HOW-TO ESSAY

Effective writers use informational writing to inform, explain and report.

How-to Essays in Everyday Life

Pg. 210What do you think

was the first step of getting this balloon

off the ground? Where might you

find more information on the

subject?

What do you think was the first step of getting this balloon

off the ground? Where might you

find more information on the

subject?

How to instructions are one of the most important types of writing that you encounter in your daily life. They help make it

easier to use a wide range of items. When was the last time that you came across instructional writing?

How to instructions are one of the most important types of writing that you encounter in your daily life. They help make it

easier to use a wide range of items. When was the last time that you came across instructional writing?

What is a How-to Essay?

Exposition is writing that informs or explains

A how-to essay is a short, focused piece of expository writing that explains how to do or make something. The writer breaks the process down into a series of logical steps and explains them in the order in which the reader should do them.

The key features of an effective how-to essay are:

1. A focused topic that can be fully explained in the length of an essay.

2. Clear explanations of any terms or materials that may be unfamiliar to readers.

3. A series of logical steps explained in chronological, or time, order.

4. Charts, illustrations, and diagrams as necessary to make complicated procedures understandable.

Following are some of the how-to essays:

1. How to do something (“how to fly a kite”)2. How to make something (“how to make a kite”)3. How to improve a skill (“How to steer a kite”)4. How to achieve a desired effect (“How to do a desired trick with a kite”)

Types of How to Essays

Explain it to a Martian. . .

1. Rinse toothbrush

2. Remove toothbrush from holder

3. Wet toothbrush

4. Rinse mouth

5. Brush teeth

6. Put toothpaste on toothbrush

7. Put toothbrush in holder

BRUSHING YOUR TEETHBRUSHING YOUR TEETH ARRANGE THESE STEPS IN ORDERARRANGE THESE STEPS IN ORDER

Follow Steps in a Sequence

Keeping things in the correct order is always helpful, but in how-to essays, it is critical.

Whether baking a cake or programming a VCR, doing things out of order can result in failure.

In a how-to essay, the use of the transition words provides cues for the reader as to the sequence of steps.

Keeping things in the correct order is always helpful, but in how-to essays, it is critical.

Whether baking a cake or programming a VCR, doing things out of order can result in failure.

In a how-to essay, the use of the transition words provides cues for the reader as to the sequence of steps.

"In a very real sense, the writer writes in order to teach himself, to understand himself."

—Alfred Kazin, American literary critic and historian

How-to Essay

You encounter how-to instructions often in your daily life—in instruction booklets, recipes, or lists of directions, just to name a few examples. In a how-to essay, you explain how to do or make something. You break the process down into logical steps and arrange those steps in the right order for your reader to follow.

A successful how-to essay should explain its topic fully arrange steps in proper chronological order provide clear explanations of any terms or materials that may be unfamiliar to readers include charts, illustrations, or diagrams as necessary to clarify complicated procedures.

How-to essays have a clearly defined purpose – to explain the steps of a process or provide help in using a product. However, they can have many different audiences, or potential readers. Identify your audience and consider how it will affect your use of language and choice of details.

Considering Your Audience