Text Structure, Features, and Genre Awareness
What this domain asks you to do
This domain tests whether you recognize how a text is built and what kind of text it is. Text structure is the way ideas are organized: compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem/solution, chronological order, and description. Text features are the tools that help readers navigate: headings, captions, bold words, diagrams, indexes, and glossaries. Genre is the category of writing: fiction, nonfiction, poetry, drama, biography, and so on.
Concepts to master
- Signal words: because, so, as a result (cause/effect); unlike, both, however (compare/contrast); first, next, finally (chronological); the problem is, one solution (problem/solution).
- Text features: each one has a job. A caption explains a picture; a glossary defines words; a heading signals a new topic.
- Genre clues: poetry uses line breaks and stanzas; drama uses character names and stage directions; biography tells a real person's life.
Traps to watch for
- Labeling a passage cause/effect when it only lists events in time order.
- Ignoring a diagram or caption that contains the answer.
- Confusing a biography (true) with historical fiction (made up but realistic).
- Choosing a feature that is present but does not do the job the question describes.
Rule of thumb
Ask: How does the author move from one idea to the next? The signal words usually reveal the structure. For genre, check whether the events really happened and how the text is laid out on the page.
Worked example: A passage says, Unlike frogs, toads have dry, bumpy skin. Both, however, begin life as tadpoles. The words unlike and both, however signal compare/contrast, not description.