Using Graphic Organizers to

Understand Text
By
Barbara Noel
2 Types of Text
Narrative
Expository
Sample text
Primary Sources: Lewis and Clark Journals
Primary
sources: http://www.campusschool.dsu.edu/lofti/primary.htm
Follow in the Footsteps of Lewis and Clark
http://www.sierraclub.org/lewisandclark/
Secondary Sources:
From: http://www.writedesignonline.com/organizers
Retrieved June 3, 2007
Narrative
Setting
Where &When
Problem
Event #2
Event #1
Event #3
Beginning
Middle
End
Characters
Expository
1. Enumeration
2. Description
3. Sequence
4. Comparison and contrast
5. Cause and Effect
6. Problem and Solution

Enumeration
Lists information that
is connected such as:
Steps
Ideas
Signal / Cue Words
the following
Then
in addition another
furthermore finally

From: http://www.writedesignonline.com/organizers/

Sample Enumeration
Preparing and preserving plants is a time-
consuming and demanding process. A
specimen has to be spread out properly,
then pressed between two sheets of
blotting paper. The paper soaks up the
moisture from the specimen, drying it
out. The specimen must be removed,
aired, and placed between fresh sheets
until it is completely dry, so it won't rot.
Description
Has a main topic and
details that draw a
picture in the readers
mind.

From: http://www.writedesignonline.com/organizers
Sample Description
"..... in my walk I Killed a Buck Goat of this Countrey,
about the hight of the Grown Deer, its body Shorter the
Horns which is not very hard and forks 2/3 up one prong
Short the other round & Sharp arched, and is imediately
above its Eyes the Colour is a light gray with black
behind its ears down its neck, and its face white round its
neck, its Sides and rump round its tail which is Short &
white: Verry actively made, has only a pair of hoofs to
each foot, his brains on the back of his head, his
Norstrals large, his eyes like a Sheep he is more like the
Antilope or Gazella of Africa than any other Species of
Goat." Lewis and Clark As Naturalists
Sequence
Shows a series of events
Signal / Cue Words
First second third
Until while by last soon
then after at that time
now during

From:
http://www.writedesignonl
ine.com/organizers
Sample Sequence
By early 1803 Lewis was in Philadelphia. He
took crash courses in medicine, botany, zoology,
and celestial observation. He studied maps and
journals of traders and trappers who had already
reached as far up the Missouri River as the
Mandan villages in North Dakota. By the time he
left Washington he knew as much about the
West, and what to do when he got there, as any
man in America. Lewis and Clark: Preparations
Comparison/ Contrast
Describes the
characteristics of
something as they are
similar or different to
something else.
Signal words
however even though
but on the contrary
yet otherwise
despite in comparison
still on the other hand
From: http://www.writedesignonline.com/organizers
Sample Comparison/Contrast
In temperament Lewis and Clark were
opposites. Lewis was introverted, melancholic,
and moody; Clark, extroverted, even-tempered
and gregarious. The better educated and more
refined Lewis, who possessed a philosophical,
romantic and speculative mind, was at home
with abstract ideas; Clark, of a pragmatic mold,
was more of a practical man of action. Each
supplied vital qualities which balanced their
partnership. Biography of Lewis and Clark
Cause/Effect
Shows several reasons why something
happened
Signal / Cue Words
for this reason thus
in order to as a result
because consequently
so that on account of
therefore accordingly

From:
http://www.writedesignonline.com/organizers

Problem and Solution
To identify a problem
and give possible
solutions
Signal Words
problem
solution
because
cause
since
as a result
so that
From: http://www.writedesignonline.com/organizers
Sample Problem
On June second they arrived at a major fork in the river,
in north-central Montana, an estimated 465 river miles
upstream from the mouth of the Yellowstone. It shouldn't
have been there. No Indian informant had mentioned it.
There was not even a hint of it from anybody. Yet it
posed the most significant geographical question of the
entire Expedition. Which of these rivers was the
Missouri? The issue was fraught with danger. They
needed to reach the Rockies, find the Shoshoni Indians,
get some horses, portage to the head of the Columbia,
and reach the Pacific before winter closed in. To choose
the wrong route would consume twice the time it would
take to correct the mistake, and would, Lewis declared,
not only lose them the whole of the present travel
season, but "would probably so dishearten the party that
it might defeat the expedition altogether." Decision at
the Marias
From: http://www.writedesignonline.com/organizers
Websites
Education Place
http://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/
Index of Graphic Organizers
http://www.graphic.org/goindex.html
SCORE
http://www.sdcoe.k12.ca.us/score/actbank/torganiz.htm
Graphic Organizer Makers http://teachers.teach-
nology.com/web_tools/graphic_org/
Write Design Graphic Organizers
http://www.writedesignonline.com/organizers/
Graphic Organizers
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/graphicorganizers/bio
graphy/index.shtml (need to be a member)