Explanation texts tell us how or why something happens. They describe a process and they also give reasons.
We use explanation writing to help people who want to understand a process. The text should answer how, why, when or where questions that they might have.
If you are working on explanation writing at home, this is what we are looking for:
- A title - Can the reader easily tell from your title what process the text is going to explain?
- An introduction - Have you given the reader a brief introduction to the subject/topic?
- Paragraphs - Have you arranged your writing into paragraphs? Do you have an introduction, a few paragraphs (usually about 3-5 paragraphs) giving details on the main points and a concluding paragraph?
- A conclusion - Have you written a brief concluding paragraph to summarise the topic?
- Diagrams/illustrations - Have you included any relevant diagrams or illustrations to help the reader to understand the process?
- Glossary - Have you explained any technical words that the reader might not understand in a glossary?
- Causal language - Have you used words and phrases like because, when, if....then......, in order to, therefore, this causes, this results in, as a result, consequently, the reason for..... is that......
- Formal language - Does your writing have a formal tone?
These tips can make your writing even better:
- Use rhetorical questions, especially in your introduction - Have you ever wondered how chocolate is made? If you're stuck you could try some of these: Did you know.....? Have you ever.....? What do you think about that?
- Organise your main points using subheadings
- As well as including a glossary, brackets or subordinate clauses can be used to give definitions or to give extra information. For example: A boat will float if it weighs less than the maximum volume of water it could ever displace (push aside) or A lawnmower blade is hidden inside a deck, which stops the grass flying in different directions
- Re-read your writing and edit and improve it (preferably with a purple pen of power!!). Pretend you are an alien who has just arrived on Earth and knows nothing about the topic. Does it make sense to you? Would you still have any questions after reading your explanation? If you can, you could ask someone else (who knows nothing about the topic) to read your explanation to find out if it answers all of their questions.
