Hello! Welcome to this video about informative/informational text! Show It’s easy to think about informative text as writing that provides information, but it’s more than that. Not only does Informative text have its own style, but there are four types of informative text. We’ll go over that and more in this video. Let’s start by answering the question, “What is informational text?” What is Informational Text?Informational text educates the reader about a specific topic. It’s a unique type of writing; you’ll see it in a number of different mediums. A manual with instructions for putting together a desk. A book that provides information on a vacation to a specific place. A non-fiction book that examines World War II. All are examples of informative texts. Informative text can appear in newspapers, textbooks, reference materials, and research papers. Informative text is always nonfiction. This type of writing also has certain characteristics that make this style easier to identify. Let’s take a look at those. CharacteristicsInformative text contains a number of aids that make it easier for readers to follow along and get the information they need. Written cues, graphics, illustrations, and organizational structure are all aids you’ll find in informative text. We’ll start by looking at written cues. Written CuesYou’ll notice these written cues in books. The table of contents, at the front of the book, makes it easy for readers to quickly see where they can find specific information. The index, found at the end of the book, neatly lists all of the topics and the page numbers that denote the location of those topics. If you’re confused by what a word or phrase means, you can check the glossary of terms, which provides those definitions. There might even be an appendix, which provides additional informative text on a specific subject. So how is this informative text organized? OrganizationInformative text uses type, fonts, and labels to help readers find information. A bold word creates emphasis and tells readers, “This is important.” A phrase set in italics is similar; it adds extra emphasis on an important word or phrase. Numbered or bulleted lists set apart important information in an orderly fashion. Authors might use headings, subheadings, and labels to also denote importance. Those are all ways informative texts can organize content. What other techniques do authors use? GraphicsInformative text may contain graphics to help the reader understand the subject. Think of a biology book you’ve recently used. When studying the human body, you’ll see a diagram that shows the location of vital organs and systems, like the brain, heart, and lungs. That’s an example of an informative diagram. It shows you the information while providing some explanatory text. In math books, you’ll see charts that explain how to analyze algebraic equations. You’ll find tables that explain the periodic table of elements. Those maps that show the location of countries? That’s also informative. Flow diagrams, sketches, and maps are all examples of other graphics used in informative texts. But graphics aren’t the only visual aids. IllustrationsIllustrations provide additional visual techniques in informative texts. In the graphics section, I used the example of how authors can graphically represent the brain, heart, and lungs. With illustrations, we can take that one step further. For example, you can focus on one part of the heart by magnifying a specific area. That gives the reader even more information and the ability to study the pulmonary artery, the aorta, or the ventricles in greater detail. Photos are also used for illustrative purposes. Written cues. Organization. Graphics. Illustrations. Those are all the characteristics of informative text. Now, let’s take a look at the four different types of informative text. Informative Text ExamplesLiterary NonfictionBooks can be excellent sources of informative text. Biographies on historical figures fall under the informative category. Technical books on computer software are also informative. So are picture books on astronomy or the earth. Literary nonfiction like memoirs, essays, and autobiographies also fall into these categories. While poetry is known for its allusion, this style of literature also lends itself to informative writing—so long as the poetry contains factual information. This type of informative literary nonfiction tends to be shorter. Expository writing has a different set of characteristics. Expository WritingExpository writing has those written cues we discussed at the beginning of the video. These books contain a table of contents, an index, and a glossary. These are all tools that let readers scan through material and pick what they want to read. The table of contents, organized by chapter, gives readers a chance to skip over certain types of information. For example, when reading a book about Earth, you may be fascinated by geology but not so much by geophysics. The table of contents will guide you to the geology portion of the book. Argumentative/Persuasive WritingBabe Ruth is the greatest baseball player to ever live. Global warming is not fake. Dogs are better than cats. These are all argumentative positions, and the author must try to persuade the reader through data and analysis. The author produces the claims, makes the arguments, and hopes that readers believe he’s right in the end. The last type of informative text is much different from the argumentative style. Procedural WritingProcedural texts provide a step-by-step guide for the user. A cookbook is a good example of procedural text. The recipes provide an ingredient-by-ingredient guide to create a specific dish. If you’re hanging a television using a wall mount, the mount will come with step-by-step instructions. If you’re putting something together, chances are you’re looking at procedural