8 Steps to Creating an A-Grade Informative Essay

The main purpose of an informative essay assignment is to educate your reader on a specific topic. It’s not about giving an opinion or trying to convince your reader to do something or change his or her beliefs. It follows a basic structure that makes it easy for a reader to have a clear understanding of the major elements of a given topic. Here are 8 steps to creating an A-grade paper:

1. Choosing and Researching a Topic

It’s generally a good idea to write about things that you are genuinely interested in. This means revisiting something that piqued your interest, but not something you know tremendously about. Just be sure your topic isn’t too narrow or too broad to research.

2. Take Notes When Researching

Whenever you’re learning a new subject it’s a great idea to have a pen and paper ready to take down notes. If you’re getting a new idea or quote from someone else’s work then you should write down citation information.

3. Brainstorm Your Best Ideas

When writing an informative essay you want to give your reader all of the most important information. If you were to describe the game of basketball you would certainly have to mention the ball, the basket, and a backboard. You wouldn’t, however, have to discuss gym size or uniforms worn since these aren’t important to how the game is played.

4. Create Your Outline

A good outline will help keep your paper on track, especially when your thoughts begin to wander with related ideas. You can be as detailed or as simplistic as you prefer, just make sure your outline contains all of the major points you will be making in your paper.

5. Write Your Rough Draft

Use your outline as a guide. Don’t be afraid to flesh out your ideas into full sentences or paragraphs. Don’t stop to correct any mistakes. It’s only a rough draft and it’s best to get your best ideas down on paper quickly without hesitation.

6. Structure Your Essay Parts

A simple structure like the 1-2-3 structure consisting of an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion will suffice. Remember that each body paragraph should make a claim, provide evidence and give an explanation. Be sure you make your idea comes through in each paragraph in order to keep your reader on track.

7. Revise Your Rough Draft

Take your rough draft and ask yourself a few questions. Have you given your reader all the information you need? Have you presented the information in a logical order? Can something be removed to make your essay more concise and straight to the point?

8. Thoroughly Proofread and Edit

Your paper won’t get an A-grade if it’s filled with errors. Check for grammar, spelling and punctuation mistakes and be sure to remove sentences, phrases or words that don’t do much to improve your work. Excessiveness can hurt you tremendously in essay writing, so stay away from it altogether.