Features of Informational Text

Print Features

• Guides readers through the patterns of organization of the text.

• Table of contents• Index• Glossary• Preface• Pronunciation Guide• Appendix

Table of Contents

Helps the readeridentify key topics inthe book and theorder they arepresented in.

Index

Helps the readersee everythingin the text listedAlphabeticallywith pagenumbers.

Glossary

Helps the readerDefine wordscontained in theText.

Preface

• Helps the reader set a purpose for reading, get an overview of the content.

Pronunciation Guide

• Helps the reader say or pronounce the words.

Illustrations

• Expands the meaning of the text– Photos– Drawings– Magnification

Photos

• Helps the reader understand exactly what something looks like.

New fish discovered – flathead sculpin fish

http://www.boingboing.net/2010/10/06/mr-blobby-and-other.html

Drawings• Helps the reader understand what something

could or might have looked like.

http://www.dinosaur.co.kr/images/triceratops2.jpg

Magnification

• Helps the reader see the details in something small.

http://scienceblogs.com/neurotopia/diatom.jpg

Microscopic phytoplankton called diatoms

Organizational Aids• Help readers find important information.– Bold print– Colored print– Italics– Bullets– Titles– Headings– Subheadings– Captions– Labels– Sidebars

Bold Print• Help the reader by signaling the word is

important and/or found in the glossary.

Colored Print• Helps the reader understand the word is

important.

Italics

• Helps the reader understand the word is important.

Mrs. Garner looked everywhere for her new bag of pretzel chips. She checked her filing cabinet drawers as well as her in her pretty orange closet, but she could not find them. She knew she purchased them and brought them to school. Mrs. Mentzel and Mrs. Neubert helped Mrs. Garner look. Then, Mr. Dutko entered the room and Mrs. Garner noticed the front of his tie was covered with pretzel chip crumbs!

Bullets• Helps the reader emphasize the key points/concepts.

Titles• Helps the reader locate different categories in

the text.

Headings

• Helps reader identify topics throughout the book as they skim and scan.

Subheadings

• Helps the reader navigate through sections of text.

Captions

• Helps the reader understand a picture or photograph.

Figure 4 As the wilderness was settled, the gray wolf population in the United States declined.

Labels

• Helps the reader identify a picture or photograph and/or its parts.

Sidebars• Helps the reader gather additional or explanatory

information.

Graphic Aids

• Represent information in some specific way.– Diagrams– Flow diagram– Sketches– Comparisons– Graphics– Figures– Maps– Charts/tables– Cross sections– Overlays– Timelines

Diagrams• Helps the reader understand a more detailed

or simplified view of information.

Flow Diagram

• Helps the reader understand a complex sequence of movement or actions.

Sketches

• Helps the reader visualize an important concept.

Comparisons• Helps the reader understand the size of one thing

by comparing it to the size of something familiar.

Graphs• Helps the reader understand how items are

related to each other.

Figures• Helps the reader combine text information

with graphical aids.

Maps

• Helps the reader understand where things are located in the world.

Mrs. Mentzel’s hometown

Charts/Tables• Helps the reader summarize and/or compare

information.

Cross sections

• Helps the reader understand something by looking at it from the inside.

Overlays

• Helps the reader understand additional information.

Timelines• Helps the reader understand the sequence of

events in time.