Informational Text- On-Level

Master informational text! Analyze main ideas, evidence, and author's purpose.

Informational Text is:A text that provides FACTUAL information to the reader.There are four main types of informational texts:Literary non-fiction- factual but told like a storyExpository- Explains using ExamplesArgument Tries to convince reader of somethingProcedural- How-to, Steps, Recipes, directions What is informational text? Read the following excerpt from "How they croaked" by Georgia Bragg In 1827, Beethoven got pneumonia, and he couldn't shake it. His stomach was killing him. He couldn't go to the bathroom (chamber pot); his skin was the color of a banana, and blood dripped out of his mouth. Then he got dropsy. That's when the fluid inside your body that's supposed to get out, can't. Very quickly, Beethoven's body filled up with rotting fluid. He got huge. His stomach bloated, and the skin stretched across it tight as a balloon. A doctor in 1827 didn't know much more than a doctor in the Middle Ages, so Beethoven's doctors figured all that Beethoven needed was a drain to get the liquid out. They took him to the hospital. But back then, half the people who went into the hospital came out dead. At the hospital, a hole was drilled into Beethoven's stomach, and then they stuck a hose in it. Beethoven experienced the most painful day of his entire life. Awake and without pain medicine, Beethoven watched forty cups of white pus-filled gunk flow out of his belly—enough to fill ten-quart bottles. This was before stitches, so his doctor plugged the hole with some rags and sent Beethoven home. The gunk continued to leak out of the hole in Beethoven's stomach. But his belly got even bigger than before they had taken him to the hospital. He went back to the hospital three more times. His doctor reinserted the hose into the same hole each time. And, no surprise, the hole got infected. Using the highlighted text from the informational passage about Beethoven, which MAIN IDEA is supported by text evidence in the article? The hospital did all it could to save Beethoven. Beethoven was always in poor health. The doctors in that time era had little medical knowledge. Pneumonia ended up killing Beethoven. The author MOST LIKELY included the gross, gory detailsof Beethoven's visits to hospital to:Hint- Do not think about the entire passage- think about why the author added the gross details specifically. persuade the reader to become a fan of Beethoven inform the reader of how Beethoven died. entertain the reader while providing interesting facts describe to the reader that Beethoven had pneumonia. Read the following excerpt from " Grace, Gold, and Glory" by Gabrielle Douglas On January 2, 2012, while Mom was visiting me in Iowa, I handed her my smartphone with the text message I’d drafted, words I’d been too scared to say out loud: Gymnastics is not my passion anymore. I want to get famous off of running track, or I want to try dancing, or become a singer. I can get a job at Chick-Fil-A in Virginia Beach and live off the 14 grand I just won at World Championships. I just want to be a normal teenage kid. I am so homesick. I just want to come home. As Mom read my letter in silence, her eyes narrowed and her expression turned to stone. “You’re breaking my heart here, Brie,” she said. “You’ve been doing gymnastics for ten years, and now you want to run track? Have you lost your mind?” I hadn’t lost my mind—but I had definitely lost my fire. It’s one thing to keep fighting for your dream when you’re surrounded by the four family members who know you the best. It’s an entirely different thing to push toward that dream when you feel alone. “I’m not trying to break your heart, Mom,” I said. “I just don’t want to do it anymore.” Mom paused and looked directly at me. “I know you miss home, Brie,” she said. “But you’ve signed a contract that says you will represent your country to the best of your ability. You’ve got a responsibility to your teammates. And now you just want to walk away? I will not let you be dishonorable. If gymnastics is not your passion, then at the very least, you will finish the season. I didn’t raise you and your brother and sisters to be quitters.” The next afternoon as I dragged myself into Chow’s gym for a hard workout, I thought of the hundreds of double shifts Mom had worked in order to pay for my training. I thought of my two sisters: Arielle, who gave up ballroom dancing, and Joyelle, who stopped ice skating so that our single mom could afford to keep me in gymnastics. I thought of my father—the one person who’d missed out on so much of the dream I was about to set aside. I thought of my closest friend and my only brother, John—the one whose little pep talk turned out to be the big miracle that changed everything that month. But I’ll come back to that part. For now, here’s what you need to know: Exactly 210 days before I ever attempted my first vault in the London Summer Olympics, my leap of faith came this close to ending in a crash of disaster. Using the highlighted text text from the passage "Grace, Gold, and Glory", the reader can conclude that Gabrielle- made an impulsive decision and then regretted it is normally a quitter so this was not a surprise thought for a long time before telling her mother would not seriously consider quitting gymnastics Gabrielle included the back-story about her family in order to – provide sound reasoning for her decision to leave gymnastics give the reader insight into how her brother felt add suspense and drama for the reader explain to the reader how her decision affected others Read the excerpt "Ethanol Economics" By David Trilling If you’ve ever pumped gas in the United States, you’ve seen the sticker: “This product may contain up to 10 percent ethanol by volume,” declares one at a Massachusetts Shell station. Since 2005, Washington has mandated that an increasing amount of ethanol be mixed into gasoline every year, encouraging refiners and retailers with cash incentives. The U.S. now produces over 1 million barrels of ethanol a day, mainly from corn. Also known as ethyl alcohol and grain alcohol, ethanol is found in 97 percent of American gasoline. Elsewhere it’s made from sugar beets, sugar cane, and other vegetable products. Proponents argue that it’s cleaner than burning regular gasoline, that it helps wean America off imports and that it finances domestic corn farmers rather than distant oppressors. But ethanol and other biofuels are not without controversy or hype. Academic journals regularly examine trade-offs. As a 2015 study in Science noted, the shift to using corn to fuel our cars means someone is eating less: “roughly one-fifth of calories diverted to biofuels are not replaced.” What is the author’s overall message?Hint- Take notice of the text structure of the article. The author uses compare in the article. The United States is increasing the percent of Ethanol in gas. If more corn is used to make Ethanol, then there will be less to eat. Ethanol is cleaner than burning gas. There are both pros and cons to increasing the percent of Ethanol in gas. Which word from the text helps the reader understand the meaning of incentives?Hint- you are being asked to use context clues to define the word. encouraging retailers cash produces