Text Structure
📋 What it is
Nonfiction is organised in patterns: cause/effect, compare/contrast, sequence, problem/solution.
🗣️ Coach says
Writers organise information in patterns, and spotting the pattern helps you follow and remember it. Signal words are your guide: “because” = cause/effect, “unlike” = compare, “first/next” = sequence.
🧠 Memory hook
Signal words reveal the structure: because (cause), unlike (compare), first (sequence).
😂 Giggle
What do you call a story set in a bakery?
A tale that's always rising in action!
😲 Whoa!
Your memory works better when you match the text’s structure — organising notes as cause→effect or compare→contrast helps you recall far more.
✅ Quick check: A passage says “Because the ice melted, the town flooded.” What structure is that?
Say your answer out loud first — then reveal.
Cause and effect — “because” signals that the melting (cause) led to the flood (effect).
Signal words like “because/so/therefore” mark a cause-and-effect structure.
🧪 Try it! (2 minutes)
Find a nonfiction paragraph and name its structure from the signal words. Compare/contrast? Sequence? Cause/effect?