Text Structures and Features
This text feature provides a brief overview of the content. BME is a bit of an over simplification, so for literary texts especially, we format it by considering Somebody-Wanted-But-So-Then.
What is a summary?
This refers to an author’s intention behind writing. At its simplest, it's distilled down to whether they are writing to inform, entertain, or persuade.
What is author’s purpose?
When you highlight a part of the text that supports your claim and use it to support your reasoning.
What is evidence?
This is a figure of speech that makes a comparison using "like" or "as."
What is a simile?
This term refers to examining two texts to identify their similarities.
What is comparing?
This structure presents a topic followed by details that explain or elaborate on it.
What is description?
The use of vivid and descriptive language to create strong images in the reader’s mind is known as __.
What is imagery?
This is what you are trying to prove in the body of your essay. It is written as 1 sentence and serves as the roadmap to your essay.
What is a thesis statement?
This poetic device involves a deliberate exaggeration for emphasis or effect.
What is hyperbole?
When you conclude the lesson or moral a story intends to teach its reader. It is important to figure out when analyzing a literary text.
What is theme?
This text structure arranges information by reviewing similarities and differences.
What is compare and contrast?
This term refers to a technique where an author explores two opposing ideas to highlight a point.
True or False: On the STAAR exam, you may be asked to write an argumentative composition that needs to be formatted like a letter.
What is true?
The author's treatment of the subject on which they are writing. We often sum it up with one descriptive word (adjective).
What is tone?
True or False: The setting of a story will never play a role in informing the story's theme.
What is False?
This organizing pattern presents events as they relate to one another in terms of timing.
What is sequence or chronological?
This literary technique involves giving human attributes to non-human objects or abstract ideas.
What is personification?
These paragraphs consist of a topic sentence, context leading into a quote, text evidence, a few sentences analyzing that text evidence in relation to the thesis, and a transition or concluding sentence.
What are body paragraphs?
This type of poem focuses on expressing emotions, often without a specific structure or rhyme scheme.
What is free verse?
When you examine a character's growth or change throughout the narrative. In order to track this, consider descriptions about the character, as well as their dialogue and actions.
What is characterization or character analysis?
This structure explains why something happened and what happened as a result, connecting events and demonstrating a relationship between them.
What is Cause-Effect?
This refers to the specific techniques authors use to achieve their purpose, including style, tone, and structure.
What is craft?
This term describes an argument that contains an error in reasoning, leading to a false conclusion.
What is a logical fallacy?
TP-CASTT is an acronym used for analyzing poetry. Name its steps.
What are Title #1, Paraphrase, Connotation, Attitude (tone), Shifts, Title #2, Theme?
When writing a SCR, use this method to ensure you've answered the question fully and supported your analysis.
What is ACE (Answer the question in 1 sentence- serves as a topic sentence, Cite a quote from the text to support your answer, and Explain in 2 sentences how that quote supports your answer)?