The first step in writing a successful informative essay is recognizing that you don’t have to be an expert on something to write about it — you simply have to know how to learn enough about it to share your findings with your readers. The second step is understanding how to collect and work with information. This doesn’t mean that an informative essay needs to look like a research paper. As you’ve seen throughout this chapter, the amount and type of information used in informative documents can vary widely. What it does mean, however, is that you should understand where you can find information — for example, through interviews, published documents, the Web, direct observation, or personal experience — and how to work with it once you’ve collected it.

This section helps you tune in to the conversations around you and take on the role of reporter as you choose a subject, gather information, prepare your draft, and review and improve your draft. As you work on your essay, you’ll follow the work of Ellen Page, a first-year student who wrote an informative essay about the use of DDT in the prevention of malaria.