What Is Writing to Inform?

Many of the documents you encounter on a regular basis are informative: newspaper and magazine articles, manuals, brochures, and books (including this textbook) are among the genres — or types of documents — that allow writers to add information to conversations about a wide range of subjects. In writing and writing-intensive courses, typical informative-writing assignments include essays, reports, and Web sites. You might also be asked to create pamphlets, multimedia presentations, memos, or posters.

Writing to inform involves adopting the role of reporter. Reporters make others aware of the facts central to a written conversation. They might provide background information for people just starting to learn about a subject or might present new information to those with a long-standing interest in it. One reporter, for example, might describe the events leading to elections in a new democracy, while another might explain the United Nations’ role in monitoring those elections.

Reporters typically refrain from interpreting or analyzing the information they provide, and they seldom ask their readers to respond in a particular way. Instead, reporters allow readers to draw their own conclusions and to decide whether — and how — to act on what they’ve learned.

Readers of informative documents might be interested in a subject for personal or intellectual reasons, but they are usually looking for an answer to a question — whether it’s a simple quest for a fact or a more general desire to understand an issue. They look for a focused treatment of a subject, and they find that visual elements — such as photos, images, charts, graphs, and tables — can help them understand key points. Readers want writers to be fair and reasonable, they appreciate clarity, and they expect that sources will be documented.

In most cases, reporters spend time learning about a subject to ensure that they have enough information to share. Whether they interview experts, collect information from published materials, or use data to create graphs and tables, reporters ensure that their sources are reliable and check that the evidence they provide is accurate.

Writers of informative documents often connect the information they provide to the social, cultural, and historical contexts they share with their readers. For example, they might refer to events or people who have recently been featured in the news media, and they might mention important sources that address the subject. At the same time, reporters take into consideration what their readers might already know, leaving out details and explanations that are unnecessary for their purposes and focusing instead on what they want readers to understand about their subject.

Writers of informative documents are concerned primarily with helping readers and other writers advance their understanding of a subject. They do this in a variety of ways. They might report original research or provide a broad summary of existing knowledge, or offer a detailed discussion of a narrow area of interest. Regardless of their focus on the subject or the originality of their research, their contributions to a written conversation are essential to moving the conversation forward.