220 Good Informative Essay Topics for Illuminating and Engaging Papers

“Elissa, help me write my paper! I have this informative essay assignment, but I’m completely out of ideas.” – Say no more! I am always ready to assist with the writing of any kind.

An informative essay seeks to educate your readers on a particular topic. It can define, explain, analyze, compare and contrast, or describe a process in a detailed how-to guide. What it should not do, however, is to present your opinion or persuade your readers. Informative essays are all about facts and objectivity. By the way, my guide on how to write an informative essay can serve as a perfect example of informative writing (so meta) – check it out!

However, if you are an expert on informative writing and all you need is a new challenge, get straight to choosing one of the best informative essay topics on this list. As usual, I’ve grouped the topics by academic level and subject matter, so you can find what you need right away.

Easy Informative Essay Topics

Let’s start with some interesting informative essay topics for elementary school students. The prompts are not particularly challenging, so kids can have fun researching. These can also serve as easier informative essay topics for 6th graders and older students to build momentum at the start of the new school year.

1. What does it mean to live a healthy lifestyle?
2. What is your state famous for?
3. Tell about your favorite animal
4. Introduce your city/town to a friend who wants to visit
5. Tell about your family
6. Describe how your day usually looks like
7. The history of clothes
8. What are vegetarianism and veganism?
9. Solar system and its planets
10. Write about a climate zone of your choice

Informative Essay Topics for Middle School

As the number of subjects grows, so do the possibilities for fascinating topics! Here are some suggestions for engaging, informative essays for middle schoolers.

1. Choose one expedition of the Age of Exploration and write about it
2. Write about one of the New Seven Wonders of the World
3. Write about one of the Native American nations
4. Write about any National park of your choice
5. Pick one endangered plant or animal in your area and write about it
6. Write about a profession you find the most fascinating
7. Alternative energy sources
8. The rarest and weirdest phobias
9. The longest and shortest words in the world
10. The language family tree

Informative Essay Topics for High School

High school students can already handle complex topics and research across many sources of information. If titles in this section won’t ignite your curiosity, look under a particular subject you are interested in further down the list.

1. The effects of sleep deprivation on cognitive functions
2. Philosophical graphic novels
3. Sign languages and their genealogy
4. Ecosystems and their types
5. Liquid crystals and their application
6. The fundamental tenets of Darwin’s Theory of Evolution
7. Zombie: from Haiti to US pop-culture staple
8. Themes and symbols in Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist
9. Leading causes of the Global Warming
10. Food additives: their benefits and harm

Informative Essay Topics for College

As a college student, you are ready to go further and not only compile but also analyze, synthesize, and conduct an original study in order to put together a brilliant informative paper. Here are some worthy topics to practice your excellent research skills.

1. The evolution of diversity and inclusion in the workplace
2. African America literacy and code-switching
3. Bias and exploitation in the true crime podcasts
4. The role of gay bars in the history of the LGBTQ community
5. Being a “Real Man”: Expression of masculinity in modern China
6. West as a Great American myth
7. Political narratives in coronavirus memes
8. Performance elements in geek identity
9. The US response to the Rwandan genocide
10. Advertising: Marketing ideas with visual rhetoric

Process Analysis Informative Essay Topic Ideas

A process analysis essay is a kind of informative essay that explains how to do something or how something works. In this paper, you will have to articulate the process into clear consecutive steps. Here are some topics of varying difficulty.

1. Renting an apartment for the first time
2. Housetraining a puppy
3. How to pitch a tent in the forest
4. Choosing a college to apply to
5. How to revise for exams
6. How to cook a meal (recipe of your choice)
7. How to take a great photograph with a smartphone camera
8. How to brew a serving of tea
9. Application of the Heimlich maneuver
10. How to start a TikTok account and grow the audience

Controversial Topics to Write an Informative Essay On

Ready to objectively look into divisive hot-button issues of today? Explore one of these current topics that keep shocking and polarizing society.

1. Human inbreeding: from royal strategy to criminalization
2. The borders between unusual sexual interests and paraphilia
3. The attitudes to abortion in various religions
4. Non-binary gender expressions in traditional cultures
5. Cancel culture: accountability vs. harassment campaigns
6. White supremacy and right-wing terrorism
7. Capital punishment in the US and the world
8. Marijuana legalization in the USA: individual liberties vs. risks to public health
9. Evolution vs. Creationism debate in the USA
10. Privacy rights: individual privacy vs. public safety

Examples of Informative Essay Topics About Technology

Technology is so prevalent it can be named the fifth element of creation. It touches every aspect of human existence, hence the variety of topics pertaining to it.

1. New literacy in the age of media
2. Potential for online communities in the digital age
3. VR: Esthetics of embodied media in videogames
4. Uninterrupted presence: technology and social media and their impact on American culture
5. Analog nostalgia as an escape from digital technology in Gen Z media
6. Social media impact on tourism
7. AI anxiety and apocalyptic narratives
8. Connectivity overload: the unique challenge to mental health
9. Most promising plastic recycling technologies
10. Main challenges of adopting machine learning

Informative Essay Topics on Culture and Media

The study of culture and media is ultimately the study of the human condition. That is why it is fertile soil for unexpected and insightful topics.

