In today's world of information overload, it's difficult to find sources that give information that is well-written, engaging, and trustworthy. That's why writing an informative essay is a skill that will serve you well not just in school, but in many work environments, as well as when you establish your online presence. In this article, you will learn what an informative essay is, about the informative essay format, get an informative essay outline, step-by-step directions for every paragraph, a list of topics for informative essays, and other tips to make your process easier. The goal of this article is to prepare you to write your own informative essay and to be able to pick out a reliable essay writing service if you need to.

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An informative essay is a piece of writing with the goal of giving the reader information about a subject, event, experience, company, thing, or concept. An informative essay relies on facts and is backed up by reliable sources. It does not use subjective opinion or personal anecdotes to present a viewpoint or persuade the reader. Informative essays educate a reader about the important facts of a topic, often diving deep into the subject and presenting interesting relationships and information. Informative essays are somewhat unique because amongst the four main types of essays, narrative, descriptive, expository, and persuasive, informative essays can be any of the first three.

Since the goal of an informative essay is just to present information to the audience, many types of essays can be considered informative essays. Expository essays are the most similar to informative essays because the goal of both of them is to provide information to the reader. The main difference is that in an expository essay you usually include a thesis statement that has the goal of explaining something, not just giving information. Narrative and descriptive essays can be informative essays as long as they only present information rather than try to persuade the reader about something. Here are some common variations of informative essays.

A cause and effect essay analyzes the relationship between two things by determining how something happened or the effect it had. Cause and effect essays can be argumentative if you are trying to establish cause or effect, or they can be informative if you are purely giving information about the connection between two things. For example, “Why should the government ban the usage of single-use plastic to protect the environment” is an argumentative cause and effect essay, whereas “An analysis of the connection between plastic and long-term pollution” is an informative essay.

A descriptive essay describes a person, thing, event, or situation with the goal of making it as real as possible in the reader's imagination. It uses evocative imagery and appeals to the five senses to relate experiential information. A descriptive essay can be written with an eventual purpose or it can be written just to provide information. For example “ Why beach vacations are the best” is not an informative essay but “An incredible afternoon at the beach” can be one.

A process essay is almost always an informational essay. It explains how to do something or explain how something was created. Step-by-step guides and how-to tutorials are great examples of process essays.

A compare and contrast essay analyzes the similarities or differences between two related things. They can be either argumentative or informative based on the purpose of the essay. For example “Why Xbox is better than PlayStation” is an argumentative compare and contrast essay, whereas “The differences and similarities between Xbox and PlayStation” is an informative compare and contrast essay.

A problem-solution essay analyzes a problem and offers various solutions to it. These types of essays can be persuasive if one solution is considered better than the rest or informative if it is just presenting various possible solutions. For example, “The best way of fixing chronic unemployment” is a persuasive problem solution essay, whereas “Different methods to alleviate unemployment” is an informative problem solution essay.

Creating an outline is a step that many students skip, but an outline is one of the most useful ways of focusing your research and planning the overall structure and flow of your essay. Spend a little extra time on your outline and you can save a lot of time when actually writing. An informative essay outline is similar to the general 5 paragraph structure of essays but with a few important differences. Let's take a look at one.

Informative essays benefit from an outline because it helps structure the essay. As you conduct research, think about the three main ideas you want to present and note down interesting facts you find in the appropriate place in the outline along with its sources. You should understand the outline and think about it even when considering topics for your essay. If all of this seems like a lot to handle already and you're thinking “I would rather have someone write my essay for me”, then this is a great time to reach out for some additional help.

Just like any other essay the informative essay introduction has the goal of giving the reader a little bit of information about what the essay will be about. Starting with a hook to grab the reader's attention is always a good idea, followed by some background information about the topic and finally the thesis statement.

The body of an informative essay typically consists of 3 paragraphs that contain the information you want to share with the reader. Each body paragraph should talk about one main interesting fact about the topic so that the essay is clear and easy to understand. Even though the goal of an informative essay is to provide information, only include the most important and relevant facts. Make sure that every piece of information you include is cited and comes from a reliable source.

