Descriptive Essays

The art of capturing people, places, events, objects, and feelings in words so that a reader can visualize and respond to them.

• Show rather than tell
• Paint a verbal picture
• Use as many of the five senses as possible (smell, taste, touch, sound, sight)

Objective Description

• No trace of opinions and feelings
• Impartial
• Precise
• Emotionless Tone
• Accurate
• Un-biased
• Easily Understandable

Subjective Description

• Focuses on personal impressions
• Intentionally created to produce a certain response in the reader
• Focuses on feelings – not raw data
• Activates as many senses as it can
• Leads the reader to a certain conclusion or state of mind

Good descriptive essays balance both objective and subjective description.

Qualities of good description

• Accurate sense of audience
• Clear vision of object described
• Careful selection of details that help communicate the author’s vision
• Consistent point of view or perspective

A Possible Outline for Descriptive Essays

Introduction

Topic Sentence

Overview or Setting

Spatial Organization of Details

Top Middle Bottom

Conclusion