1. The good, the bad, and the funny: the ethics of humor
2. Women’s identity and agency in Early Modern Time
3. The impact of peaceful protest on the Civil Rights and Anti-War movements
4. Amazon warrior-woman: from Ancient myth to modern media
5. LGBTQ Museums
6. Racism in American cartoons
7. Urban green space and its impact on crime
8. The gruesome attraction of prison tourism
9. Second-wave feminism and fear of switching gender roles in 1970s cinematography
10. Metaphysics of play in Pixar’s Toy Story

Informative Essay Topics on Literature

Literature is a fascinating subject since it allows us to study the ideas and values of different cultures in their evolution across the ages. Try your keen analysis skills with these topics.

1. Innovative tropes in Shakespeare’s Hamlet
2. Sexuality in Milton’s Paradise Lost
3. “Light, and bright, and sparkling”: Jane Austen’s unique style and its appeal today
4. Motherhood and bereavement in British Romantic poetry
5. Emotional and physical wounds in post-WW1 literature
6. Antiracist activism in American literature
7. Gender in children’s literature
8. Science fiction and the Cold War
9. Individual vs. society in YA literature
10. Concept of freedom in American literature

Informative Essay Topics on World History

Studying history allows us to understand how peoples, societies, and cultures evolved, lived, behaved, and interacted with each other in the past. Start your journey with these topics.

1. Helen of Troy: facts behind the Homeric myth
2. Crusades: the Islamic perspective
3. The impact of Martin Luther’s reform on Christianity
4. The causes and effects of the Thirty Years’ War
5. Highland culture and its influence on the Jacobite Uprising of 1745
6. The Opium Wars and the fall of the Qing Dynasty
7. British imperialism and the repression of the Middle East
8. Indian perspective of World War II
9. Luftwaffe failure at the Battle of Britain
10. The Irish Troubles (1960–1998)

Informative Essay Topics on American History

Learning your country’s history gives you a better picture of how your nation developed its mindset, values, achievements, and challenges. This gives us data that informs today’s policies and theories to grow and build a better future.

1. Barbary Wars and their impact on Early America
2. Slavery in the Antebellum era
3. German POWs in the USA
4. President Roosevelt and the Jewish refugee crisis
5. Japanese-American internment
6. The Marshall Plan and its place in the American foreign policy
7. Malcolm X and Black Pride
8. Early NAACP and New York
9. The anti-war movement of the 1960s
10. How Watergate redefined Nixon’s legacy

Informative Essay Topics on Linguistics

Linguistics helps you to understand the world around you, the inner workings of the human brain, and interactions between people – all while improving your communication skills. Sounds tempting? Try these topics!

1. Bilingual education and cultural identity
2. Acquisition of linguistic structures of the child’s native language
3. Sociolinguistics of African American Vernacular English: intonation and identity
4. Words denoting colors and color perception in different cultures
5. The development of the International Phonetic Alphabet
6. Cooperation, humor, and Gricean maxims
7. Telltale silence: turn-taking, glottal stops, zero morphemes, and traces
8. Palatalization phenomenon across languages
9. Cite your sources: the category of evidentiality in the grammar of various languages
10. Patterns of syllable construction across languages

Informative Essay Topics on Physics

Physics is the perfect subject to study if you are curious about how the world works. Still, you might find it challenging to brainstorm topics for an informative essay about physics. Functions and vectors – yes. Words and descriptions – not so much. Here is where I come to the rescue!

1. Practical application of the particle properties of light
2. Application of microfluidics
3. Biophysics of hearing
4. High-efficiency energy systems
5. Practical application of the semiconductors and superconductors
6. Nanotechnology perspectives for medicine
7. Intense beams and storage rings
8. The perspectives of the controlled fusion power
9. The history of astrophysics
10. String theory and holographic duality principle

Informative Essay Topics on Chemistry

Some refer to chemistry as the central science because it lies at the intersection of physics, mathematics, biology, medicine, earth, and environmental science. It underpins science, technology, industry, and organic life itself. Don’t believe me? See for yourself with these prompts!

1. Shape memory polymers
2. Computer modeling of macromolecules
3. Photorelease of fragrances
4. Electrocatalysis for renewable fuel and green energy
5. PAR turnover and signaling proteins
6. The role of Zn in immunity
7. Molecular modeling of chaperonin-assisted protein folding
8. Nanoelectrodes and sensors
9. RNA modifications and variation in stress responses
10. Synthesis of copolymers for bone repair biomaterials

Informative Essay Topics on Geography

Studying geography helps you understand your place in the world – quite literally. You will appreciate how earth, climate, humans, and history shape places and become aware of the space around you. Intrigued? Explore geography with these topics!

