You will be writing this essay to inform your audience about your topic.  So how does the “surprise” element come in, you may be asking.  The surprise element comes in like this:  this informat

You will be writing this essay to inform your audience about your topic.  So how does the “surprise” element come in, you may be asking.  The surprise element comes in like this:  this information should be NEW to your audience.  You will not just be hashing over what everybody already knows about your topic--you will be providing information that your audience didn’t know before.  So what do you have to know before you begin?  You need to know:

         Your audience

         What you want to find out about your topic

         The “common view” of your topic