1. An Overview of Informational Text
Informational Text Skill Explainer
What is informational text?

Whether you’re trying to understand photosynthesis or find out the rules for the board game “Ticket to Ride,” learning something new often requires turning to an informational text.
Informational text, also called expository text, is a type of nonfiction writing designed to convey factual information about a specific topic. History and science books, newspapers, magazines, biographies, and instructional manuals are all examples of informational texts. The purpose of these texts is to inform, describe, explain, and report information.
As students move through the grades, more and more of their content knowledge and vocabulary will be gleaned from informational text.
Informational text has five agreed-on text structures (Meyer, 1985 (opens in new window)): description; sequence; compare and contrast; cause and effect; and problem and solution. Authors use these structures to organize the information they're presenting in a way that's clear for readers.
Students should receive explicit instruction about each informational text structure, its characteristics, its purpose, and the words often used to signal it.
Informational Text Structures
Compiled from The Reading Comprehension Blueprint (Hennessy, 2021) and Understanding and Teaching Reading Comprehension: A Handbook (Oakhill et al., 2014) |
Structure | Purpose | Words That Signal This Text Structure |
---|---|---|
Description | Describes the characteristics and features of a topic, including examples | for example, to illustrate, for instance, in addition |
Sequence or chronology | Tells the order or timing of events | first, before, finally, initially, at that point |
Compare and contrast | Examines the similarities and differences between two or more people, events, concepts, and/or ideas | similarly, in common, either/or, different than, on the other hand |
Cause and effect | Gives how or why (cause) and the result (effect) | because, since, as a result of, reasons why |
Problem and solution | A problem and solution are presented | because, result, answer |


Graphic Organizers for Reading Comprehension
These graphic organizers provide a scaffold for teaching narrative and informational text structures.
These graphic organizers provide a scaffold for teaching narrative and informational text structures.
More to Come!
We'll be adding more content to this skill explainer in the coming days and months. Please subscribe to our newsletter to receive updates!