and now they want a logical and coherent ending.
Take Notes:
This is the pre-stage of writing a descriptive essay. Take notes about the topic you have chosen to write about. Be as exhaustive as possible so that you are not short of ideas or get stuck midway through. Read example descriptive essays on the web. The additional reading really helps you gain clarity about the entire process of writing your descriptive essay.
Improve Vocabulary:
The improved vocabulary is surely going to help you write a better descriptive essay. The essay has to be elaborate and must appeal to the senses and you can only do that if there are enough words in the tank. The best way to improve vocabulary is to read essays written by established writers of today and past.
Also, make a habit of reading newspapers and magazine daily especially the literature/society pages.
Editing/Revising Part:
A lot of students overlook this part when they clearly should not. Revising your essay multiple times is the key to coming up a perfectly written essay. The best tip is to invite your friends and family members to write your piece of writing. Take their feedback seriously as they are your first readers. If it fails to capture their imagination, this is not going to be a great essay. Make sure there are no grammar errors in your essay or it would spoil the crisp of your entire essay.
Make sure the flow of your essay is coherent and it reaches its conclusion. Do not make abrupt ending or change of tone. This will keep the attention of your readers wandering off.
Examples Of Descriptive Essay:
If you are writing a descriptive essay about a place, consider using these example titles:
-The city I got lost in
-my favourite vacation place
-my university department
Similarly, if you are writing about a person, take cue from these titles:
-my dream personality
-A stranger that changed my life
-A celebrity I fell in love with
Seek Professional Help:
If you are still struggling to write a descriptive essay, I would recommend using a professional essay writer service to assist you further. Any tutor service will also do. You just need to make sure that you are learning to write better from their sample essays and writing tips. Writing is an ongoing learning process. Once you get good at it, it will pay dividends throughout your life.