You may write an informative essay to educate your readers about a topic, define a subject, compare it with other significant subjects, or highlight its importance in the academic field. However, the purpose of creating an informative essay outline is completely personal. You can develop it to ease your essay drafting process. The other reason is to get an idea of the final look of your essay, and what should it include. Apart from that, it helps not to miss out on putting essential detail in the essay. However, creating this outline is hard. You must know its components, and what to include it in each section. If you are curious about how to write an informative essay outline and want to learn its fine details, then this blog can be of great help. From here, you can clarify the concept, recognize the need of creating it, and learn the details of writing.
What Is An Informative Essay Outline?
Have you ever observed a blueprint of an architectural structure or anything that needs construction? An informative essay outline is similar to that. Here, you create a checklist or action plan of things you need to complete while you do your informative essay. Writing an informative essay outline is not mandatory but many professors and essay writing experts suggest creating it. If you lose track while writing your essay, an outline brings you on track.
Why do you need an informative essay outline?
An informative essay outline helps in the following ways:
- Arranges ideas and thoughts – When you develop an informative essay you go through a variety of resources and want to incorporate different sections of varied resources in your writing. However, remembering all these points can be quite a difficult task. Here, an outline helps you to arrange your thoughts and ideas while you are scanning over a variety of resources
- Examine the flow of information – Just like we said that an informative essay is just like the blueprint of your building. It allows you to see the ultimate structure of your informative essay and make changes there if required, to have a logical flow of information.
- Helps in completing essays quickly – Creating an essay outline helps in writing the essay faster. You have the plan at hand and you know what information to include in which space. Hence, you don’t miss anything. Instead, you write every paragraph to precision. It reduces the chance of adding poor arguments or inaccurate information to your essay
Also Read: Engaging Internship Essay Topics for Students
How to Write an Outline for Informative Essays?
An informative essay outline follows the same structure as that of other essays. If you have already written outlines for argumentative essays, persuasive essays, or narrative essays, you must be familiar with the structure. It consists of 3 simple parts. If you want to write a 5-paragraph informative essay it must include the following parts:
- A paragraph of the introduction
- 3 paragraphs of body contents
- A concluding paragraph
Generally, each part of the essay outline includes several essential elements. But understanding what they include will help you in creating a high-quality essay.
What To Write In The Introduction Of An Informative Essay Outline?
Do you have any idea of how to write an introduction to the informative essay outline? Well, you must remember that the introduction is the first part of your essay. Hence, introduce your topic and thesis statement in this section. The thesis statement is essential to let your readers know the direction in which your essay will move through the body paragraphs.
Moreover, your readers decide to read along with the content or move to the next essay by reading this section. Therefore, try to grab your reader’s attention in this section by giving your readers a preview of the subtopics that you will discuss in the essay and also share some background information on the topic or subject of your essay. Also, make sure that your thesis statement is short, clear, and concise.
Hence, ensure to include the following 3 elements in your essay introduction:
- Hook – a sentence to catch your reader’s attention
- Background information – 3-4 lines about the topic of your informative essay and its significance to your field of study
- Thesis statement – a sentence that highlights the primary topic that you will cover in your writing
What Is The Best Method For Outlining The Body Paragraphs?
You can follow the traditional method of outlining the body of your informative essay. It appears in 3 paragraphs. However, while you consider developing the body paragraph of your informative essay be aware of two significant things –
- Target points
- Supporting facts
Begin each body paragraph of your informative essay with an idea or topic sentence. It is like the essay statement of the paragraph. The next few lines that you write in this section should be based on this essay statement. However, make sure that the topic sentence of this paragraph is in line with the essay statement you mentioned in the introduction of your essay.
Then, find uplifting evidence from credible sources. In this stage, pay attention to the following points:
- Your provided evidence is in line with the target points of your essay
- . Quote and cite information properly to avoid plagiarism issues
Make sure to include the strongest claim in the first of the three body paragraphs and arrange other claims by importance.
Finally, conclude the body paragraphs of your essay by summing up the primary points and describing the importance of the thesis statement. An informative essay body becomes effective if you include the following points:
- Makes a claim – about the ideas to present and explain in the body paragraphs through a topic sentence.
- Adds evidence for the claim – through data, facts, examples, and other proofs for the readers to confirm that it is true
- Provide an explanation at the end – on how the claim relates to the thesis statement and the evidence to uplift the claim.
When you develop the informative essay outline for the body of your essay, use relevant transition words at the end of each paragraph for a smooth flow to the next set of information.
Read More: Amazing Evaluation Essay Topics and Ideas to Focus On
How To Write An Informative Essay Outline For A Strong Conclusion?
This is the final part of the informative essay writing. Start the conclusion for your informative essay outline keeping in mind the purpose of writing the informative essay. Consider its significance in the real world. Restate the thesis statement. Then, brush up on the primary arguments and the purpose they serve. Finally, conclude the informative essay conclusion with a strong closing statement and summation of the key points. It must include the following three elements:
- Summary — a sentence that ties up the main ideas together.
