Types of Passages, Text Structures, Genre and Theme
To read effectively, you must understand what kind of text you are reading and how it is structured. You must also be able to look behind the text to find its deeper meanings.
Types of Passages
There are many ways of breaking texts down into categories. To do this, you need to consider the author’s purpose, or what the text exists to do. Most texts exist to inform, persuade, or entertain. You also need to consider what the text does—whether it tells a story, describes facts, or develops a point of view.
| Type of Passage | Examples |
| Narrative writing tells a story. The story can be fictional, or it can describe real events. The primary purpose of narrative writing is to entertain. | • An autobiography • A memoir • A short story • A novel |
| Expository writing provides an explanation or a description. Many academic essays and informational nonfiction books are expository writing. Stylistically, expository writing is highly varied. Although the explanations can be dry and methodical, many writers use an artful or entertaining style. Expository writing is nonfiction. Its primary purpose is to inform. | • A book about a historical event • An essay describing the social impacts of a new technology • A description of changing gender roles in marriages • A philosophical document exploring the nature of truth. |
| Technical writing explains a complex process or mechanism. Whereas expository writing is often academic, technical writing is used in practical settings such as businesses. The style of a technical document is almost always straightforward and impersonal. Technical writing is nonfiction, and its purpose is to inform. | • Recipes • Instructions • User manuals • Process descriptions |
| Persuasive writing makes an argument. It asks readers to believe something or do something. Texts that make judgments, such as movie reviews, are persuasive because they are attempting to convince readers to accept a point of view. Texts that suggest a plan are also persuasive because they are trying to convince readers to take an action. As the name “persuasive writing” indicates, the author’s primary purpose is to persuade. | • Op-ed newspaper articles • Book reviews • Project proposals • Advertisements • Persuasive essays |
Text Structures
Authors rarely present ideas within a text in a random order. Instead, they organize their thoughts carefully. To read effectively, you must be able to recognize the structure of a text.
That is, you need to identify the strategies authors use to organize their ideas. The five most common text structures are listed below.
| Text Structure | Examples |
| In a sequence text, an author explains what happened first, second, third, and so on. In other words, a sequence text is arranged in chronological order, or time order. This type of text may describe events that have already happened or events that may happen in the future. | • A story about a birthday party • A historical paper about World War II • A list of instructions for baking a cake • A series of proposed steps in a plan for business expansion |
| A compare/contrast text explains the similarities and differences between two or more subjects. Authors may compare and contrast people, places, ideas, events, cultures, and so on. | • An essay describing the similarities and differences between women’s experiences in medieval Europe and Asia • A section in an op-ed newspaper article explaining the similarities and differences between two types of gun control |
| A cause/effect text describes an event or action and its results. The causes and effects discussed can be actual or theoretical. That is, the author can describe the results of a historical event or predict the results of a possible future event. | • An explanation of ocean acidification and the coral bleaching that results • A paper describing a proposed new law and its likely effects on the economy |
| A problem-solution text presents a problem and outlines a solution. Sometimes it also predicts or analyzes the results of the solution. The solution can be something that already happened or a plan the author is proposing. Note that a problem can sometimes be expressed in terms of a wish or desire that the solution fulfills. | • An explanation of the problems smallpox caused and the strategies scientists used to eradicate it • A business plan outlining a group of potential customers and the strategy a company should use to get their business |
| A description text creates a mental picture for the reader by presenting concrete details in a coherent order. Description texts are usually arranged spatially. For instance, authors may describe the subject from top to bottom, or they may describe the inside first and then the outside, etc. | • An explanation of the appearance of a character in a story • A paragraph in a field guide detailing the features of a bird • A section on an instruction sheet describing how the final product should look |
Genre and Theme
Literature can be organized into categories called genres. The two major genres of literature are fiction and nonfiction.
Fiction is made up. It can be broken down into many sub-genres, or sub-categories. The following are some of the common ones:
- Short story – Short work of fiction.
- Novel – Book-length work of fiction.
- Science fiction – A story set in the future
- Romance – A love story
- Mystery – A story that answers a concrete question, often about who committed a crime
- Mythology – A traditional story that reflects cultural traditions and beliefs but does not usually teach an explicit lesson
- Legends – Traditional stories that are presented as histories, even though they often contain fantastical or magical elements
- Fables – Traditional stories meant to teach an explicit lesson
Nonfiction is true. Like fiction, it can be broken down into many sub-genres. The following are some of the common ones:
- Autobiography and memoir – The author’s own life story
- Biography – Someone else’s life story (not the author’s)
- Histories – True stories about real events from the past
- Criticism and reviews – A response or judgment on another piece of writing or art
- Essay – A short piece describing the author’s outlook or point of view.
Literature reflects the human experience. Texts from different genres often share similar themes, or deeper meanings. Texts from different cultures do too. For example, a biography of a famous civil rights activist may highlight the same qualities of heroism and interconnectedness that appear in a work of mythology from Ancient India. Other common themes in literature may relate to war, love, survival, justice, suffering, growing up, and other experiences that are accessible to virtually all human beings.
Many students confuse the term theme with the term moral. A moral is an explicit message contained in the text, like “Don’t lie” or “Crime doesn’t pay.” Morals are a common feature of fables and other traditional stories meant to teach lessons to children. Themes, in contrast, are implicit. Readers must consider the clues in the story and figure out themes for themselves. Because of this, themes are debatable. For testing purposes, questions focus on themes that are clearly and consistently indicated by clues within the text.
Let’s Review!
- Written texts can be organized into the following categories: narrative, expository, technical, and persuasive.
- Texts of all categories may use the following organizational schemes or structures: sequence, compare/contrast, cause/effect, problem-solution, description.
- Literature can be organized into genres including fiction, nonfiction, and many sub-genres.
- Literature across genres and cultures often reflects the same deeper meanings, or themes.
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