CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY, Study notes of Technical English

Download CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY and more Study notes Technical English in PDF only on Docsity! Nebraska Department of Education Statewide Writing Assessment 2008 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY Purpose  Portrays people, places, or things with vivid details to help the reader create a mental picture of what is being described  Involves the reader so that he or she can visualize what or who is being described  Creates or conveys a dominant impression of what is being described through sensory details  Can be objective or subjective Organizational Pattern  Introduction/Beginning  Establishes the purpose  Sets the tone for the overall impression  May begin with a general statement followed by more specific statements related to the purpose  Body/Middle  Specific details, examples or reasons  Anecdotes or “narrative chunks” may serve as details or examples  Transitions connect the ideas in a logical way  Transitions assist the flow from paragraph to paragraph  No prescribed number of paragraphs  Conclusion/End  Gracefully ends the essay  May include a restatement of the writer’s opinion or the main idea  May summarize the information given in the body  Reader should have a sense that things are “wrapped up.”