Y08W18WR What Inflation Is

Part 1

How to Write

Informative – Informative report

An informative report presents organised information on a specific topic for a defined audience. It is written for readers who need clear, factual knowledge they can rely on. The tone is precise and impersonal — the writer’s role is to explain accurately, not to offer personal views.

  • Ideas & content: Select the most relevant facts for your topic and audience. Prioritise information that builds understanding, and leave out what does not serve the report’s purpose.
  • Structure & cohesion: Divide your report into clear paragraphs, each with a distinct focus. Open each paragraph with a topic sentence and use connecting words to link ideas across sections.
  • Voice & audience: Write in third person and maintain a consistently factual tone. Avoid personal opinions or casual phrasing — sound like someone who has researched carefully.
  • Language choices: Use precise, subject-specific vocabulary. Write in the present tense for facts and past tense for historical events. Vary sentence length to maintain readability.
  • Conventions: Spell all technical terms accurately. Use commas, colons and full stops correctly to present information clearly.

Common pitfalls: Including facts without connecting them to your purpose — each sentence should build the reader’s understanding, not just add detail. Losing paragraph structure — keep each paragraph focused on one clear idea.

Part 2

Your Task Plan for Today

The brief

Question: Write a three-paragraph informative piece explaining what inflation is, what causes it and what its effects are. Select the most relevant material to explain the concept clearly for a Year 8 audience. Write entirely in your own words and decide what is most important to include.

Stimulus: A Year 8 economics newsletter is running a feature explaining concepts that affect everyday life. Your audience is a Year 8 student who hears “inflation” discussed in the news but has little understanding of what it means or why it matters. You need to explain what inflation is, what causes it and what effects it has.

Task Analysis: This task asks you to select and organise information about inflation into three clear paragraphs for a Year 8 audience. You must explain what it is, what causes it, and why it matters. A strong response defines the concept clearly, uses relevant examples, and closes with why understanding inflation is important.

Quick Plan

Plan your three paragraphs:

  • Paragraph 1: What inflation is and why prices rise
  • Paragraph 2: Causes of inflation — what makes it happen?
  • Paragraph 3: Why inflation matters — what are the effects?
  • Decide which ideas are most important to a Year 8 reader.

Define the key concept

Open by explaining what inflation is in clear language. Use examples that Year 8 readers will recognise — the cost of items they buy or their parents discuss.

Paragraph focus

Each paragraph develops one main idea. Use a clear topic sentence and develop it with explanation and examples.

Tone & voice

Write for a Year 8 reader with no specialist knowledge. Use clear language and explain terms as you go.

Selection and relevance

Choose examples and explanations that matter to a young person — what does inflation mean for them?

Ending technique

Close on a note of significance — why does understanding inflation matter for young people?