In this unit, you have been writing informative material about topics that focus on the environment. After you finished your first draft, you reviewed your writing, keeping in mind your purpose. Your reason for writing has mostly been to inform or to explain. When writing informative or explanatory material, purposes might include:
to inform readers about a topic
to explain a process or issue
to persuade readers to agree with an opinion
to motivate readers to do something
to describe a person, place, or thing
to reflect on an experience or feeling
As you reviewed your writing, you also kept in mind your audience—people who will be reading your work. You may write for a single reader, such as your Learning Coach or a friend. You may write for a larger audience, such as newspaper readers or for members of a club or student group. Whatever your audience, keeping them in mind helps guide you by reminding you to consider what readers are likely to know about your topic and what they will find most interesting.
Environmental topics can be complex. They often link different subject areas and involve current events. For example, an examination into how warming oceans impact coral reefs includes science facts about coral polyps, ecosystems, and the exchange of CO2 between the ocean and the atmosphere. It also involves understanding how society and governments impact the natural world.
Still, writing about environmental topics doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Narrowing your topic to a specific focus helped you target your research and manage information. Keeping in mind your purpose and audience also helped you include appropriate details and convey them in a suitable tone.
Now, as you read over your finished draft, ask yourself how well it suits your purpose and audience. To determine whether you need to make any final revisions, consider these questions:
What is my purpose for writing? Does my essay fulfill this purpose?
Are there places where I departed from my purpose, and if so, how?
Did I include any elements that do not belong in informative or explanatory writing, such as opinions or personal reflections?
What is my audience? What are my readers likely to know about this topic? Do I need to define terms or explain things more clearly? Are my sentence structures and language appropriate?
Which of my points will interest my audience most? Did I emphasize those points, or highlight them in my introduction?
The rubric will help you to assess your writing. Read it carefully to see how well you have followed the rules for writing informative/explanatory texts.
Read over your finished writing product and think about these questions. Write your reflections in your journal.
How useful was the organizational plan you created in helping you with the writing process? How closely did you follow your plan? Would your essay have been more effective if you followed your plan more closely, or did your final organization make more sense?
How effective do you think your text was in achieving its purpose? Do you think your text is written in a way that appeals to your audience?
Did you include all the information you wanted? Was there anything additional that you wish you had included?
How heavily did you revise your text in the revising and editing process? In what ways did your changes improve your text? make me a new one plzz