Informative Essays
Time to write an informative essay?
Do you know how to write an informative essay introduction?
What about writing an informative essay thesis?
What should be your strategy?
Using informative essay examples as templates?
All these are questions that go through scholars’ minds when writing an informative essay.
So, how easy or difficult is the writing process?
Pretty easy!
Note that writing an informative essay is a straightforward process.
Just like with critical analysis essays, all you need is the right set of skills.
To begin with, you need to understand what an informative essay entails.
What is an Informative Essay?
In simple terms, an informative essay can be defined as:
Accordingly, informative essays seek to present a subject devoid of bias or opinion.
Purpose of an Informative Essay
An informative essay serves several purposes.
As demonstrated in good informative essay examples, some of the purposes include:
- Reporting findings that an audience would find interesting
- Presenting facts that an audience would find useful, and
- Communicating information about a place, person, issue, event, or change that would improve the understanding of an audience
Informative Essay Format
An informative essay format provides the structure of the essay.
How should this format look like?
The informative essay format is quite simple. It should follow the common essay outline.
As illustrated in all good informative essay examples, it consists of 3 parts:
- Introduction
- Body
- Conclusion
Generally, writing these parts should follow the common steps to essay writing.
Tips for Writing Engaging Informative Essays
Although informative essays do not appeal to emotions, there are several strategies that can be used to make them engaging.
From informative essay examples, these strategies may include:
- Introducing the topic with a captivating image or alarming fact
- Using a clear thesis statement assert what is true about the subject
- Organizing the paragraphs cogently by grouping related information
- Using a topic sentence and controlling idea to unify each paragraph
- Using transition sentences to develop cohesive paragraphs
- Using precise terminology and language fit for the audience, topic, and purpose
- Using a final idea or example to conclude by capturing the essay’s purpose and leaving a lasting impression
Informative Essay Examples
You can use informative essay examples to explore the various elements of the essay.
Below is a good example.
Informative Essay Example: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
LEED
Introduction
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) focuses on enhancing sustainable ways of building, which is also referred to as green building. Developed in 1994 as guide for sustainable building approaches, LEED has over the years become quite acknowledged as a standard in the construction industry. As noted by Meisel (9), LEED has acquired “more rating systems-like New Construction, Existing Buildings, Core and Shell, and Commercial Interiors-to apply to different kinds of projects”. These rating systems guide the approval process for structural designs for different buildings. LEED was put in place to achieve various objectives, well spelt out by its objectives as expounded here below. This essay in details examines LEED, including the purpose of its formation, its objectives, areas of concern, and its pros and cons.
Objectives of LEED
One of the LEED’s objectives entails the realization of sustainable construction practices. In this, LEED urges manufacturers to produce raw materials that “contain high recycled content and sustainable use raw materials” (Fennelly 35). The use of high recyclable and sustainable materials intends to minimize environmental degradation. LEED also encourages manufacturers to manufacture raw materials in locations close to the site of construction, limit the levels of volatile emissions, and produce raw materials that are favorable to minimum energy consumption and packaging. These practices are intended at minimizing pollution, especially carbon pollution in construction and equally save energy in the construction process.
Another objective of LEED is the utilization of environmental design to enhance crime prevention. Observation of LEED concepts in building and construction works to enhance security within the constructed structures and the surrounding environment. LEED, as noted by Fennelly (35), “as a design guideline and third-party certification tool, it aims to improve occupant well-being, environmental performance, and economic returns of buildings.” In this, a contractor has to adhere to the LEED guidelines before a certificate approving construction is issued out. This is to be achieved through established and innovative practices, technologies, and standards and focuses on ensuring that buildings are safe enough for human habitation.
Pros of LEED
One of the strengths associated with the LEED is that its standards entail an extensive coverage of issues on sustainable building. “LEED looks at six basic categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, material and resources, indoor environment quality, and innovation and design process” (Fennelly 35). These six categories focus on the core areas of construction which require attention to ensure sustainable building. For the approval of a building before its construction, the six categories form the basis for awarding points necessary in the authorization of the building plan. The six categories of building directives entailed in the LEED standards carter for all the aspects of a sustainable building and environment. They ensure that the construction process of a building as well as its inhabitation is quite sustainable.
Additionally, adhering to LEED standards in building enhances protection of the environment. As pointed out by Sook Lee (11), “benefits of environmental sustainability include protection of resources, less energy and water use, less waste disposal and consequently less landfills, and reduced air pollution and gas emission.” Such benefits are in tandem with sustainable building and environmental preservation. In this, when these standards are not adhered to during construction, buildings may end up consuming excess energy than necessary in the long term. By observing the standards, it is possible to minimize the energy needs of buildings. More to this, “commissioning can confirm a system’s performance per the owner’s requirements, reduce contractor call backs, lower operating costs, reduce energy usage, result in improved building documentation, and increase occupant productivity” (Chen 92). Therefore, through commissioning, the welfare of the building’s owner, the contractor, and the occupant is put into consideration.
