Text structure: how to teach students how nonfiction is built
In short
Text structure is the way a writer organizes information. Most nonfiction uses five structures: description, sequence, compare and contrast, cause and effect, and problem and solution. Teaching students to spot the structure helps them find main ideas, remember information and write their own organized texts.
What is text structure?
Text structure is the skeleton of a text, the pattern a writer uses to arrange ideas so that readers can follow them from start to finish. Stories usually follow a narrative structure with characters, a problem and a resolution. Nonfiction uses several different structures, often mixed within one article.
Readers who notice the structure understand more. If a student knows a passage is comparing frogs and toads, they read looking for similarities and differences. That expectation guides their attention and helps them organize what they learn in memory.
What are the five nonfiction text structures?
| Structure | Purpose | Signal words | Graphic organizer |
|---|---|---|---|
| Description | Tells about a topic's features | for example, such as, also, in addition | Web or bulleted list |
| Sequence | Gives events or steps in order | first, next, then, finally, after | Timeline or numbered steps |
| Compare and contrast | Shows how things are alike and different | both, similar, however, unlike, but | Two-column chart or Venn diagram |
| Cause and effect | Explains why something happens | because, so, as a result, therefore | Arrow chart |
| Problem and solution | States a problem and ways to solve it | problem, solved, one answer is, so that | Problem box with solution boxes |
Real texts often combine structures. An article about saving sea turtles might describe the turtles, explain what threatens them as cause and effect, and end with solutions. Teach the structures one at a time, then show students how they mix.
Does teaching text structure help comprehension?
Yes. The What Works Clearinghouse guide on K to 3 comprehension recommends teaching students to identify and use text structure, rating the evidence as moderate. Studies have found that students who learn to recognize structure recall more information and pick out main ideas more accurately.
Structure also helps with writing. A student who has studied compare and contrast in reading can use the same pattern to organize their own writing. Reading and writing support each other here more than almost anywhere else.
How do you teach a text structure?
Teach one structure at a time, starting with sequence or description, which most students find easiest because they match the way people naturally tell about things. Use short, clear examples first, then move to real texts where the structure is less obvious.
- Name the structure and explain its purpose in one sentence.
- Show a short model paragraph and point out the signal words.
- Fill in a graphic organizer together using the paragraph.
- Give students a new paragraph to read and identify the structure in pairs.
- Have students write a short paragraph using the same structure.
- Teacher
- Listen: "Frogs have smooth, wet skin. Toads, however, have dry, bumpy skin." Which word tells us the writer is showing a difference?
- Student
- However.
- Teacher
- Right. So what structure is this?
- Student
- Compare and contrast.
- Teacher
- Good. Let's put frogs in one column and toads in the other.
Are signal words reliable?
Signal words are helpful, but they aren't foolproof. Many texts use few signal words, and some words, like "then", appear in many structures. Teach signal words as clues, not rules. The real test is the writer's purpose: what is this paragraph trying to do?
How do graphic organizers help?
Graphic organizers make structure visible. A timeline shows sequence at a glance. A two-column chart shows comparisons. Filling one in forces students to sort information according to the structure, which helps them understand and remember it.
Use organizers as a support, then fade them. If students fill in organizers forever, they may rely on the chart rather than noticing the structure on their own. By upper elementary, many students can sketch their own organizers as they read.
When should text structure be taught?
Story structure can start in kindergarten through read-alouds, with simple questions about characters, setting, problem and solution. Nonfiction structures can start in first and second grade with sequence and description, using read-aloud texts.
By third grade, students can learn all five structures and practice them in their own reading. In middle school, the focus shifts to longer texts with mixed structures and to using structure in writing.
How do you link structure to writing?
After students study a structure in reading, have them write a short piece using it. A class that has read about how volcanoes form can write a sequence paragraph about the steps. A class comparing two animals can write a compare and contrast paragraph using the chart they made.
Writing with a structure in mind helps students notice it in their reading, and the two skills grow together.
What does text structure look like in stories?
Stories have their own structure, often called story grammar. Most stories introduce characters and a setting, present a problem, show attempts to solve it, and end with a resolution. Students who know this pattern can predict what's coming, notice when the problem changes, and retell stories in an organized way.
A simple story map with boxes for characters, setting, problem, events and solution helps young students see this structure. By third grade, students can start to notice how authors bend the pattern, such as stories that start in the middle or end without solving the problem.