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Descriptive Writing

More than many other types of essays, descriptive essays strive to create a deeply involved and vivid experience for the reader. Great descriptive essays achieve this effect not through facts and statistics but by using detailed observations and descriptions.

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Description essay turns you into a creative artist. The pen transforms into a magic paintbrush which paints a capturing picture of the described object. Writers use one of the two methods of description when creating a description essay:

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They turn for Objective Description to describe physical objects, technical things or present reporting. It is a direct, real to life description of something. The author is inclined to provide the reader with the facts. Objective description lacks emotions and feelings. It does not give the reader an idea of writers attitude to the object. Subjective (impressionistic) is quite the opposite. The reader will see the picture with your eyes and you are to evoke strong feelings in his mind. Unlike objective description, it employs all the senses to convey the desirable meaning and achieve the necessary effect. You will share your view on the presented subject. This type of description tends to be very sensual, emotional and thoughtful.

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What do you want to describe? As you get started on your descriptive essay, it's

important for you to identify exactly what you want to describe. Often, a descriptive essay will focus on portraying one of the following:

a person a place a memory an experience an object

Ultimately, whatever you can perceive or experience can be the focus of your descriptive writing. Why are you writing your descriptive essay? It's a great creative exercise to sit down and simply describe what you observe. However, when writing a descriptive essay, you often have a particular reason for writing your description. Getting in touch with this reason can help you focus your description and imbue your language with a particular perspective or emotion. Example: Imagine that you want to write a descriptive essay about your grandfather. You've chosen to write about your grandfather's physical appearance and the way that he interacts with people. However, rather than providing a general description of these aspects, you want to convey your admiration for his

strength and kindness. This is your reason for writing the descriptive essay. To achieve this, you might focus one of your paragraphs on describing the roughness of his hands, roughness resulting from the labor of his work throughout his life, but you might also describe how he would hold your hands so gently with his rough hands when having a conversation with you or when taking a walk. How should you write your description? If there's one thing you should remember as you write your descriptive essay, it's the famous saying: show don't tell. But what's the difference between showing and telling? Consider these two simple examples:

I grew tired after dinner. As I leaned back and rested my head against the top of the chair, my eyelids began to feel heavy, and the edges of the empty plate in front of me blurred with the white tablecloth.

The first sentence tells readers that you grew tired after dinner. The second sentence shows readers that you grew tired. The most effective descriptive essays are loaded with such showing because they enable readers

to imagine or experience something for themselves. As you write your descriptive essay, the best way to create a vivid experience for your readers is to focus on the five senses.

sight sound smell touch taste

When you focus your descriptions on the senses, you provide vivid and specific details that show your readers rather than tell your readers what you are describing. Quick Tips for Writing Your Descriptive Essay Writing a descriptive essay can be a rich and rewarding experience, but it can also feel a bit complicated. It's helpful, therefore, to keep a quick checklist of the essential questions to keep in mind as you plan, draft, and revise your essay. Planning your descriptive essay:

What or who do you want to describe? What is your reason for writing your description?

What are the particular qualities that you want to focus on?

Drafting your descriptive essay:

What sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures are important for developing your description? Which details can you include to ensure that your readers gain a vivid impression imbued with your emotion or perspective?

Revising your descriptive essay:

Have you provided enough details and descriptions to enable your readers to gain a complete and vivid perception? Have you left out any minor but important details? Have you used words that convey your emotion or perspective? Are there any unnecessary details in your description? Does each paragraph of your essay focus on one aspect of your description? Are you paragraphs ordered in the most effective

way?

Sample Descriptive Essay on Mona Lisa (With an Outline) I. Introductory Paragraph (Subject: Mona Lisa) Thesis Sentence: The painting is most famous for the smile of the woman, which people have been trying to decipher for a long time II. Point #1 in Body (Point: Overview description) Topic Sentence: The portrait depicts a woman's bust, with a distant landscape that is visible in the backdrop. A. Leonardo used a pyramid design to install the woman in a simple and calm manner within the painting. B. The woman is shown with her hands folded, with her breast, neck, and face painted the same color as her hands.

