Recognize Informational Text Structure

Identify and use chronology, comparison, cause/effect, and problem/solution structures to understand information.

How the lesson starts: Recognize Informational Text Structure

Dr. Ximena's X-ray
Dr. Ximena is a cat with X-ray glasses. When she looks at a text, she sees its skeleton. The skeleton is how the ideas are hooked together. Nonfiction has four common skeletons. Let's scan them!
Four skeletons
Time order, or chronology, tells things in the order they happen. Comparison tells how things are alike and different. Cause and effect tells how one thing makes another happen. Problem and solution tells a trouble and how it was fixed.
Scan a text
Ximena scans a text. First, a butterfly lays a tiny egg. Then a caterpillar hatches. Next, it forms a chrysalis. Finally, a butterfly climbs out. Clue words: first, then, next, finally. And the ideas happen in time order. It's chronology!