Text Features
The table of contents is a list of the major parts of the book. It gives the page number where you can find each part.
The table of contents is located at the front of a book. Below is an example.
Table of Contents
Introduction:
Why I Wrote This Book
1
Chapter One:
Picking the Right Dog
4
Chapter Two:
Training Your Puppy
13
Chapter Three:
Enjoying Your Adult Dog
25
Chapter Four:
The Older Years
36
Chapter Five:
Letting Go
48
When you turn in your homework, you are often asked to put a heading on your paper. The heading tells
your name and the date when you finished your work. It may also tell which subject you are studying and the
type of homework it is. In other words, the heading gives your teacher the information he or she needs to
grade the assignment. Writers use headings in a very similar way.
Helpful hints about headings:
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Headings give the reader clues about what he or she will find in the text below it.
If the reader is trying to locate a specific fact, he or she can look at the headings to figure out where to find the
information. That way, he or she doesn't have to read the entire article to find the information he or she needs!
If a writer is covering a lot of information, headings can be helpful in organizing that information.
Think of headings as "mini-titles."
Folktales, fairy tales, and most children’s books are illustrated in some way. Sometimes, the images are so good that
they help to show parts of the story that a reader might not understand. Sometimes, they are shown to help the reader
become more connected to the story.
Here are some questions to think about when you read from a book or story that includes illustrations, drawings,
pictures, or images:
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Why was this picture chosen to illustrate the story?
What do you think of when you see it?
Does it make the story better? Does it make the story worse?
Have you seen the picture before somewhere else? If you have, what do you remember about it?
Which parts from the story are illustrated?
How detailed is the picture compared to the story? Did the artist leave out anything the author tried to make
important?
Example: In the following illustration, a bear runs away from a group of bees. The illustrator shows that the bear is
angry. The bear's eyebrows point down, and the mouth is turned down like a frown. An illustration helps the reader
picture what happens in the story.
Preface -A preface is an introduction to a book. It is a good place to see what the book is going to be about and to
find out how the book will be organized. The preface is usually written by the author, but not always.
Appendix -An appendix is the extra information that appears at the end of a book to add to and explain the material
in the chapters. Appendices have lots of different kinds of information, depending on the kind of book.
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Sometimes it will have a glossary—a place where vocabulary words in the book are defined.
It may also have an index—a place where keywords are listed with the page numbers they can be
found on.
Keywords -Keywords are words that you use to look up a topic in an index, library catalogue, or Internet search
engine. Keywords must be specific-clearly relate to the topic. Keywords that are too broad or general are
not good either.
Here are some examples of good ways to use keywords:
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If you want to learn about trout, use "trout" as your keyword. The keyword "fish" is too broad.
If you have to write a report about sequoia trees, use "sequoia" as your keyword. "Tree" is too broad a topic.
With Internet search engines, you can often use several keywords at once.
Certain words have to be marked because they are important in one way or another. Depending on how the words are
used, we may bold, underline, italicize, or put them in "quotation marks."
Bold print is used for titles, headings, and subheadings. It is also used to point out, or call your attention to, a
particular word or main idea.
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Titles and headings often appear in the biggest, boldest print.
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Subheadings are in the second-biggest print, only a little bigger or bolder than the article itself.
Underlining and slanted text (also called italics) are both used to draw attention to words in a wide variety of
situations. Here are some of reasons why text might be underlined or in italics (slanted).
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To show that something is the title of a book, newspaper, magazine, movie, TV show, play, or artwork. The
names of ships, trains, aircraft, and spacecraft are almost always written in slanted text.
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To emphasize, or point out, a particular word or phrase
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To make something more clear
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To show what a character is thinking
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To show that a word or phrase is in a language other than English
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To show that a word is about to be defined
"Quotation marks" are also used to point out important text. Here are a couple of reasons why we use "quotation
marks."
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To show that a person is speaking
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To mark article titles, as well as the titles of essays, short stories, songs, and the chapters of books
There are times when you may want to give more information in your text without making the main part of your
paper too complicated. A footnote lets you do this, but you should try not to overuse footnotes. Too many footnotes
can distract your reader.
Another way to introduce added information to your text or paper is with sidebars Many restaurants offer side dishes
as treats to go with your meal. In writing, you can do the same thing using sidebars--they can make a good article
even better..
FOOTNOTES:
To use footnotes, place a number slightly above the line of your text that corresponds to the footnote
information. Always make sure to number your footnotes in order consecutively.
Example:
The section of your paper with a footnote should look like this:
"I have made sure to record all od the conversations and tape all the meetings. 1"
On a separate page at the end of your paper, below the heading FOOTNOTES, present the notes in the order in
which they appear in your paper. Begin each note with its number, placed slightly above the line. Indent as
you would a paragraph. It should look like this:
1
Portions of the recordings were difficult to hear because the tape recorder kept malfunctioning. This didn't
interfere with the interviews however.
SIDEBARS:
Sometimes, when you are researching a report, you can find related information that may be too long to
include in your paper, it could be too interesting to leave out. This is the best time to use a sidebar on the
related topic.
A sidebar looks similar to this:
A glossary is a list of words and their meanings. You will find glossaries in your textbooks. A science textbook will
have a glossary that lists science words and their meanings. Below is an example of a glossary.
C
COLONY
A community of tens of thousands of worker bees, usually containing one queen, with or without drones.
COMB HONEY
Honey presented in its original wax comb.
CRYSTALLIZATION
Honey is a supersaturated solution. Crystals will develop in honey when glucose crystallizes out of solution.
Crystallization of honey is most rapid at 57°F.
D
DRONE
A male bee.
E
EXTRACTED HONEY
Honey removed from the comb by a special machine called an extractor and sold in liquid or crystallized form.
EXTRACTOR
A machine that rotates honeycomb with great speed to remove honey.
The index is a list of all the names and places in the book and their page numbers. The list is in alphabetical order.
Below is an example of an index from an algebra book.
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Obtuse Angle, 615
Obtuse triangle, 619
Odd integers, 145
Odds, 597
One as multiplicative identity, 59
Open half-plane, 402
Operations
inverse (opposite), 35, 96
order of, 52
Opposite(s)
additive inverse, 27
of a binomial, 318
Tips for reading charts and graphs:
1. Read the title of the chart or graph first. This will help you understand what the chart or graph is attempting to
display.
2. Carefully read the text located on or around the chart or graph (if any). This will help you understand the type of
information that is on the chart or graph.
3. Identify what type of chart or graph you are looking at. This will help you get familiar with the different types of
charts and graphs. See the examples below:
Types of Charts and Graphs:
Bar Graphs
Variables that are distinct and unconnected between data points are represented by bar graphs. See example below.
Line Graphs
Variables that have continuous intervals that are unbroken sequences (e.g., growth of a plant) are represented by line
graphs. See example below.
Pie Chart
A pie chart is an excellent way to show how the relative sizes of the parts compare to each other and the whole. See
example below.