How to Write an Informative Essay to Get an A+?

Students find it challenging to write an informative essay because the process consists of several time-consuming stages. You need to decide what to write about, conduct a research study using credible sources, create an informative essay outline, and make sure you write a compelling narrative. After that, your task is to edit your draft and proofread its final version. Even though this assignment can be overwhelming to manage, our team is here to walk you through the writing process step by step. Let’s start with the basics.

What Is an Informative Essay?

The best way to describe it is to imagine you are talking to a friend and explaining a specific concept or phenomenon. When you write an informative essay, you aim to tell readers factual and well-organized information on the subject without expressing your personal opinion.

Informative essays can cover a wide range of topics, such as science, history, technology, or current events, and help teachers assess your research, writing, and analytical skills. Key characteristics of an informative essay include a logical organization and objective tone. Many students choose to order an essay from professional writers to save time and minimize the pressure of this assignment. 

Let’s Start Writing: Informative Essay Structure

An informative essay typically follows a five-paragraph format, though it can be longer depending on the topic and assignment requirements. Here’s a quick overview of the key components you should consider when you write an informative essay:

Informative essay introduction

The first sentence of an introduction paragraph should start with a hook — a sentence or two that grabs the reader’s attention (a question, fact, or brief anecdote). Then, you continue with some background information on the topic to help the reader better understand the subject. Finally, you present a clear thesis statement — a sentence that states the main idea or focus of the essay and tells the reader what to expect in the body paragraphs.

Body paragraphs (usually 3 or more)

The important thing to remember when you write an informative essay is that each body paragraph should cover one idea that supports the thesis. The main part of your essay should consist of:

• Topic sentences to introduce the key points of each paragraph.
• Supporting details, such as facts, statistics, examples, or explanations that develop the idea.
• Transition sentences to create a smooth and logical flow from one paragraph to the next.

Conclusion

It’s a concise summary of your piece where you remind the reader about the thesis statement by rephrasing it and briefly recap the ideas discussed in the body paragraphs. Note that you don’t present facts that you haven’t mentioned in your essay up to this point. In addition, you need to write a closing sentence that leaves a lasting impression (could be a reflection, broader implication, or call to further thought).

How Do You Start an Informative Essay?

Every sentence you write in the introductory paragraphs is your chance to create a memorable impression on your readers. Therefore, your task is to make your informative writing engaging and interesting.

Step 1. Hook the reader

Begin with an attention-grabbing sentence that includes one of the following:

• A surprising fact or statistic
• A thought-provoking question
• A brief anecdote or story
• A quote related to the topic

Step 2. Provide background information

Give 2–3 sentences of general information to build context without overwhelming the reader.

Step 3. Present the thesis statement 

Look at the following recommendations that will help you craft a concise thesis statement and give a preview of the essay’s main points:

• Don’t try to cover too much. Focus on one main idea with 2–3 supporting ideas.
• Create a neutral and fact-based thesis statement without personal opinions.
• Place it at the end of the introduction paragraph so that the reader understands the purpose of the essay right before moving into the body paragraphs.

How to Write Informative Essay in 7 Steps

Even though writing an informative essay isn’t an easy assignment, you can manage it without stress if you have a specific algorithm and understand the logic behind every step. It might be hard to believe that you can write an entire essay in just seven steps, but our experienced writers use this effective approach that never lets them down. 

Use this algorithm to write an informative essay and meet the requirements with ease.

#1 Choose a topic

This might be the most important step because choosing a topic that interests and inspires you can make the writing process exciting and bring you positive results. When you are inspired to explore a topic you like, informative writing assignments seem less overwhelming and even fun to manage. You can look through our selection of informative essay topics to find something that sparks your interest. Meanwhile, here are some more points you need to consider when deciding what to write about.

Brainstorm general ideas

• Know the target audience, word count, and deadline before you start generating ideas.
• Think about topics you’re interested in or curious about and that are relevant to your class when you write an informative essay.
• Just like in the case of writing an argumentative essay, list a few broad topics, then narrow them down to something more specific.

• An informative essay should educate, so choose a topic that allows you to include many facts, examples, and clear explanations.
• Choose a topic that has enough information available from reliable sources like books, articles, or websites.

#2 Research

One of the main challenges is that you can’t rely solely on your experience and knowledge when you write an informative essay. You need to collect relevant information and analyze data during the research process to support the ideas you present. Nevertheless, you will get through this stage easily if you follow our tips:

• Look for credible sources such as educational websites (ending in .edu), government websites (ending in .gov), nonprofit organizations (.org), encyclopedias, and academic journals.

• Compare information from multiple sources to verify its accuracy before you report findings in your piece.
• Only include facts that directly relate to your thesis and support your topic.

• Keep a list of all the sources you use to write the works cited page faster.
• Follow the required citation style (APA, Chicago, or MLA format).

#3 Avoid common mistakes when you create a thesis statement

You already know that you should not include personal opinions or be too vague when you craft your thesis. Check these additional recommendations to make sure you do everything right:

• Don’t make your thesis too long and confusing by filling it with many ideas, even when you discuss two or more subjects in your literary piece.
• Remember that it’s a statement, not a question. 
• Avoid listing unrelated ideas that don’t support a single idea.
• Don’t use unclear or overly general words, such as “stuff” or “things”.

#4 Make an informative essay outline

This is an essential step when you write an informative essay because a detailed outline helps you keep your ideas focused, logical, and easy to follow. We’ve already discussed the key elements of a good introduction, so it won’t be difficult for you to write an outline for this part of your academic paper. 

