This document provides information about descriptive essays, including their characteristics, components, and an example. Descriptive essays use sensory details to vividly describe an object, person, place, or experience. They typically have an introduction, three body paragraphs with sensory details, and a conclusion. The document includes an outline of a descriptive essay about a desert, describing the vast, hot landscape with sparse vegetation in oases. It notes how the burning sun and wind can dry water sources, endangering people and animals traveling through the desert.

1. UNIT 3: ACADEMIC WRITING: ESSAYS
DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY
ISABEL GONZÁLEZ SOGAMOSO
CODE: 40.776.012
GROUP NUMBER 20
Present to:
MILLY ANDREA MUÑOZ
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OPEN AND DISTANCE - UNAD
BACHELOR'S DEGREE ENGLISH LANGUAGE AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
ACADEMIC WRITING
VILLAVICENCIO META
2017

2. DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY
The descriptive essay is a genre of academic writing that asks the student to
describe something: object, person, place, experience, emotion, situation, etc.
This genre encourages the student's ability to create a written account of a
particular experience. In addition, this genre allows great artistic freedom (the
goal is to paint a vivid and moving image in the mind of the reader).

3. CHARACTERISTICS OF A DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY
Descriptive essays usually make use of five senses to describe an object,
person, place, experience, emotion, situation, etc.
A good descriptive essay should awaken strong emotions to the readers so
that they can clearly imagine what the writer is representing.
You are free to use epithets, comparisons, metaphors, etc., to make your text
impressive.

4. COMPONENTS OR PARTS OF A DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY

5. COMPONENTS OR PARTS OF A DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY
You can start by brainstorming ideas for the essay.
Then, outline and write the essay using sensory detail and
strong description.
Always polish your essay and proofread it so it is at its best.
Organize the essay by creating a brief outline.
Do this in sections: introduction, body, and conclusion.
The standard is to have a five paragraph essay, one paragraph
for introduction, three paragraphs for the body, and one for
the conclusion.

6. AN EXAMPLE OF YOUR SELECTED ESSAY
Description of a Desert
It is difficult to form a correct idea of a desert without having seen one. It is a vast plain
of sands and stones, interspersed with mountains of various sizes and heights, usually
without roads or shelters. They sometimes have springs of water, which burst forth, and
create verdant spots.
The most remarkable of deserts is the Sahara. This is a vast plain, but little elevated
above the level of the ocean, and covered with sand and gravel, with a mixture of sea
shells, and appears like the basin of an evaporated sea.

7. AN EXAMPLE OF YOUR SELECTED ESSAY
Amid the desert, there are springs of water, which burst forth and create
verdant spots, called oases. There are thirty-two of these that contain
fountains, and date and palm trees; twenty of them are inhabited. They
serve as stopping places for the caravans, and often contain villages.
Were it not for these, no human being could cross this waste of burning
sand. So violent, sometimes, is the burning wind that the scorching heat
dries up the water of these springs, and then frequently, the most
disastrous consequences follow.
In 1805, a caravan consisting of 2,000 persons and 1,800 camels, not
finding water at the usual resting place, died of thirst, both men and
animals. Storms of wind are more terrible in this desert than on the ocean.
Vast surges and clouds of red sand are raised and rolled forward, burying
everything in its way, and it is said that whole tribes have thus been
swallowed up.

8. AN EXAMPLE OF YOUR SELECTED ESSAY
 The situation of such is dreadful, and admits of no resource. Many
perish, victims of the most horrible thirst. It is then that the value of a
cup of water is truly felt.
 To be thirsty in a desert, without water, exposed to the burning sun,
without shelter, is the most terrible situation that a human being can
be placed in, and one of the greatest sufferings that a human being
can sustain; the tongue and lips swell; a hollow sound is heard in the
ears, which brings on deafness, and the brain appears to grow thick
and inflamed.
 If, unfortunately, any one falls sick on the road, he or she must either
endure the fatigue of traveling on a camel, (which is troublesome even
to healthy people,) or he or she must be left behind on the sand,
without any assistance, and remain so until a slow death comes to
relieve him or her.

9. OUTLINE OF THE SELECTED ESSAY
OUT LINE FOR DESCRIPTIVE ESSAY
Paragraph I
a. Opening topic Sentence/Attention
b. The place about which your writing
c. Brief feeling about the place
d. Sensory details
Paragraph II
a. Description of another specific location within the same place.
b. Factual Details
c. Sensory details with vivid language
Paragraph III
a. Description of another specific location within the same place.
b. Factual details
c. Sensory details within vivid language
Paragraph IV
a. Restatement of feeling about the place with further expansion.
b. Additional details
c. Conclusion

10. OUTLINE ABOUT EXAMPLE
Paragraph I
Description of a Desert
It is a vast plain of sands and stones, interspersed with mountains of
sizes and heights, usually without roads or shelters.
The most remarkable of deserts is the Sahara. This is a vast plain, but
elevated above the level of the ocean, and covered with sand and
with a mixture of seashells, and appears like the basin of an
A desert is a place that is characterized by its landscape of sand and
wind, where the sun is scorching and so violent that it dries the water
springs causing disastrous consequences

11. OUTLINE ABOUT EXAMPLE
Paragraph II
Amid the desert, there are springs of water, which burst forth and
create verdant spots, called oases.
There are thirty-two of these that contain fountains, and date and
palm trees; twenty of them are inhabited. They serve as stopping
places for the caravans and often contain villages.
Were it not for these, no human being could cross this waste of
burning sand.
In this place the burning wind and scorching heat dries the water
from the springs, and then the most disastrous consequences
follow.

12. OUTLINE ABOUT EXAMPLE
Paragraph III
In 1805, a caravan consisting of 2,000 persons and 1,800
camels, not finding water at the usual resting place, died of
thirst, both men, and animals.
Storms of wind are more terrible in this desert than on the
ocean. Vast surges and clouds of red sand are raised and
rolled forward, burying everything in its way, and it is said
that whole tribes have thus been swallowed up.

13. OUTLINE ABOUT EXAMPLE
Paragraph IV
The situation in a desert is dreadful and admits of no
Many perish victims of the most horrible thirst. It is then
the value of a cup of water is truly felt.
To be thirsty in a desert, without water, exposed to the
burning sun, without shelter, is the most terrible situation
a human being can be placed in, and one of the greatest
sufferings that a human being can sustain.

14. REFERENCES
UWA Students. (2013) Writing essays at UWA: Get started on essay structure. Retrieved on December
12th, 2016 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VmG6B_Gaf4
Carvajal, H. (2016) Academic Writing: Essays. Retrieved on December 19th, 2016 from
http://hdl.handle.net/10596/9686
Academic Help. (06 May 2016). Description of a Desert. Recovered from
https://academichelp.net/samples/academics/essays/descriptive/descriptio n-of- a-desert.html
Jack Baker, Allen Brizee, Elizabeth Angeli. (10 mar 2013). Descriptive Essays.The Purdue University Online
Writing Lab. Recovered from
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/685/03/
Images taken from; google.com