DESCRIPTIVE NARRATIVE ESSAY
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Your first essay is a combination, amalgamation of 2 rhetorical strategies you have practiced
thus far in your journal writing:
o Description + Narration.
Imagine, then, that we will take the traits of both to create this essay:
DESCRIPTION:
Relies upon SENSE DETAILS
o Sights
o Sounds
o Smells
o Tastes
o Touches (tactile impressions)
And FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE
o Similes
o Metaphors
And DICTION
o Keen word choice
o The “right” (descriptive) words
 adjectives, adverbs
 nouns, verbs
To support a DOMINANT IMPRESSION
o The atmosphere, setting
o A unifying impression or controlling
aspect
o Links all of your sense details
o The first adjective that comes to mind
when you think about a particular place,
object, person, or event
Details are arranged SPATIALLY
o By space (as opposed to chronology,
reason, logic, or emphasis)
o Left to right or right to left
o Top to bottom or bottom to top
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NARRATION:
Relies upon STORY ELEMENTS
o Plot
o Characterization
o Theme
o Setting
And DESCRIPTIVE ELEMENTS
o Sense Details
o Figurative Language
o Diction
o Dominant Impression (related to theme)
To relate a STORY
o Narrative
o Account, chronicle
o Tale, myth, legend
With a MORAL
o Message
o Point
o Meaning
o Theme
Details are arranged CHRONOLOGICALLY
o By TIME (as opposed to space, reason,
logic, or emphasis)
o Beginning, Middle, End
o Linear progression
o No flashbacks, no circling, no
juxtaposition
 Thus, regardless of your choice, you must include the following:
DESCRIPTIVE NARRATIVE
DESCRIPTION:
ESSAY BASICS:
 Sense Details
 Title
o Concise
 Word Choice: Adjectives & Adverbs, Similes &
Metaphors, Exact Nouns, Descriptive Verbs
 Introduction
o Opening generalization regarding the type
 To support the Dominant Impression
of lessons or type of experience
o Deductive narrowing toward your story
DOMINANT IMPRESSION:
o Brief background for the story (concise)
 Atmosphere, mood, setting
o Thesis Statement:
 What kind of experience?
ILLUSTRATION & DISCUSSION of LESSONS
 What kind of lessons learned?
LEARNED (moral):
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Body
 Hinted in the Introduction
o Chronology
 Discussed in full in the Conclusion
o Story
 Illustrated by the story (the story should = the
 Conclusion
lessons)
o Refer back to your Introduction (bring the
essay full-circle)
CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER:
o
In-depth discussion of those lessons learned
 Time sequence of events
that were implied in the Introduction
 Beginning, middle, end
POV:
 Speak from the “I”
o Either as the cop-character or as yourself
o I saw, I learned
 No “you”
o You learned the lessons, not the reader
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FOCUS:
 A FROZEN MOMENT IN TIME
o NOT a “life story”
o NOT multiple days
 3-4 pages in length
o with sufficient detail
o no room for extraneous material
 PART of a chapter in your autobiography
o neither a FULL CHAPTER
o nor an ENTIRE BOOK
Because CORE 110 is an effective writing course and not a creative writing course, I must
give you two choices when it comes to approaches:
(1) CREATIVE
(2) AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL
(1) CREATIVE
TOPIC:
(a police story)
 I want you to pretend that you are one of the police officers dispatched to the crime scene in
Poe’s “Tell-Tale Heart.”
 Your story concerns the night in question.
 Thus, you may begin at the precinct OR on the way OR at the house.
 You may also end at the house OR at the station OR at your own home after-shift.
 You will tell a descriptive story with a moral.
 You will use details in and implied by Poe’s original story.
o Most certainly, you may add your own creative ideas – I even encourage it –
o but you must adhere to the plot, setting, and atmosphere of the source.
 Remember, you are a police officer, trained in the art of keen observance.
 You may be at any time in your career and at any age.
________________________________________________________________________
(2) AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL
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TOPICS:
(a significant event in your life)
Tell the story of a major event in your life.
Tell the story of a major change in your life, an event that changed your life or your way of
thinking about a person, place, object, religion, institution, ….
