How To Write An Informative Essay: What Is an Informative Essay? As the name suggests, an informative essay is a type of essay where the author enlightens its readers about a person, object, phenomenon or events related to the topic of the essay. The main goal of an informative essay is not to give the writers opinion on their topic of writing, but to make their writing informative and educating for the audience.
The write up should be not only informative but also enjoyable. Writers often have a point of you about the topic they are writing. Still, as the sole purpose of writing an informative essay is to educate the audience on the topic, authors should refrain from giving their opinion on the subject.
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When writing an informative essay, you should keep in mind to showcase every angle of the subject without being opinionated.
Usually, an informative essay might be informing its readers about some problem which is not known to them, explain the importance of the topic and provide the readers latest researched information about the topic. When writing on a controversial topic, compare the viewpoints without being opinionated and establish a cause and effect relationship.
Types Of Informative Essay
There are five main types of informative essays.
- Process Essay: In this type of writing, you need to describe the process of a phenomenon. Also known as ‘How-To’ essay, a process essay is the type of essay where the writer needs to provide detailed information on the chronological order of performing a process.
- Analysis Essay: In this type of essay, you look into a set of data or an image or at a text and analyze the information. You conclude and make interpretations on the information.
- Classification Essay: In a classification essay, things are categorized into different categories, and the things are described accordingly.
- Definition Essay: This is the type of essay where the writer describes something. This essay is not necessarily a dictionary definition but a new and creative way to think about the subject.
- Cause/Effect Essay: This is the type of essay where the author talks about the cause of a phenomenon, event or idea and then describes the effect that has in today’s world, on the environment and the people.
Possible Informative Essays Topics
- World Poverty
- Recycling
- Air pollution
- Procrastination and its effects
- History of women’s rights in history
Steps for Writing An Informative Essay
The sole purpose of an informative essay is to educate its readers about the topic in-depth and also giving a clear explanation of a subject. The writer should bombard the targeted audience with information and facts that surround the issue, so the readers after reading are full of facts and educated about the subject.
When writing an informative essay, follow the following steps to have a well-crafted essay.
- Choose An Appropriate Topic:
- When writing an informative essay, choose a topic that interests you. This will make not only the writing process but also the research interesting for you.
- Choose a theme that you have an idea about, which will make the process of finding information more accessible.
- Choose a topic that you can support with evidence, facts and statistics.
- Decide Your Targeted Audience: Keeping in mind who your targeted audience is and what kind of essay they are expecting is essential when writing an informative essay. This will help you keep in mind how much information needs to provide in your write-up to keep your readers hooked.
- Research Extensively On The Subject: Informative essay is the type of essay which requires a lot of evidence that is reliable to fulfil the primary purpose of the essay, to educate the audience. You can only build a well-crafted informative essay if you have a lot of information answering the question of the write-up.
Refer to articles written from reliable sources, interviews and experiments; this will make your writing enjoyable for the reader to go through. Brainstorm ideas, make notes, not challenges and state objectives.
Some excellent sources for researching for an informative essay:
- Encyclopedias
- Government websites
- Peer-reviewed journals
- Newspapers
- Websites of reputable organizations.
Outline: Outlining helps the writer helps the reader where to go with the essay. Outlining helps the reader in getting a better view of all the collected data and gives them the chance to decide how they want to plan out the essay. Organizing and collating this collected information will form both your passage layout and your thesis statement.
Passages of An Informative Essay
Like every other essay, an informative essay has three passages, introduction, body and conclusion.
- Introduction: since the purpose is to educate the audience regarding the topic, many start the essay with the dictionary definition of the topic. While you can always do that, but it is suggested to not, as it becomes very cliché. The goal of the introduction is to draw the attention of the readers within those few sentences. Provide an overview of the ideas included in the main paragraph of the writing. If the topic is a controversial one, mention the controversies showing that you are not shying away from addressing them. There should be a well-developed thesis statement at the end of the introductory paragraph.
- Body: Divide the body into several paragraphs. Mention each fact in a separate paragraph. The middle part of the essay should have arguments supporting the thesis statement stated in the introduction. All the information that you have collected on the topic should be mentioned in the body section. Create a smooth transition not only when moving from the introduction to the body, but also in between the body paragraphs. There should be a target point and supporting details in every paragraph.
- Conclusion: After you have laid out your researched points in the middle section, it is now time to wrap up the writing. Try and make the ending catchy so that it leaves an impression on the readers and make them think about it. Restate the thesis statement and summarize all the important points stated in the paper, but remember not to repeat the already stated points.
- Revise, Recheck And Edit: Once done with the essay, revert to the outline that you created and see that you have not missed out any points. Take the responsibility of checking that you have described everything in the correct chronological order. If needed, make the edits, to craft a well-developed essay.
Format Of An Informative Essay
- An Introductory Paragraph To Hook The Readers: Start the introductory paragraph with a hooking point to ensnare the readers. Stating the hook in the first, it will interest the readers and give them a reason to read on.
- Well-crafted Thesis Statement For Direction: Every paragraph has a thesis statement usually included in the last of the introductory paragraph. It is the most critical line of the paper, stating the main argument of the essay. A thesis statement is used by writers to clarify the subject you are discussing.
How to Write The Body Of An Informative Essay
When writing the body, divide the paragraph into four distinct steps so that you can well-develop the body paragraphs.
- The claim of the paragraph is simple and usually the first sentence of the paragraph, stating the main point of the paragraph. It is an easy and logical way to follow a discussion.
- Back up our claim with supporting evidence. Supporting evidence could be experiments, articles, documentation or interviews.
- Once done stating the supporting evidence, you will want to explain how the finding is necessary or relevant to the topic.
- Always end all the body paragraphs with a concluding statement that ties up the paragraph nicely and provides a clear and crisp transition from one paragraph to another.
How To Write The Conclusion Of An Informative Essay
When writing the conclusion, restate the thesis statement by not the word to word as you have done in the introduction. Provide the readers with a brief overview of the main points stated in the body.
Finally, finish the conclusion with a clincher which will give your writing a powerful ending. The clincher can be a statement of truth, a thought-provoking quote, whether it answers a common question or a lingering question that has not yet been answered by any researches.
FAQ’s On How To Write An Informative Essay
Question 1.
What are the few things one should avoid when writing an informative essay?
Answer:
Keep the following things in mind to craft a successful, informative essay.
- Do Not Give A Personal Opinion: The purpose of the essay is to inform and educate the readers about the topic. You should not express your attitude and point of view regarding the topic, don’t make the essay a persuasive one nor try to analyze the topic.
- Don’t Bluff, Be Honest: Provide all the data and information that you have found. Don’t try and avoid the opposing sides of the subject. You must provide all the details of the topic and give your readers the freedom to develop based on the information that you serve.
- Make Sure That Your Write-Up Is Logical: Informative essay should be logical. Follow the outline that you have created and place the information accordingly. Make sure the essay is consistent by using transition words, making the change from one fact to another smooth and exact.
Question 2.
What should one remember when choosing a topic for an informative essay?
Answer:
Use the following tips to choose the best informative essay topic.
- Avoid selecting a broad topic as well as a narrow topic. Try and find a balance and choose a topic where you need not provide way too much or way too less information.
- Avoid choosing a topic that you have no interest in. If you have competence for the topic, it makes writing on the topic more accessible.
- Engage the audience by providing valid and exciting information and telling them why the topic is relevant in today’s society.