Character Description Worksheet

Writing Skills: Character Descriptions

As literature classes typically require students to discuss or draft character analyses, this resource offers these students a short excerpt of a novel, a step-by-step process to first attribute adjectives to a targeted character, a scaffold from which they can write a character description, and a clear multiple paragraph sample.

This activity not only teaches students how to write a comprehensive, fleshed-out character description essay, but also shows these students how they can make inferences about characters' personalities and perspectives from their actions and speech. Provided a short excerpt from a novel, students first must attribute adjectives to a character by analyzing their actions and dialogue. They must then use these adjectives to draft a character description following a provided scaffold. This strategy (and its corresponding scaffold) can apply to virtually any character analysis assignment. To assist in teaching, this activity includes extensive notes on the excerpt contained within as well as a sample analysis essay utilizing the provided scaffold.