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00:00Uh, did you know there's like a million sharks circling the-
00:12First mate shark bait?
00:14What?
00:15Why?
00:16Eat this shark repellent.
00:22You're risking our lives to test something you bought off an infomercial?
00:28Okay, fine.
00:29Show me how it works then, fast.
00:35Read full instruction manual before use or else.
00:40Seriously?
00:41Dear Cassie and Moby, what are the different types of informational text structures from
00:49Mrs. Burke's fifth grade class?
00:51Uh, we're actually a little busy at the moment.
00:55But identifying the structure of a text can make it easier to understand.
01:00You'll know what to expect from it, which can help you organize and retain the information.
01:05Maybe it can help us make sense of this instruction manual.
01:11Informational texts are a type of non-fiction, or content based in fact.
01:16They're intended to inform the reader about a topic.
01:19There are five basic structures.
01:22Description, problem and solution, cause and effect, compare and contrast, and sequence.
01:29Each text structure contains certain elements, put together in a specific way.
01:38Sharks an introduction.
01:40Sharks can zip around the internet at incredible speeds, sink some incredibly powerful tails,
01:44skeletons made of cartilage, unique flotation system, blah blah blah blah.
01:49Up to 50 rows of razor shark teeth.
01:53Sharks rarely attack people, except of course when they're provoked or baited.
01:58Well, that would have been good to know earlier.
02:02But this is a great example of a description text, since it describes sharks' characteristics,
02:09including lots of specific details.
02:13Description texts show up all over the place, on products, in encyclopedia articles, and
02:18on signs at places like museums or the zoo.
02:24But description is not what we need right now.
02:27The solution to all your shark-related troubles.
02:30Hey, look, it's a problem and solution text, which lays out an issue, then offers a fix.
02:37This structure often appears in ads, editorials, and advice columns.
02:50Moving on, shark population dynamics.
02:54Because seals were hunted almost to extinction, they became a protected species.
02:59Their population recovered, causing an uptick in seal-eating sharks, too.
03:06This is clearly a cause-and-effect structure.
03:10You might see the cause-and-effect structure in news articles, and in history and science
03:16texts.
03:17It explains why something happens by laying out how one event leads to another.
03:26Moving on, eat this shark repellent versus the other guys.
03:38See that versus?
03:40That means this is a compare-and-contrast text.
03:43It lays out the similarities and differences between two or more things.
03:49You'll find this structure in commercials or product reviews.
03:53Both this repellent and its competitors claim to get rid of sharks quickly and effectively.
04:00That's how they compare.
04:02But while other products rely on magnetism, this one is fragrance-based, with a unique
04:08formula of stinks most repulsive to sharks.
04:12That's how they contrast.
04:13Yuck.
04:14How long is this manual?
04:15Finally, instructions for how to use the darn thing.
04:22In twenty-seven easy steps.
04:25Twenty-seven?
04:27Okay, this is a sequence text, since it orders steps in a process or events in time.
04:36They can be numbered, bulleted, or include words like first, next, etc.
04:43You'll find the structure in directions, recipes, and other instructions.
04:48Like how to use shark repellent.
04:50Okay, first, remove caps A, B, F, and K.
04:55Then, rotate the long nozzle a three-quarter turn and the short nozzle to the short nozzle
05:04with a slipknot.
05:06Step twenty-seven, point the repellent at your target, squeeze trigger three times,
05:11and watch the sharks go scram!
05:18Whoa, that worked!
05:20But, uh, we're still sinking.
05:30But wait, there's one more b-
05:32Ugh, so we didn't have to read that whole thing after all?
05:43I know, they should really hire an editor.
05:47Those long-winded passages are gonna cost someone their life!
05:51Hey, Moby, what do you feel like for dinner?
05:54Maybe fried clams?
06:02Thanks for watching!