Informational Writing/Explanatory Writing

publishing

5th stage of the writing process- making the text ready to share with an audience.

Citation

A note, inserted into the text of an essay that refers the reader to a cited source.

Writer's Notebook

A notebook writers use for writing their first drafts.

Thesis statement

A sentence in the introduction of an essay that states the topic of the essay. It's like a road map directing the reader what he/she will read about.

Prior Knowledge

All the information the writer has stored in his/her brain about a selected topic. Writing down this information increases writer confidence as a student begins a writing task, as well as readies the mind to accept and retain new information about the topic, thus helping the writer to make connections between prior knowledge and new knowledge.

How-to essay

An essay that tells how to do something (like "How to Cook Japanese Cuisine," or "How to Learn to Play the Guitar")

Informational Text Structures

Description, Sequence, Cause & Effect, Problem & Solution, Compare & Contrast, How-To

5 paragraph essay

Essay that consists of an introduction, 3 body paragraph , and a conclusion

Supporting Details

Facts, statistics, quotations, and examples that support the central idea of a paragraph.

Publishing

Fifth & final step of the writing process. Purpose: Create a clean & final copy. Share with others.

Editing

Fourth step of the writing process. Purpose: Look for mistakes & fix them.

Pre-Writing/Brainstorming

Gathering ideas to write about. First step in the writing process.

Citing Sources

Giving credit to someone or something when what you use is not your own original work.

Sequence or Timeline

Informational writing structure to convey events or steps that must be presented in order using signal words such as: first, second, then, finally, specific dates, etc.

Problem and Solution

Informational writing structure to describe a problem, the desired solution, and the steps taken to solve it. It uses signal words such as: because, one part, as a result, one step of the solution is, etc.

Description

Informational writing structure to describe using signal words such as: to begin with, for example, most important, etc.

Cause and Effect

Informational writing structure to explain evidence relationships using signal words such as: do, therefore, consequently, this led to, as a result, etc.

Compare and Contrast

Informational writing structure to present likenesses or differences using signal words such as: like, unlike, in contrast, on the other hand, etc.

Informational/Explanatory Writing

Nonfiction writing that conveys information accurately and is organized around a central idea with a specific focus, answering a question that addresses WHAT, HOW or WHY? It DOES NOT include opinions.

Textual Evidence

Quoting using the exact words of a text. Must be in quotation marks and cite author.

Drafting

Second step of the writing process.Purpose- getting ideas down on paper quickly.

Plagiarism

Taking credit for someone else's writing or ideas or not citing text evidence.

Central (Main) Idea

The overarching idea behind an informational essay that answers a research question. The term central idea can also be used in relation to a paragraph, where the central idea should sit in the topic sentence.

Concluding Paragraph

The paragraph(s) that ends the piece and discusses probable long-term outcomes

Easy bib.com

The website used for creating a works cited page.

Revising

Third step of the writing process. Purpose: Read through rough draft and make sure ideas are clear.

Summarizing

briefly focus on the central idea

Compare and Contrast signal words

like, unlike, different, the same, similarly, opposed to

Biography

story of a person's life written by another person

subheadings

subtitles, usually set in a smaller font than the title; can be used to break up body copy

Generating questions about a topic

thinking deeply about a topic and wondering what other may want to know.