C. The light is diffused so that the various curves and geometrical shapes on the painting are made visible through it. III. Point #2 in Body (Point: Her Smile) Topic Sentence Perhaps the most interesting thing about the painting is the woman's smile. A. Many believe that it is innocent and inviting, while others believe it is that of smugness and is a smirk. B. Many scientific studies have been undertaken to determine the exact nature of the smile and the real reason remains a mystery. C. It is believed that every person sees the smile differently because of the changes in the lighting that Leonardo presented. IV. Point #3 in Body (Point: The full picture) Topic Sentence: A. The woman is shown seated in an open area, and behind her is a vast landscape, which recedes to an icy mountain. B. Some winding paths and a far away bridge is also perceptible in the background.

V. Conclusion Paragraph (briefly summarize what you have said in the essay)

Topic Sentence: The painting is an amazing one and one should definitely take a look at it in order to appreciate its full beauty. The Mona Lisa is perhaps Leonardo DaVinci's most famous of paintings. It is an oil painting, painted on poplar wood. The painting is most famous for the smile of the woman, which people have been trying to decipher for a long time. Many believe that the portrait is that of Da Vinci himself, while many also place a lot mystic connections with this painting. The portrait depicts a woman's bust, with a distant landscape that is visible in the backdrop. Leonardo used a pyramid design to install the woman in a simple and calm manner within the painting. The woman is shown with her hands folded, with her breast, neck, and face painted the same color as her hands. The light is diffused so that the various curves and geometrical shapes on the painting are made visible through it. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the painting is the woman's smile. Many believe that it is innocent and inviting, while others believe it is that of smugness and is a smirk. Many scientific studies have been undertaken to

determine the exact nature of the smile and the real reason remains a mystery. It is believed that every person sees the smile differently because of the changes in the lighting that Leonardo presented. The woman is shown seated in an open area, and behind her is a vast landscape, which recedes to an icy mountain. Some winding paths and a far away bridge is also perceptible in the background. The painting is an amazing one and one should definitely take a look at it in order to appreciate its full beauty. The painting is currently on display at the Musee du Louvre, in Paris. Sample Descriptive Essay 2: I have always been fascinated by carnival rides. It amazes me that average, ordinary people eagerly trade in the serenity of the ground for the chance to be tossed through the air like vegetables in a food processor. It amazes me that at some time in history someone thought that people would enjoy this, and that person invented what must have been the first of these terrifying machines. For me, it is precisely the thrill and excitement of having survived the ride that keeps me coming back for more.

My first experience with a carnival ride was a Ferris wheel at a local fair. Looking at that looming monstrosity spinning the life out of its sardine-caged occupants, I was dumbstruck. It was huge, smoky, noisy and not a little intimidating. Ever since that initial impression became fossilized in my imagination many years ago, these rides have reminded me of mythical beasts, amazing dinosaurs carrying off their screaming passengers like sacrificial virgins. Even the droning sound of their engines brings to mind the great roar of a fire-breathing dragon with smoke spewing from its exhaust-pipe nostrils. The first ride on one of these fantastic beasts gave me an instant rush of adrenaline. As the death-defying ride started, a lump in my throat pulsed like a dislodged heart ready to walk the plank. As the ride gained speed, the resistance to gravity built up against my body until I was unable to move. An almost imperceptible pause as the wheel reached the top of its climb allowed my body to relax in a brief state of normalcy. Then there was an assault of stomach-turning weightlessness as the machine continued its rotation and I descended back toward the earth. A cymbal-like crash vibrated through the air as the wheel reached bottom, and much to my surprise I began to rise again. Each new rotation gave me more confidence in the churning machine. Every ascent left me elated that I had

survived the previous death-defying fall. When another nerve-wracking climb failed to follow the last exhilarating descent and the ride was over, I knew I was hooked. Physically and emotionally drained, I followed my fellow passengers down the clanging metal steps to reach the safety of my former footing. I had been spared, but only to have the opportunity to ride again. My fascination with these fantastic flights is deeply engrained in my soul. A trip on the wonderful Ferris wheel never fails to thrill me. Although I am becoming older and have less time, or less inclination, to play, the child-like thrill I have on a Ferris wheel continues with each and every ride.

