Text Structures

Introduction

We love categorizing things and defining items by their differences as much as their similarities. Consider movie genres: when a friend asks you to go see the new horror movie, you know to expect something different than when you snuggle up for a romance with your significant other.

We use genre to define types of writing as well. Knowing some of the basic differences between types of readings you’ll complete in college will help you know what to expect from the reading before you begin.

The Academic Style

In everyday life, what you read is usually written to grab your attention and get a message across quickly before you “switch channels,” so to speak. By contrast, academic texts often raise broad, abstract questions and are unconcerned about arriving at quick answers.

For example, a newspaper headline might say: “Voters Ready for Tax & Spend, Claims Economist." The text, written by economics professor, Richard Layard in the article “The Secrets of Happiness,” and published in The New Statesman, actually says:

…taxation is one of the most important institutions we have for preserving a sensible balance between work and leisure […] I suspect that, in some almost unconscious way, the electorate now understands that the scramble to spend more money is partially self-defeating and that this explains why people are more favorable to public expenditure. But the time is ripe to make argument explicit.

The headline makes its point quickly, but it says far less. It presents little basis for analysis and debate. You can agree or disagree, but you can’t easily discuss the proposition. Layard carefully teases out a variety of issues, but the headline simplifies everything down to a well-established formula: free markets or public spending – which side are you on?

Unlike general public debate, academic debate advances through finely-tuned language and disciplined methods of argument. The Layard paragraph may be a lot longer than the headline, but it is not “wordy” for the sake of it. It is very precisely argued; it would be quite difficult to cut out words without altering the meaning.

Academic Writing

Academic writers use cautious, considered language in an effort to be as exact as they can in their analysis. They try to say only what they mean and what they think can be justified. In daily life, we cheerfully use language as a blunt instrument, to cudgel our way through the discussions that spring up around us. By contrast, academic writing uses language as a scalpel, to cut precisely between closely related arguments, so they can be spread apart and analyzed in detail. Learning how to read, think, and write in this way is a central part of learning in college.

What Academic Sources Look Like

Academic and specialist sources, such as the ones you have just considered, may have different purposes and contain different kinds of information but they all aim to present content in a clear way. This is why they all follow a clear and predictable structure.

The structure of each type of source depends on its purpose. For example, to help readers to find a specific term easily and quickly, dictionaries arrange words and their definitions in alphabetical order. Once readers understand the way the words are listed, looking up a word is not difficult.

Academic articles or book chapters also follow a clear and predictable structure. They normally contain an introduction, several paragraphs and a conclusion. Paragraphs may also be grouped into sections.

Other texts, such as newspaper articles, web pages, and fact sheets are organized differently.

Distinguishing Features of Reading Types

The types of reading you do in college will depend on your major and your elective options. It helps to be able to identify the type of source you’re being asked to read in each class. That way, you have some expectations about why you’re reading it, what you should expect to learn from it, and how to read it effectively.

Literature

Literature includes poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, and drama.

Distinguishing Features:

• • • Primary goal: to entertain

    • Artistic use of language to engage and influence the reader

    • Plot = action

    • There are characters

Works of fiction and drama usually follow a similar plot structure, called a dramatic arc. “Exposition” provides setting and background information. “Rising action” is where the events of the story start to get complicated. The “climax” is where the drama reaches its most dramatic moment. “Falling action” then shows the fallout from the climax, and “resolution” (also known as a denouement) is the closing action where the issues of the plot are fully resolved.

Examples:

• • • The Harry Potter series of books by J. K. Rowling

    • The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros

    • The plays and sonnets by William Shakespeare

The video below not only explains the dramatic arc, but also goes into other literature structures as well:

Journalism

Journalism is news, usually focused on current events.

Distinguishing Features:

• • Primary goal: to inform.

  • Because of this purpose, the writing is neutral: it shows no opinion, just facts.

The inverted pyramid is a metaphor used by journalists to illustrate how many news articles are organized. Many blogs and editorials follow this structure in addition to most newspaper pieces.

This upside-down pyramid consists of three parts. The widest part at the top represents the most substantial, interesting, and important information the writer means to convey, while the lower parts illustrate that other material should follow in order of diminishing importance.

This format is useful for two reasons: First, readers can leave the story at any point and understand it, even if they do not have all the details. Second, readers get a sense of how important different content is, depending on where it appears in the article.

Journalism relies on research. They refer to sources by name, but don’t have separate citations at the end of the piece.

Textbooks

You’re likely quite familiar with these already. Whether in eBook or print form, textbooks are commonly associated with formal education. This OER, for instance, follows a textbook structure.

Distinguishing Features:

• Primary goal: to educate

• Broken-up into chapters, sections, and sub-sections

• Contains titles, headings, and sub-headings

Academic Journals

An academic or scholarly journal is a peer-reviewed periodical that focuses on a narrow field of study. Academic journals serve as forums for the introduction and presentation for scrutiny of new research, and the critique of existing research. Many college assignments will ask you to do research within academic journals, which you will have access to through our campus library's database.

Distinguishing Features:

• Primary goal: to distribute new ideas.

• Broken-up into sections, and sub-sections

• Contains headings and sub-headings

What is Text Structure?

Text structure refers to the ways that authors organize information in text. Knowing how to recognize the underlying structure of content-area texts can help you focus attention on key concepts and relationships, anticipate what’s to come, and monitor your comprehension as you read.

As readers interact with the text to construct meaning, their comprehension is facilitated when they organize their thinking in a manner similar to that used by the author.

Obviously, all texts are different to a certain extent, but depending upon the author's purpose, the topic and the genre, reading selections tend to be organized to employ a few predominant structural patterns. Authors also use text features to bring attention to important details.

Below are the structural patterns seen in fiction and non-fiction texts. You can use the following features to become more successful and efficient in your reading.

Fiction are texts that are not real. They typically have literary elements such as characters, setting, problem/ solution, and plot. Review the "Literature" description above for more information.

Non-fiction texts provide the reader with factual information. One effective way to identify nonfiction structures is to understand words and phrases that frequently signal organization. For example, if the reader knows that words, such as like, unlike, and in contrast are often used when one thing is being compared to another, they can readily spot the author's intention, and they'll be better equipped to understand the text as a whole.

The following table describes typical signal questions and words for different non-fiction text structures:

Key Takeaways

• There are different genres and purposes of texts with commonly-used structures associated with them.

• Knowing these structures can be useful for reading quickly and with a purpose.