. Informative Essay
In this essay, explore a particular skill or gift you possess. Define the activity in which you
utilize this skill. Try to explain your skill to an audience of readers who you feel hold a mistaken
or overly narrow view of your topic.
Your purpose is to give them a new and surprising view through rich description and an
explanation of the activity. Pose a question, provide your audience’s commonly accepted
answer to the question, and then give your own surprising answer, based on information
derived from personal experience and observation.
Primary Tasks:
In your essay, you will be required to:
• Describe the skill and activity in detail (be sure to support with examples)
• Analyze opposing views or common misconceptions about the activity
• Provide examples and details to support your audience’s view
• Provide your personal, reflective view
Objectives:
Through your writing, you should seek to:
• Enlarge the reader’s view of the topic by providing new information or otherwise teaching
them something about the topic they didn’t know.
• Clarify the reader’s view of the topic by bringing critical thinking to bear on problematic
data or problematic text.
• Restructure the reader’s view of the topic by causing them to choose the writer’s position
rather than a competing position on the issue.
