Writing to Inform, Explain and Advise.

The purpose of most non-fiction texts is either to inform, explain or advise.

Informing is about Providing Information.

Writing to inform means telling the reader about a topic. You always need to give lots of facts.

• Informative writing can be personal - e.g. a letter to a friend about a film you saw recently.
• Or it can be more practical - e.g. a fact book about snakes.

The Boa Constrictor is a species of large snake, found across America and the Caribbean. They eat a wide variety of birds and small mammals, which they squash to death and then swallow whole. This is where the 'constrictor' part of their name comes from.

• You need to give lots of facts, e.g. where Boa Constrictors live or information about their diet.

You need to think about your audience and purpose. It might help to write down all the facts you want to cover, and then pick the ones that are most important for your audience.

Explaining is about Helping a reader to Understand.

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