Informative essays share information about a subject in a well-organized, well-supported, readable form. Although instructors are usually the primary readers of academic essays, students are often asked to address a different audience, such as other students, parents, politicians, or members of a particular profession. For example, in courses that use service learning, the primary audience for informative essays might be the director of an organization, employees of a government agency, or the members of a community group. In some cases, the choice of audience is left to the writer.

In academic settings, such as writing and writing-intensive classes as well as scholarly publishing, informative essays draw on sources (articles, books, Web sites, interviews, and so on) to provide evidence for the information the writer presents. Those sources should always be cited using a documentation system, such as MLA or APA (see Chapters 21 and 22). Writers of informative essays typically attempt to present a subject fairly, although their experiences with and attitudes toward the subject are likely to influence their approach to the subject and their selection and presentation of information from sources.