Page 2 Organizing Descriptive Paragraphs

Informational Writing


Fun Facts
With their eyes closed in less than a second, frogs unroll and reroll their tongues to catch their prey.
Informational writing needs to be concise to get the message across clearly.

However, descriptive writing requires more words to convey an image.

Descriptive writing presents information about an idea, topic, person, place, or thing by providing details, features, or examples of it.

Spatial Order


Spatial order involves organizing information according to space or location.

Some signal words for spatial organization include:

on top

underneath

over

beyond 		behind

in front

to the side

beside 		next to

close to

above

against 		north

south

left

right


Figure 2
A descriptive paragraph may use the following order to describe Figure 2.

  1. the girl's appearance or room
      • from top to bottom
      • top (green shirt)
      • middle (blue jeans)
      • bottom (fuzzy blue slippers)

  1. the girl's room
      • by direction
      • left side
      • right side
  1. the girl's room
      • by component or item
      • bed
      • table
      • rug

  1. the girl's room
      • by topic
      • colour
      • lighting
      • style

Comparison and Contrast


Another way of organizing descriptive paragraphs is by comparison and contrast.

Compare means to identify attributes or traits that are similar; contrast means to identify those elements that are different.

Food Low Down: Burgers or Hot Dogs?



(cc) Nenad Stojkovic on Flickr
 


Compare items either in two separate paragraphs or point by point.


Paragraph 1 - What do you get in a typical burger? How big is it? How nutritious is it?

Paragraph 2 - What do you get in a typical hotdog? How big is it? How nutritious is it?

OR

Paragraph 1 - Compare the typical burger and hotdog components.

Paragraph 2 - Compare the serving sizes of a burger and hotdog.

Paragraph 3 - Compare nutritional value of a burger and hotdog.


Transition words for compare and contrast are in the chart:

compare contrast
  • as well
  • in the same way
  • like
  • similarly
  • still
  • both
  • although
  • alternatively
  • though
  • but
  • however
  • not only... but also
  • on the other hand


Photographer Doug McLarty describes his home in Rankin Inlet, Nunavut, in the remote Canadian Arctic in the following descriptive essay.

Consider how he organizes his descriptions of the land.



Read  "Northern Life" on pages 243-245 of SightLines 8.



  Please contact your teacher if you have questions.