What is Informational Text?
- Informational text provides facts about a topic--it generally does not focus on someone’s
real or imagined story. Informational text provides facts and information. It is not a work of
fiction.
- You probably read informational text all the time. You may not call it by that name, though.
Instead, you may call it nonfiction. Nonfiction is any writing that is not a made-up story,
while informational text is a type of nonfiction that is written simply to deliver
information.
- Informational text can take many forms–from directions on the back of a box of cake mix
to the manual that comes with a new cell phone to newspaper and magazine articles. In this
course, we will talk mainly about the informational text found in books and magazines and
on websites.
- All informational text offers facts and details about a subject or topic.
What kinds of topics are considered Informational Text?
- Informational text could be about a person, such as George Washington, Nelson Mandela,
Michael Jordan, or Johnny Cash. Or an informational article could focus on an entire group
of people, such as presidents, activists, professional athletes, or musicians.
- Some informational text is about a place, such as the Eiffel Tower, Central Park in New
York, or the Sahara Desert. There may be informational text somewhere about the city,
town, or country where you live.
- Informational text may focus on a sport or activity, such as the game of baseball, how to
knit a sweater, or what to look for when buying appliances for a home.
- Informational text can be about anything, from seaweed to spiders to squirrels to the
history of bicycles.
What about an autobiography? Is that considered Informational Text?
- No, an autobiography is nonfiction (not fiction), but it is not informational text. Its main
purpose is to tell someone's life story, not to provide information about a specific topic.
What is NOT Informational Text?
- An informational article can be written about any topic or subject we can imagine. That
does not mean that everything we read is informational text, though. Even if a short story
or biography is based on historical events or includes facts about a person, a place, or a
thing, it is not informational text. Informational text will have only facts and details--no
dialogue, no characters, no literary elements.
- Novels, poetry, and other forms of fiction are called literary text. Literary text tends to
include language that is less straightforward and direct than the language used in
informational text. Rather than delivering information, literary text is used to develop
, themes and ideas, as well as characters and plots in many cases. Literature is also meant to
affect readers emotionally, while informational text rarely has that purpose.
What is your first clue about the type of text that is included in a book or article?
- A book's title is often the first clue you'll see that the book is full of informational text.
That's because nonfiction books, including books of informational text, usually have titles
that are designed to help readers find them. Suppose you see a title like this one, for
example: The Hudson River: An Important Shipping Route
- You can be fairly certain that a book or article with this title will contain only informational
text about shipping routes on the Hudson River. It's not likely to include stories,
characters, or poetic language. It's informational rather than literary text.
Why does it matter if you can identify articles and books as informational text?
- You should know how to think about the details in a book when you start reading it--are
the details factual or fictional?
How do you identify informational text if you don't know the title?
- Even if you don't know the title of a book or article, it's not usually difficult to tell if a
paragraph contains informational text. The text won't take the form of a narrative, and you
won't see details about a character's thoughts, feelings, or adventures.
- Here's a line from some informational text about coffee beans: Growing coffee beans will be
most successful in tropical climates. We can tell it is informational text because it is a fact.
Compare it to the line below from a fictional story that mentions coffee beans: Victor tried
hard to grow coffee beans, but he had no luck. Maybe it was because he no longer lived in
Guatemala, but in Chicago.
- Even though both of these sentences are related to coffee beans, the second statement
sounds more like a story than factual information about coffee. Suppose you have to write a
report about the history of fireworks. Here is an example of the type of informational text
you may find while researching the topic: The first recorded use of fireworks occurred in
200 BC in China. Villagers would throw green bamboo shoots into fires, and the heat
would expand the air pockets inside until the bamboo exploded. The loud bang was meant
to scare away evil spirits.
- You may find fireworks and even the history of fireworks mentioned in other places. If you
find a passage like the one below, though, you should not consider it a source of factual
information for your report.
- "Last night's fireworks show was so beautiful," Kim said as she placed some discarded cups
in a large black garbage bag. "But some people have left a mess. We'll have to work on that
next year."
