Description
Description is a much more analytical act than many textbooks suggest. When we describe, we are, quite literally, analyzing: breaking a whole into parts. Your thesis, for example, might be that the treatment of natives in residential schools was a form of cultural genocide. To support your argument you would have to analyze the situation by describing the aspects of the residential school system that led you to such a conclusion. You might write:
Thesis: The treatment of natives in residential schools was a form of cultural genocide.
- Point 1: There was a clear racial bias against native children evident in the inferior schooling they received.
- Point 2: The residential aspect of the school was intended to separate native children from their families' influence.
- Point 3: Native children were punished for speaking their native language or practicing their faiths.
- Point 4: Many native children emerged from the residential school system knowing little about their own language, faith and culture.
If your thesis seems to demand that you break an assertion into component parts in order to explain it, then the descriptive method of organization is appropriate for your paper.