http://www.ck12.org Chapter 1. Descriptive Essays
Although the organizational scheme you choose rests solely on the content you intend to include, the object must be
the focus of either paper. Make sure the characteristics of an object or the retelling of an event does not overshadow
the impact of the object being described. For example, when describing the event of your first kiss, you would need
to make sure that you did not spend too much of your paper focusing on your first crush. Additionally, when writing
about an event connected to the object, be sure to connect the event to the significance of the object so that the
event itself does not outshine the object being described. In focusing on not only the organization of the essay but
also the significance of the object, the object descriptive essay that you compose will stress both the description and
importance of the object being described.
Review Questions
- Write a descriptive essay about a gift you received on your birthday. Remember you can arrange your essay
according to the characteristics of the object or by detailing the event at which you received it. - Write a descriptive essay about one of the state birds. Be sure to indicate why the bird is important to the state
it represents.
Event
Although the three previous types of descriptive essays follow the same two organizational schemes, event descrip-
tive essays differ slightly in the way in which they are organized. While other descriptive essays either describe
the person, place, or object in question or detail the event connected to it, event descriptive essays chronologically
describe an event from the past or from the future. Thus, descriptive essays that focus on an event can either detail
a memory that is significant or your hopes about an upcoming event. For instance, your event descriptive essay
about a past event would describe a memory that is in some way important to you, be it positively or negatively;
however, your event descriptive essay about a future event would describe something to occur in the future that you
are hopeful of or that you dread.
While the other descriptive essays also employ organizational schemes that outline events connected to a person,
place, or object, a descriptive essay about an event must focus on the event itself. For example, you could write a
descriptive essay detailing the event of your graduation from high school that could be based on a person, place,
object, or event. If you wanted to stress a person through this event, you could write an essay that details how your
graduation is important because it was the first time you say your grandparents in ten years. If you wanted to stress
a place through this event, you could write an essay that details how important the stadium you graduated in is to
you. If you wanted to stress an object through the event, you could write an essay that describes how important your
diploma is to you. However, if you wanted to stress the importance of the graduation, or the event itself, you could
write an essay that describes how all the things listed above, your grandparents, the location, and your diploma, all
make the event significant to you.