How to Write an Informative Essay

Did you ever pick up a magazine or newspaper and after reading the article say, “ Hmm! I didn ’ t know that! ” That article is an informative essay.

Now, don’t be nervous, you are not expected to be a reporter!

Informative essays, also called expository essays, inform or educate the audience on a given topic. The goal is not to persuade the reader but to give the reader more information, to provide the reader with insight, and to support the writer ’ s interpretations with factual information.

Informative essays do not express the writer ’ s opinion. Outside views and pro ’ s and con ’ s can be included, but they must be presented in an unbiased fashion, pointing out comparisons and contrasts of viewpoints.

The key word here is unbiased. It is very important that you do not give your opinion in the essay. Remember the saying: “Nothing but the facts!”

Have fun with your essay! Keep in mind that it is your essay, not a concentrated source of information. You will need to include outside sources; however, you can do it with your own flair!

One way to give it your own personal touch is not to choose some generic topic. Focus your topic into something original. Also, make sure that it is something interesting that you want to learn about. If you like it, it will be fun!

For example: Instead of choosing a broad topic like: Breast Cancer Trying making it something more interesting and original like: Holistic medical approaches to helping Breast Cancer patients Trying making it something more interesting and original like: Holistic medical approaches to helping Breast Cancer patients

Think of yourself as the teacher, and your job is to inform your students, (audience) about your topic. Since you don’t want to bore your students, you need to make your essay interesting. The essay should make the reader say, “Aha! I didn’t know that.”

Doing all of these things may sound challenging; however, here are a number of methods you can employ in your essay to make it informative and fun!

Methods to employ for a strong essay: Make your purpose clear from the beginning of your paper. Give them usable material that they can apply. Present sufficient information to explain your topic. Enlighten your audience with new facts and/or statistics. Present sufficient information to explain your topic. Enlighten your audience with new facts and/or statistics.

Make your purpose clear from the beginning of your paper Create a strong thesis statement that declares the purpose of your informative essay and states what you want your readers to know, believe, or understand. Don’t announce! You should avoid such statements as, “In this essay, I will…” or “This essay will inform you about…”

Give them usable material that they can apply Make sure that the information is recent. Don’t use outdated information. Make sure the information is relevant. Don’t choose information that is vague or only slightly related. No techno speak! Bring it down to your reader’s level, so they understand fully.

Present sufficient information to explain your topic One successful way to present the information to your audience is incorporating a variety of modes or strategies of writing (Narration, Description, Compare and Contrast, Definition, Process Analysis, Cause and Effect, and Classification). Using a variety of these modes to inform and educate the audience will result in the audience having a clearer view of the topic.

Enlighten your audience with new facts and/or statistics Make sure to find information that is recent. Check the date of publication or update and make sure that it is recent. If not, you should try and find information that is.

The overall Writing Process is the same for an informative essay as it is for every other essay. For additional information on the writing process, there are a list of links at the end of the presentation.

One last thing that you might find helpful in creating your informative essay is reviewing a sample essay. One can be found in doc sharing.

Make sure to pay close attention to: how the introduction grabbed the reader’s attention and led into the thesis. the strong thesis. how all of the body paragraphs clearly relate to the thesis statement. how all information from outside sources is properly cited. how all body paragraphs start with a strong topic sentence (that states the main idea of the paragraph), is followed by support sentences and ends with a closing sentence. how the conclusion wraps up the essay and doesn’t provide any new information. how all body paragraphs start with a strong topic sentence (that states the main idea of the paragraph), is followed by support sentences and ends with a closing sentence. how the conclusion wraps up the essay and doesn’t provide any new information.

Now you are ready to go tackle that informative essay. Take a deep breath. Pick something interesting that you want to learn about yourself. And most of all, try and have fun with it!