Difference Between Expository and Informational Texts
Difference Between Expository and Informational Texts
Informational products are basically any product that provides general information on a particular topic. In the field of business, Informational products are very important since they allow a businessperson or an employee to make informed decisions about a certain topic and helps him/her understand a subject much better. Informational products are used for various purposes, such as in education, training, public awareness and for creating business strategies. Informational products may be in the form of lectures, articles, reports, etc. The purpose of an Informational product is to provide general information in a simple way and at the same time, the reader should also be able to obtain additional relevant information which he/she needs in order to understand the subject fully.
Information, in a broad sense, is simply processed, organized and structured information. It gives context to other data and helps decision making in terms of prioritization. For instance, a particular customer’s sale in a particular restaurant is statistical information this becomes nonfiction information when the business has the ability to identify which of the least popular or most popular dish is. In educational applications, Informational products can be in the form of handouts, essays, reports, manuals and even Power Point presentations.
In contrast to the above-mentioned, the second type of Informational product is that of expository documents. An expository document is one which presents factual information and is written in the form of prose. In fact, an expository document often does not contain any supporting details or facts but simply presents information pertaining to a specific subject matter. An example of a very common expository document would be a research paper that presents the results of a research conducted on a specific topic by means of illustrations and examples. Even though, in many ways, there is still a great difference between the two types of Informational products, the fact that both are important in certain contexts, such as the classroom, indicates that there is a marked difference between the two and that it would be useful to make an effort to differentiate the two, especially for purposes of students studying.