The structure of a steady plane shock in a partially ionized gas has been investigated using the Boltzmann equation with a kinetic model as the governing equation and the discrete ordinate method as a tool. The effects of the electric field induced by the charge separation on the shock structure have also been studied. No overshoot of upstream velocity has been observed. Although the three species of an ionized gas travel with approximately the same macroscopic velocity, the individual distribution functions are found to be very different. In a strong shock the atom distribution function may have double peaks, while the ion distribution function has only one peak. Electrons are heated up much earlier than ions and atoms in a partially ionized gas. Because the intereactions of electrons with atoms and with ions are different, the ion temperature can be different from the atom temperature. No undershoot of the upstream temperature has been found. The present results for neutral particles and electrons are generally in fairly good agreement with the continuum solutions at the low Mach number and with the Mott‐Smith solutions at the high Mach number. It has been found that the effects of the induced electric field on the shock‐wave structure are insignificant for all cases investigated and can be neglected.