4. Text Structure and Organisation

Authors organise their writing deliberately. Recognising the text structure helps you predict where to find information and understand how ideas relate to each other.

The five main informational text structures:

• Chronological / Sequence — events in time order.
  Signal words: first, then, next, finally, afterward, subsequently

• Cause and Effect — explains why something happened and what resulted.
  Signal words: because, as a result, therefore, consequently, led to, caused

• Compare and Contrast — shows how two or more things are alike or different.
  Signal words: however, in contrast, similarly, on the other hand, both, whereas

• Problem and Solution — describes a problem and one or more solutions.
  Signal words: the problem is, one solution, to address this, resolved by

• Description / Definition — describes characteristics or explains what something is.
  Signal words: for example, such as, in other words, is defined as, consists of

Why structure matters for answering questions:

• A cause-effect passage will have questions like 'What caused X?' or 'What resulted from Y?'
• A compare-contrast passage will ask how two things are alike or different.
• Knowing the structure tells you WHERE to look for the answer.

Paragraph structure: Most body paragraphs follow: topic sentence → supporting details → concluding sentence.

⚠️ Common mistake: assuming all passages use only one structure. Many passages mix structures — a problem-solution text may include cause-effect elements.

💡 Tip: scan the first sentence of each paragraph and look for signal words before answering structure questions. The signal words are your fastest shortcut.