The corresponding chapter on Informative Essays in the Norton Field Guide covers the assignment in its entirety. However, there will also be a PowerPoint presentation where I explain the objective of the essay. An informative essay essential allows you the writer to choose a topic of interest, perform independent research on the topic, and then inform your audience of your subject matter. Informative essays can either show the history, offer awareness, or even show how to complete a process.
Objectives:
1. Choose a topic or subject that focuses on a social or environmental issue that impacts contemporary society or use the topic from a previous short writing exercise. (No Essays on legalization of drugs or abortion for any essays)
2. You will need a minimum of three sources for this assignment, but no more than four; to do otherwise would be plagiarism. In addition, one of the articles if not all threemust come from the Virtual Library database.
3. Develop a main idea for the end of the introduction. However, since it is informative the main idea does not have to be a declarative thesis state i.e. it can be a question.However, if you notice by the end or midway through your essay that you clearly are showing an opinion aka a thesis, then make sure it goes in the proper place in the introduction. Main point example: “Has society evolved beyond its simple depiction of women?”
4. Develop an introduction that shows why reader should be interested in the subject interesting to the reader.
5. Avoid using subjective pronouns except for in the conclusion five points lost for each usage elsewhere. (SEE THE ESSAY GUIDELINES)
6. Perform library research and obtain at least 2 articles from the virtual library and a third from a trusted source from the internet. (Read the tips below)
7. Use MLA style citations to quote your sources with both in-text and Works Cited citations.
8. Follow Essay Guidelines instructions and make sure to submit final product to SafeAssign via Blackboard.
Tips:
In addition, the body will first discuss the subject matter of the two chosen articles and consider what they have to say about your chosen topic. For example, if an article addressed how black men are portrayed as eternal infants, then the writer/student must show how the article’s information ties back to his or her analysis on the subject of African American males.But avoid using subjective pronouns like,” This ties back to my essay…”
The writer should aim to show both sides and make sure they pull from the articles, by using quotes or a few paraphrased lines with MLA citations. The wise approachis to find twoarticles that support your angle and a third article that shows the other side. It’s possible that you may need four articles, but the minimum is three and the maximum is four. If you’re going to use four than three must come from the virtual library.The final closing paragraph should reiterate what the reader should have gained from your informative essay. It should highlight your possible stance and the evidence offered by both chosen articles. Finally, the writer should make sure that they have reiterated their stance.
For this assignment you will either paraphrase if you are changing words or use in-text citations if you are using direct quotes. Either tool will require you to cite the author or title and page number at the end of the sentence. Direct quotes longer than three lines are not acceptable.Putting outside information in your own words is paraphrasing and it needs to be cited by the end of the paraphrased information, i.e.sentence or paragraph.