TEAS Ready✍️ Reading · Craft and Structure · Lesson 5 of 5 · 5 min
Text structure and text features: how the text is built
🏗️ Knowing how a text is organized is like having a map: you know where to look for the answer before you start reading.
💡 Key idea
Signal words reveal the structure, and each text feature has a job: headings organize, captions explain visuals, footnotes cite or add detail.
🧠 The idea
TEXT STRUCTURE is the pattern an author uses to organize ideas. CAUSE AND EFFECT shows why something happens (because, as a result, therefore, led to). COMPARE AND CONTRAST shows how things are alike or different (similarly, both, however, unlike). PROBLEM AND SOLUTION names a problem, then a fix (one answer is, to address this). SEQUENCE puts steps or events in order (first, next, then, finally, dates). DESCRIPTION lists traits of one subject (for example, such as, also). TEXT FEATURES help readers navigate: a TITLE and HEADINGS show topics; BOLD or italic type marks key terms; a CAPTION explains a photo or chart; a FOOTNOTE adds a source or side detail at the bottom; bullets and numbered lists separate items or steps; a glossary defines terms; a sidebar holds extra information. Questions ask which structure a passage uses or why a feature is there.
✏️ Worked example
"For years, nurses on Ward 4 lost time searching for supplies. The unit labeled every drawer and posted a map by the door. Searching time dropped by half." A problem (lost time) is followed by a fix (labels and map) and its result. The structure is problem and solution. It has a cause-effect piece inside it, but the overall pattern is a problem, then how it was solved. If a small number "1" after "half" led to a note at the bottom naming the staff survey, that footnote's job would be to cite the source.
📌 Takeaways
- Cause-effect, compare-contrast, problem-solution, sequence, description.
- Signal words reveal the pattern.
- Headings organize; captions explain visuals; footnotes cite.
📖 Terms in this lesson
Text structure: The way a text is organized, such as cause and effect, compare and contrast, problem and solution, or sequence; for example, "as a result" signals cause and effect.
Text feature: A part of a text that helps readers find or understand information, such as headings, captions, bold words and indexes; for example, a heading that labels a section "Side Effects."
✅ Check yourself
Question 1 of 3
A passage begins, "Both crocodiles and alligators are large reptiles, but their snouts differ in shape." Which structure does it most likely use?
- Problem and solution
- Sequence
- Compare and contrast
- Description of one subject
Show the answer and rationale
Answer: C
"Both" signals a likeness and "but ... differ" signals a difference, which is compare and contrast. There are no ordered steps, no problem to solve, and two subjects rather than one.
Question 2 of 3
In a textbook, a sentence under a photo of a cell reads, "A white blood cell surrounding bacteria." What is this text feature?
- A footnote
- A glossary entry
- A caption
- A heading
Show the answer and rationale
Answer: C
Text that explains a photo or image is a caption. A heading names a section, a footnote appears at the bottom of the page, and a glossary entry defines a term in a list at the back.
Question 3 of 3
Which set of signal words most strongly suggests a CAUSE AND EFFECT structure?
- For example, such as, also
- Because, so, as a result
- Similarly, unlike, both
- First, next, finally
Show the answer and rationale
Answer: B
"Because," "so" and "as a result" link causes to their effects. "First, next, finally" signal sequence, "similarly, unlike, both" signal compare and contrast, and "for example, such as, also" signal description.
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