Nonfiction Text Structures
Lesson 6 - Cause and Effect
Today we are going to learn how a cause and effect nonfiction text is built and how understanding this helps the reader with comprehension.
We're thinking about texts that are built to show cause/effect relationships in information. The author uses many details to give the reader a clear picture of the information s/he wants the reader to "get."
A cause-effect article proceeds in a step-by-step fashion and each step in the process directly causes the next step to happen.
In the article you will read today you will be introduced to three of the world's worst volcanic explosions that occurred in Indonesia. The cause will be the volcanic eruptions that lead to many devastating effects. The text uses the falling domino design because it describes the effects when the volcanoes erupted.
As you are reading this article look for signal words that go along with the structure. The signal words for cause-effect are:
because
since
therefore
consequently
as a result
this led to,
so that
nevertheless
accordingly, if...then
thus
Now that you have read Volcanoes: India's Deadly 3, work to organize the information into a domino effect. 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.