High School English II: Reading Study Guide for the STAAR test

Passage Type 3: Reading Informational Texts

Informational texts are written to inform a reader about a specific topic. Informational texts are nonfiction writing, and the STAAR® test may include informational texts in the form of expository writing, persuasive writing, or procedural writing. For these informational texts, you will need to analyze, make inferences, and draw conclusions about the author’s purpose and intended audience while identifying evidence to support those conclusions. A total of 11 of the 34 reading questions on the STAAR® English II test are based on informational texts.

History and Culture

The authors of informational texts consider their writing through cultural, historical, and contemporary lenses. As a reader, you must evaluate the author’s purpose based on these contexts and be able to identify the controlling (main) idea of the passage and the supporting ideas (evidence) the author provides. Be ready to determine the specific purpose of the passage and the details that support your conclusion. Within the details, the test will evaluate your ability to separate important details from less important details by asking, for example, which sentence from the passage could be deleted?

Expository Text

Expository texts inform or educate the reader about a subject or topic with which they may not be familiar. Authors who write effective expository texts have an authoritative tone that makes it sound like they know what they are talking about. This writing is generally clear, concise, and factual. These are some elements of expository texts that you should be on the lookout for in your reading:

Summary vs. Critique

Several of the STAAR® test questions may ask you to summarize the text. This means that you must determine the main idea and the essential information of a passage. Without bias or opinion sneaking in, a summary is an identification of the main ideas and refers back to what the author does or says in an objective, factual way. Oftentimes, people mistake a critique for a summary, but they are very different. A critique offers personal opinion about the main idea presented in a passage. It uses subjective language and offers an opinion or position about the topic that a summary would not have.

Types of Evidence

To educate or inform the reader, an author will use evidence to support his or her statements about the topic. The STAAR® test assesses your ability to distinguish and analyze different kinds of evidence used by the author to support conclusions or arguments made in a text. Careful critique of the evidence is important to test its validity—just because an author states something as “fact” doesn’t mean it is. So put the evidence to the test and be sure the reader can trust it. Here are some of the most common types of evidence authors use:

Logical Evidence—These statements of evidence or “fact” make logical, rational, reasonable sense to a thinking person. This type of evidence can be effective in convincing an audience as it is difficult to argue with. It just makes sense.

Empirical Evidence—This type of evidence is gathered by experience or observation. Sometimes referred to as sensory evidence, it is information that is received through the senses (we see it, smell it, taste it, hear it, and feel it). An author’s use of empirical evidence can give him or her a sense of authority or credibility because he or she has experienced it or seen it.

Anecdotal Evidence—Anecdotal evidence comes from the stories (or “anecdotes”) of another. Although it may be the least reliable in terms of being provable, it can tug on the heartstrings of an audience. It is not based on data, fact, personal experience, or observation. It is based on word of mouth or the story somebody heard from somebody who may have heard it from somebody else.

Inferences and Conclusions

As with most reading, you will need to make inferences based on the information the author provides and draw conclusions based on those inferences. Being mindful not only of what the text says but the textual elements the author uses to deliver his or her message, some of the questions may ask you to make and defend subtle inferences and complex conclusions about the ideas presented and how they are delivered to the reader.

Persuasive Text

Persuasive texts are about convincing the reader to join the author’s bandwagon and believe his or her claims. Watch out for the types of evidence used by the author, and be sure to critique its validity.

Perspective

Persuasive writing, by its very nature, suggests that there will be some people with different opinions or viewpoints. Some of the reading passages on the STAAR® test juxtapose two texts about the same topic but with very different perspectives on the subject. For these questions, you will need to identify and explain the arguments presented and places where you notice shifts in the argument (such as identifying a counter-argument) and evaluate the evidence the authors use to support their viewpoints.

Informational and Procedural Texts

Informational and procedural texts inform the reader or provide an explanation of how something is done (the procedure of it). These might appear as an instruction manual, a warranty for a car or appliance, or a “how-to” text. In addition, they may use visual elements to help inform or explain.

Visual Appeal

Because procedural and informational texts don’t tend to be very engaging to read (no fun characters, no crazy plot twists, just a lot of dry information), one of the ways to make them easier for the reader to engage with is by enhancing their visual appeal. When you look at the text on the page, is it visually appealing? Does it look organized? Are there bolded headings or numbered steps? Are there pictures or graphics to help you understand what the text is about? These things are all a part of a text’s visual appeal. How does it look to the reader? If the graphics help to clarify the content and the text is organized in a way that is visually appealing to the reader, it will be more accessible.

Synthesizing Information

Sometimes, there are multiple visuals included with an informational or procedural text. When this happens, you may be asked to synthesize information from a variety of visuals and the text itself to help you draw conclusions about the ideas presented. So be on the lookout for these visual aids, and don’t dismiss them as unimportant because this is a “reading” test. Reading and literacy also include your ability to process images in addition to words.

Media Literacy

Just as in literary texts, elements of media literacy will be evaluated through informational texts as well. Can you effectively access and use the images, graphics, and words together to understand the intended message?

How Media Differs

With different forms of media come different levels of analysis and connection. The variety of media formats reflects social and cultural views in different ways than those of traditional texts. Understanding and evaluating the effectiveness of how these elements (text, images, graphics, sound, etc.) come together to deliver a clear message is key to media literacy.