Text Features

Information for this presentation is taken from the following source:

** Reader’s Handbook, A Student Guide to Reading and Learning by Great Source

Human beings have important elements in their bodies such as a

heart, lungs, blood vessels and brain. These elements stand out from

other features of our body.

Textbooks and informational text also

have important elements that stand out from the other parts of the text.

While reading informational text, you have probably seen some or

all of the following:

• ** Boldface terms ** Photos and Illustrations

• ** Charts ** Preview

• ** Glossary ** Table of contents

• ** Headings and Titles ** Caption

• ** Index ** Timeline

• ** Maps

These are called Text Features and their purpose is

help us understand the information

presented.

Boldface•boldface type is a signal

to: Slow Down and Pay Attention

•signals that a word, term, or event is important

Charts•gives information, show

processes or make comparisons

•packs lots of information in a small space

•a great resource to help you understand information in the text

Glossary•alphabetical list of key

people, places, events, and terms.

•a tool to help you understand the language of the subject

Graphs•uses pictures and symbols to

show information

•a graph is shown to make a point

•always read the graph’s title, labels on the vertical and horizontal axes, and any other text included with the graph

Headings and Titles•announces the topics that will be

covered

•allows us to be efficient in our reading -- skim the headings to focus on the purpose of our reading

• increase your comprehension by turning headings and titles into a question -- as you continue to read, can you answer your “question”?

Index•found at the very back of a

textbook

•gives the location of every important idea, term, definition, person, and place.

•a search tool to help you find what you need

MapsWhen reading a map, pay attention to the following:

• ** Lines ** Scale

• ** Symbols ** Colors

• ** Labels ** Legend or Key

• ** Compass Rose

• ** Lines of Longitude and Latitude

Photos and Illustrations

• photos and illustrations are used to emphasize or make important points

• read the captions

• captions tell you the reason for putting the picture or illustration in the text

• captions say in a few lines, what the author takes paragraphs to explain

PreviewMany textbooks include a

preview at the beginning of chapters.

• acts like a summary

• packs into one small space, all of the important things to know about a chapter

• key terms and important vocabulary will often be listed in the preview

There are additional text

features such as color, italics, underlining,

examples, insets and many, many

more!!!!

Authors use text features to bring

attention to important details.

And now you are saying, “So

What?”.

Here’s the, “So What!”.

Putting text features into use will help you

understand more of your reading, and probably

allow you to do it in less time!!!!

You can use text features to become

more successful and efficient in your reading of

informational text.

So next time you have a reading assignment to

complete, pay attention to the text features as

you read. See if you can put them to use to

increase your comprehension and maybe you will even

finish your assignment in less time.