1. Land use in areas with a high risk of flooding
2. Geographic information systems applications
3. Coupled human-natural systems
4. Volcanic activity and land fertility
5. The cultural geography of Mexico and Latin America
6. Hydropower in North America
7. Indigenous and decolonial geography of the African continent
8. Cartography and visual culture
9. Perspectives of ecotourism
10. The infrastructure of the green cities

Informative Essay Topics on Health Care and Nursing

Even if you don’t plan a medical career, health education gives you the necessary knowledge, skills, and positive attitudes to care about your body and maintain physical, mental, emotional, and social health. Start by exploring these issues:

1. Universal healthcare and its viability for the USA
2. The opioid crisis and ways to curb it
3. Vaccination and anti-vaxxer movement
4. Medical research vs. animal rights
5. New perspectives for cancer patient treatment
6. Cultural competency and equitable maternity care
7. Social isolation as a contributing factor to frailty and mortality among elderly patients
8. Adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients
9. Non-pharmacological ways of pain management
10. Perspectives of the telemedicine

Informative Essay Topics on Biology

Biology gives you an in-depth understanding of the natural world, including the human body and how it thrives as a part of the ecosystem. Gain this priceless knowledge from the following topics:

1. Causes of the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction event
2. Types of photosynthesis in different plants
3. Dendrodiversity of your local area
4. CRISPR and genetic engineering
5. Epidemiology of the COVID-19 outbreak
6. Prions and their effects on living organisms
7. Bioremediation of polluted areas
8. Epigenetics and obesity
9. Cellular and molecular neuroscience
10. Neurotransmitters: their types and functions

Informative Essay Topics on Environment

Environmental science gives us the knowledge we need to conserve our environment and protect it from degrading due to anthropogenic activities. In many ways, it’s one of the most important fields for the future of humankind.

1. The Green New Deal
2. Acid rain and its danger to aquatic life
3. Main contributors to the ozone layer depletion
4. The importance of the endemic wildlife conservation
5. Problems with recycling and possible solutions
6. Global warming and coral reef extinction
7. Toxic waste disposal and its impact on the environment
8. Causes and effects of the deforestation
9. Wildlife affected by the Arctic ice melt
10. Farming effects on the environment and strategies for more sustainable agricultural practices

Informative Essay Topics on Education

Whether you dream of becoming a teacher one day or just want to understand how learning works, you will find these topics both thought-provoking and rewarding.

1. Solving staffing shortages in public K-12
2. Fair Labor Standards Acts and overtime protection for teachers
3. Benefits of teaching handwriting
4. Drama techniques in teaching vocabulary to children
5. Standardized tests and future college success
6. Rubric use against grading bias
7. Encouraging inquisitiveness and questions for active learning
8. Strategies and challenges of adult literacy programs
9. Tribal education
10. Outdoor adventure education

Informative Essay Topics on Economics

The study of economics builds a wide range of analytical, strategic, and critical thinking skills, gives an understanding of markets, and helps to make better decisions about personal finances. Start improving with these topics.

1. The student debt crisis and ways of recovery
2. Federal livable wage rise: pros and cons
3. Free-market capitalism and its limitations
4. US-Japanese Trade Policy
5. North American Free Trade Agreement and its effects
6. The political economy of the Caribbean Micro-Island nations
7. The possible economic impact of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA)
8. Positive effects of health reforms on the labor market
9. Retirement preparedness gaps due to income, ethnicity, and marital status
10. The impact of the immigration reform on the US economy

Informative Essay Topics on Political Science

Political science prepares you for effective citizenship via participating in the political life of your community and the entire nation. Educate yourself with these topics so you’d never be the one to follow a demagogue.

1. Electoral college system: pros and cons
2. Trump presidency outcomes
3. Immigration reform: challenges and perspectives
4. Religious freedom and prevalence of Christianity trappings in US politics
5. Gun control debate in the US
6. Howard University Lawyers vs. Jim Crow
7. The Supreme Court and reproductive rights
8. The Patriot Act from a historical perspective
9. The history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
10. Squatter settlements in South Africa following the fall of Apartheid

Informative Essay Topics on Social Science

As with almost any of the subject areas above, social science helps you understand the real world around you. Learn about places, cultures, communities, and individuals within society with these topics.

1. Black Lives Matter: brutality and racial bias vs. dangers of police service
2. Transgender rights and discrimination
3. LGBTQ marriage equality
4. Fighting for equality: women and LGBTQ in law enforcement
5. The rights of people with disabilities and the interest of the State
6. Parallels between Jim Crow South and Nazi Germany
7. Stereotypes and bias against Arab-Americans in the USA
8. Successes and failures of the affirmative action
9. Invisible labor: the burden of unpaid care work
10. Social work’s code of ethics

That’s all for this post, but if you long for more, our expert writers are always at your service with personalized topic suggestions, customized samples, and editing assistance. Also, check my other blogs with how-to guides and topic collections. Stay curious and love writing!