DESCRIPTION PAPER

This assignment asks you to work on another important communication skill: that of being able to clearly describe things. Being able to describe what you have seen is something that we all need to do on a regular basis, whether we were witness to a crime, or are just telling a friend about the new car we just bought. Including details, being able to paint a vivid mental picture with our words, is something that makes communicating much easier.
Many people forget that we have more sense than just sight, however. Scientists have proven that the sense of smell is much more strongly linked to memory that that of sight, for example. The way that things taste (you always know when you are eating your mom or grandma’s cooking, not something out of a box, right?) touch (remember the feel of sand between your toes when you went to the beach during your vacation) hearing (remember the sound of the voice of someone close to you) as well as sight, can all play important parts in making clear descriptions.
There is more to it than even that. When you think of things that are important to you—people, places, objects—you think of more than just the physical. Do you hate going into your basement because you were always frightened that there was a monster down there? Do you enjoy being in your bedroom because it your sanctuary, your place to get away from the world and relax? Feelings and emotions play an important part in description; in many case, just as important a part as the senses.
All of these things put together form what we will call an impression—a total picture of the person, place, or thing. Mastering creating and sharing these impressions is what your are being asked to do for this assignment. The specifics:

This paper is at least two full pages, and no more than six.
Follows all guidelines from your style handout.
You have your choice of a person, place, or thing to write about. In each case, however, you must keep a few things in mind: Whatever you choose to write about must be a REAL thing. You can’t pick Santa Claus to write about, for example, or “my perfect house”. It needs to be a real, physical person, place or thing. Whatever you choose must also be something that you have personal experience with—you can’t write about Mount Everest if you’ve never been there, for example. I would prefer you choose something that you can actually interact with while you write the paper, though I will allow you to choose something from memory—be aware that this will be more difficult, however. You must also pick something SPECIFIC. If you were writing about a car, for example, you can’t just pick “a Ford Mustang”. You must pick a particular Ford Mustang—yours, your brothers, your friends, or something that is a single, specific car, not just all cars like that one.
It is usually a good idea to choose something relatively small or contained, and branch out from there if you need to. For example, instead of trying to describe an entire house, you should just choose a single room. Each room in a house might have an entirely different description, so sticking with just one lets you be more detailed and specific.
You are trying to form an impression about your person, place, or thing, and share that with your reader. A physical description is important, but you will need to have more than that. What does this thing mean to you? What feelings do you have when you think about this person? What sort of place is this? We will look at some examples that will help you know what and what not to do.
Remember that while you should try to be specific, and include important physical details about your person, place or thing, you don’t want the details to overwhelm the impression. You should concentrate on the details that support your impression. Details that don’t matter, or that actually take away from your impression should be downplayed or left out entirely. For example, if you wanted to describe what a terrible person someone was, you probably wouldn’t want to mention what a nice smile they had, or how they helped old ladies across the street, or anything like that that made them seem nice or likable.
A rough draft will be required, so make sure you have that ready when it is due.
As always, please contact me if you have any questions or difficulties.