Writing an Informational Essay

Informational Writing: Material through which an author shares ideas, facts, or instructions by helping the reader to compare familiar items with items that are not familiar

In other words, an informational essay explains a process or shows the reader how something works.

Informational writing offers factual, unbiased, and expansive information. Informational essays may be based on research, or may be a personal essay based on personal thoughts and observations. (ie. something you have firsthand experience with.)

Differing from many other types of essay, the writer’s job is to explain and inform without offering an opinion or developing an argument.

An Informational essay must be impartial this means an informational essay is always written in the third person.

The goal of an informational essay is provide the reader with a full understanding of a complex process or situation.

Make sure all of your ideas are organized in a logical manner.

Offer concrete explanations and examples

Every "step" must be clear. If one "step" is not clear to the reader, then every step that follows is useless.

-Informational Writing is used in completing school projects, applying for and carrying out the duties of a job, and performing personal communications.

Types of Informational Writing include: Letters, biographies, definitions of simple abstract ideas, summaries, instructions or directions, description of a method or process, explanation of causes and effects, analysis of facts or ideas, comparisons of facts and ideas, expression of opinion through critique or review.

http://factoryschool.org/handbook/essays/EssayInformational.html - Example of an Informational essay.


1.5.11 d WRITE WITH A COMMAND OF THE STYLISTIC ASPECTS OF COMPOSITION
1.5.11c WRITE WITH CONTROLLED ORGANIZATION
1.5.11a WRITE WITH A SHARP , DISTINCT FOCUS
1.5.11 b WRITE USING WELL-DEVELOPED CONTENT APPROPRIATE FOR THE TOPIC