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WRITING: WHAT IS AN INFORMATIVE/EXPOSITORY ESSAY?

Overview

In this unit, you will discover why informative/expository essays are important, analyze the structure and length of an informative/expository essay, and examine prompts for informative/expository essays on the AIR Assessment. At the end of the unit, you will review gerund and infinitive phrases. Above you will find a list of key vocabulary for this unit.

*Click on the image and download the attached pdf to take notes during the lesson.

Have you ever been so curious about a person or a place that you went online or to a library to get more information? Maybe you wanted to find out about a singer’s life or look up fun ways to spend time in a totally different country. Your curiosity would lead you to learn how to write an informative text - from brainstorming and organizing, drafting and revising, to editing and publishing. As you work through the next several units, you will read and take notes, develop a thesis, and learn how to organize your notes and textual evidence to support your thesis.

Informative/Expository Essays

An informative text provides information about a topic. Facts, details, examples, or quotations support the text’s central idea. A biography of Alexander Hamilton, Frederick Douglass’s autobiography, a history of the Middle Ages, The Washington Post, NASA’s website, your textbooks, an essay on global warming, and an article about a newly discovered planet are all examples of informative texts. Informative texts are nonfiction and are based on research from outside sources.

When you write an informative/expository essay, you develop an informative text. Your goal is to become an expert on a new (or not so new) topic and present your knowledge in a way that allows the reader to become an expert, too. Because of this, you will need to keep your audience in mind as you write. If you are writing about “self-driving cars,” for example, your readers may not have any background knowledge of them and you will need to provide it.

An informative text is written with a completely neutral tone, or one that is free of opinion. Meaning, you are not trying to convince your audience of anything. You are simply presenting facts on a topic.

The Informative/Expository Essay you will write on the AIR Assessment will bewritten with in a formal style and will be based on at least two texts that you are required to read.

Elements of an Informative/Expository Essay
Regardless of the topic, every informative text should begin with a compelling introduction that provides a thesis for the text, body paragraphs based around a topic that contain quotes and/or paraphrases supporting the thesis, and a conclusion.

STOP! Complete Questions 1 through 4 in the questions section.

Setting Up an Informative/Expository Essay
An Informative/Expository Essay for the AIR Assessment should be at least 5 paragraph essay with an:

Introduction,
Body paragraphs (main points), and a
Conclusion

Informative/Expository Essay Prompt Examples:

Construct a multi-paragraph response in which you explain the different ways that fear can drive action.
Construct a multi-paragraph response in which you describe how humans and nature shape the earth.
Construct a multi-paragraph response in which you describe the many effects of earthquakes.
Construct a multi-paragraph response in which you explain how volcanoes affect people and their environments.
Construct a multi-paragraph response in which you describe the events that led to the use of penicillin as medicine.
Construct a multi-paragraph response about the successes of the Maya, the Aztecs, and the Inca.
Construct a multi-paragraph response in which you explain how a person can increase his or her overall happiness.
Construct a multi-paragraph response in which you describe why it is important to communicate your whereabouts when going on an outdoor excursion.

Let's unpack a prompt...

What is the prompt asking you to do?

Construct a multi-paragraph response in which you explain how a person can increase his or her overall happiness. Use the information from the texts in your response.

Construct a multi-paragraph response... = Write a 5 paragraph essay

... in which you explain... = Begin with an informational thesis that is neutral, or free of opinion...

Use the information from the texts in your response. = Include explicit textual evidence in your body paragraphs using I.C.E.

STOP! Complete Questions 5 through 12 in the questions section.

Model
Read a model of an Informative/Expository Essay based on the following prompt:

Construct a multi-paragraph response in which you explain the different ways that fear can drive action. Use the information from the texts in your response.

Fear: Instinct or emotion?

President Franklin D. Roosevelt once said, “The only thing to fear is fear itself.” Fear is a core element that is tremendously powerful. Fear is defined as an emotional response induced by a perceived threat, which causes a change in brain and organ function, as well as in behavior. Fear can lead people to hide, to run away, or to freeze in their shoes. Fear may arise from a confrontation or from avoiding a threat, or it may come in the form of a discovery. Fear can cause a person’s instincts to take over, or it can limit a person’s ability to perform certain activities. In extreme situations, fear can even cause imaginary scenarios. In short, there are many ways that fear changes behavior and drives action.

One of the ways that fear drives action is by triggering a person’s instincts. According to article “The Complexity of Fear”, “...fear immediately leads to an urge to defend [oneself] with escape from an impending disaster” (Lamia 2). In other words, a person's instincts exist for self-preservation and when people feel threatened, their instincts immediately take over. Additionally, the author explains that “the notion of 'fight or flight' is considered a fear response and describes the behavior of various animals when they are threatened - either hanging around and fighting, or taking off in order to escape danger” (2). This fact shows that the fear response of “fight or flight” is in a person’s make-up. Hence, if people are suddenly frightened or startled, their instincts will take over, causing action on impulse.

Additionally, fear can limit people’s abilities to perform certain activities or visit certain places. For example, Julia Butterfly Hill states in the article “Fear is Simple and Profound” that “Fear will shut down the voice of the heart and spirit and collapse [people] into beings without meaning and without value” (1). To summarize her theory, fear is strong enough to influence thoughts and decisions and it can even become detrimental. In the article “The Complexity of Fear” Lamia explains how “These emotions can transform into behaviors that can lead [a person] to avoid situations or into defense mechanisms that may obscure the recognition of reality” (Lamia 1). This reveals how fear is actually powerful enough to change daily routines and lifestyles. Unfortunately, fear can shut people down, make them miserable, negatively influence decisions, and damage lives.

Lastly, fear is so powerful that it can cause imagined scenarios. Mary Lamia explains that PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) is a disorder “...where the consequence of a prior situation where [a person was in] danger is relived in the present where the emotional memories are triggered” (2). Generally speaking, PTSD causes people to think back to a dangerous situation they were in and imagine that it is happening again in the present. Julia Butterfly Hill explains that during a PTSD attack, even though a person “...may intellectually know that [they] are safe, [their] brain automatically prepares [them] for the worst to happen - a situation that it recognizes has happened before - which speaks to the power of emotional memory” (1). Even though something may not actually be happening, people could imagine it because of extreme fear in the past.

In conclusion, fear drives action in many different ways. From instinctual responses to PTSD, fear has a place in every person’s life. While fear can cause life-saving instincts to kick in, it can also be limiting and even debilitating. People should heed FDR’s advice, respecting the powerful emotion of fear, while continuing to conquer it.

Informative Essay Model PDF

Grammar Lesson 16: VERBALS

A verbal is a word that comes from a verb but doesn’t ACT like a verb in the sentence.

A gerund is a word that ends in "-ing" and functions as a noun.
An infinitive is a verbal consisting of the word “to” and a verb that functions as a noun, adjective, or adverb

Infinitives and gerunds are often part of phrases within a sentence.

EXAMPLES:

GERUND:

Driving is one thing you definitely shouldn’t be doing when tired.
One of my favorite things to do outdoors is hiking.

INFINITIVE:

To live, one must have food, water, and oxygen.
We went to the lake and my friends dared me to jump in first.

A gerund phrase consists of a verbal that ends in -ing and everything that goes along with it (like modifiers or direct objects). An infinitive phrase consists of an infinitive (the word “to” and a verb) and everything that goes along with it.