Comparing and contrasting what authors say (and how they say it) Lesson 17: tackling complexity nonfiction

Teaching point Today, I want to teach you that after researchers read a few sources on a topic, they compare and contrast those texts, noticing how they portray the topic in similar ways—and how they are different. Then, they speculate about why authors made these craft and structure decisions, thinking, ‘Does this relate to the main ideas they’re teaching?’

What does this part want to teach? Scientific research could help animals, particularly when they face all these problems.

Structure vs Craft

Structure vs Craft Problem/Solution

Structure vs Craft Problem/Solution

Structure vs Craft Problem/Solution

Structure vs Craft Problem/Solution

Alien Deep Science doesn’t always follow a clear-cut path. Sometimes discoveries happen that completely derail everything that we thought we knew. Think of Galileo and the discover that Earth orbits the sun, not the other way around, or Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution took biology into completely new and unexpected directions. Scientific revolutions happen when we stop seeing the world we expect and start seeing the world as it is. The incredible biological world of the vents may never have been discovered had scientists not been trying to solve a geological puzzle.

Some craft moves to remember: Science doesn’t always follow a clear-cut path. Sometimes discoveries happen that completely derail everything that we thought we knew. Think of Galileo and the discover that Earth orbits the sun, not the other way around, or Charles Darwin, whose theory of evolution took biology into completely new and unexpected directions. Scientific revolutions happen when we stop seeing the world we expect and start seeing the world as it is. The incredible biological world of the vents may never have been discovered had scientists not been trying to solve a geological puzzle. Some craft moves to remember: Word choice Structure choices Repetition Text features

Prompts to help

Make a plan of action Revisit contradictions you have already found, comparing and contrasting what those authors teach and how they teach them. Reread your text with this new idea in mind, noticing places when author teach about the same subtopic and compare the different texts to one another.

mid