Reading Rocks

Non-Fiction Text Features and Structures

Today in class a group presented information on non-fiction.  I loved this video they presented and will be sharing it with my fourth graders.  Thank you for sharing!

What are Text Features?

Text features are to non-fiction what story elements are to fiction.  Text features help the reader make sense of what they are reading and are the building blocks for text structure. So what exactly are non-fiction text features?

Some Common Text Features within Non-Fiction

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
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.
Labels: These help you identify a picture or a photograph and its parts
Maps: help you to understand where places are in the world
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

Text Features and Comprehension

The recognition and use of text organization are essential processes underlying comprehension and retention. As early as the third grade, students are expected to recognize expository text structures.  The ability to identify and analyze these text structures in expository texts helps readers to comprehend the text more easily and retain it longer. To achieve better results, it is highly recommended to introduce and work on text structures in the order prescribed in what follows.

The 5 Most Common Non-Fiction Text Structures

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.


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.)

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.

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.

5. Time Order/Sequence

Texts are written in an order or timeline format. Real life examples: recipes, directions, events in history