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by Katharine Hansen, Ph.D.

A descriptive essay describes a specific subject -- a person, place, thing, or event, for example. Professors often assign descriptive essays because description is one of the building blocks of other types of expository writing. The key to a descriptive essay is to enable a reader to experience whatever you're describing with the same sensory vividness that you as the writer experienced it.

You must have a purpose in mind -- something you are striving to get across -- with your descriptive essay. Yes, one purpose is that your professor has assigned you this essay, but what is the main idea you want to communicate about the person, place, object, experience, or memory you are describing? What makes the subject of your essay important or significant? Let's say you chose to describe your sister. Should your purpose be to show that she is an accomplished horseback-rider or to illustrate how she relates to other people? That's your choice, but your purpose in writing the description will guide you in which details you will choose to include in your essay. Those details should not only support your purpose, but also convey a clear, dominant impression on the reader.

An effective way to develop descriptive details is to conduct a simple word-association exercise with the subject you're describing. Think of as many words as you can come up with that you associate with the subject. The first words that come to you will likely be the most obvious, but keep brainstorming to list words that go beyond those that might normally be used to describe your subject. Use some words from this exercise to build the details of your description. While you can certainly write a descriptive essay from memory, it may help you to choose a subject that you can actually observe as you're planning the paper -- a location on campus, your roommate, the contents of your backpack, for example.

Strive to include a complete sensory experience for your reader -- encompassing all five senses. Consider the subject you are describing. What does it look like, smell like, sound like, taste like, feel like? Write down the five senses -- sight, hearing, smell, taste, tactile sense -- and see if you can develop a detail about your subject for each. (It won't always be possible to do so; for example, it would be difficult to use taste when describing a person.) Consider the word choices you might use to make something very ordinary sound extraordinary.

Provide additional details about what you are describing by asking yourself a series of questions: What is the context or setting of what I'm describing? What really sticks out in my mind about what I'm describing? What does the subject of my description remind me of? What can I compare the subject of my essay to? What are the unusual or extraordinary characteristics of what I'm describing? How do I feel about the subject I'm describing? (Note that, depending on your professor's instructions, you don't have to take a subjective, feeling approach to your subject; you can offer an entirely detached, objective approach). What do I want my reader to feel about it? What words would best grab the reader's attention and communicate what I want the reader to experience? You may also want to ask yourself the classic questions of journalism: who what, where, when, why, and how.

The flaw in descriptive writing that experts cite most frequently is that it tells instead of shows. Until you perfect descriptive essay writing, the "show-don't-tell" criticism is one you will likely see from your professors. Use specific details to show the aspects of your description rather than merely telling it.

Sentence that tells: My sister is a smoker.
Sentence that shows: When I picture my sister, it is with a cigarette perched between nicotine-stained fingers, her mouth spewing streams of smoke intermingled with barking coughs, and ashes perpetually plummeting from the cigarette's end to objects below.

Common approaches to a descriptive essay include describing the subject in terms of all five senses, describing it based on its location or surroundings, describing the subject (such as a journey) chronologically from beginning to end, or describing it using a then-and-now approach, such as farmland on which you played as a child that has now become a housing development.

The following is an effective way to structure a descriptive essay:

1. Introduction that moves from general to specific and contains a thesis statement setting forth the dominant impression to be conveyed to the reader and touching on the main points to be described.


2. Main body in which each paragraph offers a single descriptive aspect of your subject and supports the dominant impression to be conveyed to the reader
1. Paragraph describing a specific aspect
2. Paragraph describing a specific aspect
3. Paragraph describing a specific aspect

(Note that you can include more than three paragraphs, depending on your professor's guidelines)

3. Conclusion in which you restate your thesis statement in another way.

Final Thoughts
Ensure that you have done as much as you can with your descriptive-essay by reviewing it against this checklist:

• Have you included sufficient, convincing detail to enable your reader to envision or experience whatever you are describing?
• Have you included details that don't belong and can be omitted?
• Have you strived to show and not just tell?
• Have you varied your words and used vivid and concrete language?
• Does the order in which you've presented the details build your description in a way that best creates an experience for your reader?
• Is your description interesting?

Return to A Student's Brief Overview of Expository Writing.

Questions about some of the terminology used in this article? Get more information (definitions and links) on key academic terms by going to our College Success Glossary.

Katharine Hansen, Ph.D., is an educator, author, and blogger who provides content for MyCollegeSuccessStory.com. Katharine, who earned her PhD in organizational behavior from Union Institute & University, Cincinnati, OH, is author of Dynamic Cover Letters for New Graduates and A Foot in the Door: Networking Your Way into the Hidden Job Market (both published by Ten Speed Press), as well as Top Notch Executive Resumes (Career Press); and with Randall S. Hansen, Ph.D., Dynamic Cover Letters, Write Your Way to a Higher GPA (Ten Speed), and The Complete Idiot's Guide to Study Skills (Alpha). She is also Creative Director and Associate Publisher at Quintessential Careers, edits QuintZine, an electronic newsletter for jobseekers, and blogs about storytelling in the job search at A Storied Career. Visit her personal Website or reach her by e-mail at kathy(at)quintcareers.com.

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