Writing | How-To Essays

Writing | How-To Essays

By JILLIAN WINHOLD

Open Ended

What do you know already about "How-To" writing?

LIST EVERYTHING YOU KNOW.

How-To Essays

Informative Writing

How-to Essays are a type of Informative Writing where the author gives step-by-step, detailed instructions on how to do something. This can be any action or topic: kick a ball, build a dog house, make a meal, draw an object, etc.
The two things it doesn't have = personal opinions and the use of "I," "me" pronouns.

Multiple Choice

How-To essays are a type of what type of writing?

• Informative

• Argumentative

• Narrative

One thing you have to remember, is that you are writing an essay, not a recipe or an instruction manual. You have to write it in sentence and paragraph form.

Step-by-Step

When you write it in sentence and paragraph form, you would change a list to something like this:

HOW TO TOSS A BASKETBALL INTO THE HOOP.
- First, you hold the ball in your hands using your dominant hand in front of you and your other hand on the side as a guide. Then, you bend your knees, lift your dominant elbow up and in toward your chest. Keep an eye on the basket, bend your knees a bit more, then as you rise quickly, push the ball in a throwing motion at a high arc.

Explain, don't just "list."

REMINDER:

This does not have to be 5 paragraphs. You just have to start at the beginning and stop at the end.

Categorize

Options (8)

The life of Abraham Lincoln

Reviewing and rating a popular movie

Make an apple pie

Kick a field goal in football

Changing the start times of middle schools

Have/don't have uniforms in school

Convince your aunt to buy you candy

Get permission to stay out late for a party

Put the topics in the correct category.

Informative Topics

How-To Topics

Argumentative Topics

Persuasive

​​What's next?
BRAINSTORMING

​When you brainstorm for "How-To" essays, you...

• identify things you know a lot about.

• think about something you could describe well.

• narrow it down to a task or thing you feel comfortable doing and that you wouldn't mind demonstrating.

Open Ended

MAKE A LIST of things you could write a "how-to" about.