Understanding Descriptive Essays: Definition, Structure, and Stylistic Features, Study notes of Design and Analysis of Algorithms

Download Understanding Descriptive Essays: Definition, Structure, and Stylistic Features and more Study notes Design and Analysis of Algorithms in PDF only on Docsity! University of Batna 2 Department of English Second Year Written Expression Course (gps 5 +6) Semester Two Part Three: Types of Essays Lecture Two: Descriptive Essays 1. Descriptive Essays : Definition  A descriptive essay is a type of writing genre that describes or portrays persons, objects, experiences, situations or places with enough details to help the reader create a clear presentation or picture of what is being described. Writers might use description to answer questions or to debate topics such as:  Describe a location or place in nature.  Describe a piece of art.  What are the features of human memory?  What are the characteristics of the phonological system of English language?  A descriptive essay provides information about a topic using details to appeal to the five senses i.e. sensory language; the aim is to make the readers vividly imagine what is being described.  An effective descriptive essay should be constructed around a dominant impression. To convey this dominant impression to the audience, writers should involve all possible sensory details. All sights, smells, sounds and tastes must help the reader to see the same picture that the writer has in mind.  A dominant impression results in a vivid mental picture of a person, place or object. This impression starts as a vague mental picture in the mind, but the writer has to detail this impression with the related information and descriptions.  Effective descriptive essay should consider either a subjective or an objective perspective; the selection of the appropriate technique is related to the debated topic. 2  Objective descriptive essays are essentially factual omitting any writer’s personal preferences or reactions about what is being described (e.g. describing a book, human memory …).  Subjective descriptive essays present information with full reference to the writer’s personal preferences and reactions (e.g. describing childhood, preferred vacation destination…). The style in objective and subjective descriptive essays is not the same; compare the descriptions below:  Our lives at home converged around that small, round-shaped table. I remember that we all waited impatiently for my father to come back home after a long, hard working day; all my family members gather around that table to exchange ideas, to discuss their daily routine, and even share funny moments. (subjective description/ Descriptive language is underlined.)  Effective data analysis largely depends on data organization. A table data is a technique that represents facts and figures in rows and columns. Researchers in different fields rely on tables either to store or to display data in a structured format. Tables are simple to use, to read, to compare and to understand. ( objective description) 2. Structure of a descriptive essay 2.1 The Introductory paragraph :( attention-getter +context + thesis)  The introductory paragraph has to be written in an engaging manner to draw the readers’ attention and then to briefly introduce the topic of the essay in the context; the paragraph should end with an appropriate thesis statement that should clearly reflect the writer’s dominant impression.  Thesis Statement: Like many other languages, English has a wide range variation in its phonological system. ( the topic: English phonological system/ the dominant impression: wide range variation) 2.2 The Developmental Paragraphs  The topic of the descriptive essay is further explored and explained in detail in the body of the essay. In at least three developmental paragraphs, the writer has to describe every particular aspect of the topic depending on what is considered important. 5 Exercises Exercise 1: Read the essay below to answer the questions. The idea that restaurant management is a kind of business in not new. When deciding to open a new restaurant, the owner has to be smart and careful about the type of restaurant to be chosen; this is known as restaurant concept. Restaurant concept is defined as the main theme behind the design of the restaurant including cuisine, service, and menu design. Choosing the right concept of the restaurant is not as simple as it may appear. One of the wide spread concepts in the field of restaurants is fast-food chains. Also known as quick service, this type of restaurant is a part of a chain of restaurants which offer a limited menu and service; the food is cooked in advance and usually available to takeaway. The other aspect that draws most people to fast food restaurant is the price the reason for which competitive price availability should be considered. Restaurant owners may also choose the family- style concept. This concept, unlike the fast service model, follows the classical full-service design with seating, and a wide range of variety of menus. Added to the high quality and variety of the served food, comfort is one of the main features people are seeking for in a restaurant. Indeed, good quality service and well placed furniture, the design of the interior as well as many other features are definitely what characterize this type. Envisioning a unique restaurant concept is not easy, yet the most successful restaurants are the outcome of inspiration and creativity. The existence of the multitude of themes ranging from fast-service, to family style, to fast- casual concepts as well as other themes offers unlimited 6 possibilities to choose the right concept for any restaurant. Nonetheless, what is of equal importance is to ensure continuity and refresh ideas. Questions 1. What is the main topic discussed in the essay? 2. Suggest an appropriate essay title. 3. Find out the different parts that constitute the essay. 4. Is the essay appropriately structured? Justify 5. Is the essay describing the topic from a subjective or objective perspective? 6. Underline the attention-getter, put the context in brackets, and double underline the thesis statement. 7. Is each of those elements effective? Explain 8. What is the dominant impression of the essay? Underline the part indicating it. 9. Is the dominant impression related to the aspects presented in the essay? 10. Find out the different parts of the concluding paragraph. 11. Which technique has the writer employed in the attention getter? Rewrite the attention getter with a different technique. 12. Analyze the writer’s style and language to extract the stylistic features of descriptive writing. (Answer in a table.) 12. In the summary of the main aspects in the concluding paragraph, the writer mentioned three aspects; only two aspects were expanded in the developmental paragraphs. Find out the missing aspect to write the required developmental paragraph. 7 Exercise 2: In front of each topic, supply with the appropriate descriptions (at least two sentences should be written.)  Computers ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………  Books ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………  Fruits ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………  Intelligence ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………  Written language ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Exercise 3: Write a descriptive essay in which you describe a place.