Economic benefits also accrue from the observation of LEED standards in building. With this in mind, “economic benefits are seen as cost savings from improved worker productivity, lower absenteeism, reduced staff turnover, lower health insurance costs, and reduced threats of litigation from adverse health problems inside the building” (Sook Lee 11). These economic benefits are only realizable by observing the building guidelines stipulated by the LEED standards. By adhering to the LEED standards, it is possible to mitigate health costs associated with poorly constructed buildings. These health costs would otherwise have such negative economic implications as health insurance costs to cover occupants whose health has been affected by poor building conditions and employee absenteeism due to resulting sickness. Therefore, adherence to LEED standards in building helps curb such health problems as building related illness (BRI) and sick building syndrome (SBS) that are associated with poor construction. This would in turn effectively address low productivity among the community members and reduce health costs associated to poorly built buildings.
Social benefits on the other hand include an improvement in the occupants’ health, productivity, safety, security, comfort, and sense of well-being for community members. These standards demand that the building focus on ensuring that the well-being of the occupants is considered in the construction process. For instance, there are set requirements governing indoor air quality (IAQ) which are spelt out in the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers standards. The standards ensure that a balance between the needs of different occupants is achieved, ensuring that the building offers top quality indoor environment based on the building’s design. These standards also emphasize on the maintenance standards of buildings to ensure they are more habitable.
Cons of LEED
On the other hand, the LEED standards are associated with such cons as high costs incurred at the initial stages of construction and designing. The costs result from the complex principles involved in undertaking and implementing the building project. Research is necessary in the understanding of the complex principles involved, which results into additional costs (Redavide Web). Obtaining LEED certification is an expensive venture. This is specifically due to such requirements as the involvement of USGBC correspondence and hiring of recommended commissioning authority as well as design-aide consultants. Overall, the costs associated with the application of the LEED standards account for a major burden to building owners.
The LEED standards have also been criticized for their failure to effectively address the inside environment of a building. The LEED standards have been perceived as to focus less on the interior designs of buildings. The standards focus largely on the conditions exterior to the building, neglecting important aspects of sustainable building like indoor environment and interior technology and systems. In this, the standards fail to address direct issues that may result from hazardous interior conditions of a building, including the health of the occupants. Poor ventilation and maintenance of a building may result into such health conditions as respiratory diseases. This would have a negative impact on the economic and social aspects of building on the occupants.
As well, the LEED standards have a weakness in the overreliance on the behavior of the occupant for their positive impacts on building to be realizable. “Performance design guidelines, on the other hand, require that an aspect of the building operation be modeled as a prediction of actual behavior” (Lévy). These performance design guidelines require the occupants to live in specific ways for the LEED standards to be effective in the realization of a sustainable building. Failure of the occupants to live in the expected style will render the LEED standards in building useless. For instance, the LEED standards on energy consumption are largely reliable on the energy needs and consumption by the occupants of the building. If the occupants are less sensitive towards effective energy consumption, the standards may not be effective in enhancing energy consumption.
The increasing demand for energy by households is a major challenge in the application of the LEED standards. This is specifically, in regard to energy consumption, where the rise of electronic gadgets has continuously inclined indoor energy consumption. As noted by Agardy and Nelson, “residential energy use now accounts for 19% of U.S. energy usage (and close to 5% of the world’s usage)” (46). These energy consumption levels are considered extremely high. The rise in energy consumption has been associated with the expansion of homes and household uses of energy. Expansion of the homes demands for the purchase of items to fill it, where majority of the items purchased are energy consuming electronics. With the increasing energy demands for households, it becomes extremely difficult to realize the objectives of the LEED standards.
Conclusion
Objectives of LEED standards include the realization of sustainable construction practices and the utilization of environmental design to enhance crime prevention. With this in mind, the application of specific guidelines is essential in ensuring that buildings are fit for occupation. The LEED standards without doubt form the basis of safe and proper construction. As guidelines for buildings, they take into consideration of environmental preservation, the welfare of the occupants, and financial welfare of the owner. By following these guidelines, it is possible to ensure healthy lifestyles for the occupants and minimize environmental degradation. Therefore, it is absolutely necessary to ensure that the LEED standards are adhered to in all kinds of constructions.
Works Cited
Agardy, Franklin J, and Nelson L. Nemerow. Environmental Solutions: [environmental Problems and the All-Inclusive Global, Scientific, Political, Legal, Economic, Medical, and Engineering Bases to solve them]. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2005. Internet resource.
Chen, Gang. Leed Id & c Exam Guide: A Must-Have for the Leed Ap Id+c Exam : Study Materials, Sample Questions, Mock Exam, Green Interior Design and Construction, Green Building Leed Certification, and Sustainability (leed V3.0). Irvine, CA: ArchiteG, 2010. Print.
Fennelly, Lawrence. Handbook of Loss Prevention and Crime Prevention. Burlington: Elsevier Science, 2012. Internet resource.
Lévy, François. Bim in Small-Scale Sustainable Design. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2012. Internet resource.
Meisel, Ari. Leed Materials: A Resource Guide to Green Building. New York, N.Y: Princeton Architectural Press, 2010. Print.
Redavide, Frank. Advantages and Disadvantages of Green Building. Castalia Homes, July 2013. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.
Sook Lee, Young. The Relationship between Indoor Environmental Quality and Worker Satisfaction and Performance in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEEDRTM) Certified Buildings. MI: ProQuest, 2007. Print.
