Writing a Descriptive Essay Quite often you have had to give directions to a friend or remind a friend about some event or person by giving them a clear outline of the physical appearances of the landmarks around that place in the case of directions, by giving a physical outline of a person’s physical appearance or in the case of an event, outlining the activities that took place during the event, the décor, the location and so on. All these are forms of descriptions meant to create a vivid mental picture to your reader, which helps them in relating to what is being described. Likewise, descriptive essays are meant to describe a person, place, object and any other thing possible.

What Sets Descriptive Essays Apart From All Other Essays? Other types of essays such as argumentative, expository, and narratives rely on facts, events or situations. These essays purpose to educate the reader directly by giving the reader all information directly. Contrary to this, a descriptive essay uses senses to connect with the reader. The writer uses, metaphors, and similes to describe his or her subject. Through this description, the reader connects emotionally with the subject being described, and in very successful case, the reader may feel as though he or she shared the moment with the subject or has ever encountered the subject. While other kinds of essays tell the reader, this essay works on showing the reader through using details that appeal to the reader's senses and empathy in constructing mental situations and images he or she can relate to.

The aim of descriptive writing is to create a lasting impression of your essay in the reader. To create a lasting impression, the writer needs to have forethought about his or her essay’s topic, structure, situation, events, and all other aspects to be included in the essay. As a writer, you need to know the right words to use in your essay so as to connect with your readers and achieve the effect you want to achieve on them.

Writing Your Descriptive Essay Choose a Suitable Topic Descriptive essays often focus on single objects, a person, or a location. Once you have chosen your topic, your task is to show your readers your thoughts, feelings, and views about the topic through the description you give in your essay. Structure your essay and ideas in a flawless manner to help make sense out of your topic. For an event, make sure you describe the events in a chronological manner. For descriptions of people or places, start from a general point of view then narrow down to specifics. Keep in mind that your introduction is the pacesetter for the rest of your essay. Therefore, ensure that you start off your introduction at a high note, letting your readers know what to expect in your essay.

Choose Your Descriptive Essay’s Thesis Statement Once you have chosen your topic, choose what your main purpose or focus of the essay is. This is your thesis statement. A thesis statement helps you regulate your focus by keeping you from wondering into ideas that are not major in your essay. It also regulates the way you relay your information to your readers.

Note Down the Senses Use columns to list down the five human senses. This will help you in organizing your thoughts as you give a description of your topic/subject. You can jot down the smell, sound, taste, touch or sight related to your subject in these columns. List all emotions you relate to the topic as well. Give all sensory information that supports the main purpose of your story through using descriptive adjectives. These adjectives should be used in adding flesh to the body of your essay. Differentiate the ideas in your story by having topical paragraphs in your essay’s body. The topics should be based on the different interesting aspects of your subjects. Describe these aspects in details in each paragraph.

Create an Outline for Your Essay Once you have your topic, thesis statement, and identified the senses to be used, create an outline for your essay. An outline should have the details to be discussed in each paragraph. A standard descriptive essay has a standard structure of introduction, body, and conclusion.

Introduction Start your descriptive essay with a strong element to capture the focus and attention of your reader. Quotes, questions, powerful imagery will certainly help you in achieving this. Once you have your reader’s attention, outline the event, object or situation to be described and the relevance of this description subject in your essay.

Body Your essay’s body describes the essay’s object in details. Depending on the length of your essay, use the first paragraph to describe your object in details using as many points as necessary, to ensure that a rich picture is created in your reader's mind. In the following paragraph, describe the setting of object. Provide to your reader the environment of your object or its background. Use strong imagery language to achieve the maximum out of this paragraph. In your third and concurrent paragraphs, appeal to the reader's emotions by describing your subject in a manner that brings life to it and helps the reader connect with it.

Conclusion Repeat and reinforce your essay’s introduction and body. Restate the importance of the object or situation discussed in your essay and the relevance they have to the overall essay.

Write Your Descriptive Essay’s Conclusion This is where you make a summary of your essay and reaffirm the purpose of your essay; that is your thesis statement. Being the final thing the readers get to read your essay, ensure that it leaves a lasting impact on them. Note that you should not include any new information that had not been discussed in your essay’s body or introduction.

Review Your Essay Take time off your essay once you are done writing it. This will make your mind relax and reenergize and in that state, you can easily point out weak areas in your essay that need improvement or areas that need general correction. Read your essay with your reader in mind, see if your essay evokes the feelings and emotions you intend them to in your readers and improve on any areas that need be improved. You can also do this re-reading exercise with a friend.