GUIDE QUESTIONS
1. What is the text all about?
2. How does the author organize
the ideas in the paragraph?
3. How are ideas and sentences
connected in order to convey the
meaning of the text?
WHAT IS
TEXT
STRUCTURE
?
TEXT
STRUCTURE
It
is how information in a
passage is organized.
refers to the internal
organization of a text. As
authors write a text to
communicate an idea, they
will use a structure that
goes along with the idea
(Meyer,1985).
SIX COMMON
PATTERNS OF
ORGANIZATIO
N
1. Chronological
2. Sequence
3. Compare and contrast
4. Problem and solution
5. Cause and effect
6. Spatial / Descriptive
AL
G I C
L O
NO
RO
CH
information is organized
in order of time.
Chrono = time
Logic = order
Signal words:
shortly, since, second,
third, immediately and
etc.
SEQUENCE /
PROCESS
WRITING
information is listed
step - by- step and
explains how to do it or
how it happens.
It
does not occur at
specific time
Signal words:
next, later, last, finally,
in the end, at first and
etc.
CAUSE
AND
EFFECT
– an action and its result
are explained.
Signal Words:
(Causes – because, due to, for
this reason, if this, etc.)
(Effects – as a result,
consequently, hence, resulting,
since, therefore etc.)
COMPARE
AND
CONTRAST
tells how two things
are similar and
different
Signal words:
(Comparison –also, as well as, both,
compared to, in comparison,
similarly, and etc.)
(Contrast – although, on the
contrary, on the other hand, in
spite of, unlike and etc.)
DIFFEREN
CES
SIMILARITI
ES
PROBLEM
AND
SOLUTION
-a problem and answer
are suggested
-is presented as a
PROBLEM.
Signal words:
answer, challenge,
improve, respond,
suggest and etc
SPATIAL OR
DESCRIPTI
VE
describes how
something looks.
Signal words:
above, adjacent to,
away, below, behind,
nearby, toward