Have you ever walked into a large office building and been completely confused about where to go? You may see elevators, doors, stairways, and desks everywhere, so where should you start?
If you look around carefully, you will probably see signs that can help you. A directory of names can tell you which floor to go to, which stairs to climb, or which door to go through. The key is to look closely at the signs and figure out how they can help you.
The same is true in reading. When you first look at all those words on the page, it can be overwhelming. Fortunately, most authors know how to use text structures to guide readers through their texts. They arrange information in ways that readers will recognize--just as architects and construction companies use familiar signs and structures to design office buildings.
In general, signs related to text structure take two forms: typographical cues and organizational patterns. Typographical cues consist of text that is formatted differently from other text in the chapter or article, such as titles and subtitles, headings and subheadings, bold and italic fonts, and photo captions. Some texts include additional tools, each with its own unique format, such as a glossary, an index, or a table of contents.
An organizational pattern is the way an author organizes details into sentences and paragraphs. Depending on the topic, an author may use chronological order (time sequence), comparative order (compare/contrast), cause and effect, problem and solution, or description that starts with general ideas and gets more specific. Each pattern is associated with a different set of transition tags--words or phrases that help readers move from one sentence to the next.
Do you know which organizational pattern each of these transition tags represents? Click each word or phrase to check your answer.
| Next... | chronological order |
| On the other hand... | comparative order |
| As a result... | cause and effect |
