How to Write Great Descriptive Essay Outlines that Your Professor will Love

Essay writing is an integral part of any college or university curriculum. It plays a significant role in the learning process of a student. However, this task of descriptive essay writing starts with an essay outline, and this is perceived as a disaster by most students. The reasons for such fear is the lack of basic knowledge and required skill sets in accomplishing such task, restricted time limit, and lack of interest in such work.
The purpose of descriptive essay writing is to analyze the depth of understanding by the student and his creative abilities, unlike a narrative essay which requires the writer to narrate the topic based on a personal story, a descriptive essay creates a vivid description of a place, person or thing in the mind of the reader. A descriptive essay combines the power of language and sensory vision of the student to personify a subject. Therefore, the outline of a descriptive essay is different from that of the narrative ones. You should know the tips and tricks of writing an excellent descriptive essay for your college or university that your professors will like.

Outline for Descriptive Essay

But before proceeding further with the outlining process, it is necessary to know the various types of descriptive essays that can be written –

• i) Place Essay: If you are considering writing an essay about a place focus on the notable sights that will immediately attract the attention of the reader to continue with the essay.
• ii) Human Essay: It is relatively harder to describe a person through an essay as it involves narrating the appearance, behavior, qualities, and traits of the specific individual.
• iii) Animal Essay: The option of writing about wildlife is unending as Mother Nature has wonderful creatures to offer. Choose the one that you consider will be easier for you to narrate.
• iv) Behavior Essay: You can also express your view about the varied personality of a human being under different circumstances and provide your personal views on the same.
• v) Occupation Essay: Writing about your dream job is an beneficial option for those preparing for a job resume or an admission essay.

Mind dump your ideas

This technique acts for almost all essay writing task, especially when it comes to writing a descriptive essay. Before you start writing your essay jot down everything you know about the topic or any information that you have collected from any source on a piece of paper. In this step, you need not worry about organizing your information as that will be done at the later part of the process. Allow your thoughts to flow freely and pen down everything that comes across your mind. Once you have written down all the information start numbering them in a chronological order. Separate the major items from that of the subordinate ones.

Get an overall impression

After going through the rubrics several times, you should try to come up with one major impression that will summarize the entire content. Ponder the information gathered from research work and try to boil it down to a single thought. That will become the backbone of your entire descriptive essay. This might sound difficult, but once you get to understand the topic in-depth, it will be as easy as a cake walk. The overall impression that you create from your essay writing will determine the quality of your essay writing. The better the impression that you can create in the mind of the professor, the higher will be the chances of getting good grades.

Develop the structure

It is the structure of your descriptive essay that will show you the path to format your content in the right manner. The outline of the essay will contain the parts that should be elaborated in the course of your writing. The entire essay can be segregated into three distinct parts such as the introduction, the body, and the conclusion.

• Introduction: Although the entire essay should contain numerous interesting facts and vivid description, it should start with a sentence that will immediately grab the attention of the reader. Your hook-up sentence should be such that will help create an image in the mind of the reader about what information he is going to get from such reading. Use of descriptive language should be the key to your introductory passage.
• Body: Descriptive essays are generally lengthy in comparison to the narrative ones. The body of the essay contains the majority of the information regarding the topic. Therefore, it is necessary to include contents that are informative and interesting. Some of the key points which needs to be kept in mind while writing the body of a descriptive essay include –
  • Giving a kick start to the topic: Always try to start from the most interesting point to grab the examiner’s attention.
  • Maintaining the sensory appeal: As you progress through the contents of the essay make sure that you use as many sensory parts as possible. This will help to develop your plot in a better manner.
  • Including factual details: Make sure that you back the opinions and ideas put forward with sufficient evidence and facts. This will help the professor or the reader to make an imaginary picture in his mind while going through the write-up.
  • Keep the interest on a high: It is a known fact that readers always start reading a text on a high note and then gradually loses interest. So, as you proceed towards the end make sure that you end the body on a high note. Your descriptive essay should have a long-lasting impact on the minds of the reader.
• Conclusion: This is your last opportunity to impress your examiner. So, try to make the most out of it. Few simple tips will help students write a memorable conclusion.
  • Restate the thesis statement of the essay.
  • Summarize the contents of the essay.
  • Leave something for the examiner to think about. The concluding passage should compel the reader to think beyond the assignment topic.

A final word of advice

The outline of your descriptive essay revolves around the subject matter of discussion. It is essential for the writer to decide what to include in each section of the essay. So, follow the above suggestions diligently and try to draft a descriptive essay outline that will impress your college professor and help you achieve higher grades in your academic curriculum.