The thesis statement is the single most important sentence in the entire essay. A good thesis statement clearly states the purpose of the essay. You should come up with a thesis statement after picking a topic and doing some research. A good thesis statement will help guide your research so that you know exactly what you're looking for. It also helps structure the essay by clearly explaining to the reader what they can expect. A thesis statement for an informative essay does not make arguments or a persuasive claim, rather it clearly states what information will be conveyed. For example, a good informative essay thesis statement looks like “There are three main ways how the renaissance impacted modern western civilization”.

Like most other essays, the conclusion of an informative essay summarizes the main pieces of information. Remind the reader about the purpose of the essay, explain why it is important, and leave them with a few questions to think about.

All we need to begin writing an original paper for you is the essay rubric that your professor gave you and your deadline.

Choosing an informative essay topic is more difficult than it seems. Because the goal of an informative essay is to give information about a subject, almost anything can be an informative essay topic. Don't just start writing about the first topic that pops into your head, spend some time brainstorming several different topics and do a little bit of research about all of them. How do you narrow down a good topic?

Make sure you spend enough time coming up with a good topic. If you find it difficult, go through some informative essay examples to understand what kind of information you will have to find, or go through this list of informative essay topics for inspiration!

10 Education Topic Examples

10 Political Topic Examples

10 Social Topic Examples

10 History Topic Examples

10 Business Topic Examples

Writing an informative essay can be a lot of fun if you know what you're doing. As long as you choose a good topic, understand the informative essay structure, and spend some time planning, it will be easy. Keep the following things in mind when writing your essay.

Before you begin writing the paper, read the assignment carefully so that you know exactly what is expected. The word count, expected quality of sources, specific subjects to talk about, etc, will guide your choice of topic. It can be difficult to choose a topic, which is why you should brainstorm several ideas and research them to make sure there is enough interesting information to put into your essay. Once you have settled on a topic, conduct thorough research and put the information you find into the outline so that you get a feel for what the final essay will look like. Think about possible thesis statements while you are initially narrowing down your list of topics because this will help guide your in-depth research.

It's finally time to get to actually writing an informative essay! Now that you understand all the pieces and have done your planning, use your informative essay outline to start writing the essay. Let's go over each part in depth.

Are you wondering how to start an informative essay? Well, an introduction paragraph’s goal is to pique the reader's interest and briefly tell them what the essay is going to be about. An introduction isn't complicated to write as long as you follow the right structure.

The very first sentence should be a hook. An interesting fact, question, or statement that engages the reader and makes them want to read more. Follow this up with some brief background information about the main topic. A thesis statement for an informative essay is different from a thesis statement for other types of essays because there is no argument to be made or claim to support. Rather the thesis statement should clearly state the purpose of the essay. End the introduction paragraph with a transition sentence that improves the overall flow of the essay.

Following the five-paragraph format of essay writing, there should be three body paragraphs. Each body paragraph should talk about a specific piece of information or fact that you want to explain to the reader. The structure is:

The body of the essay is where you present the interesting information about the topic. Depending on the type of informative essay, these could be general facts shown in a new light, little known or new facts meant to educate the reader, or the steps in a how-to guide. Make sure you back up any statements you make with reliable sources. End each paragraph with a transition sentence to improve the overall flow of the essay.

A good conclusion is one of the most difficult things to write. It has to sum up all the major points of the informative paper while tying them all together and leaving the reader with some kind of new insight. This is the structure of a conclusion paragraph.

Start the conclusion with a recap of the topic sentences of each body paragraph to remind the reader of the main pieces of information you want them to take away. Next, remind them of the thesis statement so that they connect the pieces of information to the overall purpose of the essay. Finally, ask them a question or suggest why the information is important so that they continue thinking about the essay after they are done reading it.

You should now know how to write an excellent informative paper! In this guide, we've covered what an informative essay is, how to choose a good topic, how to come up with an outline, step-by-step instructions on how to write each paragraph, and several tips and general advice. If you follow the advice given here you will have a fun writing experience and get the chance to share information about a topic you feel passionate about. Good luck!

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