Information Station
What is the purpose of an informational essay?
To explain a topic and communicate facts and information to the reader.
Why should writers organise their ideas before writing?
To arrange information logically and make the writing easier to understand.
What is research?
Gathering and examining information to learn about a topic or answer a question.
What does it mean to cite a source?
To acknowledge where information or ideas came from.
What is a modifier?
A word or group of words that describes, limits, or gives more information about another word or phrase.
What is a writing prompt?
A question or set of instructions that tells a writer what to write about and what the writing task requires.
What is the purpose of an introduction?
To introduce the topic and prepare the reader for the information that follows.
What is a reliable source?
A source that provides information that can be trusted because it is supported by credible evidence and comes from an appropriate authority.
What is plagiarism?
Using another person's words or ideas without properly acknowledging the source.
What punctuation mark consists of three dots and can show that words have been omitted from a quotation?
An ellipsis (...).
What should you identify before you begin writing an essay?
The topic, purpose, and requirements of the writing prompt.
What is the purpose of a body paragraph?
To explain a main idea using relevant facts, details, and examples.
Name two things you should check when deciding whether a website is reliable.
The author's qualifications or authority and whether the information is supported by evidence.
If you copy a sentence word for word from a website, what must you do?
Use quotation marks around the exact words and provide an appropriate citation.
Identify the modifier in this sentence: “The tiny bird landed on the branch.”
“Tiny” modifies or describes the noun “bird.”
What is the difference between a fact and an opinion?
A fact can be checked or verified, while an opinion expresses someone's belief, feeling, or judgment.
When comparing two animals, what two types of information could you include?
Their similarities and their differences.
You find information about healthy eating on a health organisation's website and an anonymous social media post. What should you do before using the information?
Check the credibility and evidence of each source and verify important claims using additional reliable sources.
Why should you acknowledge a source even when you explain its information in your own words?
Because the information or idea still came from another source.
What is wrong with this sentence? “Running across the playground, the backpack fell from Maya's shoulder.”
The opening phrase incorrectly suggests that the backpack was running. The sentence should be revised so the person running is clearly identified.
Your prompt asks you to explain how plants grow. Why would a paragraph about your favourite video game not belong in the essay?
It is unrelated to the prompt and does not help explain how plants grow.
You are writing about dogs and cats. Explain one way to organise the essay so readers can easily compare them.
Organise the essay by shared features, such as appearance, behaviour, and care, explaining how dogs and cats are similar or different in each section.
Why should you check information before including it in an informational essay?
To reduce the risk of including false, inaccurate, outdated, or misleading information.
A student copies three sentences from an article, changes one word, and submits them without crediting the author. What is wrong, and how should the student fix it?
This is plagiarism. The student should either quote and cite the original wording or paraphrase the information genuinely in their own words and cite the source.
Rewrite this sentence using an ellipsis to show that words have been omitted from a quotation: “The garden contains roses, tulips, sunflowers, daisies, and lilies.”
Example: “The garden contains roses, tulips, sunflowers ... and lilies.”