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Writing WorkshopExpository Writing: Informative Report

Assignment: Write an informative report about a historical subject. (Your audience is your teacher, classmates, and other students in your school.)

Informative Report: Assignment

What part of history do you think is exciting—the people, the places, the buildings, the battles? For this report, you’ll have a chance to learn more about your favorite historical figure, event, or issue.

Informative Report: Prewriting

Choosing a Subject

Finding and Evaluating Sources

Taking Notes

Writing a Thesis Statement

Organizing the Report

Getting Started

Assignment

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To choose a subject for your report, start by thinking about historical figures who interest you.

Informative ReportPrewriting: Choosing a Subject

Mohandas K. Gandhi

Mother Teresa

Thomas A. Edison

Marie Curie

Nelson Mandela Can you list some others?

Next, think about historical sites, objects, or events that interest you.


The Declaration of Independence

Civil War Battle Sites

Purchase of Alaska

The Civil Rights Movement

Once you have chosen a topic, write a question to guide your research. Otherwise, your topic may be too broad and unmanageable.


Too broad

How did Gandhi develop his philosophy of nonviolent resistance?

Mohandas K. Gandhi

Question

The American Civil War

What role did navies play in the Civil War?

Too broad

Question

Freewriting is a good way to begin exploring your question. You might already know more than you think you do.


How did this individual contribute to history?

Gandhi led a mostly peaceful movement that helped win independence for India from the British.

Why is this historical event important and memorable?

Gandhi’s belief in nonviolent approaches to causing social and political change influenced many leaders, including Martin Luther King, Jr.

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Informative ReportPrewriting: Finding and Evaluating Sources

Plan to use at least three sources for your report.

Whenever possible, use some primary sources such as

maps diaries letters

Primary sources were written by people who experienced an historical event firsthand.


Secondary sources are interpretations of primary materials. Some examples are

encyclopedia entries

documentariesnewspaper articles

Secondary sources are written by people who did not experience an event firsthand.

Is the source factual

(nonfiction)?

Is the source factual

(nonfiction)?

Evaluate your sources before you use them for your report. Ask yourself these questions:


Is the information up-to-date?

Is the information up-to-date?

Is the information trustworthy?

Is the information trustworthy?

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Source list for Gandhi paper

1. “Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand,” World Book Encyclopedia, Vol. 8, pp. 24-25.

2. http://www.mkgandhi.org/bio5000/bio5index.htm (biographical information)

As you take notes, keep a list of your sources.

Informative ReportPrewriting: Taking Notes

Give every source a number. Numbering your sources will make it easy to keep your notes organized.

1, page 24

Gandhi’s type of social action was based on courage, truth, and nonviolence. He said nonviolence took courage. He called his method Satyagraha.

Record each fact or idea on a separate card or slip of paper.


Write the source number and page number on the card.

Summarize the information.

Plagiarism is using someone else’s words or ideas as if they were your own.


1, page 24

“Gandhi developed a method of direct social action, based upon principles of courage, nonviolence, and truth, which he called Satyagraha.”

If you copy something word for word—even on a note card—be sure to put quotation marks around it.

It’s usually better to paraphrase—or restate—information in your own words.

To avoid plagiarism, you will need to credit the source of the information, even if you put it in your own words.


1, page 24

“Gandhi developed a method of direct social action, based upon principles of courage, nonviolence, and truth, which he called Satyagraha.”

According to the World Book Encyclopedia, Gandhi created Satyagraha—a way of resisting authority without resorting to violence.

Stay focused on your question as you research and take notes.


1, page 24

Indira Gandhi was not related to M.K. Gandhi, but she became the first woman prime minister of India. She was assassinated in 1984.

This is an interesting fact, but . . .

it doesn’t have anything to do with Mohandas Gandhi’s philosophy of nonviolence.

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Informative ReportPrewriting: Writing a Thesis Statement

Your thesis statement tells what the point of the paper will be.

To develop your thesis statement, start by answering your original research question.

How did Gandhi develop his philosophy of nonviolent resistance?

Question

Thesis Gandhi’s nonviolent philosophy grew out of his religious beliefs and his personal experience with discrimination.


You might need to ask a series of questions before you arrive at a good thesis statement.

Question

Answer Ships were used to blockade harbors, and there were also several major battles.

What role did navies play in the Civil War?

Did any of the battles have lasting significance?

Question

The battle between the two ironclad warships, the Confederate Merrimack and the Union Monitor, showed that wooden warships had become outdated.

Thesis


The thesis statement usually appears in the introductory paragraph.

Before the Civil War, American naval campaigns were fought in wood warships. The course of naval history changed, however, in 1862, when a battle between two ironclad warships, the Confederate Merrimack and the Union Monitor, showed that wooden warships had become outdated.

The thesis states both the topic of the paperand the most important conclusion you’ve reached.

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Organize important information into an outline.

Start by sorting your notes into major categories.

Informative ReportPrewriting: Organizing the Report

Then, divide your categories into subcategories. Each subcategory will be developed into a full paragraph.

Ironclads

Merrimack Monitor the battle

Wooden ships Ironclads

Decide how you will organize your information.

Event 1


Chronological (time) order

Order of importance

Event 2 Event 3

Most important idea

Important idea

Least important idea


Introduction

Body

Conclusion

Hooks reader’s interest; clearly identifies subject of report.

Discusses each main idea in one or more paragraphs; supports each main idea with facts, examples, and quotations.

Summarizes or restates main idea(s); draws conclusions.

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Informative ReportDrafting: Getting Started

Go ahead! History is made by people with new and different ideas.

Your research may lead you in a different direction than the one you had in mind—to different questions or even to a different conclusion.

Writing WorkshopExpository Writing: Informative Report

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