text structures to organize information. why organize information? when authors write texts, they...

Text Structures to Organize Information

Why Organize Information?

• When authors write texts, they are trying to communicate ideas or information to their readers. So, authors want to be sure that readers understand the ideas or information they are trying to communicate.


• There always needs to be enough information in the form of reasons, facts, or other evidence to support why the ideas or information the author is communicating should be believed or taken seriously.


• So, in order to help their readers understand their ideas and evidence, authors must decide upon a way to organize the information in their texts.

Why Organize Text?

• As an example, read the simple, unorganized passage below:

• I went to the grocery store. I went home and got more money. I didn’t have enough money with me to buy it. They were all out of milk. I went to the convenience store. My mother needed some milk. They had milk, but it was more expensive.

Why Organize Text?

• That text was difficult to understand because it was not organized. Let’s look at it again after we organize it using a structure and signal words.

Why Organize Text?

• Look at how the information becomes clear when we organize our unorganized passage:

My mother needed some milk. So, I went to the grocery store. When I got there, they were all out of milk. So, I went to the convenience store. They had milk, but it was more expensive. I didn’t have enough money with me to buy it. So, I went home and got more money.

I went to the grocery store. I went home and got more money. I didn’t have enough money with me to buy it. They were all out of milk. I went to the convenience store. My mother needed some milk. They had milk, but it was more expensive.

Why Organize Text?

• What a difference we made by using a structure to organize our information and adding signal words that go along with that structure.

Ways to Organize Information

• There are many structures that an author can use to organize information in a text. A decision about how to organize the information depends upon both the nature of the ideas/information the author is trying to communicate AND the nature of the evidence that is used to support it.


• Some of the more common structures that authors use to organize texts are by…– Problem/Solution– Sequence– Description– Compare and Contrast– Cause and Effect


• Each structure calls for grouping the different information in a text a certain way.

• The structure the author uses is the one that he or she thinks will help readers most in understanding the ideas and information in the text.


• Each structure also has some common signal words that are often used to connect (or make transitions) between ideas, facts, reasons, or other evidence.

• Knowing some common signal words for each structure can help us figure out how an author has organized a text.

• Let’s look at each structure and their common signal words more closely.

Problem-Solution Structure

Authors often select this structure if they are writing about…• What is wrong and how can it be corrected• What needs to be changed, improved, fixed• Who is confronting problems


• When using the Problem-Solution structure, the author groups together all of the information, facts, reasons, and other evidence about the problem(s).

• Then, the author groups together all of the information and evidence about the possible solution(s) to that problem.


• Some of the common signal words used when connecting (or making transitions) between ideas, facts, reasons, or other evidence in the Problem-Solution Structure are…

• problem• solution• because• causes• since• as a result• in order to

• so that• one idea• resolved by• if/then

Sequence Structure

Authors often select this structure if they are writing about…• The order in which something happens• Steps to follow

Sequence Structure

• When using a sequential structure, the author groups together all of the information based on what happened or needs to happen first, second, third, and all the way to last.

• So, whatever happened first gets explained fully, along with all of the reasons, facts, and other evidence that goes along with it. Then, whatever happened second gets fully explained, and so on.

Sequence Structure

• A chronological structure is a special type of sequence structure. We often see text organized chronologically if a text is describing historical or past events. A structure is chronological if the events are described in the order in which they occurred across time.

Sequence Structure

• Some of the common signal words used when connecting (or making transitions) between ideas, facts, reasons, or other evidence in the Sequence Structure are…

• now • before • after/afterwards• later• formerly • previously• to begin with• first/secondly

• next• then• finally• eventually• at last• initially

Description Structure

Authors often select this structure if they are writing about…• What something is or looks like• How something can be described• How something can be classified


• When using a descriptive structure, the author describes a topic by listing its characteristics, features, attributes, and examples.


• Some of the common signal words used when connecting (or making transitions) between ideas, facts, reasons, or other evidence in the Description Structure are…

• for example • characteristics • for instance • such as • including

• to illustrate

Compare and Contrast Structure

Authors often select this structure if they are writing about…• How things are alike or different• How things are positive or negative• What choices or options are possible


• When using a Compare and Contrast structure, the author organizes information to point out similarities and/or differences between different ideas or things.

Compare & Contrast Structure

• A Compare and Contrast structure often results in and author describing two different things in one paragraph or section. However, a Compare and Contrast structure could also result in the author alternating between topics. The author may go from describing a first thing to explaining how a second thing is alike or different from it, then go back to describing the first thing in a different way, then compare and/or contrast it again with the second thing.


