Text features
- 1. Text Features What is it? Parts of the text that stand out from the rest Purpose • to bring attention to important details or information that may not be in the text itself • to help the reader make sense of the text
- 2. Title What is it? A title is the name of a book, essay, article, etc. Purpose: • To hint at what the text might be about. • To give a brief summary of the text content.
- 3. Table of Contents What is it? The Table of Contents is a list, found at the beginning of a text, of chapters or article titles. Purpose: • To help readers, at a glance, find out about topics or concepts discussed in the book or magazine.
- 4. Pictures What is it? Pictures are images or graphics often found alongside writing. Purpose: • To help us VISUALIZE what we are reading about. • To catch readers’ attention and make the text seem more interesting.
- 5. Caption What is it? A caption is text in smaller print that is found next to a picture inserted in the main body of the text. Purpose: • To give a brief explanation of the picture.
- 6. Heading “Myths Explain the World” What is it? A heading is the title of a short section within the main body of a text. Purpose: • To give readers clues as to what they will read about next. • To make it easy to find the main ideas/topics within the body of the text.
- 7. Subheading “Greek Gods” What is it? A subheading is the title of a small section found underneath a heading. Subheadings give clues about what’s coming next. Purpose: • To help organize the text into sections of information that support the main topic. • To make it easy to find important topics within the body of the text.
- 8. Bolded Words What is it? Bolded Words are words in the text printed in darker ink; sometimes highlighted. Purpose: • To show readers important words. concepts, or ideas that should be studied or remembered. These words are the key to understanding the main ideas in the text.
- 9. Footnotes Rob and Big What is it? Rob & Big was an American reality television A footnote is an series that followed the lives of professional explanatory note skateboarder, Rob Dyrdek, and his best friend and body guard, Christopher "Big Black" Boykin. inserted at the bottom The Beginnings of the page referring to The show premiered on November 2, 2006 and a specific word or ended on April 15, 2008. The series was produced by Ruben Fleischer and directed by Mark Jacobs. phrase in the text. Episode 1 Purpose: After moving in, Big Black suggests to Rob • To give readers that they get a bulldog, to complete the new family. The two fly to Arizona on a private jet extra information to pick up their new little puppy. To welcome they may need to their new family member, the guys host a fully understand the party with a surprise appearance by Three Six Mafia1. word or idea in context. Or to tell 1 Three Six Mafia is an Oscar-Award winning American rap group originating from Memphis, Tennessee where information came from; the source
- 10. Bullet Points What is it? Bullet Points are graphics that are used to list items or ideas in a text. Purpose: • To break up a lot of text into chunks of important info. • To create lists, summarize key ideas at the end of a chapter, etc.
- 11. Charts and Tables What are they? • Tables are summaries of facts or data written in columns or rows. • Charts are visual representations of quantities or results. Purpose: • To organize information into a small space and an easy-to-read format.
- 12. Graphs What is it? Graphs are visual comparisons of data and information in a bar/pie/line format. Purpose: • To help us read facts and figures in a short amount of time.
- 13. Skateboard Glossary 360: when a skateboarder Glossary and his board turns 360 degrees while in the air. What is it? Axle: the metal rod that runs A glossary is an through the hangar of a alphabetized list of terms skateboard’s truck. and definitions found in Deck: the flat, long, the back of the book or at oval/rectangular, wooden the end of an article. part of the skateboard you Purpose: stand on. • To provide an easy-to- access reference for important vocabulary.
- 14. Insert What is it? An insert is a small section of text inserted into the main body of the text. Purpose: • To provide additional information that is not vital to the text, but is supplemental or interesting.
- 15. Map What is it? A map is a representation of a specific location. Purpose: • To help us visualize where something is taking place.
- 16. Colored Print What is it? Colored Print is text printed in a color other than black. Purpose: • To make important ideas, interesting facts, or titles/headings stand out.
- 17. Font Size and Type Changes
- 18. What is it? A change in the size of the text or the style in which it is written. Purpose: • To hint at important ideas that readers should pay close attention to.
- 19. Index What is it? An alphabetical list of names and/or topics as well as lists of page numbers on which each item is mentioned. Purpose: • To help readers find all the pages in the text where each subject is discussed.