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Writing Workshop Descriptive Writing: Descriptive Essay

Descriptive Essay
Assignment: Write an essay describing something youve observed. Your teacher, classmates, family, or friends will be your audience. Through the power of language, a good writer of description can open up new worlds for the reader. As you plan and write your essay, think about how you can use descriptive details to bring your subject to life.

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Descriptive Essay
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Choosing a Subject Finding More Ideas Gathering Ideas Organizing Getting Started Assignment

Descriptive Essay
Choosing a Subject

Use these questions to help you choose a subject to describe. 1. Can I observe the subject closely, or can I picture it clearly? 2. Would a reader find it as interesting as I do?

Cool!

Yuck!

Descriptive Essay
Choosing a Subject

3. Can I think of enough sensory details for a full description?


Smell: Hmm. I dont know. How would I find out?

Taste: Ive eaten fried frogs legs.

Touch: soft, warty, damp, cool

Hear: croaking, burplike sounds;

See: puffed throat, brown and spotted, bulging eyes

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Descriptive Essay
Finding More Ideas

What would you enjoy observing and describing?


an interesting object?

an animal and its unusual behavior?

Descriptive Essay
Finding More Ideas

What would you enjoy observing and describing?

a place where youve been happy? the first time you did something? a person you already know?

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Descriptive Essay
Gathering Ideas

To gather details about your subject, freewrite for a few minutes about each of these questions.
1. What facts do I know about my subject? Tiger is three months old. She was a birthday present. Shes a tabby. 2. What actions are associated with my subject? She chews Moms plants and unrolls toilet paper. Sometimes she hides in my closet. She races around the house and then curls up in my lap to sleep.

Descriptive Essay
Gathering Ideas

3. What are some sensory details about my subject? Grey with black stripes; big, grey eyes. Smells like pet shampoo and sometimes like cat food. Her fur is soft, but her claws and her little teeth are sharp! She meows loudly. 4. What are some of my thoughts and feelings about my subject? I miss her when Im at school. Hugging her makes me feel better when Im upset. Sometimes I get mad at her when she doesnt listen.

Descriptive Essay
Gathering Ideas

You can help your description come to life by using figurative language.
A simile compares things by using like or as. Tigers teeth are like little knives slicing my hand. A metaphor makes a direct comparison. Tiger is a tornado tearing through the house. Personification gives human characteristics to things. She sang a sweet, welcoming song with her purr.
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Descriptive Essay
Organizing

Organize your essay in one of these three ways:


Spatial order uses location, such as top to bottom, front to back, and left to right puts the most important details at the beginning or at the end best for describing a place best for describing objects and people

Order of importance

Chronological arranges details in time order order

best for describing events

Descriptive Essay
Organizing

Read the following excerpts from students descriptive essays. See if you can identify the method of organization used for each.
I love Mrs. Golds sense of style. She wears crazy hats and enormous, colorful glasses to match her outfits. Her wild, curly hair never looks combed but always smells like flowers. But the thing I I like most about But the thing like most about her her is constant smile! It spreads across her her and is her her constant smile! It spreads across faceface and makes me feel happy and loved. makes me feel happy and loved. Order of importance

Descriptive Essay
Organizing

Read the following excerpts from students descriptive essays. See if you can identify the method of organization used for each.
Grandpa brought a stool for me to stand on because the horse was a giant! I was shaking in my shoes, but I climbed onto the stool and faced the horse. She smelled like leather and hay. I carefully reached out to touch her, but I was moving in slow motion. I placed my left hand on the front of the saddle. Then II slowly Then slowly lifted my right leg . . . Chronological order

Descriptive Essay
Organizing

Read the following excerpts from students descriptive essays. See if you can identify the method of organization used for each.
Beside the cabin was huge oak tree alive with birds. Beside the cabin was aahuge oak tree alive with birds. Its branches and leaves hid a large, flat rock that Dad told me was great for nighttime sleeping. Behindthe Behind the rock was a glassy lake that shimmered in the afternoon sun. Spatial order
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Descriptive Essay
Getting Started

Think of the prewriting details youve gathered as the building blocks of your descriptive essay. Now, its time to stack the blocks and start writing! figurative language feelings sights thoughts sounds actions tastes

smells

Writing Workshop Descriptive Writing: Descriptive Essay

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