Descriptive Paragraph Writing

FOR 2nd YEAR BACALAUREATE STUDENTS

Abstract
For the majority of students, writing is a horrific nightmare. This is due to the fact that it is
actually a hard task. Besides this, the students dont practise it so often and this, also, is the result
of not knowing how to start doing it. When it comes to writing assignments, almost all the students
are reluctant. They are terrified to take risks because they only lack self-confidence. This will no
longer be the case if they decided to be audacious enough to engage into training themselves to
write on practical and purposeful bases.
Descriptive paragraphs, on the other hand, are quite tougher for average students to write
because they are based essentially on personal observation. Accordingly they necessitate a bunch of
colourful vocabulary so as to draw the image perfectly well for the reader to see what or who you
are describing. Moreover description requires a lot of artistry and details, mostly sensory, to help the
reader create a vivid mental picture. For this reason, students need to own a relatively large
repertoire of quality adjectives and a certain level of originality.
In addition to that, the students must also master the description techniques. They have to
picture their subject in such a bright way that no confusion is probable. Every detail is important to
depict with care so that for the paragraph to be clear, impressive and almost alive. You may
probably know that description is what makes most novels and stories motivating, understandable
and enjoyable.

Introduction
In this paper, Ill simply try to lead you to the most appropriate economical way to write a
concise paragraphdescribing a person through indicating the steps to follow so as to manage the
paragraph the easiest and the most effective way.

Describing a person

To describe a person needs an attitude otherwise the result is not inspiring at all.
The person you intend to describe must have something particular that makes him, or her, your
focus and makes your paragraph worth reading.
To describe a person is to imagine him or her first. This person has to be a little particular so
that you make your paragraph motivating. The person described should be a famous one or a very
particular man with special qualities. He or she may also be so funny that your paragraph depicts
the person as a caricature. You can also describe a very common man, but this wont be impressive,
Im afraid unless you have something original to illustrate about him. You normally need to stimulate
or excite the readers by giving them enough solid reasons to urge them to go on reading the
paragraph.

Action
First, decide about the person you want to describe and put his or her name or nickname
within a circle and start building a spider gram. Visualize him or her and start jotting down any idea
or word that crosses your mind so as not to interrupt your brain storming. Let your mind give all

that it has without censure. Later on you can discard most of what your mind proposes, but first
dont break off the process flow. Marshalling comes on a second position after having exhausted
your vocabulary and ideas connected to the person you intend to describe.
At school you might be asked to describe your best friend for instance. Certainly you have
one. So think of one with a particular quality and put his or her name in the circle and start writing
down any word that comes through your mind about him or her in the way it comes: (profile,
appearance, hair, eyes, clothes, qualities etc). Dont just start thinking if a word or an idea is
appropriate for your subject or not. Leave this action for a next stage of your writing process. Am I
clear enough?
The most important questions which need answers in a descriptive paragraph are normally in the
following order..

Who and why exactly him or her? (genius, funny, freak etc)

What does he/she look like? (Physical form)

What clothes does he/she wear? (formal, casual, shabby, etc) and Why?

What is he/she like? (character, personality or qualities)

What impression do you have about him/her?

You may want to mention his or her job, hobbies and so on but only if you are sure they

serve your purpose excitingly well. Your judgement whether what you write might interest your
readers or not, can have an impact on your composition. So you have to be cautious. However, the
most important thing is to find a strong reason why you have chosen this person in particular. For
example, if you are asked to describe your best friend or the most amiable member of your family,
you have to think about what make them "best" and "amiable". This would help a lot in creating a
stimulus for you to write well and for the readers to enjoy reading your product.

1. Brain Storming

Before all, don't just forget that description is based essentially on senses. What you see and
feel should be translated into words. This should go from total to part but first things first. Now let's
go brain storming.

This is just a quickly formulated sample of how your final spider gram might look like. (For
more vocabulary, see below) Once you have gone through this stage successfully, you move to the
next step. You start gathering your ideas into groups of common features just like in the example
below.

