Y06W18WR A Practical Guide for Households

Part 1

How to Write

Explanatory – Community guide

An explanatory text makes a concept, process or system understandable to a reader who is encountering it for the first time. It is written for someone who wants to genuinely understand how or why something works. The tone should be clear and patient — building understanding step by step without assuming prior knowledge.

  • Ideas & content: Select the most important information needed to understand the topic. Focus on how and why — explanation is about building genuine understanding, not just describing what exists.
  • Structure & cohesion: Move from the general to the specific. Introduce the concept, explain how or why it works, then give examples or consequences. Use cause-and-effect connectives to show relationships between ideas.
  • Voice & audience: Write as a knowledgeable guide. Define terms as you introduce them. Avoid jargon without explanation. Your reader should feel guided through the topic, not overwhelmed by it.
  • Language choices: Use precise vocabulary and define technical terms clearly. Write in the present tense for ongoing processes. Vary sentence length — shorter sentences help when ideas are complex.
  • Conventions: Spell technical vocabulary accurately. Use commas, colons and semicolons to manage complex explanations. Keep sentences clear even when the ideas are demanding.

Common pitfalls: Describing what something is without explaining how or why it works — readers need to understand the mechanism, not just the label. Including too many facts without connecting them into a clear explanation that builds understanding progressively.

Part 2

Your Task Plan for Today

The brief

Question: Write the guide. You have space for one introduction paragraph and three body paragraphs. Select the facts that best serve a general household audience, organise them clearly and write in your own words. You do not need to use all of the facts provided.

Stimulus: A community environmental group is producing a short guide for households explaining what actually happens to recyclables after they are collected and why putting the right things in the bin matters. Below is a collection of facts about how recycling facilities sort and process materials. They are not in any particular order.

- Near-infrared sensors can identify and sort different types of plastic by detecting the molecular structure of each material
- Recycling facilities that process mixed household recyclables are called ‘Materials Recovery Facilities’, or MRFs
- Paper and cardboard are separated using flat screens that allow smaller items to fall through while paper continues over the top
- Contamination - placing non-recyclable items in recycling bins - is one of the biggest problems facing the recycling industry
- Soft plastics such as plastic bags cannot be processed at standard facilities and must be taken to special drop-off points
- Eddy current separators use a rapidly changing magnetic field to repel aluminium, causing it to fly off the conveyor belt into a separate bin
- Magnets are used to pull steel and tin cans off the conveyor belt automatically
- Glass is typically removed early in the sorting process because broken glass can contaminate paper and cardboard
- Recycling one tonne of aluminium saves up to 9 tonnes of carbon dioxide compared to producing aluminium from raw materials
- When recyclables arrive at a facility, large items and obvious contaminants are first removed by hand from a sorting floor
- A spinning drum called a ‘trommel’ separates materials by size - smaller items fall through holes while larger ones continue along the line
- Australia exports a significant proportion of sorted recyclables to be processed into new materials overseas

Task Analysis: This task asks you to write a community guide based on the prompt. Your response should demonstrate clear thinking, good organisation and writing appropriate for a Year 6 reader. Focus on showing your understanding through specific examples and thoughtful details.

Quick Plan

Before you write, plan:

  • What you’re explaining — define it clearly
  • Two or three key points that build understanding
  • Real examples that show why this matters
  • Why the reader should care — your closing message

Define the key concept

Start by explaining what you’re talking about in clear, simple words. Your reader may have no background knowledge. Make sure they understand the basic idea before adding details.

Examples that teach

Use specific, concrete examples that help readers understand. Show what the idea looks like in real life. Don’t just explain the concept—show it in action.

Paragraph focus

Each paragraph should have one main idea. Start with a topic sentence that tells readers what the paragraph is about, then develop it with facts or examples.

Tone & voice

Write clearly and factually for readers your age. Avoid jargon, or explain technical terms you need. Sound like someone who understands and wants to share knowledge.