Week 4 · Skill Lab

Text Structure

Recognize how a text is organized, use its signal words to follow the argument, and compare the structures of two texts on one topic.

By the end of this lab you will be able to

  • Identify the five common informational text structures
  • Use signal words to predict where a passage is going
  • Explain why an author chose a particular structure
  • Compare how two texts on the same topic are organized differently

Course outcomes covered

  • Describe the overall structure of a text (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution)
  • Compare and contrast the structure of two or more texts on a related topic

From the ENG0300 course syllabus.

Learn

How this skill works

Read this first. Everything after it assumes these ideas.

Five structures cover almost everything you will read

Text structure is the pattern an author uses to organize information. Naming the pattern early makes the rest of the passage easier to follow, because you know what kind of information to expect next.

StructureWhat it doesSignal words
Chronology / sequencePresents events or steps in the order they happen.first, next, then, later, finally, in 2019, by June
Cause and effectExplains why something happened and what followed.because, since, as a result, therefore, led to, consequently
Problem and solutionPresents a problem, then one or more responses to it.problem, issue, challenge, solution, to address this, resolved
Compare and contrastShows how two or more things are alike and different.similarly, likewise, unlike, however, in contrast, whereas
DescriptionExplains a topic through characteristics and examples.for example, such as, in addition, includes, characteristics

Test tip

Cause/effect and problem/solution are the pair most often confused. Ask whether the passage ends by explaining a result (cause/effect) or by proposing a response (problem/solution). If someone is doing something about it, it is problem/solution.

Structure follows purpose

Authors do not choose a structure at random. They choose the one that fits what they are trying to accomplish, which means the structure itself is a clue to the author's purpose.

A manual explaining how to operate a machine uses sequence because order matters. An article arguing that one policy works better than another uses comparison because the reader has to see both. A report on a neighborhood's flooding uses cause and effect if it is explaining what happened, and problem/solution if it is advocating for a fix.

  • Read the first and last paragraph to find the shape before you read the middle for detail.
  • Scan for signal words — three or four of the same family usually settles the structure.
  • Watch for a passage that uses one structure inside another: a problem/solution article often contains a chronology.

Comparing structure across two texts

When you are given two texts on one topic, the question is rarely which one is right. It is how each author organized the same subject, and what that organization lets them do.

  • Name each text's structure separately before you compare them.
  • Ask what each structure emphasizes — a chronology emphasizes how something developed; a comparison emphasizes trade-offs.
  • Ask what each structure leaves out. Structure is a choice, and every choice hides something.
See It

A worked example

Watch the reasoning before you try it. Notice the order of the moves — that order is the skill.

Naming the structure of a community article

Cooling the Block

Informational134 words

Summers in dense city neighborhoods run measurably hotter than in surrounding areas. Dark roofs, paved lots, and narrow streets absorb heat during the day and release it slowly at night, so temperatures never fully reset. On the hottest weeks, residents in these blocks face higher health risks and higher electricity bills at the same time.

Several cities have responded with a set of low-cost measures. Coating flat roofs with reflective white paint lowers indoor temperatures on the top floor by several degrees. Planting street trees provides shade over sidewalks and building faces. Converting a portion of asphalt lots to permeable surfaces reduces the heat those lots store.

None of these measures is dramatic on its own. Taken together across enough blocks, they have measurably reduced nighttime temperatures in the neighborhoods where they were applied.

Original passage — BEOC Academic Bridge

The question

What is the overall structure of this passage?

Thinking it through

  1. Read paragraph 1 for the setup.

    It describes a condition that harms people — hotter blocks, health risks, higher bills. That reads like a problem being established.

  2. Check the signal words in paragraph 2.

    "Several cities have responded" is a solution signal. Three responses follow. This is not an author explaining consequences; it is an author presenting fixes.

  3. Rule out the near-miss structure.

    Paragraph 1 does contain cause and effect — dark surfaces absorb heat, so temperatures stay high. But that is one paragraph serving a larger shape. The passage as a whole moves from problem to response to result.

  4. Confirm with paragraph 3.

    It reports whether the solutions worked. Cause/effect passages end with consequences; problem/solution passages end with outcomes of a response. This is the second.

The answer

Problem and solution. Paragraph 1 establishes the problem, paragraph 2 presents the responses, and paragraph 3 reports the result — with cause and effect used inside paragraph 1 as support.

