Recycling Awareness; Informative Essay

I'm glad that our schedule for English 101 included reading "Watch for the Blue Barrels" by Craig Broadbent. Before this essay, most of the other assigned readings for English 101 have been more narrative. I understand that the class is going to begin doing a more informative and research type essays so I thought that this piece was perfect to help with this transition to a different type of writing. It's easy to see the differences between previous readings that were more narrative and this one. First, this informative essay has a clear thesis statement that directly states the essay's purpose, "My purpose here is to outline what we're doing about recycling on campus, to show what the costs and income are from the program and finally, based on several interviews, to suggest the reasons that students don't sue the blue barrels." Also the essay is based around straight facts about recycling. There are tables, an inserted figure, and an interview to back up what the author is saying about the subject. I really enjoyed reading this essay because I was thinking about the next essay that I’d have to write for my own English class. I know that I'll be able to use some of the same strategies to inform my reader as Broadbent did and also, some techniques like directly stating my purpose of my essay. Even though I haven't yet been assigned the exact essay topic, it's helping me to notice these details so I'll remember them in the near future when I need to. I’m hoping for class I’ll read more essays like this before I have to write my own essay because I think reading the examples will really help me move away from the narrative form of writing that I’m so much more comfortable with.