How to Write a Descriptive Essay In 3 Easy Steps
What this means is that you will be taking an object, a person, an event, or an experience, and you will be describing that to your readers in a way that they can truly understand. Now that the definition has been established, let's review the 3 steps to writing a descriptive essay.
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Selecting an Essay Topic
Your best topic will be one that is highly interesting to you and one that is complex enough that you can dedicate an entire essay to describing it. In fact, the more senses that you can evoke in your readers the better. As you evaluate potential topics, see if you can answer all of the following questions:
- What would a person see?
- What would they hear?
- What would they taste?
- What would they smell?
- What would they feel?
The stronger your answers to each of these questions, the more likely it is that you have found a great subject for your descriptive essay. However, it can be okay to write a descriptive essay on a topic if it does not evoke all four senses, as long as it evokes very strong sensory and emotional responses as you describe it.
- Reviewing Your Topic
Students often select topics for descriptive essays that come from personal experience. This could mean that they are describing experiences they have themselves, objects the possess, or people that they know. This could also mean that they are simply trying to describe something they are truly interested in. This is a good thing, because familiarity and emotional attachment makes writing a descriptive essay much easier. However, it is absolutely imperative that you spend time reviewing your topic. No matter how familiar you are, you still need to go over what you experienced, heard, or saw. This will help make the experience fresh in your mind.
- Use Descriptive Words to Write a Descriptive Paragraph
Keep in mind that adjectives are key. The more adjectives in your essay, the more impact it is going to have on both your readers and on your instructor. So, be original and prolific in the way that you use adjectives, and also adverbs, in your essay. Remember that, 'It was a blue car that nobody drove', is not the same as 'It was matte finished navy blue car that sat idle in my friend's garage.
Now that you know how to write a descriptive essay, you should be ready to tackle your next writing assignment. However, if you are not ready, we have plenty of writers on staff to help students just like you.
