Activity 4.1.1 - INFORMATIVE ESSAY: Brainstorm

Make a submission

Brainstorm and write an introductory paragraph for an Informative Essay on the general topic of pandemics and their effect on the world.  Use any three Points to focus on. For example, you might pick any three (3) points from the following: geographic locations, length of the pandemic, how widespread was the disease, the origins of the disease and causes, how the pandemic spread, treatments for the disease, economic impacts, social impacts,  etc.

  The Informative Essay looks at three worldwide pandemics (The Black Plague (1331) in Europe, The Spanish Flu (1918) and Covid-19 (2019), but you could research other pandemics such as Polio (1950) or AIDS (1980) if you wish.

After brainstorming your 3 points, examples and evidence from Internet research, just focus on the introduction Paragraph which includes: the hook and the main points and information that you think are the most important. These will be developed later into three body paragraphs with examples, evidence, statistics, quotations etc. 

The Introductory Paragraph:

  1. Starts with THE HOOK (a quote and/or fact and/or anecdote) to attract the reader;
  2. A sentence or two about each of the 3 KEY POINTS to be developed later in the essay
  3. A THESIS STATEMENT (your main focus) that you will keep LINKING back to throughout your essay.   

Things to ask yourself: 

  • What resources should I research in preparing to write this essay? 
  • What have I identified as 3 possible points to develop in the essay?