Take this with you

Identify the structure of the whole passage, not the structure of one paragraph. A smaller pattern nested inside a larger one is the most common trap on these items.

Try It

Your turn, with support

One question, with a hint available. Nothing here is graded.

Two Routes to the Same Job

Workplace81 words

A person seeking work as a pharmacy technician can take two paths. A formal certificate program runs six to twelve months, costs money up front, and covers pharmacy law and calculations in a classroom. On-the-job training, by contrast, begins with a paid position and teaches the same material in practice, though it usually takes longer to reach certification and depends on finding an employer willing to train. Both routes end at the same national exam. Neither is faster in every case.

Original passage — BEOC Academic Bridge

Question 1Multiple choiceDeveloping
What is the structure of this paragraph?
Practice

Practice on a full passage

A longer passage with several questions. Check each answer as you go.

Two short texts on one topic. Read both, name each structure, then answer.

Text A: How the Line Got Longer

History93 words

In 2015 the city's vital records office served walk-in customers only. Wait times averaged under an hour.

In 2018 the office added an online request system for birth certificates. Walk-in traffic dropped, and the office reassigned two of its six clerks to process online orders.

In 2021, after a hiring freeze, the office lost two more clerks and did not replace them. Online requests continued to rise, but the remaining staff now handled both queues.

By 2023, average walk-in waits had reached three hours, and online orders took eleven business days to fulfill.

Original passage — BEOC Academic Bridge

Text B: Fixing the Backlog

Informational115 words

Long waits at the vital records office have become a serious obstacle for residents who need documents for a job, a lease, or a school enrollment.

One response is to separate the two queues again by assigning dedicated staff to online orders, so that a surge in one channel does not slow the other.

A second is to expand the documents available online. Every request that never becomes a walk-in visit removes a person from the counter line.

A third, and the most expensive, is simply to restore the staffing the office had before the hiring freeze. Cities that have tried the first two measures without the third have reduced waits, but not eliminated them.

Original passage — BEOC Academic Bridge

Question 1Multiple choiceTABE Ready
What is the structure of Text A?
Question 2Multiple choiceTABE Ready
What is the structure of Text B?
Question 3Paired textChallenge
How does the difference in structure change what each text is able to do?
Challenge

A harder, TABE-style set

Denser text and less obvious answers — closer to what the test will ask of you.

Read all five paragraphs before you name the structure. On this passage, the first paragraph alone will point you the wrong way.

Clocking In

Technology342 words

For eleven years, workers at a regional food distribution warehouse recorded their hours on paper timesheets. A supervisor collected the sheets every Friday, and a payroll clerk typed them into the payroll system the following Monday. Last spring, the company replaced the paper with a time clock app that workers open on their phones at the start and end of each shift. The change was expected to settle the arguments about hours that surfaced nearly every pay period. It did not settle them. It moved them.

The two systems differ first in who produces the record. On paper, the worker wrote down the hours, and a supervisor's signature confirmed them. With the app, the phone produces the record automatically, and no one signs anything. Paper made the worker the author of the timesheet; the app makes the worker its subject.

The app is clearly better at arithmetic. Paper sheets arrived with smudged numbers, overnight shifts added incorrectly, and handwriting the payroll clerk had to guess at. Because the app calculates totals itself, those errors have nearly disappeared, and the clerk no longer spends Monday mornings calling workers to ask what a number was supposed to be.

That same automation, however, has created disputes that paper never did. Whereas a forgotten entry on paper could be written in at the end of a shift and initialed by a supervisor, a forgotten tap in the app leaves a gap that takes a correction request and several days to fix. The app also records the moment a worker presses the button, not the moment the work begins. A worker who starts unloading a truck before reaching for the phone is unpaid for those minutes unless someone notices.

Neither system, in other words, ends disagreements about hours. Paper produced errors of arithmetic, which were easy to spot and easy to argue about. The app produces errors of omission, which are harder to spot because the record looks complete. A warehouse choosing between the two is not choosing whether to have disputes. It is choosing which kind.

Original passage — BEOC Academic Bridge

Question 1Multiple choiceChallenge
Which best describes the overall structure of the passage?
Question 2Multiple choiceTABE Ready
How does paragraph 4 relate to paragraph 3?
Question 3Select all that applyChallenge
Which phrases from the passage signal its overall structure? Select all that apply.
Question 4Short responseChallenge
Answer Review

Why each answer is right or wrong

The reasoning behind every choice, including the ones designed to catch you.

