Descriptive Paragraph Instructions

Additional helpful resources:

Descriptive Paragraph Rubric | Descriptive Paragraph Sample

Choose one photo from the Time Magazine website at this address: http://lightbox.time.com/?iid=lf|tn

You will choose a photograph from the Time site and write a descriptive paragraph. Use all five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch) to create vivid and tangible images in your own paragraph. Be sure to address each sense in its physical form and avoid metaphors. See below:  

• Sight: “The green pine trees dotted the horizon.” 
• Hearing: “The last-minute buzzer echoed through the stadium.” 
• Smell: “The sweet aroma of jasmine filled my nose as I jogged past the flower garden.” 
• Taste: “The cookies taste sweet with a hint of salt.” 
• Touch: “The sand felt cold, wet, and gritty beneath my feet.” 

A topic sentence for this assignment should introduce the main point or points in the paragraph using key terms. In this case, you should touch upon the five senses because they are the focus of this paragraph. For example, “Attending the basketball game opened up my senses to vibrant lights, loud sounds, salty aromas, mouth-watering treats, and stinging sensations from so much clapping.”
 

Finally, add directional transitions (above the fountain, next to the doorway, to the left of the trees, etc.) to show the location and relationship of objects in the photo. This will help the reader paint a picture by placing objects in the scene without seeing the image.

You can write this from a third person perspective (as a viewer from the outside) or from a first person perspective (as if you were experiencing this scene firsthand).

Please copy-and-paste the photo image at the top of your paragraph (see Descriptive Paragraph Sample).

When you submit your paragraph for review, include the name of the photograph (if available) and the exact URL where you accessed your chosen photograph. For this shorter assignment, you need not include this information in a formal MLA Works Cited list. You may simply put the photo title and URL at the bottom of the essay.