Y07W36WR The Platypus Explained

Part 1

How to Write

Informative – Informative article

An informative article engages a curious reader and builds their knowledge of a topic. It is written for a general or subject-area audience who wants to learn something interesting and genuinely understand it. The tone is engaging and authoritative — more accessible than a report, but still well-grounded and clear.

  • Ideas & content: Select information that is interesting and informative — facts that make the reader think as well as understand. Organise your material so it builds naturally from one idea to the next.
  • Structure & cohesion: Open with something that draws the reader in. Develop your main ideas in a logical order and close with a strong final point. Use linking language to hold the article together.
  • Voice & audience: Write with confidence and a sense of enthusiasm for the subject. Keep the tone clear and accessible — not overly academic, but not casual either.
  • Language choices: Use subject-specific vocabulary and explain any technical terms. Vary sentence length to keep the reader engaged. Write mainly in the present tense for facts.
  • Conventions: Spell all proper nouns and technical terms accurately. Use punctuation to pace the article and guide the reader.

Common pitfalls: Listing facts without shaping them into a clear narrative — decide what is most interesting and structure the article around that. Writing in a flat, list-like style throughout, which loses the reader’s interest.

Part 2

Your Task Plan for Today

The brief

Question: Write a two- to three-paragraph informative article about the platypus for a Year 7 science magazine. Your audience is students who may know the platypus exists but have little detailed knowledge of it. Select the most interesting and informative facts, organise them into a clear explanation and write entirely in your own words.

Stimulus: The following facts about the platypus have been gathered from wildlife and science sources.

- The platypus is one of only five species of monotreme — mammals that lay eggs instead of giving birth to live young
- Male platypuses have a venomous spur on their hind legs — the venom causes severe pain in humans
- Platypuses use electroreception to detect the electrical signals produced by the muscles of their prey underwater
- When swimming, the platypus closes its eyes, ears and nose and navigates entirely using its bill
- The platypus was so unusual that early European scientists suspected the first specimen sent to Britain was a hoax
- A platypus can eat its own body weight in food in a single night
- The platypus has no stomach — food passes directly from the oesophagus into the intestine
- Platypuses are found only in eastern Australia and Tasmania
- Female platypuses lay one to three eggs and incubate them by curling around them in a burrow
- Young platypuses feed on milk that seeps through the mother’s skin — she has no nipples

Task Analysis: This task asks you to select the most interesting and informative facts about the platypus and shape them into an engaging article for a Year 7 science magazine. A strong response will not just list facts — it will choose the most surprising and significant ones, organise them into a clear structure and explain them in a way that makes the reader genuinely interested.

Quick Plan

Plan your two or three paragraphs:

  • Paragraph 1: What makes the platypus remarkable — its unusual classification and key features
  • Paragraph 2: Specific surprising adaptations — electroreception, venom, no stomach
  • Paragraph 3 (optional): Why scientists were so baffled by it, or its Australian significance
  • Choose the most interesting facts. You don’t need to include everything.

Opening strategy

Begin with the most arresting fact or idea — something that immediately signals to the reader that the platypus is not what they expected. Hook the reader before you build context.

Examples that teach

For each key feature you describe, explain what it means in practice — not just that the platypus has electroreceptors, but what they actually allow it to do and why that is remarkable.

Ending technique

Close your article with a strong final point — perhaps the scientists’ initial disbelief, or the platypus’s role as a uniquely Australian creature. Leave the reader with something memorable.