Work through the practice first, then open a question below to see the full reasoning. Reading why a wrong answer is wrong is what stops you from choosing it again on the test.

Practice set

Q1What is the structure of Text A?

Correct answer: C. Chronology, used to trace a cause-and-effect chain

Why: Text A moves year by year — 2015, 2018, 2021, 2023 — and each step causes the next. That is a chronology carrying a cause-and-effect chain.

Every choice, explained

  • A.Problem and solution — Text A never proposes a response. It only traces how the situation developed.
  • B.Compare and contrast — Nothing is set against anything else; there is one office across time.
  • C.Chronology, used to trace a cause-and-effect chain — Correct. Dates order the passage, and each change produces the next condition.
  • D.Description — Description has no time order. Text A is organized entirely by date.
Q2What is the structure of Text B?

Correct answer: A. Problem and solution

Why: Paragraph 1 names the problem; the next three paragraphs each offer a response, marked by "One response," "A second," and "A third."

Every choice, explained

  • A.Problem and solution — Correct. A problem followed by three proposed solutions.
  • B.Chronology — No dates or sequence appear. The three responses are options, not steps in order.
  • C.Compare and contrast between two offices — Only one office is discussed. Other cities are mentioned once, as evidence.
  • D.Cause and effect explaining why the backlog formed — Text B assumes the cause is known; Text A is the one that explains it.
Q3How does the difference in structure change what each text is able to do?

Correct answer: B. Text A explains how the backlog developed, while Text B evaluates options for reducing it — so Text A supplies the cause that Text B's solutions have to address.

Why: Structure determines usefulness. A chronology shows origins; a problem/solution weighs responses. Read together, Text A explains why Text B's third option is the one that addresses the actual cause.

Every choice, explained

  • A.Text A proves the backlog is unsolvable, while Text B proves it is easy to solve. — Neither text claims either thing. Text B's last sentence says partial measures help but do not eliminate the problem.
  • B.Text A explains how the backlog developed, while Text B evaluates options for reducing it — so Text A supplies the cause that Text B's solutions have to address. — Correct. It names both structures accurately and explains what each one makes possible.
  • C.Both texts are organized the same way, so neither adds anything the other lacks. — The two structures are clearly different — dates versus proposed responses.
  • D.Text A is opinion and Text B is fact. — Both texts are informational. Neither is presented as the author's opinion.

Challenge

Q1Which best describes the overall structure of the passage?

Correct answer: C. Compare and contrast — it sets two timekeeping systems side by side on the same points and concludes that each fails in a different way

Why: Paragraph 1 is a short timeline that sets up the change, but from paragraph 2 on, every paragraph weighs paper against the app: who creates the record, which is better at arithmetic, which creates new disputes. Paragraph 5 closes the comparison by naming how each system fails. That shape holds from the second paragraph to the last, so it is the structure of the whole.

Every choice, explained

  • A.Chronology — it traces the warehouse's move from paper timesheets to an app, in the order events happened — This describes paragraph 1 only. After the switch is introduced, no more events happen — the rest of the passage compares the two systems.
  • B.Problem and solution — it presents the disputes over hours and shows how the app solved them — Paragraph 1 raises this possibility and rejects it in the same breath: "It did not settle them. It moved them." The passage never presents the app as the fix.
  • C.Compare and contrast — it sets two timekeeping systems side by side on the same points and concludes that each fails in a different way — Correct. Two systems, compared on matching points, with a conclusion that weighs both. This is the structure that organizes the whole passage.
  • D.Cause and effect — it explains how the app caused the payroll clerk's workload to drop — This describes one sentence in paragraph 3. It is a smaller pattern nested inside the comparison, not the shape of the passage.
Q2How does paragraph 4 relate to paragraph 3?

Correct answer: B. It presents a drawback of the app that balances the advantage described in paragraph 3.

Why: Paragraph 3 credits the app with ending arithmetic errors. Paragraph 4 opens with "That same automation, however" — a contrast signal — and shows the same feature creating new disputes. It is the other side of the comparison.