- Informational text provides facts about a topic--it generally does not focus on someone’s
real or imagined story. Informational text provides facts and information. It is not a work of
fiction.
- You probably read informational text all the time. You may not call it by that name, though.
Instead, you may call it nonfiction. Nonfiction is any writing that is not a made-up story,
while informational text is a type of nonfiction that is written simply to deliver
information.
- Informational text can take many forms–from directions on the back of a box of cake mix
to the manual that comes with a new cell phone to newspaper and magazine articles. In this
course, we will talk mainly about the informational text found in books and magazines and
on websites.
- All informational text offers facts and details about a subject or topic.
What kinds of topics are considered Informational Text?
- Informational text could be about a person, such as George Washington, Nelson Mandela,
Michael Jordan, or Johnny Cash. Or an informational article could focus on an entire group
of people, such as presidents, activists, professional athletes, or musicians.
- Some informational text is about a place, such as the Eiffel Tower, Central Park in New
York, or the Sahara Desert. There may be informational text somewhere about the city,
town, or country where you live.
- Informational text may focus on a sport or activity, such as the game of baseball, how to
knit a sweater, or what to look for when buying appliances for a home.
- Informational text can be about anything, from seaweed to spiders to squirrels to the
history of bicycles.
What about an autobiography? Is that considered Informational Text?
- No, an autobiography is nonfiction (not fiction), but it is not informational text. Its main
purpose is to tell someone's life story, not to provide information about a specific topic.
What is NOT Informational Text?
- An informational article can be written about any topic or subject we can imagine. That
does not mean that everything we read is informational text, though. Even if a short story
or biography is based on historical events or includes facts about a person, a place, or a
thing, it is not informational text. Informational text will have only facts and details--no
dialogue, no characters, no literary elements.
- Novels, poetry, and other forms of fiction are called literary text. Literary text tends to
include language that is less straightforward and direct than the language used in
informational text. Rather than delivering information, literary text is used to develop
, themes and ideas, as well as characters and plots in many cases. Literature is also meant to
affect readers emotionally, while informational text rarely has that purpose.
What is your first clue about the type of text that is included in a book or article?
- A book's title is often the first clue you'll see that the book is full of informational text.
That's because nonfiction books, including books of informational text, usually have titles
that are designed to help readers find them. Suppose you see a title like this one, for
example: The Hudson River: An Important Shipping Route
- You can be fairly certain that a book or article with this title will contain only informational
text about shipping routes on the Hudson River. It's not likely to include stories,
characters, or poetic language. It's informational rather than literary text.
Why does it matter if you can identify articles and books as informational text?
- You should know how to think about the details in a book when you start reading it--are
the details factual or fictional?
How do you identify informational text if you don't know the title?
- Even if you don't know the title of a book or article, it's not usually difficult to tell if a
paragraph contains informational text. The text won't take the form of a narrative, and you
won't see details about a character's thoughts, feelings, or adventures.
- Here's a line from some informational text about coffee beans: Growing coffee beans will be
most successful in tropical climates. We can tell it is informational text because it is a fact.
Compare it to the line below from a fictional story that mentions coffee beans: Victor tried
hard to grow coffee beans, but he had no luck. Maybe it was because he no longer lived in
Guatemala, but in Chicago.
- Even though both of these sentences are related to coffee beans, the second statement
sounds more like a story than factual information about coffee. Suppose you have to write a
report about the history of fireworks. Here is an example of the type of informational text
you may find while researching the topic: The first recorded use of fireworks occurred in
200 BC in China. Villagers would throw green bamboo shoots into fires, and the heat
would expand the air pockets inside until the bamboo exploded. The loud bang was meant
to scare away evil spirits.
- You may find fireworks and even the history of fireworks mentioned in other places. If you
find a passage like the one below, though, you should not consider it a source of factual
information for your report.
- "Last night's fireworks show was so beautiful," Kim said as she placed some discarded cups
in a large black garbage bag. "But some people have left a mess. We'll have to work on that
next year."
