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Nonfiction Text Features

Students will be able to identify the various text features in a nonfiction text.

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Text Features

Table of Contents

Glossary

Bold Print

Photographs & Illustrations

Maps

Charts & Graphs

Captions & Labels

Index

Headings/Subheadings

Bibliography

Introduction

Bullets, Asterisks, & Stars

Inserts & Sidebars

Diagrams & Cutaways

Time Line

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Turn & Talk

Why are text features important in nonfiction books?

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Photographs & Illustrations

Visual images that

help readers understand

exactly what something looks

like.

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Captions & Labels

Single words, short phrases, or paragraphs

That accompany illustrations,

Photographs, or diagrams.

To help readers better understand a picture

or photograph.

Labels are words or phrases

to help readers better This parrot is eating a seed.

understand a picture or photograph.

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Maps

Visual images of geographic

features that help readers

understand where countries,

cities, etc. are located in

the world.

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Headings

The titles or topics at the

beginning of a larger

Section.

To help the readers

understand what a section

of a text is going to be

about.

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Subheadings

Short phrases, sentences, or questions that highlight a key point within a section.
To help the readers by giving a preview of what the sub-section will be about.

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Types of Print

Different ways to make words stand out

in the text.

To help readers by signaling, “Look at me!

I’m important!”

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Time Line

Information that expands upon

the text, placed in chronological order.

To help readers understand the time

order relationship among events,

people, and discoveries.

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Bibliography

A list of resources used in writing the text.
To help the readers understand where
information was gathered and where to go
for additional information.

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Introduction

Information at the beginning of a text or a short explanatory section or page that comes at the beginning of a text.
To help the readers get oriented to the text through background information or context; to provide information about the purpose and/or focus of the text; to state the author’s intention.

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Bullets, Asterisks, & Stars

Indicate important information or facts that can be found in the text.
To help the readers easily identify important information.

* *************

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Index

An alphabetical list of important

subjects in the text that is

located in the back of a text.

To help the readers easily locate

specific information in the text.

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Inserts & Sidebars

Additional information found in boxes or along the sides of the page.
To help the readers understand more information about important points in the text.

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Diagrams & Cutaways

Diagrams are illustrations that

help readers more clearly

understand the information.

Illustrations of objects or an inside look

at what is being discussed that are

usually labeled.

To help the readers more clearly understand

the information.

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Table of Contents

The table of contents is at the beginning of the

book.

It tells the reader WHAT is in the book and

WHERE to find it in the book!

The number tells us which page to look for.

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Charts and Graphs

An organized collection of information in

a clear, visual presentation to help

readers visualize information.

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Glossary

A List of words and their definitions located at
the end of the text.

To help the readers learn the definitions of

words contained in the text.