What is Text Structure?

What is Text Structure?

Just like houses, nonfiction writing needs a solid structure.

Lets understand that authors use five structures (descriptive, cause and effect, problem and solution, compare and contrast, and chronological) when creating nonfiction writing and are able to identify these structures.

Chronological: Goose bumps make me shiver. First I get cold. Then I shake all over. Description: Goose bumps make me shiver. I get little bumps on my skin. They look like sesame seeds. Compare and Contrast: Some people get goose bumps from fear. Others get goose bumps when they are touched emotionally. Cause and Effect: Goose bumps make me shiver. When the temperature drops below 45 degrees, my skin crinkles into goose bumps. Problem and Solution: Goose bumps make me shiver. But they disappear as soon as I cover up with a jacket or sweater. 

1. Cronological Order

Chronological Order: Purpose: to show how to do something or make something, or to relate a series of events that happen over time • Also known as time order, sequence, or temporal order • This structure is organized from one point in time to another • Transition words such as first, next, later, after, before, following, then, in addition to, followed by, and finally are included to help the reader understand how events relate to one another • Dates and times are also used 

2. Cause and Effect 

Cause and Effect Purpose: to show why something exists or is in place, to tell what happens as the result of an action or actions, to show how one or more causes led to one or more effects • This text structure also has a strong time component, since causes come before effects • Transition words such as cause, effect, as a result, consequently, so, so that, because of, since, in order to, are used • Many texts do not include just one cause leading to one effect— instead, there may be several causes and several effects 

3. Problem and Solution 

Problem and Solution: Purpose: to present a problem, and show how it can be (or has been) solved • This text structure can be confused with cause and effect • The key difference is that problem and solution always has a solution, while cause and effect does not • Transitions may include problem, solution, solve, effect, hopeful, concern, challenge, resolve

4. Compare and Constrast 

Compare and Contrast: Purpose: to present how two topics are the same and/or different. • This text structure is fairly easy for students to understand • The text may use a clustered approach, with details about one topic followed by details about the other • The text may also show an alternating approach, with the author going back and forth between the two topics • Transition words may include like, similar, unlike, on the other hand, also, same as, different from, resembles, yet, as well as, alike, however and too • Compare and contrast paragraphs are often embedded in other text structures as an author needs to explain a similarity or difference 

5. Description 

Purpose: to tell what something is, to present an item’s attributes or properties, to show what an item or place is like • Helps us visualize and understand a topic • Descriptive adjectives help us visualize the topic • Explains the characteristics of the subject or topic and uses details 

Text Structure Examples

•  Chronological: Goose bumps make me shiver. First I get cold. Then I shake all over. Description: Goose bumps make me shiver. I get little bumps on my skin. They look like sesame seeds. 

• Problem and Solution: Goose bumps make me shiver. But they disappear as soon as I cover up with a jacket or sweater.
  

• Cause and Effect: Goose bumps make me shiver. When the temperature drops below 45 degrees, my skin crinkles into goose bumps. 

•  Compare and Contrast: Some people get goose bumps from fear. Others get goose bumps when they are touched emotionally. 

• Description: Goose bumps make me shiver. I get little bumps on my skin. They look like sesame seeds. 

Multiple Select

This is an example of__________________________

The Fire Daniel Sullivan was the first to notice the flames coming from the O’Leary barn at around 8:30 pm on October 8. A problem with the alarm box made it impossible for the people in the area to call for the fire department. By 9:30 pm, the entire block was blazing. In another 3 hours, there were fires all over Chicago. The heavy wind coming from the lake only made the fire bigger. It would be another day before the fire would be completely out. By that time, 17,500 buildings had been burned.

• description

• cause and effect

• compare and contrast

• chronological order

Poll

This is an example of

______________

Jupiter is one of the nine planets in our solar system. It is called the giant among the planets because it has a diameter ten times as big as the earth. It also has twelve moons! Many scientists believe that the matter of which Jupiter is composed is in the form of a gas; it is not solid like the rock that makes up the earth and the moon. The truth in this hypothesis must await further exploration. Scientists do know that Jupiter’s rotation period is about ten hours, and its revolution period is about twelve years. This means that Jupiter spins very rapidly on its axis as it makes its orbit around the sun. The atmosphere surrounding this planet is probably made up mainly of ammonia and methane, and its temperature is far, far below zero. Since it has no water, no oxygen, and extremely low temperatures, it is unlikely that it could support life. This giant among planets does not seem like a friendly place for humans.

• cause and effect

• problem and solution

• chronological order

• description

Poll

This and example of __________

Different Schools for Aztec Kids Aztec children went to one of two different kinds of schools. One kind was for the sons and daughters of nobility, or wealthy people high up in society. There, children learned to read, write, and do math. They learned to play musical instruments. Some children studied to be priests. They learned the secret language of the priesthood, how to predict eclipses and comets, and how to keep track of the days on the sacred calendar. Other children learned how to work with silver and how to carve wood and stone. The priests were strict with the children at these schools, giving harsh punishments if a child broke a rule. Children of common people went to a different kind of school. The priests were less strict with these children, and they allowed the children to go home sometimes. In both kinds of schools, children learned about religion and war. They learned songs, poems, and dances to honor their gods. They memorized stories of the gods and how they ruled the earth.

• compare and contast

• description

• problem and solution

• cause and effect