Informational Texts Structure

​What is Text Structure?

​The 5 Types of Text Structure we will review are:

• 1. Sequential: describe a process or series of steps in sequential order (first, next, after, then, last)

• Chronological: tell about events in chronological order (1901, 1908, 1912)

• 2. Descriptive: describing words/adjectives

• 3. Compare and Contrast: compare and contrast information

• 4. Cause and Effect: present causes and their effects

• 5. Problem and Solution: describe a problem and offer a solution

An informational text presents readers with information or ideas about real people, places, things, and events. In order to present information clearly, writers use text structures, or organizational patterns, to present information. There are different types of informational text structures.

A writer may also use text structure to organize information about multiple topics. In addition, a writer may use more than one organizational pattern within the same text.

Analyzing the structure of an informational text helps the reader understand how facts and details are related and determine the controlling idea or thesis.

​In her first well-known photographs, Margaret made the production of steel look magnificent, mysterious, and awe-inspiring. Her photos, filled with streams of melted steel and flying sparks, caught the eye of someone who would change her life.

​Her mother gave Margaret her first camera in 1921, when she was 17 years old. In 1929, Henry Luce invited Margaret to work at Fortune Magazine. She jumped at the chance and became the first woman in a new field called photojournalism. In 1930, she was the first photographer from a Western country to be allowed into the Soviet Union (now Russia). When World War II broke out in 1939, Margaret became the first female war correspondent. This is a journalist who covers stories first hand from a war zone. In 1941, she traveled to the Soviet Union again and was the only foreign photographer in Moscow when German forces invaded.

​Both Jackie Robinson and Margaret Bourke-White were motivated by the challenge of fitting in. Robinson was the first African American in the major leagues. Bourke-White was the first woman photojournalist. Both convinced critics that they belonged by using their skills and abilities. Like Donna O’Meara, Bourke-White also derived motivation from a sense of adventure.Powers and Bourke-White were also motivated by the advice and support they received. Powers was able to succeed in part because of the lesson Petzoldt taught him. Bourke-White was able to succeed in part because Henry Luce believed in her. Bourke-White appears to have dreamed of adventure from childhood. O’Meara, on the other hand, developed her passion for dangerous volcanoes later in life.

Multiple Choice

Choose the correct text structure: "In her first well-known photographs, Margaret made the production of steel look magnificent, mysterious, and awe-inspiring. Her photos, filled with streams of melted steel and flying sparks, caught the eye of someone who would change her life."

• Chronological Order

• Compare and Contrast

• Descriptive

• Problem and Solution

Multiple Choice

Choose the correct text structure: "Her mother gave Margaret her first camera in 1921, when she was 17 years old. In 1929, Henry Luce invited Margaret to work at Fortune Magazine. She jumped at the chance and became the first woman in a new field called photojournalism. In 1930, she was the first photographer from a Western country to be allowed into the Soviet Union (now Russia). When World War II broke out in 1939, Margaret became the first female war correspondent. This is a journalist who covers stories first hand from a war zone. In 1941, she traveled to the Soviet Union again and was the only foreign photographer in Moscow when German forces invaded."

• Chronological Order

• Compare and Contrast

• Descriptive

• Problem and Solution

Multiple Choice

Choose the correct text structure: "​Both Jackie Robinson and Margaret Bourke-White were motivated by the challenge of fitting in. Robinson was the first African American in the major leagues. Bourke-White was the first woman photojournalist. Both convinced critics that they belonged by using their skills and abilities. Like Donna O’Meara, Bourke-White also derived motivation from a sense of adventure.Powers and Bourke-White were also motivated by the advice and support they received. Powers was able to succeed in part because of the lesson Petzoldt taught him. Bourke-White was able to succeed in part because Henry Luce believed in her. Bourke-White appears to have dreamed of adventure from childhood. O’Meara, on the other hand, developed her passion for dangerous volcanoes later in life."

• Chronological Order

• Compare and Contrast

• Descriptive

• Problem and Solution

​In the steel mills, she wanted to be right next to the melted metal. The extreme heat sometimes burned her face and damaged the paint on her camera.

​At first, several people at the company wondered if a woman could stand up to the intense heat and generally dirty and gritty conditions inside a steel mill. When Margaret finally got permission, the technical problems began. Black-and-white film at that time was sensitive to blue light, not the reds and oranges of hot steel. The pictures came out all black. Margaret solved this problem by bringing along a new style of flare (which produces white light) and having assistants hold them to light her scenes. Her abilities resulted in some of the best steel factory pictures of that era, and these earned her national attention.

Multiple Choice

Choose the correct text structure: "​ the steel mills, she wanted to be right next to the melted metal. The extreme heat sometimes burned her face and damaged the paint on her camera."

• Chronological Order

• Cause and Effect

• Descriptive

• Problem and Solution

Multiple Choice

Choose the correct text structure: "​ first, several people at the company wondered if a woman could stand up to the intense heat and generally dirty and gritty conditions inside a steel mill. When Margaret finally got permission, the technical problems began. Black-and-white film at that time was sensitive to blue light, not the reds and oranges of hot steel. The pictures came out all black. Margaret solved this problem by bringing along a new style of flare (which produces white light) and having assistants hold them to light her scenes. Her abilities resulted in some of the best steel factory pictures of that era, and these earned her national attention."

• Chronological Order

• Cause and Effect

• Descriptive

• Problem and Solution

Match

Match the text structure to its correct description.

• describe a process or series of steps in sequential order

• describe a problem and offer a solution

• present causes and their effects

• compare and contrast information

• tell about events in chronological order

Sequential

Problem and Solution

Cause and Effect

Compare and Contrast

Chronological

• Sequential

• Problem and Solution

• Cause and Effect

• Compare and Contrast

• Chronological

Multiple Choice

The idea that illness was caused by microscopic organisms, such as bacteria and viruses, was not known at the time. Instead, doctors based their medical thinking on the 2,500-year-old Greek humoral theory. This concept stated that good health resulted when body fluids, called humors, were in balance. The humors were phlegm, choler, bile, and blood.

• Cause and Effect

• Sequential

• Descriptive

• Problem and Solution

Multiple Choice

In 1818, a heavy two-wheeled device called a "velocipede" was patented in Paris. The rider controlled the direction with a steering wheel and moved it forward by pushing his feet on the ground. In 1863, pedals were added. A few years later, a new, lighter bike was developed that used a very large front wheel and a small rear wheel.

• Cause and Effect

• Sequential/Chronological

• Descriptive

• Problem and Solution

Multiple Choice

A disposable plastic water bottle may not look like a major threat to the environment, but chances are it will end up taking up space in a landfill—or in the ocean. Americans buy and discard about twenty-nine billion of these bottles per year, so all that waste really adds up. One of the easiest methods to reduce your use of plastic water bottles is to carry a reusable bottle and refill it with tap water. And if you do buy bottled water, recycle the bottle.

• Cause and Effect

• Sequential/Chronological

• Descriptive

• Problem and Solution

Multiple Choice

We began moving forward. The eerie silence of that moment would be forever etched into my memory. All I could hear was my own heartbeat and the sound of boots clicking on the stone.

• Cause and Effect

• Sequential/Chronological

• Descriptive

• Problem and Solution