Writing Explanations

Next week we will begin transactional writing on simple machines.
We will be doing lots of note taking using the 3 Doors to Info literacy technique to gather information to surfing, slurping and summarising to test claims.

WALT... explain how something works or state reasons for some phenomenon.
Explanations answer the questions "how" or "why".

Types of Explanation
There are two basic types of explanation which focus on:

• "How" (How does a pump work? How does a computer work? How are mountains formed? How does a spider spin a web?)
• "Why" (Why do some things float or sink? Why is the ozone layer getting thinner? Why does iron go rusty? Why do living things need food?

Features

Structure
• often have a logical sequence
• use cause/effect relationships (then, as a consequence, so, if)
• use time relationships (first, then, following, finally)

Language

• written in the 'timeless' present tense (are, turns, happens)
• use of action verbs(falls, rises, changes)
• use of non-human participants (the sea, the mountains, the computers, the engine)
• conjunctions(when, then, first, after this so)
• some passives (is saturated, are changed)
• use of nouns tends to be general rather than specific (cars, boats, spiders, schools)
• use of pronouns (their, they, them)