1. Identifying Text Structure

2. What nonfiction text have you willingly read in the last 24 hours?

3. Nonfiction texts can also be called:
Expository text
Informational text
Informational text appears in many diverse forms:
Essays
Autobiographies
Magazines
Speeches

4. The purpose of each of these text types governs its organizational structure.
organizational structure = the language pattern
When readers learn to recognize organizational pattern and the relationship between ideas, they take a giant step toward independent reading and comprehension.

5. Student familiarity with these patterns and knowing which pattern is being used helps the reader to:
Locate information in the text
Differentiate between what is important and unimportant
Mentally sequence the main ideas in a logical order
Synthesize ideas that appear in different locations in the text
Link new information to what is already known
Restructure and revise prior knowledge to take into account new
information

6. Content-Area Teachers can help students improve reading comprehension by making sure they understand:
The difference between informational text and fictional text
The organizational patterns typically used in your classroom text
How to recognize these different organizational patterns
The kinds of questions each pattern is intended to help answer

7. Think Aloud!
Content area teachers can use the ‘think aloud’ strategy to directly model how to think about and identify text structure.
Click on the Icon below to hear a model think aloud.

8. Expository Text Structures (Internal Features of Text)
Description
Sequence
Cause/Effect
Problem/Solution
Comparison/Contrast

9. Structures for Informational Text
1. Description
Definition
Author describes what things, places, or people look like; characteristics of the topic
Clue words you might
read:
for example
characteristics
most important
also
in fact
Questions strategic readers might ask
themselves while reading:
What specific person, place, thing, or
event is being described?
What are its most important attributes
or characteristics?
Would the description change if the order of the
attributes were changed?
Why is this description important?

10. Description Example
A map is a drawing of a place. The drawing shows where things are. A map can show the things in a room such as a classroom. A map can show the houses, buildings, and streets in a town. A map can show the towns, lakes, and mountains in a state or country. A map also can show many other things about the world we live in.

11. Graphic Organizer - Description
PURPOSE
TYPES
Show where things are
Buildings
Neighborhoods
maps
State or
Country Maps
OTHER
Mountain s
Lakes
World

12. Structures for Informational Text
2. Sequence
Definition
Author organizes information or events in number or time order.
Clue words you might
read:
first, second, third
before
not long after
finally
next
Questions strategic readers might ask
themselves:
What sequence of events is
being described?
What are the major incidents
that occur?
How is this pattern revealed in the
text?

13. Sequence Example
In England in the 1600s and 1700s, people of different religions did not get along. In 1632, King Charles I of England gave the Calvert family a charter to start a colony north of Colonial Virginia.Leonard Calvert and 200 colonists sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and landed in Maryland on March 25, 1634.

14. Graphic Organizer – Sequence TIMELINES
1632
King Charles gives Calvert Family a charter for the Maryland colony
1634
Leonard Calvert lands in Maryland with 200 colonists

15. Structures for Informational Text
3. Cause/Effect
Definition
Author relates ideas to state or imply something caused something to happen.
Clue words you might
read:
reasons why
as a result
because
if … then
therefore
Questions strategic readers ask
themselves when reading:
What process or subject is being explained?
What specific causal events occur?
What is the outcome of the causal events?

16. Cause/Effect Example
Life in colonial Maryland was hard in the 1600s. The colonists were still learning how to grow food in soil and weather that was very different from their home back in England. Colonists went hungry a lot of the time. Insects that caused sickness filled Maryland’s swamps, and not many doctors had come to America yet. There was no one to care for the sick. In Maryland’s early years , many adults died young.

17. Graphic Organizer - CAUSE/EFFECT
Went hungry
Many adults died young.
CAUSE
Insects caused sickness
CAUSE
Not many doctors

18. Structures for Informational Text
4. Problem/Solution
Definition
Author identifies a problem or question and follows it with one or more solutions or replies.
Questions strategic readers might ask themselves while reading:
What is the problem?
What are the possible solutions?
What are the specific steps in solving the problem?
Do the solutions seem probable?
How is the pattern revealed in the text?
Clue words you might
read:
as a result
since
this led to
then, so
therefore

19. Problem/Solution Example
Rain forests are disappearing at an alarming pace. Urgent action is needed if they are to survive. There are many ways of protecting the rain forests. Many countries have set up national parks to protect the plants and animals. People have organized campaigns to stop the logging and farming in the rain forest. Children are being educated about the importance of rain forests and their resources so that they may make informed decisions as adults.

20. Graphic Organizer - PROBLEM/SOLUTION
Setting up national parks
Stopping logging and farming
Educating children to make good decisions
Problem
Rain forests are disappearing

21. Structures for Informational Text
5. Compare/Contrast
Definition
Author presents likenesses or differences in two or more objects or ideas.
Questions strategic readers might ask themselves while reading:
What items are being compared?
What is it about them that are being compared? What characteristics of the items form the basis of the comparison?
What characteristics do they have in common; how are these items alike?
In what ways are these items different?
What conclusion does the author reach about the degree of similarity or difference between the items?
How did the author reveal this pattern?
Clue words you
might read:
alike
similarities
same as
differences
but
in contrast
although

22. Compare/Contrast Example
Criminal suits are cases brought by a state or federal government against a person or group of persons. In a criminal case, the government is accusing someone of having broken a law. They usually involve serious crimes. The goal is to obtain justice by punishment through a prison sentence, a fine, or both. Civil suits are cases brought by one person (or persons) against another person (or persons). A plaintiff is seeking money to make up for damages done by a defendant. The goal is to obtain justice by punishment through a fine.

23. Compare/Contrast VENN DIAGRAM
Criminal
Civil
Differences
Differences
Similarities
brought about by one person or persons
causing damage to person or property
fine, no prison
brought about by state or federal government
serious crimes
prison sentence
court
against a person
laws broken
might involve money

24. Paying attention to how writing is organized offers a reader an efficient way to access information and to see the relationship among the elements of the text. Thus, helping the reader remember the information.