The Florida Standards Assessment for Writing (March) will have either an informational essay prompt or an argumentative essay prompt. Both prompts require students to cite textual evidence from accompanying reading passages. Below are strategies for students to use for the informational essay prompt.
Strategies for Responding to an Informative/Explanatory Essay Prompt Based on Texts
Definition of an Informational Essay: An informational essay informs, conveys, imparts, or communicates factual unbiased knowledge to an audience (gives no opinion; think "just the facts").
If you are asked to write an informational essay based on the knowledge supplied in accompanying texts, you should consider the strategies listed below the following sample prompt:
Writing Prompt
(from the Florida Department of Education website)
Write an informational essay on the relationship between clothing styles and developments in clothing creation. Your ideas must be based on ideas, concepts, and information from the passage set.
Manage your time carefully so that you can read the passages; plan your essay; write your essay; and revise and edit your essay.
Your written response should be in the form of a multi-paragraph essay. Remember to spend time reading, planning, writing, revising, and editing.
Type your answer in the space below.
Type your answer in the space below.
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Strategies
1. Read the prompt carefully. Highlight key words and phrases.Strategies
2. Read the accompanying texts carefully. As you read, highlight those sections of the text that relate to the task that you highlighted in the prompt--relationship between clothing styles and clothing creation. Informational essays require you to provide examples/facts (as all essays do). As you highlight, ask yourself: Which parts of the text would be good information/facts to support the key words I have outlined in my prompt?
3. Carefully pick out only those facts/examples that support the thesis of your essay (determined by the key words and phrases in the prompt). The texts will have other interesting pieces of information, but for your task, you should ignore information that does not directly relate to the task specified in the prompt. When writing an informational essay based on a specific prompt, it is tempting to include much of the information in the passage set, but if you did so, you would not be answering the prompt. Instead, you would be writing a summary of the texts. The most important thing for you to keep in mind is that you must determine which pieces of information are directly related to your prompt. You are not writing a summary.
4. Remember that all essays should demonstrate that you are a good critical thinker. The word essay derives from a French word that means "to try" or "to attempt." The French author Montaigne (1533-1592) was the first writer to use the term essay. For him, an essay was an attempt to put his thoughts into writing. So while an informational essay may seem very straightforward, you are being assessed on your ability to make connections on your own (in an unbiased way) among the pieces of information provided in the set of texts. You are required to think! Notice the word "relationship" in the prompt. That's the part that requires critical thinking from you. The articles will not necessarily tell you outright about the relationship between clothing styles and developments in clothing creation. But you should infer (make educated guesses) about this relationship based on the information provided in the texts, and then elaborate. Be sure not to digress. Stick to the facts/information in the texts, but show evidence of your thinking--I like to think of essay writing as "putting your mind on the page."
5. After you read each paragraph, restate in your head the paragraph's main idea. Also ask yourself: What is the author's purpose in this paragraph? What point(s) is he/she trying to make? Which of these points directly relate to my thesis--my task (the key ideas in the prompt)? And which points are irrelevant? By considering main idea and purpose in each paragraph, you are engaging in a thinking process that will help you write the essay. In this case, considering main idea and purpose will help focus your thoughts on the relationship between clothing styles and developments in clothing creation.
6. Once you have finished reading and highlighting the texts, begin writing. Your opening paragraph need not be long. Have an interesting hook or lead. Follow this with a strong thesis statement based on the prompt. Then write a transition sentence to begin the body of your essay. Your body paragraphs are the most important part of the essay. They should be well organized with specific references to the texts (use parenthetical citations). Be sure to include information from each text and not to focus solely on one. Provide plenty of examples (words and phrases from the text) to support your thesis. Be sure not to just copy entire sentences. Read the information and then use your own voice in the writing process. Your voice is very important in every essay that you write.
7. As you write this informational essay, remember you should not give your opinion about the clothing styles or techniques of creation. An informational essay is not about your opinion. You are simply conveying specific pieces of information in an unbiased, straightforward, factual way to adequately, and hopefully, effectively, answer a specific question/prompt.
