DESCRIPTIVE ESSAYS

Objectives:

In this lesson you are going to learn how to develop a descriptive essay.

PART 1 – STIMULATING IDEAS

Descriptive writing uses words to build images for the reader. These images may
come from sights, sounds, smells, tastes, process or even feelings. Good descriptive
writing makes the reader feel as if he or she is present in the scene.

PRACTICE 1 – Thinking about the Topic

Discuss the picture above with a partner.
 What do you think the occasion might be?
 Why is this place so special?
 Who are the people in the picture?
 How do they feel?
 What are they doing?
PRACTICE 2- Reading about the Topic
The following reading is about the tallest building in the world as one of the most demand tour or
travel destination place. In this text, the writer describes a building with its characteristics.
Burj Khalifa – The World’s Tallest Building
Living in the 21st century means living in the age of
technological wonders—considering, at least, you are living in
a first-world or second-world country. Technological progress
manifests itself in the surroundings of a modern individual,
starting from coffee machines and ending up with larger-than-
usual skyscrapers. Speaking of the latter, they have evolved
greatly from the times of the Home Insurance Building in
Chicago—the first skyscraper ever built. Today, the most
technologically-advanced skyscraper is the famous Burj
Khalifa in Dubai. It is famous due to its construction, look,
function, and interior.
The Burj Khalifa (or how it was called until 2010, Burj Dubai) opened on January 14th,
2010. Even before the building construction was finished, starting from 2007, it had become
the highest skyscraper in the world. Its exact height is 2,722 feet, or 829,8 meters, and it
obviously can be seen from any point in Dubai. The number of floors, however, is a bit fewer
than some might expect: Burj Khalifa totals in 163 floors, which is 16’2” (about 5 meters) for
each floor.
Next, Burj Khalifa looks like a stalagmite, which means it resembles vertical minerals
growing from cave floors. Stalagmites usually have a shape of a cone, and so does Burj
Khalifa; if you look at it from a distance, it will remind you of a gigantic sharp cone made of
glass and steel.
Moreover, the most impressive aspect about Burj Khalifa is that it had been planned to
be a “city within the city”; this means inside the tower, you can find parks, alleys, districts,
fountains, and so on. The glass of the tower’s surface always shines, because it is washed
every single day, and the make of concrete of which the tower was built from was invented
specifically for Burj Khalifa. There are three entrances to the tower, because it is so huge
that one or two would not be enough. At the foot of the skyscraper, there is a big artificial
lake that measures up to 12 hectares.
In addition, inside, the building is as magnificent as it is from the outside. The interiors
were projected by famous designers—for example, the interior of the Armani hotel, located on
 the floors from first to 39th, was designed by Giorgio Armani himself. The air inside Burj
Khalifa is conditioned and flavored—it is said that the flavor was also designed exclusively
for the tower; 57 elevators work 24 hours each day to transport visitors between floors.
Writing about Burj Khalifa is a thankless job. The existence of this building is a miracle
itself, considering how it stands against the wind, gravity, and other natural forces. With a
truly oriental luxurious scope, Burj Khalifa was designed and built to embody the impossible.
One can bravely state that nothing like this skyscraper has ever been built on earth before.
Source: https://academichelp.net/samples/academics/essays/descriptive/burj-khalifa.html

Responding the Text: Answer the following questions and discuss the answers in class

1. How is Burj Khalifa’s look described?

2. How are the most impressive aspects of Burj Khalifa described?
3. Why is the inside part of Burj Khalifa described as a magnificent piece?
4. What do you think the feelings of the writer in describing the building?

PART 2 – DESCRIPTIVE ORGANIZATION

Brainstorming and Outlining

In this part, you will write a three-paragraph descriptive essay about a tourism
destination you feel strongly like or dislike.

Brain Storming Ideas

Think about a tourism destination you really like or dislike. On a separate a piece of paper
write down your ideas about this place in a word web, like one b ellow. This about
destination’s appearance, sounds, feelings, smell, any things you associate with it, or the
context in which you were there. Think about Niagara Waterfall as the example of your
choice.
1. Appearance: wide, high, strong, white
2. Sound: non-stop, powerful
3. Feelings: wet, mystic
 high
Non-stop
wide strong

appearance sound

white powerful
Niagara
Waterfall
wet

feeling

mystic

Rhetorical Focus

In a descriptive essay, a writer uses details to tell how the subject looks, sounds, smells, tastes,
or feels. The essay should make the reader feel like responding to what he or she is reading.
Here are the rhetorical focus of a descriptive essay.
Introduction
 The hook introduces the object or event of description.
 The middle sentences provide the background.
 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 paragraphs.
 Adjectives and adverbs make the experience more vivid.
 The scene is often described with prepositions and prepositional phrases that specify
location or position in space.
 Comparisons, such as similes, can make the writing more descriptive, familiar, and
expressive.
Conclusion
 The conclusion gives the writer's final opinion about the description.
PART 3 – WRITING YOUR DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY
Writing an outline
 Decide a topic about Fundamental Electronics in Aeroplane.
 Make an outline like the Niagara Waterfall.
 Then write the first draft of a five paragraphs descriptive essay.
 Use your brainstorming notes and outline to write your first draft on a separate piece of paper.
 When you have finished your first draft, check it for mistakes using the self-editing worksheet
from paragraph to essay checklist below.
 You may use the following outline template to build your essay.
Writing a first draft

Title ____________________________________________

Introduction
Hook: _______________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Background information: __________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Thesis statement: ________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

Body paragraphs
1. Topic sentence: _______________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Descriptive details: ____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

2. Topic sentence: _______________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
 ____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Descriptive details: ____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

3. Topic sentence: _______________________________________________________

____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Descriptive details: ____________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________

Conclusion:
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
SELF EDITING WORKSHEET DESCRIPTIVE ESSAYS

Writer: _______________________ Date: ___________________________

Format Yes No
My Essay is correctly formatted (Title centered, first line of each
paragraph indented, margins on both sides, double-spaced)
Mechanics Yes No
I checked punctuation, capitalization and spelling
Content and Organization
My essay has all three parts: introduction, body and conclusion Yes No
I used block or point by point organization. (underline one)
If I used block organization, I inserted a transition sentence or a Yes No
transition paragraph between the two blocks.

Introduction:
The introduction ends with my thesis statement. Yes No

Body: The body has five paragraphs. The topics of the body
paragraphs are as follows: Yes No
1. _____________________________________________
2. _____________________________________________
3. _____________________________________________
4. _____________________________________________
5. _____________________________________________

Unity: Each paragraph discusses only one main idea, and there Yes No
are no sentences that are “off the topic.”

Coherence: Each paragraph has coherence. My essay flows

smoothly from beginning to end.
- I repeat key nouns Yes No
- I use transition signal & comparison/ contrast
signal words to show relationship among Yes No
ideas.
- I use transition link paragraphs. Yes No

Conclusion: The conclusion summarizes

(a) the main points, or Yes No
(b) paraphrases the thesis statement. (circle one)
Yes No

Grammar and sentence structure Number found

and corrected
I checked my essay for ............... errors (verb tense)
I checked my essay for ............... errors ( article)
I checked my essay for ............... errors (others)

Oshima, A., Hogue, A., 2006. Writing Academic English. NY: Pearson Education