Nonfiction Text Structure Clues
To get the main idea of a nonfiction article, you need to understand not just the facts that are presented, but the relationships among them. These clues will help you to identify the type of relationship, or structure, that holds those facts together.
Four general types of relationship are described here: Time Order, Comparison, Cause and Effect, and Question and Answer. You might expect to find one or all of these relationships in a nonfiction article. 1. Time Order (or Sequencing) – describes the order in which things happened. Words that signal Time Order
2. Comparisons (or Compare and Contrast) – describes how two things are different, or how they are the similar. Words that signal Comparison
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3. Cause and Effect – describes how one thing is the reason for another thing.
Words that signal Cause and Effect
4.Question and Answer – describes a question or problem and may also give the answer or solution. Words that signal Question and Answer
Watch this video...this teacher has guts! But I bet his students will always remember nonfiction text elements! If you don't remember them, I will sing for you...
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