Text and its characteristics

Types of texts

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In this unit, students review characteristics of literary and informational texts. Students will:

• Identify literary elements and explain how they are important to a story.
• Identify features of informational texts and explain how they improve understanding.
• Compare and contrast information presented by two texts on the same topic.

Today's aim:

Text

and its characteristics

Before we start, think about these questions:

• How do strategic readers create meaning from informational and literary text?

• How does interaction with a text provoke thinking and response?

What is a text?

A literary text is a piece of writing, such as a book or poem, that has the purpose of telling a story or entertaining, as in a fictional novel. Its primary function as a text is usually aesthetic, but it may also contain political messages or beliefs.

What are its characteristics?

A text is a piece of writing that you read or create. The type or the characteristics of a text are very important for any work of summarisation on it. It is easier to select the main ideas from certain types of texts, as the narrative ones (texts “telling a story”) then from others, such as expository texts (texts “speaking about”). The type of a texts depend on their purpose, structure and language features.

One of the most commonly used classification text materials is that one based on text’s purpose and meaning. In this classification, there are three main categories:

• Expository texts
• Narrative texts, and
• Argumentative texts

Expository text

An expository text is intended to identify and characterise experiences, facts, situations, and actions in either abstract or real elements. Expository texts are meant to explain, inform or describe and they are the most frequently use to write structures.

Expository structures can be classified into five categories: * Description, where the author describes a topics characteristics, features, attributes, etc. and gives examples. * Procedure or sequence: the author lists different activities in their chronological order or enumerates items in a numerical order. * Comparison: the author explains how two or more objects, events, experiences, are alike and/or different. * Cause-effect explanation: the author presents ideas, events in time, or facts as causes and the resulting effect(s) in time. * Problem-solution presentation: the author describes a problem and gives one or more solutions to the problem.

In the expository category, the non-fictional texts have specific role to inform or to teach the readers. They can come in a various formats, depending of the area of use:

• business: reports, letters, executive summaries.
• journalism: essays, news reports, press releases, sports news.
• technical communication: user guides, technical reports or standards.
• academic and scientific communication: textbooks, student guides, scientific reports, scientific journals’ articles, encyclopedia articles.
• general reference works: encyclopedia articles, or on-line, multi-domain informative texts, as the Wikipedia articles.

Examples

A narrative text entertains, instructs or informs readers by telling a story. Narrative texts deal with imaginary or real world and can be fictional (fairy tales, novels, science fiction, horror or adventure stories, fables, myths, legends, etc.) and non-fictional (articles, newspaper reports, historical writings).

The definitions below show three important aspects of narration in storytelling:

• It connects events, showing their patterns, relating them to each other or to specific ideas, themes or concepts.

• It is a practice and art in that when we tell a story, we s
• hape the narrative – the connection between events.

• Narrating a story involves shaping events around an overarching set of aims or effects (whether consciously or unconsciously). For example, in a comedic narrative, the overarching aim is to surprise/shock or otherwise lead the audience or reader to be amused.

Argumentative texts aim is to change the readers’ beliefs. They often contain negative qualities or characteristics of something/someone, or try to persuade their readers that an object, product, idea is in some way better than others.

Note:

You should note that few texts are purely one type: expository or argumentative texts can contain narration or evaluative elements.

Practice:

Select one topic from the list, then write an argumentative text (150 words). Remember the objective of argumentative texts and support your ideas.

• Can the death penalty be effective?
• Can smoking be prevented by making tobacco illegal?
• Are girls too “mean” in their friendship?
• Is competition really good?
• Is buying a lottery ticket a good idea?

• Is fashion really important?

Homework:

Research two examples of each type of text: Expository, Narrative, and Argumentative.Paste them in your notebook and identify their characteristics. Support your statements.

Thanks!