Informational Text

Informational Text

1. What Is Informational Text?

   • At school, you study your textbook. On the way to a new store, you pay attention to street signs. When you get home, you read a magazine article about your favorite band. Textbooks, street signs, and magazine articles are all types of informational text. Because you rely on such texts as sources of information, you have to know how to read and interpret them.

2. Purpose

   • The primary purpose of informational text is to inform readers—to conv ey facts, details, instructions, and other information.a situation in which a person must use informational text to gather facts.

3. Types of Informational Text

   • Texbook
     • maybe even one for each of your classes. A textbook contains academic, or educational, information about such topics as math, science, history, and literature.
   • Web sites
     • is a type of interactive text found on the Internet. Any person can create a Web site with information about nearly any topic—from the collection found in your local museum to clothing styles worn by the warriors of ancient Rome.
   • Feature articles
     • provides in-depth coverage of interesting people, topics, or trends. Such articles appear in newspapers or magazines that release new issues on a regular basis. Many magazines include features articles on a single area of interest, such as sports or politics. Others have a general focus. Most magazines have online versions.
   • New articles
     • is factual writing that reports on current world, national, and local events. News articles appear in newspapers that are published daily, weekly, or at other regular intervals. Newspapers often have online versions that are constantly updated.
   • Instructional manuals
     • is a type of consumer document, or a text that usually comes with products that you have purchased. The instructions are intended to explain how to set up and use the products.

4. Common Text Features

   • Table of contents
     • is found at the beginning of most textbooks, magazines, and newspapers. This feature gives readers a general overview of the information in the text. The table of contents lists the general sections, main topics, and subtopics, as well as provides a page number for each.
       • Headlines and titles
         • A headline or title appears at the beginning of a text, often in larger boldfaced type. Headlines and titles convey the main idea of a text, or the most important idea that the writer wants to communicate.
         • headings and subheadings
           • usually in large or boldfaced type. They communicate the main ideas of key sections in a text. Subheadings, which are in smaller type, convey subtopics. Previewing the headings and subheadings before you read can help you get a sense of what a text is about.
             • the back of a textbook or some magazines, is an alphabetical list of all topics and subtopics found in the text. The index also provides page numbers. An index is more comprehensive than a table of contents.
           • index