INFORMATIONAL TEXT

"The opposite of talking is not listening. The opposite of talking is waiting."— Fran Lebowitz

So the next objective for us is to learn how to break apart (analyze) and understand (comprehend) EXPOSITORY text. Our ability to understand information is vital for us to function in this world. Otherwise, we are ignorant. 

We kicked off our expository text study with a look at TEXT FEATURES, during our fake news projects. Great fake news! As you now know large amounts of information can be spread out on a page, like a lunch buffet on a table. The writer lays it out. Your job when reading is to pick at different parts expository text until you are full, of understanding. By analyzing the layout, noticing the text features, you arrive at.....the MAIN IDEA!

Identifying the main idea in text is your goal. Remember that the topic sentence, hidden somewhere in the paragraph is often the main idea. Text features are important to the writer, so you should pay attention to them. Repeated words are also a clue to help identify the main idea. You can also determine the main idea, aka the central idea, by asking yourself, "What is this mostly about?"