Examples:
- encyclopedia entries
- research reports
- newspaper articles
- journal and magazine articles
- textbook passages
- nonfiction books about specific science or social studies topics
- websites or webpages that provide factual information
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Characteristics of Informational Texts
1. Central Ideas
Central ideas are the the most important ideas of a text. They are statements that are supported by evidence, including other key ideas and details. There could be one or multiple central ideas in a text. |
2. Text Features
Text features like insets, timelines, sidebars, pronunciation guides, diagrams, sections with headings, tables and graphs, bullets, and bold and italicized type can help draw attention to, organize, and clarify information for the reader. |
3. Organizational Patterns
An organizational pattern is how the information is presented, or arranged. The information in informational texts is presented in LOGICAL ORDER. This means that ideas are presented in a way that makes sense, given the topic. Some common organizational patterns are —
- ORDER OF IMPORTANCE: from most important to least important ideas, or from least important to most important.
- COMPARE and CONTRAST: by the similarities and differences between two related things or ideas.
- CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER: by the time order that things happened in the past, usually from earlier times to later times.
- SEQUENTIAL ORDER
: by the order of steps in a process or repeating event.
- CAUSE and EFFECT: by the reasons for and results of certain actions or conditions.
- PROBLEM and SOLUTION: by stating a problem and proposing a way or ways to fix it.
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