DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY

Table of contents

• How to Write a Descriptive Essay
• What is a Descriptive Essay
• Descriptive Essay Topics
• How to Write a Descriptive Paper
• Descriptive Essay Research And Taking Notes
• Writing Your Descriptive Essay Outline
• Writing Your Rough Draft
• Writing Your Final Draft And Editing
• Other Writing Tips
• Help is Here!

---

How to Write a Descriptive Essay

Neil Gaiman, Ernest Hemingway, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Zora Neale Hurston, and so many other writers don’t just tell stories. They use their words to describe entire worlds and time periods, and their readers are transported as a result. Descriptive writing is used everywhere. It’s in advertising copy. You can find it in descriptions of the products you find online. Even the apps and video games you use are full of descriptive prose.

The descriptive essay is an assignment that was specifically designed to allow students to demonstrate their ability to provide vivid descriptions. Master this skill, and you can become a great storyteller.

In the following paragraphs, we’ll examine the different parts of a descriptive essay. We’ll go through topic selection, writing, and editing. We’ll even include some great writing tips. Finally, we’ll close out with some advice on getting even more writing assistance.

What is a Descriptive Essay

Descriptive Essay Definition: A descriptive essay is an academic paper in which the writer describes an event, a person, a process, or a thing. The goal is to show the reader what is happening rather than tell them. For example, rather than writing ‘Bill was very sad’, you might write, ‘Bill felt hot and had a lump in his throat. He wiped away the tears that fell onto his checks. He slumped in his seat, and stared at the floor.’

Your goal is to create a vivid and engaging experience for your readers. Good, descriptive writing evokes the sense. It often brings up memories for the reader or allows them to visualize what you are describing. You can write a descriptive essay on places you’ve visited or that you imagine, interesting people, experiences you’ve had, and more.

Finally, your descriptive essay should have a purpose. There should be a lesson to learn, an impact on your life to communicate, or an action you want the reader to take.

Good, descriptive writing evokes the sense. It often brings up memories for the reader or allows them to visualize what you are describing.

Descriptive Essay Topics 

If you can describe it in vivid detail, you can write a descriptive essay about it. The key is finding a topic that is interesting, and that your audience can get invested in. Choose a topic that excites you, and chances are your readers will follow along.

To help you get your imagination going, check out these ideas that we’ve gathered from our own writing team.

Place Descriptions

You can describe places both big and small, or real and imaginary. 

• Your Childhood Bedroom
• Your First Apartment
• The City You Grew up In
• Disney World
• Your Favorite Fishing Spot
• The Grand Canyon
• A Land From Your Favorite Book
• Your Bedroom
• A Beautiful Park Near Your Home
• A Creepy Abandoned Building

People Descriptions

People are a combination of physical characteristics, beliefs, experiences, and personality traits. Those are all great fodder for a descriptive essay. You can write about:

• Your Best Friend
• A Teacher Who Influenced Your Choice in Major
• Your Favorite Movie or Television Character
• The Ideal Version of Yourself
• A Real-Life Hero
• One of Your Parents
• Your Worst Enemy
• Yourself

Object Descriptions

Even inanimate objects can be interesting if they are described correctly. Use your writing skills to describe:

• A Beautiful Piece of Jewelry
• A Stunning Outfit
• Your Favorite Shirt
• A Fast Car
• A Tree That You Planted
• A Painting

Process And Experience Descriptions

Yes, you can even describe processes and experiences. Try one of these:

• Running a Marathon
• Taking a Vacation in a Foreign Country
• Building a House
• Going Camping
• Baking a Delicious Cake

Just remember that you aren’t writing a narrative essay.

Your goal here is to paint a picture, not to reach a process or method.

How to Write a Descriptive Paper

The writing process consists of research and taking notes, writing an outline, creating your rough draft, creating your final draft, and editing. Here, we’ll take you through all of these steps.

Descriptive Essay Research And Taking Notes

Do you really need to research something that you know well enough to describe? That depends. It can certainly help in some cases. For example, if you’re describing a person you know, you might revisit old home videos, photo albums, or text conversations. If you’re describing something from a book or movie, you should review that to refresh your memory. Also, doing extra research can help you to discover new elements of your topic.

Writing Your Descriptive Essay Outline

When your writing is a well-organized essay, you create a foundation that you can build on. You will be able to keep your thoughts organized. Even better, you can play around with structure and formatting. It’s much easier to do that with an outline than a nearly completed paper.

Just like other papers, your descriptive essay will have an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Your essay will help you create each of these.

In your introduction, you will share the topic with your reader. Then you will give them some basic information so that they understand what to expect. Your intro should contain an interesting hook, some background information or another context, and your thesis. 

Your thesis is most important as it contains the idea that you will support with the remainder of your paper. For example, your thesis might be: My cousin, Jeffrey has been the biggest influence on my choice to become a police officer. In that case, your essay should focus on demonstrating why that thesis is true.

The next are your body paragraphs. Your outline should have one main idea for each paragraph, and some supporting points based on your research and personal knowledge. In the case of the hypothetical essay about your cousin, one of the parts of your outline may look like this:

• Jeffrey has had a successful career as a police officer.

1. Started as a patrolman and became a detective.
2. Won a medal for bravery.
3. Teaches at the police academy.

It’s common to have three body paragraphs, but it isn’t mandatory. You can have as many as you need, or your assignment requires.

Finally, you need to add your conclusion to your outline. This is where you bring everything together. Share your thesis again, and remind your audience of the ways in which your paper supports it. This is also where you share any emotional or life impact that the subject has had on you.

Writing Your Rough Draft

Now that you have your essay structure and main points down, it’s time to write your rough draft. Remember that your goal is to provide vivid descriptions. You want to show your audience not tell them. Use plenty of adjectives, be specific, and use words that will engage the senses.

Tell your reader what they might see, hear, taste, or touch if they were witnessing your subject matter in person.

Your Final Draft And Editing

As long as you’ve gone through the steps or researching, creating an outline, and writing a rough draft, this final step should be relatively easy. Here, you’re just eliminating any spelling or grammar mistakes, making sure everything is clear and easy to understand, and ensuring that you’ve followed your professor’s instructions.

Other Writing Tips

Here are some other writing tips to help you compose an amazing descriptive essay:

• Use a thesaurus to avoid repeating the same descriptive words and phrases.
• Add similes and metaphors to paint a picture for your readers.
• Consider the reader’s perspective. Your job is to make them care about your topic.
• Read your essay out loud to best understand whether or not it ‘flows’.
• Check out descriptive essay examples for inspiration.

Help is Here!

Do you still need help learning how to start your descriptive essay? We are here for you 24/7. Just contact us with any questions or concerns.