Nonfiction Signpost Review

What are Nonfiction Signposts?

• Strategies for reading nonfiction closely and for more understanding

• types of nonfiction

• Street signs

• Strategies for reading fiction closely and for more understanding

Name the signpost: The author shows a difference between what you know about a topic and what happens in the text.

• Extreme & Absolute Language

• Contrasts and Contradictions

• Quoted Words

• Word Gaps

The author uses numbers, specific number words, or amounts

• Quoted Words

• Extreme & Absolute Language

• Word Gaps

• Numbers & Statistics

The author quotes a voice of authority (expert), a personal perspective, or cites others' words

• Quoted Words

• Word Gaps

• Numbers & Statistics

• Contrasts and Contradictions

The author uses a word or phrase that you don't know (expert language)

• Extreme and Absolute Language

• Quoted Words

• Word Gaps

• Contrasts and Contradictions

What should you do if you encounter a Word Gap, or a word you don't know?

• Use previous knowledge to figure out the meaning

• Use context clues (the surrounding sentence) to find the meaning

• Look up the meaning of the word if you can't figure it out

• All of these

The author uses language that leaves no doubt, exaggerates, or pushes the limit

• Numbers and Statistics

• Word Gaps

• Quoted Words

• Extreme & Absolute Language

Name the Signpost: There are now 16,306 species on the endangered species list and are threatened with extinction. This is up from 16,118 last year.

• Numbers & Statistics

• Contrasts & Contradictions

• Word Gaps

• Quoted Words

Name the Signpost: Although many people think they are endangered, panda bears were recently taken off the Endangered Species List.

• Contrasts and Contradictions

• Word Gaps

• Extreme & Absolute Language

• Quoted Words

Name the signpost: Why are some species nearly extinct? John Day, a Zoologist, says "loss of habitat is the number one cause of extinction."

• Quoted Words

• Numbers & Statistics

• Extreme & Absolute Language

• Word Gaps