Unit 4 Concepts

To communicate their ideas effectively, authors are purposeful about how they introduce and develop their thesis, or key idea. A thesis is the author's main point; often expresses the central idea.

Chronological
A chronological text structure organizes text in a series of logical steps or according to the development of events over time.

Cause-and-Effect
A cause-and-effect text structure organizes text by explaining something that happened and describing its results.

Problem-and-Solution
A problem-and-solution text structure organizes text by stating a problem and explaining a solution to the problem.

Compare-and-Contrast
A compare-and-contrast text structure organizes text by comparing two things and describing how they are the same or different.

Descriptive Text
A descriptive text structure organizes text by providing details that help the reader visualize or get a feeling for a subject. 

One strategy for analyzing the historical and cultural setting of a literary text is to look closely at the words used by the author and think about how they reflect the story’s time period and location. Here are some steps we can follow to do this:

• Look for unfamiliar words in the text.

• Find out the meanings of words you do not know.

• Think about how the author’s word choices reflect the story’s setting.

Here’s an example of how to explain the results of your analysis of an informational text in writing.

1. Introduce your main idea about how the historical and cultural setting of the text excerpt reveals the author’s point of view.

2. Support your idea with evidence from the text.

3. Provide a conclusion where you briefly summarize your analysis of the text in different words.

Appearance

These descriptive details might include distinguishing features, facial expressions, strength, age, clothing, jewelry, makeup, height, weight, eye color, and hair color to name a few. 

Language and Speech

These descriptive details include the words used to describe characters’ thoughts. They also include the words, dialect, and speech rhythms the characters use in conversation with other characters through dialogue. 

Actions and Interactions

These descriptive details include the actions characters take and the choices they make as the events in a story unfold. They also include the ways that characters relate to one another and react to each other’s choices. 

Keep these best practices in mind as you write:

• Support your claim with textual evidence and commentary.​

• Use complete concise sentences.

• Use phrases to clarify relationships and add variety.

Use this worksheet about phrases to help with improving your sentences as you write.

multimodal texts, or texts that incorporate information from different mediums:

• text (written words, captions, and headings)

• images (pictures, maps, diagrams, or charts)

• links (clickable words or phrases that introduce additional information)

The title of a text either tells readers what the text is mostly about or grabs their attention with an interesting statement. Headings and subheadings organize information in a text by dividing it into sections that focus on separate key ideas. These ideas relate to the central topic of the text as a whole. 

Authors use sidebars, or separate boxes of text, to provide readers with facts or details related to information in the main text. Captions are short titles or descriptions located near graphic features (maps, images, diagrams) that explain to readers what the graphics show.