The Descriptive Essay – An Opportunity to be Creative

There is a “Science” involved in essay writing; the organization, the thesis statement, the sentence structure, the grammar and punctuation, etc. There is also the “Art” of essay writing; the opportunity for the author to bring creativity and finesse to the piece in order to bring a compelling and/or entertaining reading experience to people. The descriptive essay probably offers the best opportunity to apply the “art” of writing.

Elementary and secondary students are usually given writing experience by producing the descriptive paragraph. In this smaller exercise, students are encouraged to employ a variety of devices in order to make their writing interesting. They learn how to use figurative language such as similes, metaphors, personification, alliteration, etc. By writing a descriptive paragraph, they also learn to appeal to the five senses of the reader as they describe an event, a person, an experience, an animal, a season, etc.

By the time students reach college, it is assumed that they have the skill set to write a solid descriptive essay. While this type of assignment occurs most often in English, Journalism and Literature course works, it certainly can be found in other disciplines as well. Students may be given with descriptive essay prompts and will then be required to prepare an essay on a specific topic. A professor may assign an essay describing a major character from a piece of literature; a Journalism student may be required to provide a descriptive piece of an event attended; a History professor may ask for a descriptive essay on the city of Berlin upon the fall of Hitler. In some instances, a professor may not provide descriptive essay prompts and the student will need to generate descriptive essay ideas of his/her own. Students who enjoy this type of composition will take advantage of this opportunity.

BestEssayWriting.org has been providing writing tips to students for years because each essay type is unique and must be approached differently.

In writing descriptive essay, student should remember the following:

1. Remember to “show,” not “tell”
A reader does not have enthusiasm when someone simply describes something in basic language. Therefore, appealing to the senses is critical. Students should consider the following two descriptions:
“The Tyrannosaurus Rex was huge, with thighs bigger than any I had ever seen.”
“With the earth trembling under his feet, the Tyrannosaurus Rex thundered into the clearing, thigh muscles rippling with each step.”
The second sentence appeals to many senses and provides a vivid picture of the subject.
2. Use figurative language whenever possible
Instead of, “Clouds covered the moon as they moved across the sky”, one might write, “The moon played hide and seek as it dipped behind clouds, only to pop out seconds later.”
3. Body paragraphs are easily determined by the specific facets of description
Transitions between these paragraphs are particularly important in the descriptive essay as it maintains fluency and coherency of the essay.

At BestEssayWriting.org, we know that not everyone really appreciates writing descriptive essays. Fortunately, we have professional writers who love and enjoy writing descriptive essays. Students are invited to submit their assigned descriptive essay prompts and receive a content field writer who is ready to face the challenge and produce creative and excellent pieces. Even if you only need descriptive essay ideas, we can provide them as well as sample descriptive essays that demonstrate the qualities of an exceptional work.