Unit 2.
Descriptive Essays
Part 1.
What is Descriptive Essay?
• Describe (v.) to give an account or
representation of in words
• Descriptive (adj.) serving to describe or inform
or characterized by description
• In a descriptive essay, a writer uses details to
tell how a subject looks, sounds, smells, tastes,
or feels.
• A descriptive essay should make the reader
feel as if he/she is present in the scene.
Writing example
• (p.29) Anthony Bourdain, a famous NY chef,
describes a childhood experience with an oyster
during a family vacation in France.
• (p.30)
• How did he describe Monsieur Saint-Jour? On
which line(s)?
• How did he feel about the trip first in the
beginning? How did his feelings change?
• How do you think Bourdain would describe the
oyster trip when he returned home?
Writing Task for Today
• Choose one of the following topics. Write a threeto-four-paragraph descriptive essay (200-250
words).
• Topic 1. Please describe a kind of food that you
like/dislike. Describe its characteristics, and
explain reasons why you like/dislike it.
• Topic 2. Please describe a "good person". From
your viewpoints, provide the detailed qualities
and examples of being a good person.
1
2
Prewriting: Stimulate Ideas
• Descriptive writing uses words to build images
for the readers.
• These images may come from your “sensory
perceptions”, such as sights, smells, sounds,
touches, tastes, or feelings.
• HOW??
Tools for Brainstorming
• Graphic organizer
– Star/Web
– Chart/Matrix
– Tree/Map
– Chain
– Sketch
– Synectics
Web
• Analyzing Attributes /
Brainstorming
• Use to list facts,
definitions, attributes,
or examples related to a
single topic, concept, or
theme.
Chart
• Generate ideas
• Use to quickly amass
information or
elements, stimulate
creative thinking,
develop new ideas, in
an unrestrained and
spontaneous manner.
Tree (Network)
• Use to show a system of ideas/things ranked one above
another, left to right
• Use to visually arrange interrelated and sequentially
ordered sections within the whole
• It is similar to an outline
Sketch
• Visualize events and scenes
• Use to recall or form mental images or pictures.
• To make perceptible to the mind or imagination
Brainstorming example
• (p.32) Word web
• Think of a food you really like or dislike: Fried
chicken.
• Choose a topic you are going to write about.
In 10 minutes, Draw a graphic organizer to
develop your ideas. 
Prewriting: Outlining
• What do you want to describe?
• What is your reason for writing your description?
• What are the particular qualities that you want to
focus on?
–
–
–
–
–
sight
sound
smell
touch
taste
Rhetorical focus
• (p.33)
• Introduction: the thesis statement tells why
the object or event of description is important
to the writer.
• Body paragraphs: most of the description is in
the body paragraph. Use adjectives and
adverbs to make the experience more vivid.
• Conclusion: it gives the writer’s final opinion
about the description.
Outline example
• (p.33) The Best Pizza in Town and Maybe the
World
• (p.34)
• Based on the topic you choose and the
brainstorming results, create an outline for
your essay in 10 minutes. 
Writing: First Draft
• Writing topic: Descriptive writing can portray
people, places, objects, memories and
experiences with enough vivid detail to help
the reader create a mental picture of what is
being written about.
• Remember that you are “showing”, not
“telling”.
• I grew tired after dinner.
– Telling
• 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.
– Showing
• The most effective descriptive essays are loaded
with such showing because they enable readers
to imagine or experience something for
themselves.
Writing Task for Today
• Write a three-to-four-paragraph descriptive
essay (200-250 words).
• Topic 1. Please describe a kind of food that
you like/dislike. Describe its characteristics,
and explain reasons why you like/dislike it.
• Topic 2. Please describe a "good person".
From your viewpoints, provide the detailed
qualities and examples of being a good person.