Nonfiction Text Features
Imagine you have just met a new person. You don't know a whole lot about them yet, but you can make some predictions based on their facial features. Their nose is crooked, so you can infer that they broke it at some point in their life. They have freckles, so its likely they spend a lot of time out in the sun. Maybe there are fine lines around their eyes and mouth, signifying that they smile a lot. You have just used their features to gain more knowledge about that person, before talking to them or directly learning information about them.
Nonfiction texts have distinguishing features, too. As a reader, when you are able to identify and analyze the key features of a text, you will be able to gain a better understanding of what the author wants you to learn. Just as with facial features, text features are visual cues that the reader can use to identify what the text is about, before even reading it. This lesson introduces commonly seen text features and strategies on how to analyze what their functions are.
Refer to the picture below as an example of what some of these features look like.
An example of text features in a nonfiction text.
Headings and Subheadings
Headings and subheadings are used to help the reader identify the main topic of the entire text (heading), and sections of the text (subheading). They allow the reader to predict what the text will be about. When you begin reading an article, the heading is usually up at the top of the page.
If you grab any magazine and turn to an article, you will see the heading, possibly in color and larger print. Let's say the heading is 'Ocean Creatures'. You can predict that you are going to read about a variety of animals that live under the sea. The subheadings in this article may be 'Sharks', 'Flounder', 'Coral Reefs', etc. Each subheading gives a more specific look at the larger topic.
Boldface, Italics, and Underlining
Boldface is used when the author introduces a key word or term, or gives a special emphasis. The word appears thicker and darker than the rest of the print on the page.
What Are Informational Texts?
How many times have you read something today? While you may not have sat down with a new book, you might have read other things. Maybe you read a quick article, perused posts on social media, read a textbook, or even visited the websites of your favorite newspapers and magazines. Each time you read today, you learned new information or built upon information you already have.
When we learn new information from reading, we are exploring informational texts. Informational texts are nonfiction, factual writings. When an author writes an informational text, he/she wants to inform the audience of the topic in an easy-to-follow format. You can find informational text in essays, articles, books, handouts, or brochures.
An informational text is different than other nonfiction writings because its purpose is to share information about our social world. This is different from other nonfiction that may share a process, tell a biography, or retell an event.
While informational texts are a type of nonfiction, they do have unique qualities that make them easy to identify through organizational features and structure. In this lesson, we will discuss the characteristics of informational texts.
Organizational Features
Before discussing the different types of informational texts, let's first discuss some of the features that most informational texts share. Imagine for a moment that you are reading an informational text for the first time.
Informational texts are well-organized and contain aids throughout. When you begin reading the text, you may find a table of contents, index, or a preface. At the end of the text, you may see a glossary or appendix.
There are also things throughout the text that make it easier to follow. First, the author may use print features, such as fonts, headings, bolding, italics, or bullets. These print features help to organize the main idea of the paper. They can also help to draw the learner's eye to vocabulary terms or other key concepts.
Next, you may see that the text contains many different kinds of visual aids. Examples of visual aids include diagrams, graphs, maps, charts, or tables. Visual aids can help an author share a lot of information in a small setting. For example, a graph can tell years of data that would normally take several paragraphs. Finally, the informational text may contain illustrations or drawings. Since the goal of an informational text is to inform, the author may use many different visuals and pictures to help with this.
In addition to these organizational features, informational texts will focus on the topic through repetition of key words, introducing new vocabulary, and including illustrations or diagrams.
Structure & Examples
There are many different kinds of informational texts and each follows its own structure. Let's explore some of these now!
A comparison and contrast structure will discuss the similarities and differences between two topics. To organize a comparison and contrast text, an author should research characteristics of each topic and then share how they are alike or Different .
Expository Text
When we read fiction novels, we are taking in narrative text. This type of text tells a story and generally uses a lot of emotion. The opposite of this is expository text, which exists to provide facts in a way that is educational and purposeful. The text is fact-based with the purpose of exposing the truth through a reliable source. True and deliberate expository text will focus on educating its reader. Other descriptors of exposition are clear, concise, and organized writing. Expository text gets to the point quickly and efficiently.
Imagine a parent is exposing a child to the thrill of riding a bicycle. They would speak in the form of expository text, providing directions that are fact-based and focused: hands on the bars, one foot on the pedal, push off… and so forth. Most likely, this would have to be done and repeated several times before a child could be off biking alone, but the same phrases would be repeated and the child would be learning.
If a parent tried to teach a child to ride a bike in narrative form, such as only telling the story of when and how they themselves learned to ride or what the weather was like that day, the bike-riding lesson would be less successful. The child would get frustrated and not be exposed to necessary skills for riding a bike. Emotions would take over through the narrative (story telling). The lesson and facts would be a failed attempt.
Examples
Expository text is information-based text. Some common examples are:
Textbooks
News articles
Instruction manuals
Recipes
City or country guides
Language books
Self-help books
Many of these examples are solely expository. Others may also include opinions, which are not considered to be exposing facts; expressing opinion would be another lesson. This lesson itself is in fact another example of expository text. You've been reading exposition for six paragraphs now.
Exposition Combined with Narrative
Narrative Nonfiction Defined
Your idea of 'nonfiction' may involve dusty old reference materials, textbooks, and yellowing newspaper archives. But true stories can be just as engaging as their fictional counterparts when their authors are committed to the craft of storytelling. Also known as creative or literary nonfiction, narrative nonfiction is a genre of nonfiction in which factual matter is presented in a narrative style using literary techniques.
But what does that mean, exactly? Think about the last time you saw a report on the local news or read an article in the newspaper. What sort of style do you associate with these media? How was the information presented to you? Chances are you would consider the presentation very 'dry' and straightforward, with little room for or embellishment. Nonfiction sources like these tend not to employ literary techniques such as character narration or complex metaphorical imagery. On the other hand, literary nonfiction authors handle the same type of material as your local news anchor, only they do so in a way that tells a personal and richly detailed story.
In effect, this genre is a blend of the artistic touches we're used to in fictional works, like novels and short stories, and the factual accuracy we expect from our news sources and reference materials. Although creative nonfiction authors craft their stories artfully, they are still obligated to ensure that what they say is true. Otherwise, it couldn't be classified as 'nonfiction.' For instance, James Frey, author of A Million Little Pieces, passed his work off as narrative nonfiction, but was heavily criticized for all of the fictitious elements he included. To make sure that their facts are not as 'creative' as their expression of them, narrative nonfiction writers must quite often engage in rigorous research of their subject, even if the subject is part of their own personal experience.
The term 'narrative nonfiction' could be applied to just about any subgenre in the nonfictional category, but there are a few that lend themselves to it more readily than others. Many of these rely on first-person narration, so they tend to be autobiographical in nature, like diaries and memoirs. Another instance in which first-person voices are typically heard is the personal essay, which presents an individualized approach to a scholarly subject, for instance, your take on climate change. Some examples of literary nonfiction use third-person narrators, which is often the case in literary journalism, an investigative piece reported in a narrative rather than purely journalistic fashion.