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Chapter 9 asks you to write an informative (and surprising) essay, a moderately closed form of academic writing that presents a problem and its common answer before providing an alternative solution that will probably surprise the intended audience. The power of such essays, which regularly appear in popular magazines, lies in the tension between the expected and the actual answers, a tension that keeps readers interested. By the end of the chapter, you should understand the following: 1. The "surprising reversal" pattern can be used to inform, to analyze, or to persuade. 2. Unlike persuasive writing, which usually addresses highly controversial questions, informative writing addresses questions where disagreement stems from misinformation or unfamiliarity rather than from opposing belief systems. 3. Writing that is aimed at surprise is just one of many kinds of informative writing, most of which take a more straightforward approach to conveying information. 4. Informative writing aimed at surprise appears in both popular and academic periodicals, exhibiting slightly different patterns in each venue.
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