The descriptive essay is not only peculiar when compared to other types of essays but also a cause of stress for many students. If you’re worried about your descriptive essay, we will help you approach the topic selection and provide various highlights that will make writing your essay a breeze.
Like you, we experienced issues with the descriptive essay at the high school level. Luckily, RankMyService has always guided us through the best help services and fresh writing ideas. Over time, we acquired an expertise that we hope to share with you in this article. We will also cover some descriptive essay ideas to inspire your topic selection.
What is a descriptive essay?
A descriptive essay is a type of writing assignment geared at vividly describing an event, a person, or a place. These essays often require no research and are thus creative.
A good descriptive essay should thus trigger all our senses, painting a vivid picture of the scenario being described. Additionally, this type of essay requires proficiency in the language to trigger various emotions you may have experienced when you encountered the event you’re describing.
What can I write about in a descriptive essay?
Unlike many academic essays, descriptive essays are less limited in scope and can address multiple things/ phenomena. Some of the common issues to address in your essay include:
- People. The essay can describe your encounter with a person and highlight their appearance, behavior, mood, and other peculiarities that defined them.
- A place. This may highlight the interactions with the locals, the architecture, and the climate of a place. At its best, this essay should create a mental image of the place and offer your reader a feeling as if they were immersed in the region under discussion.
- Events. These essays often revolve around hallmark functions that you engaged in. These events may include your birthday, graduation ceremony, or vacation. Here, you are expected to highlight the occurrences of the event and, if possible, the lessons learned from the event.
- An occupation. This type of essay may be approached by explaining your job, defining the feelings you derive from it, and highlighting the typical tasks you engage in and the general aura of the workplace.
Descriptive essay format
Similar to many types of essays, the descriptive essay comprises an introduction, a body, and a conclusion.
- The introduction. This section introduces your topic and gives your readers the context of what you are to tackle. It is also of great importance that you highlight the reason why the experience you are explaining is relevant to you and spice up your introduction to hook your reader into reading the entire article.
- The body. The standard descriptive essay comprises three body paragraphs. Each paragraph covers sensory details that immerse your reader into the essay and link to the subsequent section as it builds on the procedure in which various events transpired. Be keen to skillfully create a narrative as opposed to presenting a listicle of various descriptions of the phenomenon.
- The conclusion. Here, summarize the lesson you picked from the events and offer the points on why you selected the events.
How to begin a descriptive essay introduction
How to begin a descriptive essay rank among the issues that students struggle with when preparing a descriptive essay. The way you start your essay will determine the mood you inspire in your readers from the get-go.
We recommend that your introduction be catchy to motivate your reader to read your entire essay. When writing your introduction, you may start with a rhetorical question or a narration that highlights the major danger/ challenge you faced in the event you are describing.
How to write a good descriptive essay: tips for descriptive essay writing
- Before starting on your paper, brainstorm the event/ person you intend to describe and jot down various physical characteristics, memories, feelings, and emotions that you experienced at the moment you intend to describe. These details will heap on to the significance of your paper and help paint a clear image in your reader’s mind.
- Create an outline to gauge how your ideas connect and determine additional data that could improve your narration.
- Use descriptive language and figurative elements.
- Preferably write in the present tense to make the event you are describing feel immediate.
- Use adjectives and adverbs to describe events and actions that occur within your essay. These elements add weight to the description by showing the extent to which the action was executed.
- Always ensure to show action instead of telling it. E.g.,
Telling: The manager was angry
Showing: The boss’s brows had formed a V, eyes narrowed forming an intense stare, and his forehead festooned with wrinkles.
Descriptive essay ideas
- My favorite holiday destination
- A stranger that caught your eye
- My first day riding a horse
- My first day on campus
- Why I love my favorite meal
