VISUALIZING A DESCRIPTION: A GRAPHIC ORGANIZER
Seeing the content and structure of an essay in simplified, visual form can help you analyze a reading, recall key images as you generate ideas for an essay, and structure your own writing. The graphic organizer in Figure 13.1 diagrams the basic structure of a descriptive essay. When you write an essay in which your primary purpose is to describe something, you will need to follow the standard essay format — title, introduction, body, and conclusion — with slight adaptations and adjustments.
- The introduction should provide a context for the description and present the thesis statement, which states or suggests the dominant impression.
- The body of the essay should present sensory details that support the dominant impression.
- The conclusion draws the description to a close and makes a final reference to the dominant impression. It may offer a final detail or make a closing statement.
When you incorporate a description into an essay in which you also use other patterns of development, you will probably need to condense or eliminate one or more of the elements of your descriptive essay. (For more on creating a graphic organizer, see Chapter 3.)
