Informative Topics
DIRECTIONS: Later in the course, you will be asked to write a report of information. Using the
steps below, select a topic for your report, and then generate some of its main ideas.
Steps for Choosing a Topic
1
List topics that interest you and that you know well enough to write about.
2
Use clustering to identify subtopics that fit the scope of your report.
3
Identify what you know about your report topic, and what more you need to know.
4
Identify your informative report’s main ideas.
Step 1: List topics that interest you and that you know well enough to write about.
Use the table below to list topics that you find interesting as well as topics you know a lot about.
You can list more than one topic for each category.
Category
Topic(s)
What sports or games do you play?
What activities do you do in your free time?
What skills have your parents (or other
adults) taught you?
What topics do you like to read about or
learn about?
What do you know that most of your
classmates do not know?
Please Type Your Name Here
Informative Topics
Step 2: Use clustering to identify subtopics that fit the scope of your report. Choose the topic from Step 1 that you find most interesting
or that most readers would find interesting. Write that topic in the middle of the cluster map below. Then use the other parts of the
map to write subtopics.
Informative Topics
Step 3: Identify what you know about your report topic, and what more you need to know.
Select one subtopic from your cluster map as the topic of your informative report. (The subtopic
you choose should allow you to write 1-3 pages of information.) Once you have narrowed down
your topic in this way, answer these questions about the topic.
Your Report Topic:
Questions
Your Answers
What do you already know
about the topic?
What more would you like to
know about the topic?
What would most readers like
to know about the topic?
Step 4: Identify your informative report’s main ideas.
If you need to find out more information about your topic, do that before this next step.
(Research the topic online or using a library or by talking with someone who is an expert on the
topic.) When you have found the information you need, use the left column of this chart to list
questions that your report will answer. In the right column, write the answer to each question.
The answers are your report’s main ideas.
Questions
Answers (Main Ideas)