“She was wearing her favourite dress for her birthday. Deep blue hues and pearls made her look ecstatic even in the 50s!” Did you just imagine what I described? Well, you just learned the first rule of writing a descriptive essay. It is about igniting the imagination of the reader. A descriptive essay as the name suggests is a vivid description of a topic. This could be a person, place, thing or even an emotion. It is the most creative form of academic writing.
The Purpose of Descriptive Essay
The main purpose of writing a descriptive essay is to make the reader completely aware of the topic. After reading the essay, the reader must have a clear picture of the topic in mind. They must be able to imagine the subject. Descriptive essays target all the human senses and not just the observatory sense. It is not a narration. It is like establishing a deep emotional connection between the subject and the reader. Now let us see some simple ways how you can write a descriptive essay.
How To Write A Descriptive Essay
- Pick the Right Topic
The topic of the descriptive essay plays an important role. You must pick a topic that appeals to you. A topic for which you can find the right vocabulary and adjectives. If you have a few topics in mind, try creating an outline of the essay by writing the main points that you would want to describe in the essay. This will help you narrow down your selection to one topic that you are able to describe more appropriately.
Examples of Descriptive Essay topics:
- Your favourite place in your house
- Your favourite vacation destination
- The Magic of Beginnings
- A Planet like Earth
- Give ‘Wings’ to Your Writing
By wings, I mean you must let your words flow. Do not be too formal or strict while writing a descriptive essay. Instead, your writing must be figurative. Do not write in the same old conversational manner. Put more emphasis on clarity, creativity and comparisons. For instance, use simile and metaphors. You may also include personification in your writing to make things interesting and engaging for the reader.
Examples of figurative writing:
- The table for our family legacy. It was as old as my great grandfather yet had a fine look.
- It was my favourite time of the year. Just like new beginnings, January flew in with all the hopes and positivity.
- When I looked outside, white snow was dazzling all over the place, like a ballerina conquering the stage with her poise.
- Sensory Details
Involve the reader completely in your writing by including sensory details like smell, looks, taste and touch. Sometimes the subject might not allow you to use all the sensory details and that’s okay. Include what you can. Lara, an academic writing expert at GoAssignmentHelp suggests that sometimes you can use the sensory details in the form of metaphor or indirect comparison. Your ultimate goal should be to involve and impress the reader!
Examples of including sensory details in a descriptive essay:
- There was a sweet fragrance in the breeze and I knew it was that time of the year, it was about to snow!
- She choked with fear as if she can’t breathe. All her life came across her eyes. She wanted to live again.
- Bella was dancing like no one was watching, her face brightening up like a sunflower. A five-year superstar was shining amidst the other children.
- Revising the Essay
This is the most essential step that will help you crosscheck what all you have written in the descriptive essay. You can also take assignment help at this step and get your essay checked by an expert. To revise your essay, you need to set some ground rules. For example, as these questions, as you read your essay:
- Have you described the subject fully? Is there any paragraph that does not help in describing the subject?
- Is your word choice correct? Have you chosen the right words to describe the subject?
- Have you given complete details of the subject?
- Will the reader be able to derive a conclusion from your essay?
Emphasise the concluding paragraph while writing the essay. This paragraph will complete the picture in the reader’s mind and will help them understand your topic. If you have missed the conclusion, the reader might not be able to form a clear image of the topic or subject in their mind and the whole essay will lose its impact.
Before you complete your essay for submission, read it once again and look for areas of language improvement. See where all you can enhance the writing and vocabulary of your essay so that it becomes more impactful for the reader. Hope all these tips and examples will bring clarity about how to write a descriptive essay.