{"id":46,"date":"2020-02-25T23:15:05","date_gmt":"2020-02-26T04:15:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/chapter\/exploring-the-structure-of-a-text\/"},"modified":"2021-08-05T17:08:49","modified_gmt":"2021-08-05T21:08:49","slug":"exploring-the-structure-of-a-text","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/chapter\/exploring-the-structure-of-a-text\/","title":{"raw":"Exploring the Structure of a Text","rendered":"Exploring the Structure of a Text"},"content":{"raw":"<div class=\"exploring-the-structure-of-a-text\">\r\n\r\nExploring a text\u2019s structure may sound a little complicated, but it really isn\u2019t. It means looking for how a text has been constructed and thinking about how the structure supports the work the text is trying to do. The fancy literary terms for this are \u201cform\u201d and \u201cfunction.\u201d Form refers to the way the text is structured, while function refers to what it communicates to the reader.\r\n\r\nConsider these questions when thinking about structure:\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>How is the text organized? (Does it seem logical? Is it in time-related, chronological order? Does it skip around in time with flashbacks or flash-forwards?)<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Is it divided into obvious sections? Do the sections have headings, or are they just visually separated?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Does the author use comparison\/contrast, explore cause and effect, or examine a process to present their ideas?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Is there a lot of detail and description in the text?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Does the author use dialogue?<\/li>\r\n \t<li>Does the author do anything unusual* or unexpected with the text?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n*Speaking of unusual texts, sometimes the author will do something unexpected with the text\u2019s form in order to support its function. As an example, check out these examples from Mark Z. Danielewski\u2019s <em>House of Leaves<\/em>, a novel that includes some extraordinary structures.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"451\"]<img class=\"picture\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/931\/2020\/02\/house_of_leaves-300x192.png\" alt=\"An open book showing unusual text layout, including a square of blank space in the middle of a paragraph.\" width=\"451\" height=\"289\" \/> Pages from Mark Z. Danielewski\u2019s House of Leaves[\/caption]\r\n<p class=\"very-tight\">In the example shown to the right here, you can see some of the unusual ways Danielewski has arranged text on two of the pages. His book contains all sorts of different textual [pb_glossary id=\"267\"]anomalies[\/pb_glossary]; if you want to see more of them, go to Google and search for \u2018House of Leaves\u2019 and then \u2018images.\u2019 Throughout the text, his creativity with the textual layout echoes and supports what is happening within the story.<\/p>\r\n<p class=\"very-tight\">It\u2019s ridiculously cool, and if you\u2019re curious about it, I recommend reading it. It\u2019s a weird but worthwhile reading experience, and it brings home the idea of textual structure like nothing else can.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<h3>Text Attributions<\/h3>\r\nThis chapter was adapted from \u201c<a class=\"Hyperlink SCXW201134554 BCX0\" href=\"https:\/\/openoregon.pressbooks.pub\/wrd\/chapter\/exploring-the-structure-of-a-text\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Exploring the Structure of a Text<\/a>\u201d in <em>The Word on College Reading and Writing <\/em>by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear, which is licensed under a <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC 4.0 Licence<\/a>. Adapted by Allison Kilgannon.\r\n<h3>Media Attributions<\/h3>\r\n<ul>\r\n \t<li>\"Pages from Mark Z. Danielewski\u2019s House of Leaves\" by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear is licensed a <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC 4.0 Licence<\/a>.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<\/div>","rendered":"<div class=\"exploring-the-structure-of-a-text\">\n<p>Exploring a text\u2019s structure may sound a little complicated, but it really isn\u2019t. It means looking for how a text has been constructed and thinking about how the structure supports the work the text is trying to do. The fancy literary terms for this are \u201cform\u201d and \u201cfunction.\u201d Form refers to the way the text is structured, while function refers to what it communicates to the reader.<\/p>\n<p>Consider these questions when thinking about structure:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How is the text organized? (Does it seem logical? Is it in time-related, chronological order? Does it skip around in time with flashbacks or flash-forwards?)<\/li>\n<li>Is it divided into obvious sections? Do the sections have headings, or are they just visually separated?<\/li>\n<li>Does the author use comparison\/contrast, explore cause and effect, or examine a process to present their ideas?<\/li>\n<li>Is there a lot of detail and description in the text?<\/li>\n<li>Does the author use dialogue?<\/li>\n<li>Does the author do anything unusual* or unexpected with the text?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>*Speaking of unusual texts, sometimes the author will do something unexpected with the text\u2019s form in order to support its function. As an example, check out these examples from Mark Z. Danielewski\u2019s <em>House of Leaves<\/em>, a novel that includes some extraordinary structures.<\/p>\n<figure style=\"width: 451px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"picture\" src=\"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/931\/2020\/02\/house_of_leaves-300x192.png\" alt=\"An open book showing unusual text layout, including a square of blank space in the middle of a paragraph.\" width=\"451\" height=\"289\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Pages from Mark Z. Danielewski\u2019s House of Leaves<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"very-tight\">In the example shown to the right here, you can see some of the unusual ways Danielewski has arranged text on two of the pages. His book contains all sorts of different textual <a class=\"glossary-term\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-describedby=\"definition\" href=\"#term_46_267\">anomalies<\/a>; if you want to see more of them, go to Google and search for \u2018House of Leaves\u2019 and then \u2018images.\u2019 Throughout the text, his creativity with the textual layout echoes and supports what is happening within the story.<\/p>\n<p class=\"very-tight\">It\u2019s ridiculously cool, and if you\u2019re curious about it, I recommend reading it. It\u2019s a weird but worthwhile reading experience, and it brings home the idea of textual structure like nothing else can.<\/p>\n<h3>Text Attributions<\/h3>\n<p>This chapter was adapted from \u201c<a class=\"Hyperlink SCXW201134554 BCX0\" href=\"https:\/\/openoregon.pressbooks.pub\/wrd\/chapter\/exploring-the-structure-of-a-text\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Exploring the Structure of a Text<\/a>\u201d in <em>The Word on College Reading and Writing <\/em>by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear, which is licensed under a <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC 4.0 Licence<\/a>. Adapted by Allison Kilgannon.<\/p>\n<h3>Media Attributions<\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Pages from Mark Z. Danielewski\u2019s House of Leaves&#8221; by Carol Burnell, Jaime Wood, Monique Babin, Susan Pesznecker, and Nicole Rosevear is licensed a <a class=\"internal\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nc\/4.0\/\">CC BY-NC 4.0 Licence<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"glossary\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\" id=\"definition\">definition<\/span><template id=\"term_46_267\"><div class=\"glossary__definition\" role=\"dialog\" data-id=\"term_46_267\"><div tabindex=\"-1\"><p>something that deviates from the usual or standard approach<\/p>\n<\/div><button><span aria-hidden=\"true\">&times;<\/span><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Close definition<\/span><\/button><\/div><\/template><\/div>","protected":false},"author":701,"menu_order":8,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[],"contributor":[],"license":[],"class_list":["post-46","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"part":29,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/46","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/701"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/46\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":856,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/46\/revisions\/856"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/29"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/46\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=46"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=46"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pressbooks.bccampus.ca\/advancedenglish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=46"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}