Writing an observation essay is in many ways quite a lot like writing a story. The author conveys feelings to their readers utilizing literary descriptions of the five senses – hearing, sight, touch, smell, and taste – and brings about a rich tapestry of knowledge in the process. If this sounds a bit like hocus pocus to you, think of it another way. If you’ve ever cracked open a newspaper or read an article on a special interests news website, you’ve probably been exposed to an observation essay. Music and movie reviews, opinions on the best vacation spots, video game impressions, political commentary – they’re all life experiences, after a fashion, and folks are using observational guidelines to get their points across.

So what are those guidelines? What makes these papers shine? For quick access to some terrific examples, use this company. Or read on for some tips and tricks of the trade.

Don’t tense up

You’ll be jotting things down in first person perspective, as is standard for this type of work. In order to really grab your reader’s interest, though, strongly consider writing your paper in present tense. First person present tense style is a great combination for when you want your audience to feel like they’re actually there in your shoes, perceiving everything you perceived, living out the information you’re attempting to convey.

Outline your outline

Many students abhor the infamous outline; it’s common for us to think we’ve got everything organized in our heads and there’s no pressing need for one. With something observationally focused, though, there are some questions you’ll want to be able to answer before you type your first word, questions like whether or not you can truly draw your readers in and provide for them a complete picture of your account. An outline is immeasurably helpful for that, and heading into that outline knowing exactly what it is you’re figuring out will make it a far less tedious task.

Be vivid

Your observation is a picture – you’re painting one by describing what you saw, what you heard, how you felt, how you reacted, during whatever it is you’re writing about. Papers like these afford students a nice opportunity to really cultivate an emotional resonance with the reader. You can spruce things up with in-depth testimony of your own personal emotional journey during a particular event, upping your word count in the process! Don’t go totally overboard with paragraph after paragraph of the shape and slope and color of the trees, mind you, but don’t be afraid to inject sentences on such matters all throughout if you believe they will enhance that aforementioned painted picture.