Special Features with Non-Fiction
THESE NON-FICTION FEATURES ORGANIZE TEXT AND HELP READERS KNOW WHAT IS IMPORTANT
Captions: Help you better understand a picture or photograph
Comparisons: These sentences help you to picture something
Example: A whale shark is a little bit bigger than a school bus.
Glossary: Helps you define words that are in the book
Graphics: Charts, graphs, or cutaways are used to help you understand
what the author is trying to tell you
Maps: help you to understand where places are in the world
Illustrations/Photographs: Help you to know exactly what something looks like
Index: This is an alphabetical list of ideas that are in the book.
It tells you what page the idea is on. (found at the BACK of the book)
Labels: These help you identify a picture or a photograph and its parts
Special Print: When a word is bold, in italics, or underlined, it is an important
word for you to know
Subtitles: These headings help you to know what
the next section will be about
Table of Contents: Helps you identify key topics in the book in the order they are presented (found at the FRONTof the book)
adapted from Reading With Meaning by Debbie Miller
www.thisreadingmama.com
What is Text Structure?
Simply put, text structure is how the author organizes the information within the text.
Why do text structures matter to readers?
§ When readers know what kind of structure to expect, it helps them connect to and remember what they’ve read better.
§ It gives readers clues as to what is most important in the text.
§ It helps readers summarize the text. For example, if we’re summarizing a text that has a sequence/time order structure, we want to make sure we summarize in the same structure. (It wouldn’t make sense to tell an autobiography out of order.)
Examples of Non-Fiction Text Structure
1. Problem/Solution
The author will introduce a problem and tell us how the problem could be fixed. There may be one solution to fix the problem or several different solutions mentioned. Real life example: Advertisements in magazines for products (problem-pain; solution-Tylenol)
2. Cause and Effect
The author describes something that has happened which has had an effect on or caused something else to happen. It could be a good effect or a bad effect. There may be more than one cause and there may also be more than one effect. (Many times, problem/solution and cause and effect seem like “cousins” because they can be together.) Real life example: A newspaper article about a volcano eruption which had an effect on tourism
3. Compare/Contrast
The author’s purpose is to tell you how two things are the same and how they are different by comparing them. Real life example: A bargain hunter writing on her blog about buying store-brand items and how it compares with buying name-brand items.
4. Description/List
Although this is a very common text structure, I think it’s one of the trickiest because the author throws a lot of information at the reader (or lists facts) about a certain subject. It’s up to the reader to determine what he thinks is important and sometimes even interesting enough to remember. Real life example: A soccer coach’s letter describing to parents exactly what kind of cleats to buy for their kids.
5. Time Order/Sequence
Texts are written in an order or timeline format. Real life examples: recipes, directions, events in history
Note: Sometimes the text structure isn’t so easy to distinguish. For example, the structure of the text as a whole may be Description/List (maybe about Crocodilians), but the author may devote a chapter to Compare/Contrast (Alligators vs. Crocodiles).
Vocabulary in context
Synonym Clues- Your word may be similar to another word in the sentence
And, so, completely, thoroughly,
Antonym Clues- Your word may be the opposite of another word in the sentence: But, nevertheless, despite, though, although, in spite of, on the other hand, however
Cause and Effect Clues- Your word may have a causal relationship with another word: because, as a result of, led to
Using Word Charge
Words that have a positive, negative or neutral charge
Example: Disgusting=negative charge (-)
Lovely= positive word charge (+)
Table= neutral word (n)
· If you know that a mystery word has a positive charge, you can eliminate any answer choices that are negative or neutral.
· If you know that the mystery word has a negative charge, you can eliminate any answer choices that are positive or neutral.
· If the mystery word is fairly neutral, you can eliminate any answer choices that have strong positive or negative charges.
3 Tips for Interpreting Vocabulary
1) Look for context clues in the sentence.
2) Use commas to link the word to the rest of the sentence.
3) Use word change to predict whether the word is the positive, negative, or neutral.
More Tips
· Look for context clues in the sentence where the unknown word appears. Look also in the sentences before and after the word.
· Look for synonyms, antonyms, definitions, comparisons, or contrast that may help you figure out the meaning of an unknown word.
· Pay attention to the tone and setting of the reading passage. These story elements may provide clues to the meaning of unknown words.
· Substituting another word for the unfamiliar word is a good way to check your understanding.
· A test question about finding the meaning in context asks you about the meaning of a word from a reading passage. The word may or may not be familiar to you. The word might be used in a new way.
· A test question about finding meaning in context usually has several answer choices. If you have difficulty answering the question, try each answer choice in the sentence which the word appears. Decide which answer choice makes most sense in the reading passage.