Descriptive Writing Part 1

23 Setembro 2015, 12:00 • Hilda Alexandra Prazeres Eusebio

Descriptive Writing

 Students were first taught the basics of Descriptive Writing:

• Descriptive writing has a unique power and appeal:

• • it evokes sights, smells, sounds, textures, and tastes

  • using description in your writing brings the world within your text to your reader.

     

    Creating a Dominant Impression

     

• The first step in using effective description is to focus on a dominant impression.

  • A dominant impression creates a mood or atmosphere in your paper. This mood can be conveyed through effective descriptive writing.

Sensory Details

 

• Sensory description uses sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste to sketch an impression in writing. Consider a paragraph without sensory description.

   

  My sister and I walked along the boardwalk each afternoon of our vacation. We watched the ocean and listened to the waves. Usually we stopped for a snack at one of the many stores that line the boardwalk. Afterwards, we walked along the beach and let our feet get wet.

   

• Now, consider this paragraph with all five sensory descriptors: sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch:

   

  My sister and I walked along the boardwalk one afternoon on our vacation. The hot boards warmed our bare feet. We watched the foam-covered waves topple over each other and then slide back into the sea. The crashing water competed with the exuberant yells from the seagulls. We bought a perfectly oval fluff of pink cotton candy that dissolved sweetly in our mouths. Afterwards, we walked along the edge of the water, letting the warm salty air blow our hair away from our necks as the cool water lapped over our toes.

Students were then taken outsider to the back of the PN to write a descriptive piece based on observations made of the surrounding environment and view.