Recommendations for Writing Effective Technical Descriptions

1. Summarize physical characteristics by answering questions you expect your readers to have about the

appearance or composition of objects, substances, mechanisms, organisms, systems, or locations. 2. Decide what kind of details to incorporate by examining the purpose and task of your document. 3. Learn the most common applications of technical descriptions: observation notes in medicine, field study, and scientific research; manuals; orientation and training materials; reports; product specifications; proposals; marketing and promotional materials; and public information and education. 4. Conduct a careful audience analysis to determine your readers purposes in reading the technical description and to identify the questions they expect to have answered. Select information that responds to the audiences probable questions. 5. Partition your subjectseparate it into parts or componentsbecause technical descriptions deal with physical characteristics of each part, usually emphasizing either structural parts or functional parts.

Structural parts comprise the physical aspects of the device, with regard to purpose. For example, a simple house key is made of a single piece of metal. Functional parts perform clearly defined tasks in the operation of the device. Although the key has a single structural part, it has multiple functional parts. Another example concerns the hull of a sailboat, which may be molded from a uniform shell of fiberglass and thus be considered a single structural part; however parts of this single-unit hull include the transom and keel, which serve different functions. 6. Use precise, concrete words. 7. Select appropriate visuals: photographs or realistic drawings, topographic and contour maps, phantom views, overlays, schematics and wiring diagrams, crosssection maps, exploded views, and blueprints. 8. Usually begin your introductory section with a definition suitable for the intended audience, followed by a statement of the purpose or function of the document.

9. Develop the body of the technical description with a part-by-part explanation arranged in order of location, assembly, or importance. Use the same format for each subsection. 10. Conclude with an explanation of how the parts fit and function together.

Mechanism Description: How to Analyze the Function, Appearance and Operation of an Object The document describes how to write a mechanism description (also called an object description). A mechanism description is a short report designed to convey to the reader a technical understanding of the function, appearance, and operation of a particular object. In one or two sentences, give the reader a quick

overview of these three elements, before you launch into the details. A mechanism description analyzes (that is, subdivides into components for futher scrutiny) an object in space. Among the rhetorical patterns you might employ are definition, partition, classification, and comparison/contrast. When nothing else seems appropriate, you can always fall back on the moreimportant-to-less-important strategy.

Dont sell the object. A technical writer is not required to persuade the reader that the object is wonderful, or valuable, or scary. But do mention the details. While you shouldnt say an object is adorably cute, you could mention that it resembles a cartoon cow wearing a pink ruffled skirt, and let your readers make the value judgment for themselves. Just describe it. Provide whatever level of detail your reader requires. Know your audience. A child safety organization may require an extremely detailed description of a simple toy (along with a separate process description for the manufacture of each component), while a military recruitment office

might require only a few paragraphs about a complex nuclear submarine. Introduction Your introduction should first state the purpose and scope of your document. If your document is longer than a few paragraphs, the first paragraph should be a stand-alone summary, which briefly defines the object and explains its function, appearance, and operation. Throughout the ages, mankind has found many uses for salt. Ancient tribes used it preserve meat; around the world it adds flavor to food; the Bible uses it as a symbol of zest for life. Salt became such an important part of peoples diet that a way was needed to allow early nomads to carry salt with them on their perilous travels; such a device ideally also helped ancient gormandizers to distribute portions of the precious flavor enhancer onto their foods. Thus was born the salt shaker. Some beginning technical writers, who remember using grandiose words to please their high school English teachers, mistakenly believe that an introduction should provide a sort of cosmic