In this stage, only relevant ideas and words are to be kept. It is not necessary to use all the
ideas on the spider-gram. Likewise, it is not obligatory to stick to the spider-gram. You must be at
the same time selective and resourceful. You should cast away the unrelated, the irrelevant or the
weak ideas so as to ovoid repetition or redundancy. You still can do more omitting, replacing or
rectifying in your editing stage but for the time being, be careful about your material and the
diversity and richness of your vocabulary. This method has an additional benefit that is it makes
your list a basis on which you can generate more words and build a backup list. This is for advanced
levels but as for now; lets keep up with our simple approach.
The following example will give you an idea about how you get rid of unwanted or irrelevant
material.

2. Mapping
Gather your selected material into specific clusters each connected to a part or section of the
paragraph. This stage is crucial because it helps you overcome all the potential troubles you may
encounter as time presses on you. Dont worry too much; you are not supposed to write a
miraculous paragraph. The most important thing is to know exactly what you want to do and to do
it. In other words, try to avoid wordiness and randomness in your choice of words and expressions.
Keep simple but precise.
Organization is half the work. Not only must you care about vocabulary and descriptive
adornments, but you must care more about the design of your work. In order not to drop important

details, you must plan your paragraph on a separate sheet of paper. The outcome is almost as
follows.

This organization helps a lot to clearly visualize what youre planning to do. However, if you want to
save time and effort, you can just organize your ideas this way.

Total Physical appearance

o young
o tall
o slim

o frail

Specific physical appearance

o Face : oval

Hair : long, straight, black

Eyes : small, blue + glasses

Clothes
o casual
o handsome
o elegant

Personality
o helpful
o easy-going
o sociable
o extrovert
o optimistic
o smart

3. Writing
Now that you have gathered the necessary material you can start writing your paragraph
based on the following plan. Remember that the whole work is based on your opening sentence
(topic sentence). It must be appealing the maximum. The secret force of the paragraph lies in the
reason why? you choose the person you are describing!!!

I.

Topic Sentence
o

II.

III.

Who and why?

Supporting Sentences
o

What does he/she look like? (Physical form)

What clothes does he/she wear? Why?

What is he/she like? (qualities)

Concluding Sentence
o

What impression do you have about him/her?

3.a. First Draft

My best friend Dave is the most brilliant student in our school. He is a student. He is young.
He is tall. He is slim. He is very frail. He has an oval skinny face. He has long straight black hair. He
has small blue eyes. He puts on glasses. He wears casual clothes. He is handsome and elegant. My
friend Dave is optimistic. He is an east-going and extroverted person but he is the smartest of us all.

3.b. Second Draft

My best friend Dave is the most brilliant student in our school. He is a tall young boy. He
looks slim and too frail for his age. He has an oval face with long straight black hair and small blue
eyes. He puts on glasses. He always looks elegant and comfortable in his casual clothes, jeans and Tshirts. He doesn't care much about fashion. My friend Dave is an east-going and an extroverted
person still he is the smartest of us all.

3. c. Editing

This is the final stage. Before you hand in your paper, you must review your paragraph for
mistakes, word-order, linking words, tense, and punctuation. Make sure that the answer is always
YES to the entire set of the following questions.

Are all the sentences related to the person you are describing?

Are your sentences in the correct order?

Are all your adjectives relevant to the topic?

Does the concluding sentence echo the topic sentence?

Are your spelling and grammatical mistakes corrected?

Can the reader create a mental picture out of your description?

Despite all, if you cannot reach this level successfully, dont desperate and try again. Remember that
practice makes perfect. Good Luck.

Conclusion
As you see, the paragraph goes from stitches or discrete details to a whole body which makes
sense. Furthermore it develops tremendously as we go on with the steps of the process. Ideas
generate one another. If you go on rectifying, recycling, editing and reformulating, youll perhaps
write a paragraph with a new look though the planned work was different at the beginning. It is
crucial to plan the work because it is the outline which boosts and improves your performance. Now
if you check the first step, youll see how far we go and how many changes have been made.
I hope this paper will give you more confidence to conquer your reluctance and fear from this
nightmare named writing and start training. Dont be afraid of making mistakes. You cant be perfect
from the first try. It is by practicing regularly that you can amaze yourself by how much potentials
you have got. Stop hesitating and make the first step, but be patient