Text Structure: Description

Recognize text that describes a topic by listing its features and details.

A descriptive structure tells about one topic by giving its features, characteristics, or examples. It is like painting a word picture. Signal words include for example, such as, characteristics are, looks like, and also. Read: 'The giant panda is a black-and-white bear that lives in mountain forests. It has a round face, thick fur, and strong jaws.

Pandas eat mostly bamboo, sometimes for more than ten hours a day. ' The whole paragraph describes one animal: where it lives, what it looks like, and what it eats. There are no events in order, no causes, and no problem. A web, with the topic in the center and details around it, helps organize descriptive text.

• 1Description = features and details about one topic.
• 2Signals: for example, such as, characteristics are.
• 3A web organizes the topic and its details.