Descriptive Essay Examples: What to Write, And What Not To!

It is indeed a super power to effectively influence someone to believe what you believe in and to make him or her see the world through your eyes. If you are looking to possess such powers and wondering how to write an essay with impact this list of descriptive essay examples is your go-to destination!

Beginner Level Pointers About Descriptive Essay Examples

A descriptive essay is a direct translation from vision to words that, in turn, invokes interpretation in a visual manner. This cycle of visualising an event or a person or a place, and describing it through writing or phonetics and it again being visualised by a reader is the whole essence of a descriptive essay. The most essential element of a descriptive essay is the utilisation of all types of human senses. A descriptive essay is bound to affect the sense of vision touch and sometimes beyond. It is not just saying what the thing is but telling how, where, why and in what manner it is existing

For example, if you say that ‘the glass is full‘, it is just saying something while if you say that ‘the glass is brimming with water‘, then it is describing the actual estimation of the relation of the glass with the water level.

What Are the Types of Descriptive Essays?

In general the term descriptive essay is pretty much self-explanatory but on a deeper level it can be subdivided in the various ways such as how one approaches to write a descriptive essay or what the content of the descriptive essay is.

In terms of how one decides to approach a descriptive essay, it can be e father bifurcated into to the following sections:

1. A Personal Account: In a personal account the author or the narrator usually a describe something in his own personal manna and from a very intrinsic point of view. This description might not match with the common populous and thus has to be interpreted from a subjective point of view, much unlike an argumentative essay. This kind of an essay can be closely related with the narrative essay.

Descriptive Essay Example of a Personal Account Essay : For example, if you are writing to your friend describing your recent visit to the Taj Mahal it would be e categorised in the personal account type of descriptive essay.

2. A Formal Essay : a formal essay shall possess accounts of observations and interpretations in a much official, and as the name suggests, formal manner. The opinions and arguments placed in this kind of an essay should be strictly supported by facts and statistics that can be deemed to be credible.

Descriptive Essay Example for A Formal Essay : A formal account of the core elements of photosynthesis can be considered as an example of a formal essay in the descriptive essay family.

Now that we have brushed through examples of various approaches taken to write a descriptive essay, let us explore the different types of descriptive essays based on their content.

Based on its content a descriptive essay can be further subdivided into five categories

1. A Person-Descriptive : This is an essay that deals with observations and inferences drawn about a person. This can be a personal account of the writer and exhibit very minute and personal details about the individual portrayed as a subject of the essay

Descriptive Essay Example of a Person Essay : An account of a day at work for an IT employee might comprise of example of descriptive essay of a person. An example of an excerpt from such an essay would look somewhat like:

“…….He waited for the office bus to arrive at the main road as the clock struck 7 in the morning. It was a part of his daily routine to wait for the office bus at 7 in the morning sharp. He was never late, although the bus sometimes was. Calculated codes ruled not only over his electronic system but reigned mightily over his physiological systems as well…….”

2. A Place Essay : A descriptive essay about a place usually deals with painting a picture with words about how a place looks and feels from a third-person perspective. It requires microscopic observations like how the smell of the air is, how the temperature of the place is, and how it makes the writer feel.

Descriptive Essay Example of a Place Essay : A vivid description of a hill station or the hotel in the City center can be examples of descriptive essay of a place. An excerpt of an essay titled ‘Kanchenjunga’ could be represented as:

“…….Climbing to a height of more than 8000 feet is no insignificant feat. However, the view at the end of it is a worthy reward as mountaineer Tenzing would testify. The gut-wrenching breathlessness and fatigue that turned his legs into mere bags of wet sand kept somehow dragging through the trail with the incentive of reaching the summit. The view on the other side was so humbling that it took whatever breath he had left with him, away. Such was the majestic beauty of the Kanchenjunga……..”

3.An Event Essay :  This can be an account of an event that the writer has visited or a public event in general. Description of music festivals or sports events are some of the examples of an event essay.

Descriptive Essay Example of An Event-Essay : An excerpt from an event essay named ‘Chronicles of Woodstock music festival’ may contain the following part-

“…….The Woodstock music festival in California is one of the cult classics in the long history of music events and concerts. It exhibited the most fluidic and diverse set of music artists ranging from jazz/blues artists such as Miles Davies, BB King etc, contemporary rock music creators such as Led Zeppelin and Queen along with representation from fragmented musical cultures and sub-cultures such as a nascent green day representing the garage rock and punk scene as well as the Doors with the very enigmatic Jim Morrison as their frontman. The Woodstock festival of 1969 was one of its most iconic instalments as it showcased the breakthrough talent of a young black musician who would later go on to eventually be a rock music legend called Jimi Hendrix …….”

4. Animal Essay :  This is a niche category dealing with the behaviour and description of activities of an animal and how the events are interrelated and performed in a daily cycle. The description of your pet dog and its daily routine can be categorised as an animal essay.

Descriptive Essay Example of An Animal Essay: An excerpt from the animal-essay title ‘Dogs: more than just friends’ might contain the following portion –

“……A dog is known to be man’s best friend and not for a lack of reason. Very few animals can be found in nature as adaptable and trainable as a dog. A true companion in every sense of the word a dog can be trained to do almost anything that the human mind can imagine. Since being domesticated, dogs have played the role of a friend, entertainer, police, guide, astronaut and more. Dogs have been trained to guide and age in the service of the police force for a long time. Special k9 squads are given specific training to perform activities like following trail or sniffing out particular elements. Leika, the famous space dog was trained and sent to outer space by Russia in one of their space explorations…..”

