Let's review three different ways text can be presented:
Sequentially, in a cause and effect format, and comparatively.
These are not the only ways text is presented.
However, understanding these three methods can help you understand the meaning of text.
When a text is organized sequentially, ideas are listed in an order of topics or steps that need to occur in order to meet a goal.
[Visual description – image of the Atlantic Charter document appears]
The Atlantic Charter is an example of [an] historical document organized sequentially.
It lists President Roosevelt's and Prime Minister Churchill's goals for the world, item-by-item as "principles" in a numbered sequence.
[Visual description – image of President Roosevelt and Winston Churchill seated]
This sequential organization provides the reader with a clear understanding of the document.
Text can also present information in a cause-and-effect format.
In this format, the spark of an event is first identified and the results of this spark are then explained.
[Visual description – Camp David Accords document appears]
Excerpts from the Camp David Accords describe the causes that led to agreements between Israel and surrounding nations,
[Visual description – the phrase, “to achieve peace and good neighborly relations” appears.] and then introduce these documents as an effect of the tensions and problems.
[Visual description – The title, The Camp avid Accords: The Framework for Peace in the Middle East appears.]
The cause-and-effect organization provides an introduction and central idea of the purpose of the document.
[Visual description – Image of President Carter, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian Pres. Anwar el-Sādāt]
Finally, in a text that is organized comparatively, information is presented by looking at similar or differing ideas so the audience clearly understands.
[Visual description – excerpt of President Clinton’s Inaugural address appears with an image of President Clinton taking oath of office.]
Portions of President Bill Clinton's first Inaugural Address use a series of comparisons.
For example, President Clinton compares how communication is different than when the nation's first president took office.
[Visual description – excerpt from speech appears - When George Washington first took the oath I have just sworn to uphold, news travelled slowly across the land by horseback, and across the ocean by boat. Now the sights and sounds of this ceremony are broadcast instantaneously to billions around the world.]