An essay that educates its readers is known as an informative essay. In an informative essay, your goal is to answer a question. This question can be specific, like “Why doesn’t AP style use the Oxford comma?” Or it can be fairly broad, like “What is punctuation?”
What is an informative essay?
An informative essay is an essay that explains a topic. Informative essays come in many forms; one might explain how a system works, analyze data, summarize an event, compare two or more subjects, or walk the reader through a process step-by-step.
Unlike reaction essays, reflective essays, and narrative essays, informative essays are purely objective pieces of writing. When reading an informative essay, the reader should not encounter the author’s opinion or perspective. Instead, they should learn something factual.
How is an informative essay structured?
Intro
Your informative essay starts with an introduction paragraph. This paragraph includes your thesis statement, which is a concise summary of your essay’s focus. In a persuasive or argumentative essay, the thesis statement is typically the author’s position, which the author then supports and defends in the body paragraphs. In an informative essay, it’s a sentence that clearly states what the essay will cover.
In addition to your thesis statement, your introduction paragraph should include the points you’ll discuss in your body paragraphs, as well as an interesting statement to hook your reader’s interest. This can be an important statistic, a surprising fact, or an engaging anecdote that makes the reader want to learn more.
Body
Your essay’s body paragraphs make up the bulk of its content. This section is where you present facts, statistics, and all relevant details to support your thesis statement. In an informative essay that walks the reader through a process, the body paragraphs explain the process.
Each body paragraph should focus on one topic. For an essay comparing two events, write a paragraph for each event, thoroughly summarizing it and including all relevant facts. If you’re writing an essay that explains how to complete a task, dedicate a body paragraph to explaining each step in the process.
Conclusion
In the conclusion section, summarize your essay in a few sentences. Think of this as a recap of the points you made in your body paragraphs. Somewhere within this recap, reiterate your thesis statement. You don’t need to restate it in the exact same words you used in your introduction, but you should remind the reader of your essay’s primary focus.
7 steps for writing an informative essay
1 Select topic
If you aren’t assigned a topic, you’ll need to choose your own. Choose a topic you can sufficiently explain in approximately five paragraphs.
Once you’ve chosen a general topic, narrow it down to the specific subject you’ll cover in your essay. This process, known as brainstorming, often involves some preliminary research.
2 Research
The next step is to thoroughly research your topic. During this phase, choose credible sources you can cite in your work.
3 Create an outline
After you’ve conducted your research and determined which sources you’ll use in your essay, write an essay outline. An essay outline is a bare-bones “skeleton” version of your essay that briefly mentions what you’ll discuss in each paragraph.
4 Write
Following your outline’s structure, write your essay. At this stage, don’t stress about getting the tone just right or maintaining perfect flow between paragraphs; these are things you’ll refine during the revision stage. Focus on getting words on the page that craft an easy-to-follow look at your topic. Your tone should be objective, informative, and without literary devices.
5 Edit
Once you’re finished writing your first draft, take a break. Revisit it again, ideally a day later, and read it carefully. Take note of how effectively your sources support the points you make, how your writing flows from one paragraph to the next, and how well you explain your topic overall. Then rewrite any parts that can be made stronger. By the time you’re finished rewriting these, you’ll have your second draft.
6 Proofread
You’re not done yet! After you’ve finished revising your work, read it again to check for any spelling or grammatical mistakes. It’s also helpful to double-check the facts you cite at this stage to ensure they’re all accurate.
7 Document citations
The last part of writing an informative essay is writing a citations page. Because an informative essay includes statistics, facts, and other pieces of objective data, you need to credit the sources you consulted to find this data. How you format your citations page depends on whether your essay is written in MLA, APA, or Chicago style.
Informative essay example
Topic: Troubleshooting Common Wi-Fi Problems
Intro: In the introduction, mention specific Wi-Fi problems the reader might encounter. These could include a slow network, connectivity difficulty, and the reasons why one device might be unable to connect despite other devices connecting to the network easily. The thesis statement would state that these Wi-Fi problems are easy to troubleshoot and can usually be fixed without tech support.
Body paragraph: This paragraph is about troubleshooting a slow network. Discuss symptoms of a slow network, common causes of a slow network, and strategies the reader can use to speed up their Wi-Fi.
Body paragraph: This paragraph is about connectivity difficulty. Discuss scenarios in which none of the reader’s devices are able to connect to Wi-Fi and mention solutions they can try.
Body paragraph: This final body paragraph discusses scenarios when all devices but one can connect. Discuss reasons why one device might be unable to connect to the Wi-Fi despite all other devices connecting perfectly fine.
Conclusion: In the final paragraph, summarize the main reasons why the reader might be facing Wi-Fi difficulties and common troubleshooting strategies. Then restate your thesis statement and conclude the essay by briefly mentioning that if none of these strategies work, the reader should call their IT department or internet provider.
Informative essay FAQs
What is an informative essay?
An informative essay is an essay that explains a specific topic. The purpose is to provide a clear, objective explanation of a subject.
How is an informative essay structured?
Intro
Body paragraph
Body paragraph
Body paragraph
Conclusion
What are the steps to writing an informative essay?
- Select topic
- Research
- Create an outline
- Write essay
- Edit essay
- Proofread
- Document citations
