TEXT STRUCTURES

“If students know what to look for in terms of text structure, they grasp the meaning more easily.” – Stephanie Harvey

WHY CARE?

Knowing how to identify text structure helps the reader… remember information identify author’s purpose take useful notes improve writing skills

WHAT IS TEXT STRUCTURE?

Text structure is how a piece of text is built.

Author’s use different text structures to build their ideas and communicate ideas in different ways.

DESCRIPTION

The author describes a topic by listing characteristics, features, and examples.

Signal Words – To begin withFor exampleMost important

SEQUENCE OR CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER

The author lists items or events in numerical or chronological order. The author provides steps to follow in a process.Signal Words –

First NextThen Finally

COMPARE AND CONTRAST

The author explains how two or more things are alike and/or how they are different.Signal Words –

SimilarDifferentOn the other

handHoweverBoth

CAUSE AND EFFECT

The author lists one or more causes (why something happened) and the resulting effects (what happened).Signal Words –

ThereforeAs a resultReasons whyInfluenced by

PROBLEM AND SOLUTION

The author states one or more problems and lists one or more solutions for the problem.Signal Words –

QuestionAnswerOne reason

for…To solve this…

INFORMATION BORROWED FROM…

Rebecca J. Rozmiarek www.readingquest.org www.austinschools.org http://www.slideshare.net/elkissn/under

standing-text-structures (slide 50)