Non Fiction Intro

Informational Text Intro

English 2

​What is an informational text?

A non fiction text that provides you with information!

​

​For example, a research article about how bats fly, a newspaper article about a man who saved a cat, a magazine article about ways to attract a partner. All of these are informational texts!

Multiple Choice

Which of the following would not be an informational text?

• An article in a scholarly journal about how pigs digest food.

• A long story about a girl who inherits magical powers and moves to a new city to learn to use them

• An essay in which the author describes how to service a boat.

• A book that tells the reader about the different species of dinosaur.

​What is a central idea?

​Central idea is very similar to main idea. It's what the text is mostly about.

​

​In order to find a central idea, you should read the ENTIRE text and ask yourself what the text is about. Looking for things like the title and subheadings can help you as well but shouldn't be the ONLY thing to determine your answer.

Multiple Choice

Find the central idea
 Being a clown isn't all fun and games.  Rodeo clowns expose themselves to great danger every time they perform.  When cowboys dismount or are bucked off of bulls at riding competitions, rodeo clowns jump in front of the bulls and motion wildly to get their attention.  In this way rodeo clowns provide an alternate target, and in doing so protect the rider.  So you see, sometimes clowning around can be serious business

• Being a clown isn't all fun and games.
• Rodeo clowns protect cowboys by putting themselves in danger.
• Rodeos are exciting.
• Clowns are good at riding bulls.

Multiple Choice

Because lambs are sometimes eaten by coyotes, ranchers may hunt or trap the coyotes. However, killing coyotes may upset nature's balance. Scientists have found a way to protect sheep without killing coyotes. Coyotes are fed lamb meat treated with a drug. When they eat the meat, they get sick. Later, coyotes won't even go near lambs. They'll hunt rabbits instead.

This story mainly tells.....

• Coyotes prefer rabbits to lambs.

• Killing coyotes upsets nature's balance.

• Scientists are trying to protect sheep and coyotes.

Multiple Choice

Most people think that gorillas are mean, but actually they are shy. It seems that such a huge animal with very large teeth would be aggressive. Hollywood movies help convey this image of the scary, ferocious gorilla. In fact, gorillas only attack if they are provoked. 
This author belives that:

• Gorillas are misunderstood as vicious animals.
• Gorillas are mean animals
• Gorillas don't like other animals.

Multiple Choice

What is the main idea of the following text?

The paths you choose today can shape you forever. It’s both frightening and exciting that we have to make so many vital decisions when we’re so young and full of hormones, but such is life. Imagine an eighty-foot rope stretched out before you. Each foot represents one year of your life. Teenagehood is only seven years, such a short span of rope, but those seven affect the remaining sixty-one, for good or bad, in such a powerful way.

• It is both frightening and exciting that you have to make so many vital decisions.

• Life is short like an eighty-foot rope.

• The paths you choose today can shape you forever.

​How are informational texts structured?

​Informational texts can be structured in many different ways, but usually follow one of the patterns shown.

Multiple Choice

The Green sea turtle is on the endangered list while the Loggerhead is listed as threatened. The Green sea turtle eats grass, algae and other vegetation and is classified as herbivorous.
This is an example of what?

• Cause and Effect
• Problem and Solution 
• Compare and Contrast 
• Description 

Multiple Choice

Ice-cream is a delicious frozen treat that comes in many different colors and flavors. Two of my favorite flavors are strawberry and chocolate. Though both of these flavors are delicious, strawberry may contain pieces of fruit, while chocolate usually will not. Even though more chocolate ice-cream is sold across the country annually than strawberry, each flavor tastes great inside of a milk shake.

• cause and effect

• compare and contrast

• chronological

• sequnce

Multiple Choice

If someone wants to write a recipe to make chocolate cake, what would be the best text structure to use?

• description

• sequence

• problem and solution

• compare and contrast

Multiple Choice

Which of the following is the best example of a cause and effect structure?

• Amy studied for the test; therefore, she passed.

• Marcus writes an essay on the benefits of running.

• First, Lisa bought a present, then she wrapped it, and lastly she gave it to her friend.

• Daniel wrote a paragraph about the life cycle of a butterfly.

Multiple Choice

Which of the following structures is a writer most likely to use to write a proposal on how widening the roads will reduce traffic?

• problem Solution

• cause and effect

• chronology

• none of the above

Multiple Choice

Which of the following structures would a writer use to explain the characterstics of a volcano.

• cause and effect

• description

• sequence

Multiple Choice

No one knows the true origin of ice-cream, but the first published ice-cream recipe appears in “Mrs. Mary Eales's Receipts,” a cook book that was printed in London in 1718. Sometime around 1832, an African American confectioner named Augustus Jackson created multiple ice cream recipes and invented a superior technique to manufacture ice cream. Ice cream soda was invented around 1874, but the real breakthrough may have been at the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri, when the American ice-cream cone was unveiled!

• cause and effect

• sequence

• problem and solution

• chronological

Multiple Choice

Have you ever had an ice-cream headache? That’s when a painful sensation resonates in your head after eating something cold (usually ice-cream) on a hot day. This pain is produced by the dilation of a nerve center in the roof of your mouth. The nerve center is overreacting to the cold by trying to heat your brain. Ice-cream headaches have turned many smiles to frowns.

• problem and solution

• cause and effect

• chronological

• spatial

Multiple Choice

What is the text structure?

The Revolutionary War was a time of great division. Americans were split into two groups: Patriots and Loyalists. Patriots were Americans who supported the struggle for independence. They believed that Americans should be free from the control of an English king. They fought against the English to establish a new government in America. Loyalists were Americans who remained loyal to the crown. Some of them were happy under English rule. Others believed that they might be rewarded after the Americans lost the war. Though both Patriots and Loyalists lived in America, a deep division ran between them.

• Compare and Contrast

• Problem Solution

• Cause and Effect

• Chronological Order

• Sequence

Multiple Choice

Which keywords would most likely be  used in a text using chronological text structure?

• before, in the beginning, next, last, after
• similar, differences, both, alike
• since, because, if, as a result of
• for example, characteristics, for instance

Multiple Choice

Which keywords would most likely be  used in a text using compare and  contrast text structure?

• before, in the beginning, next, last, after
• similar, differences, both, alike
• since, because, if, as a result of
• for example, characteristics, for instance

Multiple Choice

Robert James Fischer was born in Chicago. Yet he unlocked the secrets of chess in a Brooklyn apartment right above a candy store. At the age of six he taught himself to play by following the instruction booklet that came with his chess board. After spending much of his childhood in chess clubs, Fischer said that, "One day, I just got good." That may have been a bit of an understatement. At the age of 13 he won the U.S. Junior Chess Championship. He was the youngest Junior Champion ever. At the age of 14 he won the U.S. Championship, also becoming the youngest U.S. Champion in history. Fischer even went on to become the World Champion of chess, but he would also grow to become his own worst enemy. He forfeited the championship to the next challenger without even making a move. The rise of a chess superstar ended with a fizzle.

• Cause and Effect

• Chronological Order

• Problem and Solution

• Compare and Contrast

Multiple Choice

Don't let the tigers vanish. These majestic beasts are disappearing at an alarming rate. We should write to our congress people. If we let them know that we demand the preservation of this species, maybe we can make a difference. We should also donate some of our money to Save the Tigers. Help support those who fight the hardest to preserve the tigers. We owe it to our grandchildren to do something.

• Cause and Effect

• Chronological Order

• Problem and Solution

• Compare and Contrast