Informative Paper Instructions:
– Compose a paper that teaches the reader about a subject of your choosing. Historic or current events, artistic or political movements, and scientific or social developments all work well for this type of writing. For example, you might write a paper that tracks the world events precipitating the start of the Gulf War or that explains the philosophical perspective behind the development of Dada art—or you may write a history of an everyday item. Alternatively, if this manner of writing does not appeal to you, you may write an informative paper that instructs the reader. For example, you might write a paper that explains the best way to grow tomatoes or how to change a flat tire on the side of the road. If you choose this instructional alternative, your writing may shift between third and second person perspective, as needed.
– Incorporate at least three sources in your exposition. These sources may be non-fiction books, peer reviewed journal articles, reference works such as encyclopedias, popular but reputable periodicals such as Smithsonian and National Geographic, or newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
– Include internal citations and a reference page.
– You need not write toward any particular page count or word count. Instead, write toward your objective: thoroughly informing.
– Format the final draft in APA style.
Sample Writing:
Across Four Continents: A Brief Sketch of Ernie Pyle’s Journalistic Career
When the American military invaded North Africa in 1942, Ernie Pyle invaded with them. He followed the Allied soldiers throughout the North African campaign until General Rommel’s remaining forces surrendered in 1943. Then the Allied soldiers pressed on to other countries, other battlefields, and other stories. They invaded Sicily, the Allies’ Mediterranean stepping-stone to Axis-occupied Europe. Once again, Pyle was there. He continued reporting the soldiers’ personal stories until his own death by enemy fire in the Pacific theater during the spring of 1945.
Pyle was a columnist for the Scripps Howard newspaper chain, enjoying a degree of success before the war with his Pan-American travel writing. His later correspondence, generated during the Second World War, reached unequalled popularity within the field of combat reporting. Graham Hovey, a fellow correspondent, wrote in a 1944 issue of The New Republic, “I constantly asked myself why Ernie had done a better job than the rest of us; how he had gotten closer to the American soldier and his thoughts, hopes, fears, and reactions; why he had been able to portray better the tragedy of war.” Hovey explains, “Like Franklin Roosevelt and the Brooklyn Dodgers, Ernie Pyle is the people’s choice. They elected him their favorite war correspondent for the duration shortly after Americans first began to fight the Germans in this war, and his popularity has steadily increased” (1). This understanding of Pyle’s success is reiterated by writer after writer, including Charles Schultz, creator of Peanuts, and Bill Mauldin, the editorial cartoonist.
Before the war concluded, many of Pyle’s newspaper columns were compiled by theater, republished as books, and purchased in remarkable numbers. In a 1946 edition of The New York Times Book Review, David Demspey notes, “Pyle’s books were something of a war phenomenon, about on par with the invention of radar. Here is Your War has sold 1,320,000 copies, including a 24-cent reprint edition” (1). According to Charles Fisher’s critical essay, “Ernie of the Warm Heart,” Pyle’s writing, which Fisher refers to as “quiet realism,” had reached a combined newspaper circulation of ten million copies each day by 1943—and additional newspapers where paying for rights to run the column, sometimes at a rate of six a day (2). Two years later, when Pyle was killed in action on Ie Shima, his column was being printed in more than 300 dailies and 400 weeklies. Beyond this overwhelming quantity of distribution, Pyle helped shape a new style of journalistic writing. His sprawling collection of related vignettes—both individually and collectively—provides significant structural and stylistic precursors for the brand of literary journalism that would more fully blossom among post-war nonfiction.
Thoughts, Revised & Refined 