One of the most common types of academic papers you are bound to face during your college or post-college years is the informative essay. Like any other essay, the informative essay has some distinctive features one needs to keep in mind to come up with a well-written piece. We’d like to offer you a useful guide on how to write an informative essay focusing on several key points that, as we hope, will come in real handy to you. Please, keep in mind that the below tips and requirements are quite general, so it’s always a good idea to ask your professor about any additional demands they might have.
Wondering What the Informative Essay Definition Is?
Before embarking on the informative essay, it is essential to understand what exactly you are dealing with. Therefore, y the first thing you should do is to find a clear-cut and precise definition of the informative essay. So, the informative essay is an academic paper, the primary purpose of which is to clearly explain a certain matter and thus raise the target audience’s awareness.
It’s important not to confuse the informative essay with the argumentative or persuasive one, because each of them has its peculiar features. The main point of the informative essay is to deliver information to the target audience. That’s it. In this case, you don’t need to persuade anybody or prove your point. By writing the informative essay, you act as a kind of a newsmonger, whose primary task is to inform.
To understand what the informative essay is, let’s consider the following example: imagine writing an essay on jeans in which you are not to express your attitude or preferences toward this type of clothing. While writing an informative essay, you’ll concentrate more on the history of jeans, their main types, and popular brands. And that’s it. You give a piece of information without aiming to influence your audience or expecting any response.
Now that you know exactly what is an informative essay, you are ready to start creating a perfect paper.
How to Start an Informative Essay - Steps to Take
No essay is possible without a topic, because it is a basis for your future work. While seeking for a topic for your essay, you may wonder what is going on in the world around you. You can make a mini-observation by listening to what people are talking about, reading newspaper articles or watching several TV programmes. Think about an important phenomenon or problem that you can highlight in your informative essay, and that might be interesting for people who will read your paper. One of the main reasons for choosing the right topic is that your audience should learn new facts from your essay. Try not to pick a subject that is either too broad or too narrow, concentrating on something more specific instead.
The next step in the informative essay writing process is data gathering. Chose the most appropriate sources and references concerning your topic. The sources can be divided into primary and secondary ones. Primary sources are the ones that deal with the chosen subject, while secondary ones are articles inspired by this topic.
Use a wide range of sources. It can be not only books, articles, and research reports, but also any websites or online databases that can make your essay more thoughtful and diverse.
The informative essay structure is pretty much standard and comprises three main parts: the introduction, body several paragraphs and conclusion.
- Introduction. Briefly comment on the subject you age going write about. You may use some catchy words or phrases to grab your audience’s attention.
- Body part. Provide a full explanation of the subject, proving your point by citing the sources you found. You may start the paragraphs with words like ‘firstly’ or ‘in addition,’ etc.’
- Conclusion. Wrap up the informative essay. Recall your statement at the beginning of the work and come up with a solid conclusion.
Now that you have been instructed on how to start an informative essay, you can easily finish it!
How to End an Informative Essay. Cross Your T's
Besides writing the essay itself, you should also do some post-writing stuff that will let you make your paper more refined. So, if you don’t know how to end an informative essay (except concluding), these guidelines will certainly be quite helpful to you.
Pay attention to the way your essay looks. Make sure you have used the right spacing and font, and that your paper has the required length. Proofread your essay carefully, making sure that all the information contained therein is coherent and understandable. Don’t forget about the cohesion: all of your paper’s parts are to be logically linked.
By following these simple recommendations, you will be able to avoid some silly mistakes and make your preparation process much more effective.
Informative Essay Tips. An Ace up Your Sleeve
Summing up all the above information, you have been provided with a number of useful tips on how to achieve a well-written informative essay. They may come in real handy to you and help you to cope with your assignment a lot better.
- Chose the relevant topic that will grab your audience’s attention;
- Collect information only from reliable and diverse sources;
- Avoid expressing own position on the matter, using only general information instead;
- Proofread your paper thoroughly to make sure it is interesting and understandable;
We hope that our simple and informative essay tips will set you firmly on the road to success! Good luck!