overview. But a technical writer does not need to amuse or impress a reader somebody who wants to know exactly how much this salt shaker weighs does not need an ancient history lesson. Just provide the necessary information as efficiently as possible. This document provides the manufacturing specifications for the entire line of Happy Homemaker Praying Cow salt shakers (Divine Bovine Industries model #00045). A hand-painted ceramic collectors item, the Praying Cow salt shaker represents a plump, cartoon-like cow, her head bowed as if in prayer. A blue flower-print skirt is painted onto the body of the animal. The salt is dispensed through the cows matching bonnet, via a circular array of six small holes. The bonnet twists off to allow the consumer to fill the dispenser cavity.

Note that this writer correctly begins by introducing the reader to the document. We can assume that the rest of the document provides the measurements and other technical details, as promised by the opening sentence. The summary paragraph assumes that the

reader already knows the definition and function of a salt shaker; this is permissible. In this case, it would not be wise to omit a description of the appearance, and almost unforgivable not to include a picture. Fortunately for civilization as we know it, this product is completely imaginary.

Function Answer the question, What does it do? If the object participates in a process, then you may need to write a brief process description as well. Keep this section brief chance are, if your reader is interested in a full mechanism description, he or she already has some idea what the object is for. Of course, if the object will be so unfamiliar to your reader that the rest of the document wont make sense, then provide whatever background information your reader is likely to need. (Sometimes the only way to do this is to show a prototype of your mechanism description to a test user see Usability Testing.) Appearance Answer the question, What does it look like? You may have to use classification to break a complex object up

into its various components, and describe each in sequence. The original Star Trek Enterprise, TVs most famous fictional starship, has a saucer shaped primary hull, a cigar-shaped secondary hull, and two cylindrical warp pods. A horizontal strut suspends the secondary hull behind and below the saucer. At the flat, front of the suspended section is the deflector dish, and at the tapered back are clamshell doors that open to reveal a shuttle bay. Each of the two cylindrical power units is supported by a long pylon connected near the rear of the secondary hull. The pylons raise the power units above the plane of the horizontal dish, and extend them outwards roughly to the same width of the saucer. The pods themselves have red semicircular half-spheres on the front, and tapered cylindrical fixtures on the rear. The content of the above section is fine, but its a little hard to read. If you were to go in to any more detail, you should break it up into smaller paragraphs If you start to break your object up into multiple nested layers of components, you should consider abulleted list,

formatted so that your reader can more easily identify the level of detail you are describing in any given section. (See below.) The primary hull contains the following visible features:

The bridge (a circular, domed structure at the center of the upper surface of the saucer). o The first pilot episode, The Cage featured a special effects shot of the camera zooming in on the model to reveal the characters arranged on the bridge; the same shot also appeared as a kind of flashback in the later episode, The Menagerie, Part I. o The set for the bridge on Star Trek: The Next Generation featured a ceiling window that revealed a starry backdrop, but no such window ever appeared in the original series. Lighting effects (including blinking running lights, as well as smaller lights representing windows) Vessel identification (black painted capital letters on the upper and lower surfaces of the saucer, reading U.S.S. Enterprise and NCC1701)

Phasers and photon torpedoes (usually depicted as emanating from a spot near the center of the underside of the saucer)

Operation Answer the question, How does it work? You could also productively think of this section as the conclusion to your paper. Rarely will you gain anything by writing a cookie-cutter, boring conclusion like, Therefore, this paper has shown that the PickMaster 2000 Electric Toothpick Dispenser can be an exciting part of the environment around the cash register in any restaurant. Even if an object does not have an exciting or visible method of operating (such as a decorative item or a simple brick), the conclusion should still explain how its design helps it to fulfill its function.

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