Below are some topic ideas:
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Achievement
Mistake
Deaths
Divorce
Pregnancy
Abortion
Rape
Responsibility
Graduation
Heart Break
Bad Vacation
Sweet 16
School activity (play, game)
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Firsts:
o Apartment
o Job, job interview
o Solo drive
o Day at college
o Heart break
Realizations
o Bad friends
o Crime does not pay
o Behind the 8 ball
o True friendship
o No Santa
o Faith, religion, God, ….
o True meaning of … (holiday,
family, )
INTRODUCTION
OPENING GENERALIZATION:
 Introduce the type of story or type of lessons learned from the experience.
o Frightening experiences, near-death experiences
o The true meaning of family or love
 What kind of story is it? What does it deal with? What kinds of lessons did you learn?
 Answer these questions AND then get us readers prepared for a story that deals with such
ideas.
 For example, if your narrative deals with the death of a loved one, then get started by
generalizing about death or the death of loved ones.
o Most of us have unfortunately lost someone close to us.
 If your story relates a particularly harrowing case from your law enforcement career, then
begin with a statement concerning those kinds of cases.
o All police officers have one case that sticks with them throughout their careers.
 Of course, you may use a relevant quotation or statistic, instead of an opening generalization
o as long as it serves the same purpose.
SEQUE:
 Narrow from that opening to your story.
 Some, Others
o Some of us have lost friends from high school, while others have lost family
members. Sadly, I, too, have lost a close and special relative.
o For some cops, that case involved their first car crash or their first burn victim.
Others might never forget the first time they were forced to deliver a baby in the
backseat of a taxicab. For me, my unforgettable case concerned my first and only
brush with true insanity.
BRIEF BACKGROUND:
 Clearly identify your event and then
 Briefly, concisely give us some background
 By supplying some of the following:
o Who
o What
o Where
o When
o How
o Why
o Name of the high school or police department
THESIS:
 End with a strong, clear Thesis Statement
 One that answers the following:
 What kind of experience?
 What kind of lessons learned from it?
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Location, city
Date, year, season
Your age
Your rank/status in school or on
the force
______________________________________________________________________________
BODY
 Follow a clear and consistent chronology.
o Follow a linear progression
o Beginning, middle, end
o Use no flashbacks or flashforwards
o No “Quentin Tarantino” directing
 Be consistent with your characterization, plot, and setting.
 Remain in the story.
o Once the story begins (which is immediately after the Introduction), do not interrupt it
or step out of it in order to explain some point that should have been made in the
Introduction (usually in the “Brief Background” part).
o No stopping the story
o No hitting “pause” on this movie
o No “Rod Serling/Twilight Zone” monologue
o No epilogue
 Be consistent with your verb tenses.
o Remain in the past tense (simple past)
 Stay out of 2nd person POV throughout.
o No “you”
 Select only those narrative details that relate to your lessons.
o Omit details, descriptions, or events irrelevant to your purpose, to your moral, to the
types of experience and lessons you mentioned in the Intro
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CONCLUSION
Refer to your opening and how you introduced this narrative.
Discuss in detail the lessons (plural) you learned from this experience.
As you do:
o Remain in 1st person POV (speak from the “I”)
o Refer to parts of the plot
o Make sure that the story and the lessons must match – that is, the lessons must
naturally flow from such events
o Remember that insincerity is obvious
End the paper with an appropriate Clincher Sentence
o One that sums this entire experience
o One that looks to the future and the way you will live it
o One that captures the essence of the story you just related
TRAITS for BOTH CHOICES
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DESCRIPTIVE NARRATIVE
ESSAY BASICS:
DESCRIPTION
 Title
DOMINANT IMPRESSION
o Concise
NARRATION
 Introduction
LESSONS LEARNED (moral)
o Opening generalization regarding the type
CHRONOLOGY
of lessons or type of experience
1ST-PERSON POV
o
Deductive narrowing toward your story
FOCUS
o Brief background for the story (concise)
 A FROZEN MOMENT IN TIME
o Thesis Statement:
o NOT a “life story”
 What kind of experience?
o NOT multiple days
 What kind of lessons learned?
 3-4 pages in length
 Body
o with sufficient detail
o Chronology
o no room for extraneous material
o Story
 PART of a chapter in your autobiography
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Conclusion
o neither a FULL CHAPTER
o Refer back to your Introduction (bring the
 nor an ENTIRE BOOK
essay full-circle)
o In-depth discussion of those lessons learned
that were implied in the Introduction