How to Write an Informative Essay
If you google “informative essay definition” you’ll find out that the purpose of it is not to present your ideas and theories, but to inform and educate your readers on specific topics. Informative essay should always be objective and impartial. Since its goal is not to convince your audience to change their beliefs, informative speech essays might be also called the expository essays. However, you can still share your thoughts and ideas about the issue you write about in a not persuasive way. Keep it interesting, you don’t want to bore anyone. It might seem difficult and confusing at first but after this article you will come to the conclusion that something complicated can be explained in a very uncomplicated way… just stay tuned and find out how. Usually, your informative writing has to include several paragraphs that will:
- Inform your readers about a topic
- Describe the importance of it
- Include the latest researches on the topic
- Compare controversial opinions on a subject
- Explain cause and effect.
It’s not always about just creating an informative text by yourself. There are times when writing an informational essay requires studying and analyze someone’s informative texts and ideas. Even if there are many tips all over the Internet I would like to introduce you this three simple rules on how to write an informative essay:
- Working with an entire text will only waste your time. Select the most informative piece and work with it.
- If you need to express your thoughts then do it but with no twists and in a very short form.
- The final step will be your informative presentation that puts together everything said above.
You may also be interested in reading our article: “Reflective Essays”
Informative Speech and Its Structure
As you probably know, a scientific work has to follow a specific structure, that’s not the case for an informative essay. Even if it has no clear structure you should still respect the basic principles of writing. For example, your essay should be 3 to 5 pages in length and use at least four different sources. Also, don’t rely on your personal experience and stay loyal to the formal academic writing style. The basic structure is very simple.
The introduction
How to start an informative essay shouldn’t be a problem anymore, most likely you’ve done it before in your college and even high school assignments. The beginning of your essay, as always, has to present the topic and catch your reader’s attention. It has to be strong and focus on the main issue. There are no specific introduction examples to follow but you have to remember that your first paragraph, in this case, should start with a comparison of a general idea and gradually evolve into more specific subject. Include key words and give some background information. Write a little preview of the key points that you’ll discuss. Once it’s ready, finish your thesis. Generally, the informative essay thesis is a comparison of different opinions on a controversial subject.
The Body
In the body of your informative speech essay you have to include all the necessary facts and data for your audience. Do your researches and carefully select all the sources and materials, introduce some expert judgments too. Make sure all the data is reliable and if requested quote and link it below. Organize it in a logical way by creating an outline. When writing a simple persuasive essay we would usually have to keep in mind that one paragraph has to contain one statement and relevant evident. That’s not our case though. In an informative essay each paragraph must present a certain informative material. For instance, if your topic is “Understanding the link between cholesterol and heart disease”, your essay body must contain examples about reported cases of heart disease, reliable numbers etc. Also, present essential data and statistics. Mention some experiments and theories about Cholesterol and Heart Disease connection and make sure to include all the researches against it.
The Conclusion
To conclude your essay, move from specific to general idea. Take your time on explaining the gravity of the issue and repeat the main facts for and against your case. And remember, you should never present new information or opinions in your conclusion. Its main purpose is to sum up all the information you’ve given before.
Find more tips that will come in handy: “Creative Essays”
Summarize All the Steps to Writing an Informative Essay
- Pick a topic for your assignment. The purpose of your work is not to persuade you audience but to educate and inform. Remember, it is not an informal essay so pay attention to the structure and format.
- Organize your data in a logical way. Create the outline and list all the information about your topic that you’re going to include.
- Do your researches online and in a library and use at least four different sources in your paper. Rind reliable and authoritative data. Analyze all the facts and do an additional research.
- Remember that the beginning of your essay, the introduction, has to present your general topic and catch your reader’s attention. Add a background information about the key words and terminology. Compare different points of view and facts on a controversial subject or different data. Start with introducing a general issue and gradually begin to present more specific idea. Picture the inverted pyramid:General idea, Specific thesis.
- The body of your essay has to provide all needed information and materials. Make use of different sources, theories and expert judgments. Verify that all the data is reliable.
- The conclusion should restate the gravity of the issue and put together all the facts for and against your main thesis. Remember to include only things you’ve mentioned before and never introduce new facts and opinions about the topic. Keep in mind that the aim of your conclusion is to come to an end by summing up everything said before.
- Analyze and edit your work. Make sure it is not persuasive and gives only the information that have reliable sources.
In case you don’t know what topic to choose and a possible title to it, here are some winning example you can always use:
- “How to Buy a Nice House”
- “Understanding Your Credit Score”
- “The Importance of Regular Daily Exercises”
- “The Causes of Global Warming”
- “Cost Savings of Hybrid Vehicles”
- “Qualifications of Contractors”
- “Understanding the Link between Cholesterol and Heart Disease”
- “South Side: Defining Poverty in the City of Chicago”
- “Reducing Carbon Emissions with Alternative Fuels”
- “How to Get your Commercial Driver’s License”
- “The Health Benefits and disadvantages of a Vegetarian Diet”
- “Why Cleaning Your Ducts is Important”
- “Understanding Geothermal Heating and Cooling”
Need more? Read this – https://writingleader.com/sample-essays/informative
