1. Writing 2
IECP
Fall 2012
Nikki Mattson

2. Agenda
• Review descriptive writing
• Descriptive writing activities

3. Warm up

4. Agenda

5. 1) What is the
main idea?
2) What adjectives
do you see?
3) What kind of
spatial order is
used? (left to
right/ top to
bottom, etc.)
4) Which spatial
transitions are
used?
5) Is the main idea
repeated in the
conclusion?

6. EXAMPLE My trip to Quebec was very memorable
because the city seemed very European.
One small street was particularly quaint
and interesting. When I approached the
street, I saw a set of narrow, stone stairs
winding down to small boutiques below. On
the right of the stairs, there were small glass
tables at a café with red plastic chairs for the
customers. This seemed very European
since the tables and chairs were very close
together as they are in European restaurants.
…….
Overall, I will remember the feeling that I
had while visiting Quebec for a long time
since I felt as though I experienced a little
piece of Europe while visiting the city.
1) What is the green highlighting?
2) What is the red highlighting?
3) What is the blue highlighting?
4) What kind of spatial order is
being used? (what is the route?)
Entrance

7. STEPS
 Remember – brainstorm, plan carefully (route),
remove sentences that do not support your main
idea, use a thesaurus after you have written a
draft.
 After using a thesaurus, check your usage in a
corpus…
 http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/c/corpus/corpus?c=micase;page

8. DESCRIPTIVE ACTIVITY 1
 Draw 5 objects/things from your picture
dictionary in the box of your paper
 Write a descriptive paragraph that describes the
scene/picture that you drew
 Make sure to use a topic sentence, spatial
transitions, descriptive adjectives, and a
concluding sentence

10. WRITING ACTIVITY
You will have 50 minutes to complete this task.
1) Brainstorm with your partner
2) Draw your picture (5 items)
3) Write a descriptive paragraph (1 copy for each
partner).

11. DESCRIPTIVE PARAGRAPH 2
 Write a descriptive paragraph that describes the picture
that you chose.
 Make sure to use a topic sentence, spatial transitions,
descriptive adjectives, and a concluding sentence.
 Type your paragraph and bring it with you to class next
time.
 Remember – brainstorm, plan carefully (route), remove
sentences that do not support your main idea, use a
thesaurus after you have written a draft.

17. HW
 Complete + type your descriptive paragraph.