Every choice, explained

  • A.It continues the timeline, describing what happened after the arithmetic errors disappeared. — No time order connects the two paragraphs. "However" signals a contrast, not a next step.
  • B.It presents a drawback of the app that balances the advantage described in paragraph 3. — Correct. The advantage in paragraph 3 and the drawback in paragraph 4 are two sides of the same feature.
  • C.It proposes a solution to the arithmetic errors described in paragraph 3. — The arithmetic errors were already solved in paragraph 3. Paragraph 4 raises new problems rather than fixing old ones.
  • D.It gives a second example of the same advantage described in paragraph 3. — "However" marks a turn. Paragraph 4 argues against the app, not for it.
Q3Which phrases from the passage signal its overall structure? Select all that apply.

Correct answer: B. "The two systems differ first in" (paragraph 2) • D. "Whereas a forgotten entry on paper" (paragraph 4) • E. "Neither system, in other words" (paragraph 5)

Why: Three phrases set paper and the app against each other — "differ," "whereas," and "neither system" all belong to the comparison family. The other two are real signal words, but they signal the smaller structures nested inside the passage.

Every choice, explained

  • A."For eleven years" (paragraph 1) — A chronology signal, but it belongs to the setup in paragraph 1. It does not organize the rest of the passage.
  • B."The two systems differ first in" (paragraph 2) — Correct. "Differ" announces a comparison, and "first" tells you more points of comparison are coming.
  • C."Because the app calculates totals itself" (paragraph 3) — A cause-and-effect signal inside a single paragraph. It explains one advantage; it does not organize the whole passage.
  • D."Whereas a forgotten entry on paper" (paragraph 4) — Correct. "Whereas" sets the two systems directly against each other within one sentence.
  • E."Neither system, in other words" (paragraph 5) — Correct. "Neither system" only makes sense if two things have been compared, and it opens the concluding comparison.
Q4The author could have told this as a simple timeline: paper first, then the app. In three or four sentences, name the structure the author used instead, quote two signal words or phrases that show it, and explain what that structure lets the author say that a timeline would not.

Model response: The passage is organized as compare and contrast. Phrases such as "The two systems differ first in" and "Whereas a forgotten entry on paper" set paper timesheets and the app side by side on the same points. A timeline would only show that the warehouse switched from one system to the other, which would make the app look like the solution. Comparing the two directly lets the author show that each system fails in its own way — paper through arithmetic errors, the app through missing entries — which is the point of the final paragraph.

Why: A complete answer does three jobs: it names the structure, quotes signal words that prove it, and connects the structure to what the author is trying to say. The third job is the one most answers leave out — and it is the one that shows you understand why structure matters.

Mastery Check

Check yourself

A short formative check. It is not recorded — use it to decide whether to move on or review.

Two short passages on one topic, four items. If you miss one, the review below each answer will tell you which part of the lesson to revisit.

Passage 1: Reporting an Injury at Work

Workplace84 words

If you are hurt on the job, the order in which you act matters. First, get medical attention right away if the injury is serious. Next, tell your supervisor as soon as possible, even if the injury seems minor. Then ask for your employer's injury report form and fill it out while the details are fresh. Finally, keep a copy of every form you sign and every note from a provider. Reporting deadlines vary by state, and a skipped step can delay a claim.

Original passage — BEOC Academic Bridge

Passage 2: Why Small Injuries Go Unreported

Workplace87 words

Many minor workplace injuries are never reported, and the reasons are rarely careless ones. Because a sore back or a twisted wrist seems small, workers expect it to heal on its own. Some worry that reporting an injury will make them look unreliable, especially in a new job. As a result, the injury goes unrecorded. When the strain turns out to be more serious weeks later, there is no report tying it to the job, and a claim that would have been simple becomes difficult to prove.

Original passage — BEOC Academic Bridge

Question 1Multiple choiceFoundation
In Passage 1, the words First, Next, Then, and Finally signal which structure?
Question 2Multiple choiceDeveloping
What is the structure of Passage 2?
Question 3Multiple choiceTABE Ready
Why does the author of Passage 1 most likely use a sequence structure?
Question 4Paired textTABE Ready
How does the difference in structure change what each passage is able to do?
Write It

Now write it yourself

The same skill, going the other direction. Nothing here is submitted from this page — you will copy your paragraph into Brightspace when it is ready.

