Informative Essay Prompt
For our fourth and final out-of-class paper, we will be writing an informative essay. The purpose of an
informative essay, sometimes called an expository essay, is to educate your reader on a certain topic. You are
not trying to convince someone to do something or change their beliefs, but you are sharing information on a
topic you are familiar with. Informative writing can take many forms. There are several readings from your
textbook that can all be classified as “informative writing”. These readings from your textbook are:
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“Credit Card Smarts: Take Charge of Your Card” pg. 146
“Ways to Improve Your Memory” pg. 36
“The Playlist’s the Thing” pg. 169
“China’s One-Child Policy” pg. 89
We will spend time in class reading some other articles and looking at examples of informative essays,
brainstorming topics ideas, and going over your options. You will get to choose your own topic, but I will
decide whether or not your topic is approved.
Structure and Organization
The basic structure of an informative essay is very simple. It needs to have a beginning, middle, and end.
The beginning needs to present the topic and grab the attention of the audience. It needs to include the focus
sentence for the entire essay. The middle will be the main bulk of the essay and it will contain all the important
facts that you are covering. This is where the audience will get their questions answered. Remember to answer
these questions: who, what, where, when, why, and how. The end is a conclusion where you will summarize the
essay. It should spur the reader or listener to learn more about the topic.
Sources
If you wish, you can do research on your topic and use outside resources. Newspapers and
magazine articles would be a good choice as sources for this paper. Beware internet sources unless they are
from a well-known and reliable website that you can trust. If you use any outside sources, you must give
them credit. If you copy ANY information from anywhere, you must put it in quotes and cite it. We will
discuss how to cite sources in class, and I will also provide you with a handout that explains the basics of using
sources. If you decide not to use outside sources, everything you write in your paper must be from your own
personal experience and knowledge, and cannot use words or facts copied from anywhere else.
Due Dates:
 Week 14 – Tuesday, December 2 - Rough Draft of Essay 4: the Informative Essay: 3-4 copies PRINTED for
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Peer Review (If you want comments from me, you must upload a SECOND rough draft, revised based on your
peer review, to Turnitin.com by Thursday at 11:30PM.)
Week 15 – Tuesday, December 8 – Bring the latest copy of your essay to work on revising in class.
Week 16 –Tuesday, December 15—Final Draft of Essay 4: the Informative Essay—before class, upload to
turnitin.com.