Organizational Structures of Informational Texts- Guided Notes

							          Organizational Structures of Informational Texts- Guided Notes

There are ___5_____ basic organizational structures of informational texts and speeches:
   1. ______problem-solution

   2. _____cause-effect

   3. ______comparison-contrast

   4. _____sequential

   5. _____chronological


First Structure: __problem-solution

                      This text or speech begins by identifying a ____problem or
                       solution__ and then proposes
                       a solution to the problem__.


Structure of a Problem-Solution Essay:

I. ________state the problem or problems

II. _______restate the problem with supporting details

III. ______suggest a solution to the problem

IV. ______conclusion

Problem and Solution texts play an ___important________ role. They
_inform______ readers about ___problems__________ and suggest
__solutions____ that can be taken to ___solve______these problems.

Second Structure: ______Cause & effect______________

                   The cause and effect pattern is a text structure that writers use to
                   Explain how or why they come to one another

                      The _cause______ is the _reason that an action takes place.

                      The _effect___ is the __result or consequence in the cause.
                      A __cause_______ can have more than one effect, and an
                       ___effect____may have several causes. Writers may explain
                       ____cause____ only or __effect____ only.

                      Sometimes a text is organized in a _____cause & effect chain____
                       in which one cause leads to an effect, which cause another effect,
                       and on.

There are two more patterns for Cause and Effect texts:
   1. ____multiple cause leading to one effect___

   2. ___one cause leading to multiple effects__

Third Structure: ___Compare and contrast__

            When you _compare__, you look at how two or more things are
              __similar____, that is, alike.

           When you _contrast____, you look at how things are __different_.

          Comparison and contrast is a text structure that discusses __similarities_
           and __differences__.

There are _two __ basic ways to organize a ___compare and contrast__ speech or text.

   1. ____Block method___________

   2. ____point by point_______

First Way:_______block method__________

Discusses all the features of _____subject one___ first, then discusses all the features of
___subject two_______. For each subject,
_discuss the same feature in the same order____.

Second Way: ___point by point___________

A writer who uses the point-by point pattern
__goes back and forth between two things____.




Fourth Structure: ____Sequential___________________________
      _Step by step________ instructions on how to complete a task.
      _Pattern___________ of organization that shows stages in a process.

   Examples: cookbook, tie shoes, washing dishes

Fifth Structure: ________Chronological________________________

      __Events_________ will be arranged in the order of time occurrence (when they
       happened)

   Example: __Timeline_______

   To show the order of events, writers use order words such as ___after____,
   __next____, and _later__ and time words and phrases that identify specific times of
   day, days of the week, and dates, such as the
   _next morning_, ___Tuesday___, and __March 13, 2007___.