• Some of the common signal words used when connecting (or making transitions) between ideas, facts, reasons, or other evidence in the Compare and Contrast Structure are…

• however • nevertheless • on the other hand • but • similarly • although • in contrast

• different • alike • same as • either/or • in the same way • just like/just as • likewise

• in comparison • much like• where as • correspondingly• comparatively• conversely• reflects

Cause and Effect Structure

Authors often select this structure if they are writing about…• Why or how something works• Why or how something happens/happened• What things happen in science


• When using a Cause and Effect structure, the author organizes information to illustrate how one or more things are the reason why one or more other things happen/happened.


• There are two basic types of Cause and Effect structures.

• There are cause and effect chains, where a first event makes a second event happen. Then the second event causes a third thing to happen, the third event triggers a fourth event, and so on.

• There are also multiple causes and/or multiple effects. This could be where multiple things happen and the combination of them makes something else happen. It could also be where one thing happens that results in multiple other things happening.


• Some of the common signal words used when connecting (or making transitions) between ideas, facts, reasons, or other evidence in the Cause and Effect Structure are…

• reasons why • as a result • therefore • because • consequently

• since • so that • for • hence • due to

• thus • this led to• this triggered• resulted in• this caused

Final Note About Text Structure

• One final thing to remember about text structures is that an author does not have to stick to only one structure in a single text! If it will help readers understand the author’s idea, an author may switch between structures in a text.

Guided Practice: Text Structures

Try to Identify the Structure

• Let’s take a look at a single story from the NY Times that gives us many good short examples of different text structures. See if you can identify the structure correctly.

After Lean Acorn Crop in Northeast, Even People May Feel the Effects

New York Times, December 2, 2011By RITCHIE S. KING

(Note: For this practice, only use the text on the screen to determine the text’s structure.)

In Central Park, more than 1,000 trees in the red oak family were spangling the scenery with the colors of autumn. But this year, they were failing to do something else they generally do in the harvest season: produce acorns.

What’s the structure?Descriptive!

“I remember going into areas and you’d get the crunch of acorns under your feet,” said Neil Calvanese, vice president for operations at the Central Park Conservancy. “And this year, you kind of have to search around for them.” What’s the structure?Compare & Contrast!

While last fall set a recorded high for acorn production, at roughly 250 pounds per tree, this year is seeing a recorded low, with a typical tree shedding less than half a pound of its seeds, said Mark Ashton, a forest ecologist at Yale University. What’s the structure?Compare & Contrast!

“Scarlet oak, black oak, true red oak,” Dr. Ashton said. “These are the ones that dominate our forest, and these are the ones that aren’t producing acorns this year.”

What’s the structure?Descriptive!

Coming on the heels of an acorn glut, the dearth this year will probably have a cascade of effects on the forest ecosystem, culling the populations of squirrels, field mice and ground-nesting birds. And because the now-overgrown field mouse population will crash, legions of ticks — some infected with Lyme disease — will be aggressively pursuing new hosts, like humans. What’s the structure?Cause & Effect!

Deer, in search of alternative sources of food, will leave the cover of the oak trees and wander out closer to roads.

What’s the structure?Problem-Solution!

The variability of weather in New York and New England could be playing a role in the shortage this year. “A lot of it has to do with the initial spring,” Dr. Ashton said. Acorn production is high when “everything converges on a perfect spring.”

What’s the structure?Cause & Effect!

It takes a red oak 18 months to grow an acorn. The tree is pollinated in the spring of one year, and its acorns drop in the fall of the next year.

What’s the structure?Description!

The rainy spring of 2010 could have dampened the wind-driven transfer of pollen from one tree to another, resulting in the acorn dearth this year.


Dr. Ostfeld describes acorns as an engine that drives the forest ecosystem. The population of field mice, for instance, exploded this summer. While that was good for the mice, it was bad news for low-nesting birds like the wood thrush, whose nests are susceptible to rodent predation. In addition, the large numbers of mice caused an increase in the tick population.


Now the field mouse population is expected to crash — about 90 percent have died off in similar glut-dearth acorn sequences in the past. And the outlook is not good for the low-nesting birds, which face an increased threat from hawks and owls. “The adult wood thrush will take it on the beak by the one-two punch,” Dr. Ostfeld said.


Text Structures to Organize Information

text structures to organize information. why organize information? when authors write texts, they...

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