Writing inside a patternBased on “How the Line Got Longer / Fixing the Backlog”

You named the structure of two texts about the vital records office: Text A is cause and effect over time, Text B is problem and solution. Naming a pattern is recognition. Writing inside one is production, and it is what the test's writing items actually ask for.

Your assigned pattern is PROBLEM AND SOLUTION. Write one paragraph of five to seven sentences about a wait, a delay, or a backlog you have actually seen — at a clinic, an agency, a store, a school office, a job. Do not write about the vital records office; use your own example.

Your paragraph has to be recognizable as problem and solution from the words on the page. State the problem, say who it affects, propose at least two solutions, and use signal words that mark each move. A reader should be able to name your pattern without being told what it is.

Before you submit, check each one

Ticking these is for your own tracking. Nothing here is scored or recorded.

Sentence frames

Starters, not a template. Fill one in, change the wording to sound like you, or write past it entirely.

  • The problem at ______ is that ______.
  • One response would be to ______, because ______.
  • A second approach, and the more expensive one, is to ______.

0 words · 0 sentences(a rough count from end punctuation — a guide, not a rule)

What you type stays in this browser. It is not sent anywhere, not scored by software, and not seen by anyone until you paste it into Brightspace yourself.

Score your own draft

This is the same 10-point rubric attached to the Brightspace dropbox. Scoring yourself first is the fastest way to find what to fix. Your score here is yours alone — it is not recorded and it is not your grade.

Focus — 3 points

One clear controlling idea, stated early and held to. Every sentence belongs to that idea — nothing wanders off the question that was asked.

Evidence & Development — 3 points

Specific support from the passage — details, examples, or quoted words — and an explanation of what that support shows. Not just a detail dropped in and left alone.

Organization — 2 points

A sensible order a reader can follow, with transitions that signal how one sentence relates to the next. A beginning, a middle, and an ending that lands.

Conventions — 2 points

Complete sentences, subject-verb agreement, capitalization, and end punctuation. Errors do not stop a reader from understanding you.

Score all four strands to see your total.

▸ Show a strong example

A model built on a different example than yours, so you can see the pattern working without borrowing the content. Watch how many words exist only to signal the structure.

The pharmacy counter at my local drugstore has one problem that creates every other one: a single technician handles the drop-off window, the pickup window, and the phone. This falls hardest on people picking up a prescription on a lunch break, who can lose twenty minutes standing behind a phone call they cannot hear. One response would be to route the phone to a central line during the busiest hours, so a call from another town does not stop the line in the room. A second approach is to separate the two windows entirely, staffing drop-off during the morning and pickup after four, when most people arrive. The most expensive option, and the one the chain has avoided, is simply to schedule a second technician for the afternoon shift. As a result of doing none of these, the store keeps a line that its own staff apologizes for every afternoon.

Which sentence earns which strand

  1. The pharmacy counter at my local drugstore has one problem that creates every other one: a single technician handles the drop-off window, the pickup window, and the phone.

    Focus — The problem is named in sentence one, and the colon makes the causal claim explicit. Focus is set before any solution appears.

  2. This falls hardest on people picking up a prescription on a lunch break, who can lose twenty minutes standing behind a phone call they cannot hear.

    Evidence & Development — Names who is affected, with a specific consequence. A problem nobody suffers from is not a problem worth solving.

  3. One response would be to route the phone to a central line during the busiest hours, so a call from another town does not stop the line in the room.

    Evidence & Development — Solution one, with the reason it would work attached. The signal words one response mark the structural turn.

  4. A second approach is to separate the two windows entirely, staffing drop-off during the morning and pickup after four, when most people arrive.

    Organization — Solution two, marked by a second approach. The paragraph is now unmistakably problem-and-solution rather than a complaint.

  5. The most expensive option, and the one the chain has avoided, is simply to schedule a second technician for the afternoon shift.

    Organization — A third solution ordered deliberately by cost. Ordering is an organization move, not an accident of what came to mind.

  6. As a result of doing none of these, the store keeps a line that its own staff apologizes for every afternoon.

    Conventions — As a result closes the pattern, and the sentence is complete and correctly punctuated despite its length.

Turn it in

Copy your paragraph, then paste it into WRITE IT! Week 4 — Text Structure in Brightspace (Week 4).

Write your paragraph first — then these buttons turn on.

Finished Text Structure?

Marking a lab complete saves a note in this browser so you can track your own review. It is not a grade and it is not submitted anywhere.

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