Descriptive writing vividly portrays a person, place, or thing in such a way that the reader can visualize the topic and enter into the writer’s experience.

Characteristics:

The general characteristics of descriptive writing include:

• elaborate use of sensory language
• rich, vivid, and lively detail
• figurative language such as simile, hyperbole, metaphor,    symbolism and personification
• showing, rather than telling through the use of  active verbs and precise modifiers

Uses:

Descriptive writing appears almost everywhere and is often included in other genre, such as in a descriptive introduction of a character in a narrative.

• Observe, and then describe an event.
• Think of a person or object that stands out in your memory. Write a description of that subject.
• Find an example of descriptive writing; explain the elements that make this a good example.

A Lesson Plan: Writing to Photography

This lesson's goal is to improve students' writing by incorporating photography into descriptive and narrative writing exercises.

Description Paragraph

Access a one-page article that offers tips on adding descriptive words.

Descriptive Writing with Virginia Hamilton

Maintained on Scholastic's website, this online tutorial includes a teacher's guide and student resources for teaching this genre.

Descriptive Writing Resources

Visit this list for additional resources gathered by the Web English Teacher.