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Dr. Judith M. Newman


SELF AS INFORMANT - 4
Exposition

ACTIVITY 4 —STRUCTURAL ORGANIZATION OF EXPOSITORY TEXTS

The next two passages provide an opportunity for you to explore how expository texts are organized. Exposition is developed using a limited number of writing patterns:

  • Enumeration
  • Question / Answer
  • General Statement / Elaboration
  • Cause / Effect
  • Sequence
  • Comparison / Contrast
  • Problem Statement.

I've included a link to the resource which shows the ways in which these patterns are signaled and offer some suggestions for diagramming them.

Read each of the brief articles:

  • Blood, semen harbor distinct HIV mutations
  • Big shocks push volcanoes over the edge

Try to identify the writing patterns used in each piece. Next diagram each selection.

What strategies did you find yourself using?
What questions about your own learning, reading did this activity raise for you?
What questions about helping your students make sense of exposition did the activity raise for you?

Self As Informant 5: Poetry