DESCRIBINGDESCRIBING College Composition I

Description—developed by sensory details Sight Sound Smell Taste Touch

Pick a Topic Person –Your baby sister –Your significant other Place –Your house after a party –Your room Thing –Your new car –Your cat See pages for more topics.

Caution! If you pick an event, make sure you use sensory details as support and not events. –Concert –Most memorable holiday –Holiday shopping trip

Decide On Your Purpose To entertain –To tell how funny looking your cat is To inform –To explain why you like your car To persuade –To convince audience not to mess up the house –To convince audience that your sister’s baby is adorable

Keep Your Audience in Mind The members of the class The members of your group The instructor

Audience Will they find your topic interesting? Why do they need/want to know this? What do you need to tell them?

Generate Your Raw Material Observe your topic. Write down as many sensory details as you can. Now do some freewriting, brainstorming, or clustering.

Decide on Your Dominant Impression What adjective best describes your topic overall? What really stands out about your topic? –Ridiculous looking cat –Sleek, impressive sports car –Absolutely adorable baby

Write Your Topic Sentence My Himalayan cat is so odd looking, she resembles a shoebox on legs. My dream car, a BMW roadster, is a sleek, impressive, ultimate driving machine. My sister’s new baby is so adorable, she should be in commercials.

Check Your Details Do you need more sensory details? Are there any details you need to omit? Do all the details support your dominant impression?

Decide on Your Order Spatial Chronological Least to most important

Set Up An Outline Topic Sentence Body –Detail One –Detail Two –Detail Three –Detail Four

Write the first draft. Start with the topic sentence. Write quickly using your notes/outline as a guide. Don’t stop to correct mistakes. Periodically go back and read over what you have done; then continue. When finished, add a conclusion Read the paper aloud; add transitions where necessary.