CH. 5
Major Points:
A DESCRIPTION is a picture in words. For a descriptive paragraph to be effective, you must describe specific details that appeal to the readers’ senses.
Use CLUSTERING to gather ideas and support (see Ch.5, p. 100 of your textbook)
Draft a topic sentence. It identifies what you are going to describe.
Add support. Remember that support means details. The more detailed your description is, the more interesting your paragraph will be.
The Blond Guitar
by Jeremy Burden
My most valuable possession is an old, slightly warped blond guitar–the first instrument I taught myself how to play. It’s nothing fancy, just a Madeira folk guitar, all scuffed and scratched and finger-printed. At the top is a bramble of copper-wound strings, each one hooked through the eye of a silver tuning key. The strings are stretched down a long, slim neck, its frets tarnished, the wood worn by years of fingers pressing chords and picking notes. The body of the Madeira is shaped like an enormous yellow pear, one that was slightly damaged in shipping. The blond wood has been chipped and gouged to gray, particularly where the pick guard fell off years ago. No, it’s not a beautiful instrument, but it still lets me make music, and for that I will always treasure it.
(from http://grammar.about.com/od/developingparagraphs/a/samdescpars.htm)
- Is the first sentence the topic sentence?
- Does the paragraph have a conclusion?
- How many descriptive examples are given?
- How many senses are used in describing the guitar?
An exercise: If I say “soup”, what comes to mind? An image of something liquid in a bowl? Or is it a can? Maybe it’s in a jar? What color is it? Can it be eaten with a fork? How does it taste? Is it hot? Is it thick or watered down? Maybe it’s spicy and will upset your stomach afterward?
Write a description of “soup” that utilizes all five senses. (No need to bring it to class. Use it as a warm up for your paragraph.)
Library Instruction
How to Search Academic Search Elite.
View the Basic and the Advanced presentations:
http://library.stfranciscollege.edu/instruction/Elite.htm
http://library.stfranciscollege.edu/instruction/advancedelite.htm
Assignments
1. Write a descriptive essay. Put the essay on your wiki page by Monday (although Monday is Columbus Day and we don’t have class, your assignments ARE DUE on Monday. Those of you who have problems using a computer can bring the assignments to class on Wednesday.)
2. Using Academic Search Elite find:
A) A primary source document written by Abraham Lincoln. Print it out and bring it to class. (It could be ANY primary source document whose author is Abraham Lincoln)
B) An article that has the words Five-Paragraph Essay in the title. Print out the article and bring it to class.
See you Wednesday.
Prof. K.
