How do organizational features aid in

understanding text?

Expository Writing

Nonfiction

Describe

ExplainInform

Types of Nonfiction

• Newspapers• Magazines• Biography

• Autobiography• Internet

• Informational Books on Various Topics

Expository Writing

Introduction

• Topic Sentence• Main Idea

Supporting

Paragraphs

• Details• Sequence of Events• Objectives

Conclusion

• Summary• Restate your topic in new words

Text Structures

• The way an author organizes written material.

Types of Text Structures

TextStructures

Cause/Effect

Compare/Contrast

Problem/Solution

DescriptionQuestion/

Answer

Sequence

ProceduralText

Cause/Effect• Explains why something happens. The cause

is the reason why. The effect is what happens as a result of the cause.

Clue WordsCause: because, if, in order to, on account of,

the reason why, sinceEffect: as a result, then, is due to, therefore

Find the Cause and Effect Sentence

The islands sit right on the equator, but their climate isn’t as hot as you would expect. That’s because they are in the path of many different ocean currents, some of which bring cold waters to the islands’ coasts. The combination of warm and cold currents help create many different kinds of habitats, from deserts to forests. That’s one reason why so many kinds of unusual plant and animals can live in this small area.

Compare and Contrast

• Explains how things are alike and how they are different.

Clue WordsCompare: same as, like, similar, too, alsoContrast: different from, unlike, but, however,

while

Find what is being compared and contrasted.

While Spartan boys trained for war, Spartan girls trained to be strong healthy women. Spartans believed that strong women produced healthy sons. The girls ran footraces, threw javelins, wrestled, and did gymnastics. Like the boys, they competed in athletic games from childhood on. They also learned to read and write. And they sang

and danced in religious festivals.

Problem/Solution

• States a problem and then explains how it is solved. A problem is often stated near the beginning of a paragraph. Solution is described in the details that follow. Sometimes photos and captions can tell the solution too!

Find the problem and solution.

When you have to clean your room, don’t you wish you could vaporize the dirt? That’s just what some lasers do. People who restore old paintings, statues, and other artworks sometimes use laser light to remove layers of dirt and soot.

Description• Contains many details. You can picture how

things look, sound, smell, taste, and feel.• Author uses colorful phrases and interesting

verbs, adjectives, and adverbs to create a descriptions.

• Can be of people, places, or events.

What is the description?

An excited crowd fills the rows of stone seats in the huge stadium. A flag waves over the royal box where Caesar sits with his wife, Theodora. Fans cheer on the right and left of the royal box. Suddenly four doors under the emperor's box open, and four chariots, each pulled by four horses, rush onto the track. The horses gallop at full speed raising clouds of dust. Thousands of people jump out of their seats to cheer for the drivers!

Question and Answer

• Asks a question and then answers it.

Find the question and answer.How do these beetles locate fire? What adaptation

enables them to do the job? Back in the 1960s, a Canadian scientist named William G. Evans asked those very questions. And after carefully studying the beetle, he found some answers. A Melanophila beetle has a pair of dimples, or pits, near the spot where its middle legs attach to its body. Inside those pits are the secret to the beetle’s success as a fire scout-sensors that pick up the heat from forest fires.

Sequence

• Describes events in the order in which they take place. This is called chronological, logical order, or time order.

Clue WordsFirst, before, soon, following, next,After, eventually, preceding, last, when, finally

Find the sequence

Thirteen students marched into the university president’s office with sleeping bags, food, a stereo, and bongo drums. They played music and covered her walls with homemade signs. Soon, the group of 13 had grown to 30. Days passed, but the students refused to leave. Eventually their food ran out, and they hadn’t showered for more than a week. But they stayed put. Finally, after nine long days, they won! Their president agreed to join an organization that would make sure the factories treated workers better.

Procedural Text

• A procedure is the way you do things. A procedural text structure explains the steps you have to follow to accomplish something. (How-to)

Find the procedural text.First, ancient Egyptians cleaned the body. Then they used a long,

hooked instrument to reach up through the nose and remove the brain. They didn’t think the brain was important. So after they scraped it out, they threw it away. Next, Egyptians cut a slit in the left side of the body to remove the liver, stomach, intestines, and lungs. These were stored in jars to be buried with the mummy. The heart was left in place because Egyptians believed that it was the center of intelligence. It would be needed in the afterlife. The next step was to stuff the body and cover it with pounds of salt call natron. The salt slowly sucked fluids out the body to dry it out. After 40 days, priests washed away the natron. Then the body was stuffed with padding. Finally, the body was wrapped in layers of soft lined strips. Sticky tree sap glued the strips together. Now, the mummy was ready for burial.