- Thesis restatement — 2-3 sentences that relate the closing sentence to the opening sentence
- Final thoughts — a concluding statement about the topic of your essay to leave a positive impression on your reader.
However, when creating a conclusion you must ensure to never introduce any new idea in the conclusion. Nonetheless, you must reiterate the topics covered in the body after paraphrasing them.
Tips For Writing An Informative Essay Outline
To create a strong outline for your informative essay, keep the following things in mind:
While you outline the introduction
- Narrow down the scope of your essay.
- Ensure that there is a connection between the introduction and the thesis statement.
- Hook your readers from the beginning of your essay.
In the body of the essay
- Never include your opinion or point of view on the topic
- Blindly relying on the facts and information you collect from your research
- Talk about the strongest point in the first body paragraph
- Use transitional words and phrases for a smooth flow of the body paragraphs
For drawing conclusion
- Highlight the primary points of your argument
- Never introduce any new ideas in your conclusion
- Restate the thesis using other analogous words and terms.
A Template For Informative Essay Outline
Remember, informative essay outlines are not completely about writing every sentence in full or complete paragraphs. You just should note the primary points and evidence that you will include in the manuscript of your essay. However, don’t hesitate to format your essay outline in a way you feel more comfortable and understand the information accurately.
Moreover, your outline must have a structure. It will help you to notice if you have repeated any ideas and avoid the chance of duplicating your claims or evidence. Additionally, if you have missed any evidence or explanation, you can locate them easily and include the omissions to score higher grades in your assessment.
Below is the template for the informative essay outline. We have included a list of sections. You can fill it with the topic of your essay, claims that you would like to make, evidence that you would prefer to include, and other helpful notes.
Also Read: Classification Essay Topics and Ideas for Students
Informative Essay Outline Template
Here is a template for the essay outline:
Introduction [1st paragraph]
- Hook
- Background
- Thesis statement
Body paragraph [2nd, 3rd and 4th paragraph]
- Topic sentence [includes claims and subtopic]
- Uplifting details [evidence]
- Concluding sentence [includes the explanation, and transition to next paragraphs]
Conclusion
- Summary of the primary points
- Restatement of the thesis
- Parting thoughts
Example of Informative Essay Outline
No matter how much we say what you must do in your informative essay outline, you cannot get its relevance unless you see a sample. Therefore, to understand an informative essay outline better, we have provided what your informative essay outline may look like.
Sample of An Informative Essay Outline
Topic: Giant Panda: A Comprehensive Detail
- Introduction
Probable ideas include:
- Facts: A mother panda is 900 times larger in size than its newborn cub.
- Query: Do people know about pandas
- Statistics: There were only 1000 giant pandas in 1970, now it is between 1800 and 2000.
- Thesis statement
- It is important to know more facts about these popular animals. Giant pandas have special features. They live only in a specific region of China and have a variety of foods apart from the most popular, bamboo.
- Body paragraph 1
Source of information: qfiles.com
Topic sentence: What special features describe a giant panda?
Read More: Best Sports Essay Topics and Ideas For Assignments
Examples, details, and explanations
- Giant panda belongs to the Ursidae bear family, which in Chinese means big bear cat.
- They are one of the rarest animals, are skilled tree climbers, and like to live in solitary.
- They can become very dangerous, weigh up to 300 pounds, and are 3 feet tall and 6 feet long.
- Body paragraph 2
Source of information: Giant Panda by Gail Gibbons
Topic Sentence: Where do pandas reside?
Examples, details, and explanations
- Indigenous to south-western China
- Mostly found in dense temperate forests
- Otherwise found in mountain and bamboo forests
- Body paragraph 3
Source of information: nationalgeography.com/ animal/mammal/panda
Topic sentence: What do giant pandas feed on?
Examples, details, and explanations
- Classified as carnivores, they feed on meat from dead deer, eggs, and bamboo shoots.
- Giant pandas have 10,000 pounds of bamboo each year.
Conclusion
Reiterated thesis
Giant pandas are fascinating animals. Still, many facts are not unearthed about their features, feeding habits, and habitat.
Other ideas to conclude
- Giant pandas are not typically enormous; they are just 6 feet long.
- Contrary to popular belief giant pandas do not depend on bamboo to source their nutrients. They eat eggs and meat as well.
Parting thoughts:
It is important to learn more about giant pandas or any other animal you like. So, why don’t you go to the library and find out more fascinating details that you never knew?
Conclusion
Hopefully, by now, you know would have gained knowledge of how to write an informative essay outline from the discussion above. However, the process is quite tricky especially if you are dealing with an unfamiliar topic. Nonetheless, if you are struggling to create a detailed outline and need help with creating it,