As to the body paragraphs, you can use a simple yet effective formula: 

1. Topic sentence (the main point of this paragraph)
2. Supporting detail 1
3. Supporting detail 2
4. Example or explanation

#5 Write the introduction

The best thing you can do to save time and nerves is to write the first draft of your introduction and move on to the body paragraphs. The chances are you will rewrite it (or some parts of it) later on, so don’t spend too much time choosing the right words and phrases to write an outstanding first line. Here are some options to choose from when you work on the opening paragraphs of your informative essay:

• Instead of diving straight into the thesis, offer historical or cultural context that makes the topic feel important or timely.
• If you must define a term or concept, avoid dry dictionary definitions. Use a thoughtful or layered explanation that fits the essay’s tone and purpose.

#6 Create the body paragraphs of your essay

The first thing you can do is look at your outline and decide which approach will be the most suitable for organizing the information you want to present:

• Chronological order (steps in a process or historical timeline)
• Order of importance (most to least important, or vice versa)
• Cause and effect
• Category or type (e.g., “three types of renewable energy”)

Then, use the formula we mentioned earlier to move from one paragraph to the next. Here’s a quick example of how one of your body paragraphs may look:

Topic sentence: One major benefit of regular exercise is its ability to improve mental health.

Supporting fact: Studies show that physical activity boosts the production of endorphins — brain chemicals that reduce stress and improve mood.

Explanation: This increase in endorphins explains why many people report feeling more relaxed and happier after a workout.

#7 Finish with a conclusion

Always keep in mind these 3 goals when you write your essay’s conclusion:

1. Restate the thesis (in a new way).

Rephrase the main topic of your piece using different words to remind the reader of your main idea.

1. Summarize the key points from the body paragraphs.
2. End with a final thought — a reflection, a call to awareness, or a broader connection.

Don’t Forget to Cite Sources, Revise, and Edit

Even though many students consider these steps of informative essay writing less important, skipping them may lead to a disappointing grade. Therefore, here are a few reminders to guide you through this process.

#1 When to cite:

• When quoting exact words
• When summarizing or paraphrasing someone else’s ideas
• When including statistics, research findings, or historical facts not considered common knowledge

#2 How to make the editing process effective:

• Use online tools to catch mistakes, but also check for grammatical errors manually
• Read your essay aloud or let a family member read it to spot awkward phrasing or typos
• Double-check for spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and subject-verb agreement

#3 What to look for when revising:

• Do the examples and facts clearly explain the topic?
• Is there any repetition or off-topic content?
• Are the transitions between paragraphs smooth?

Informative Writing Assignments’ Format

Formatting guidelines for an informative essay can often be confusing and hard to follow. That’s why we’ve created a helpful table you can use to get your head around different essay formats:

Formatting Element	Guidelines
Font	Use Times New Roman, Arial, or Calibri in 12-point size.
Spacing	Use double spacing throughout the entire essay.
Title	Center the title at the top of the first page and use standard capitalization.
Headings	Follow the format style
Page numbers	Include page numbers in the top-right corner.
Citations (in-text)	Use parenthetical citations (MLA) or author-date citations (APA).
Citations page	Entries must be in alphabetical order by author’s last name and use hanging indentation.

Examples of Informative Essays

Sometimes it’s better to see and analyze a well-written informative essay than to read a long guide on how to write one. If you want to borrow some writing techniques and understand the structure of a great literary piece, here are some samples you can look through:

• Discover great ideas in this informative essay on Alzheimer’s disease
• Get inspired by this informative essay on nutrition
• Love sports? Here’s a well-structured informative essay on baseball
• Explore the writing techniques of our experts in this informative essay on Mother Teresa and her background
• Are you a technology fan? Then check out this great informative essay on cars
• If you want your essay to be as unpredictable as a tornado, this sample is for you
• If you’d rather do anything else in the world besides working on your assignment, read this informative essay on procrastination to spend your time productively:

The Procrastination’ Informative Essay Sample

The habit of postponing important cases to the last moment often becomes a huge problem for people since it affects the quality of work, financial situation, and personal life. One can hear the common myth that the prevalence of the Internet, TV, and electronic devices exacerbates this problem even more than decades ago. Moreover, it is known that people under pressure work better and faster, that makes procrastination a good thing, but numerous studies show the other side of this habit, and scientists include it in the list of mental diseases. In this regard, one should mention that the main reason why people postpone everything until the last moment is not hindering factors, laziness, or inability to manage time but psycho-emotional problems of a person.

In simple words, procrastination is a phenomenon of people choosing quick and less critical tasks to perform instead of significant ones that take a longer time to complete because they want to get results faster and self-assert them. In other words, a person is not just lazy or does not want to do the necessary task. Instead, he/she is subconsciously afraid to proceed to the work realization because of its importance or scale. Moreover, scientists noted that in any country and at any time there are 20% of people who are marked as chronic procrastinators or procs. The main problem of procs is that they cannot emotionally overstep themselves if they are faced with a difficult task and postpone it until the deadline or even after it. Procrastination is a phenomenon that is mistakenly attributed to the problems of modernity, but its existence was noted centuries ago, in the times of ancient Greece. One of the evidence of this statement is the words that were written at 800 BC by the Greek poet Hesiod, who said: “Put your work off till tomorrow and the day after.” Similar trends can be noted in various books and films of the past, and that is why blaming modern technologies for the intensification of procrastination is incorrect.

You Are Ready Now 

Use all the tips from this article to craft a memorable informative essay that meets all the academic writing requirements.