5. Behavior Essay: It is one of the most interesting kinds of essays as it deals with the psychology of humans and analyses their behavior and responses at different aspects of life. It peeks into the psyche of the human mind and draws inferences based on behavior and actions.

The drooping of the mimosa pedicab aka the touch-me-not plant can be described in an essay that can be categorised into to the behavior-essay section.

Descriptive Essay Example of a Behavior Essay : An excerpt from a behavior essay titled ‘The curious behavior of animals in nature’ can be exemplified as-

“…. It can be frequently found in nature that an animal adapts to its external surroundings as a response to stimuli. Several such examples can be found around us in natural habitats of animals. The very traditional example of a chameleon changing its color to hide from predators is is a concrete example in this category. Other examples include the peculiar behavior of wilting as soon as touched by the touch-me-not plant also known as mimosa pedicab. Further, the thorns of cacti and the hump of a camel are similar adaptations to help them conserve body water and survive in the scorching conditions of desert lands……”

A Short Descriptive Essay Example

Let us provide an example to portray a clearer picture of a descriptive essay. For the sake of simplicity and proper understanding, let us choose a rather simple topic such as environmental pollution and its effects.

Environmental Pollution and Its Effects

It is estimated by a conglomeration of world scientists that the air we breathe would be unsuitable for breathing or some of the major coastal cities will be e several feet under water or the earth will become a melting pot of Igneous lava due to active volcanoes, or all of the above in a matter of a couple of scores a years from now. Most of the above situations have been deemed positively inevitable due to the effect of environmental pollution.

From the viewpoint of 21st century urban resident of a metropolitan city, the word pollution is a mainstay. It has already affected and shaped our lives in more ways than visible. Centuries of burning of fossil fuels such as petroleum, incessant factory emissions in a continual outflow since the industrial age and modern carbon emissions from automobiles and everyday technological appliances have played the atmosphere with several harmful and potentially fatal pollutants. Some of these pollutants are carbon dioxide (CO₂), carbon monoxide (CO) and Sulphur dioxide (SO₂). Also a hefty amount of ethane, methane and propane is let into the atmosphere as emissions. These gases combine to form a gaseous layer of insulation all around our atmosphere trapping heat and raising the global average temperature causing a monumental phenomenon known as global warming.

Due to global warming, the polar ice caps have seen to be melting at an alarming rate which is in turn raising the average sea level while the ever so important metropolitan port cities face the risk of getting submerged by the sea. Not only the air, but the aforementioned sources of pollution such as factory emissions and burning of fossil fuels also cause mass pollution of water bodies. Water pollution is rampant in third world countries where what a system such as rivers and its tributaries act as sewage systems.

Even bathing, cleaning, washing clothes and dumping of of household wastes into the water system causes massif water pollution. Oil spillage from tankers and industrial fishing processes also contribute to water pollution. The Marine ecosystem is suffering a loss of habitat and resources to sustain.

The future might look bleak and unbearable but through cumulative effort and awareness at an individual level can pave the way to a cleaner and greener environment. Use of alternative resources of energy and justified extraction of resources from nature should be practiced to preserve the balance of our home planet.

What Did We Learn from The Example?

We see that a classic five-paragraph essay has been used as a descriptive essay example. We shall further categorize certain positive and negative points of the example used:

Positive Attributes of The Essay

• Start with An Interesting And/or Shocking Fact – The essay starts off with an interesting as well as shocking fact that could act as an essay hook to keep the readers intrigued
• Provide Enough Facts and Statistics to Strengthen Your Observations – The essay is packed with facts and stats to provide support to the central idea
• Clear, Concise Stream of Thought and Presentation of Ideas – The essay exhibits quick succession of thoughts and ideas and not dwelling on a single point for an elongated stretch of time
•  Introduce The Thesis Statement – The thesis statement of your essay provides the central idea of the essay, in the given example, the sentence ‘Most of the above situations have been deemed positively inevitable due to the effect of environmental pollution’ sets the stage for the essay.
• Conclusion Should Contain Recommendations – The essay conclusion does not only just end with a summation of the points but also provides some recommendations
• End with A Broader Sense – The ending of the essay should act as a provoking factor for further thought and research. In the given example, the essay conclusion ends on a broader note leaving the readers to ponder over the effects of pollution from a wider perspective.

Negative Attributes of The Essay

• Use Long Sentences – The given example is riddled with long, complex sentences that are hard to follow sometimes, avoid such construction. A proper essay structure can help.
• Don’t Be Vague – ‘It has already affected and shaped our lives in more ways than visible.’ This sentence from the given example, if taken independently, makes no sense at all. Avoid the usage of such vague sentences
• Do Not Cram Excessive Information in Tight Spaces – The whole essay example is crawling with information which is sometimes unwarranted. Registering too much information in too little time can cause the essay to seem rather dull and difficult to grasp.
• There you go! A Complete crash course on the initials of descriptive essay examples and tips on how to write a descriptive essay, hope this helps all you curious souls out there!

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