Nonfiction Text Structures
Lesson 5 - Descriptive
Today we are going to learn how a descriptive nonfiction text is built and how understanding this helps the reader with comprehension.
We're thinking about texts that are built to describe a person, event, place, or item. The author uses many details to give the reader a clear picture of the information s/he wants the reader to "get."
The descriptive structure resembles an essay pillar. At the top is the main topic. The subtopics fall under the main topic and each subtopic has supporting details that describe each subtopic. This structure helps simplify the materials presented.
In the article you will read today, "Hatred's Horrors," the author will describe one topic, the Holocaust. You will read information about several different sub-topics. Such as the causes and effects of the Holocaust. The text lends itself to the pillar structure because the author describes one topic and the subtopics that further describe it.
As you read a nonfiction article think about what you already know about the topic and use the text features to help build on that background knowledge. When previewing an article that describes a single topic, it is important to read through the subheadings. These subheadings are usually the subtopics of your pillar, but not always. For this article, you will create subtopics that are NOT the same as the subheadings in the article. You will create a way to categorize the information- putting like information together under one subtopic.
As you are reading this article, look for signal words that go along with the descriptive structure. The signal words for descriptive texts are:
such as
for example
for instance
most important
in front
beside
near
specifically
in addition
in particular
Now that you have read Hatreds Horrors, work to organize the information into a pillar. The first one has been started for you as an example. Remember to make a copy and save it in your reading folder.
You can read for the remainder of the time. For this unit you must be reading nonfiction. If you do not have a physical nonfiction book go to www.getepic.com/students and enter our class code: bzr3899. Select your name and go to your mailbox located near the top right. I have placed 40+ nonfiction books for you to read there in the three different categories.