writing. So those are the four types of informative writing. Literary nonfiction, which tends to be shorter writing; expository writing, which has written cues that make it easier for readers to scan information; argumentative or persuasive writing, which advocates a point of view; and procedural writing, a step-by-step guide. That’s our look at informative texts, the writing technique that seeks to inform with facts. I hope this overview was helpful. See you guys next time! The primary purpose of informational text is to provide the reader with nonfiction information about a literary work. Literary texts often tell a story or can be narratives such as novels, poetry, and even some short stories that contain elements of fiction or nonfiction. The informational text includes things like table of contents, glossaries, headers and footers, indices, pictures and captions, labeled diagrams, sidebars, and bold words that help to create the detailed text for the reader. Informational texts’ main purpose is to inform readers about the world around them. Question #1: A recipe for oatmeal cookies Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet Show AnswerQuestion #2: A high school physics textbook Show AnswerQuestion #3: Question #4: A recipe for oatmeal cookies A rulebook for a board game Show AnswerThis article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2011) This article is written like a personal reflection, personal essay, or argumentative essay that states a Wikipedia editor's personal feelings or presents an original argument about a topic. (April 2019) Text types in literature form the basic styles of writing. Factual texts merely seek to inform, whereas literary texts seek to entertain or otherwise engage the reader by using creative language and imagery. There are many aspects to literary writing, and many ways to analyse it, but four basic categories are descriptive, narrative, expository, and argumentative.
Based on perception in time. Narration is the telling of a story; the succession of events is given in chronological order.
The basic purpose of narrative is to entertain, to gain and hold readers' interest. However narratives can also be written to teach or inform, to change attitudes / social opinions e.g. soap operas and television dramas that are used to raise topical issues. Narratives sequence people/characters in time and place but differ from recounts in that through the sequencing, the stories set up one or more problems, which must eventually find a way to be resolved.
The common structure or basic plan of narrative text is known as the "story grammar". Although there are numerous variations of the story grammar, the typical elements are:
The graphic representation of these story grammar elements is called a story map. The exact form and complexity of a map depends, of course, upon the unique structure of each narrative and the personal preference of the teacher constructing the map. Kinds of narrativeThere are many kinds of narrative. They can be imaginary, factual or a combination of both. They may include fairy stories, mysteries, science fiction, romances, horror stories, adventure stories, fables, myths and legends, historical narratives, ballads, slice of life, personal experience, or historical. Features:
In a Traditional Narrative the focus of the text is on a series of actions: Orientation (Introduction) in which the characters, setting, and time of the story are established. Usually answers who? When? Where? E.g. Mr. Wolf went out hunting in the forest one dark gloomy night.Complication or problem The complication usually involves the main character(s) (often mirroring the complications in real life).Resolution There needs to be a resolution of the complication. The complication may be resolved for better or worse/happily or unhappily. Sometimes there are a number of complications that have to be resolved. These add and sustain interest and suspense for the reader.Further more, when there is plan for writing narrative texts, the focus should be on the following characteristics:
It aims at explanation or procedure, i.e. the cognitive analysis and subsequent syntheses of complex facts. Example: An essay on "Rhetoric: What is it and why do we study it?" There is a chance that your work may fall flat if you have not chosen one of the really good expository essay topics. Not all topics out there are interesting or meaty enough to be thoroughly investigated within a paper. Make sure you put effort into choosing a topic that has a lot of material to cover it and pique the interest of readers!
Based on the evaluation and the subsequent subjective judgement in answer to a problem. It refers to the reasons advanced for or against a matter. The writer usually argues with another side to convince the reader to join a certain side. Comparing the past and the present is a good way of framing an argument, especially if a lot has been written about it. A literary text is a piece of writing, such as a book or poem, that has the purpose of telling a story or entertaining, as in a fictional novel. Its primary function as a text is usually aesthetic, but it may also contain political messages or beliefs. American schoolchildren and their parents are taught that literary texts contrast with informational texts that have the purpose of providing information rather than entertainment. Informational texts, such as science briefs and history books, are increasingly receiving emphasis in public school curricula as part of the Common Core State Standards. As a result, many parents have challenged the idea that literary texts are of less pedagogical value than informational ones.
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What type of text is being referred to when its purpose is to give information about something?
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