Descriptive Essay Requirements
A DESCRIPTION is a verbal picture of a person, place, or thing. When you describe someone or something,
you give your readers a picture in words. To make the word picture as vivid as possible, observe and record
specific details that appeal to all of the reader's senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.
A descriptive paper needs sharp, colorful word choices that are rich in imagistic details.
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Requirements:
2-3 pages (600+ words), typed double spaced.
First draft due for peer review on Monday, July 7 (bring THREE copies of this paper).
Peer Review on Monday, July 7
Final draft due on Wednesday, July 9
Writing a Good Thesis for a Descriptive Essay
 You will write about something cultural within your heritage in order to preserve a living history of
your family, sort of like a memoir. This could be, for example, any of the following (or choose one of
your own ideas):
 What your family does to celebrate a holiday with cultural traditions
 How your family attends a religious service
 Traditional costumes, songs, instruments or dances that define your ethnicity
 Any event or tradition that would represent you or you family’s culture
 Narrow your subject until you can cover it within two pages. In a paper about your Christmas
celebration, for example, you clearly could not cover every bit of it in 2 pages or 600 or so words.
Instead, begin to think about one small part of it that has been important to you. It could be the
dinner, baking cookes, opening presents, caroling, attending church...anything you want.
 Make sure that your thesis statement provides a dominant impression about what you are describing.
Don’t worry about refining the sentence right away.
 The statement “The subject of this paper will be how we celebrate Halloween” is not a good thesis
statement. To check if your thesis has a point, ask yourself “so what?” Why does it matter that the
subject of your paper is Halloween? Instead, you should write something about the celebration. For
example, “Halloween has always been my favorite time of year because in Mexico, where I’m from,
we have lavish parties to honor the dead on the Dia de los meurtos, or the day AFTER Halloween.”
Proceeding with a Good Description in the Essay
After you have a good thesis statement, these guidelines will help you to develop your ideas into a
Descriptive Essay:
 Make a list of as many details as you can that support the general impression.
For example: Flags and memorabilia of the country your ancestor(s) came from
A bookshelf of books translated from your ancestor(s) language
Pictures of family and friends in native garb
Posters, photos or artwork representing your heritage
Recordings/videos of your cultural heritage
 Establish the emotion you want to evoke
Most good descriptive writing is designed to arouse emotion, whether it be disgust, nostalgic
yearning, love, reverence, revenge, bloodlust, etc. Keep this in mind as you write and edit.
 Pick up and use important details.
The details about a place or event give life and personality to the anonymous area. The details tell
more than any opinion you could give. Be exact, be concrete, and be specific.
 Organize your paper according to one or a combination of the following:
 Physical order - move from young to old, far to near, or in some other consistent order
 Size - begin with large features or objects and work down to smaller ones
 Appeal to as many senses as possible when describing a scene. Chiefly, you’ll use sight, but
try to include touch, hearing, smell, and taste as well.