Y08W39WR What the United Nations Is and How It Works

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 the United Nations is, how it is structured and how it attempts to address global problems. Write for a Year 8 audience in your own words. Focus on what is most important to understand.

Stimulus: A Year 8 civics class is building a reference guide to major international organisations and how global governance works. Your audience is a Year 8 student who has heard of the UN but has little understanding of what it actually does or how it is structured.

Task Analysis: This task asks you to explain what the United Nations is and how it works in three paragraphs for a Year 8 audience. You must explain its purpose, its structure, and how it attempts to address global problems. A strong response is clear and helps readers understand the UN’s role in global governance.

Quick Plan

Plan your three paragraphs:

  • Paragraph 1: What the UN is and why it was created
  • Paragraph 2: How it is structured — key bodies and roles
  • Paragraph 3: How it attempts to address global problems (and limitations)
  • Focus on clarity and relevance.

Define the key concept

Explain what the UN is and why it exists. Help readers understand its basic purpose.

Structure

Explain the main bodies of the UN in simple terms. What does each one do?

How it works

Give examples of how the UN addresses global problems — peacekeeping, humanitarian aid, etc.

Tone & voice

Write clearly for a Year 8 reader. Avoid jargon or explain terms as you go.

Realistic conclusion

Close with an honest assessment — the UN attempts to solve global problems, but faces real limitations.