CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.5
The Standard
Analyze the structure an author uses to organize a text, including how the major sections contribute to the whole and to the development of the ideas.
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts · Reading Standards for Informational Text
Teacher's field guide
What This Standard Means
What Students Need to Do
- Students determine how an informational text is organized. They explain what each major section adds and how the order helps develop the author’s ideas.
What Mastery Looks Like
- Students identify the article’s overall structure and describe the purpose of each major section. They use details from the text to explain how the order develops the author’s ideas.
Common Misconceptions
- Students may name a structure, such as cause and effect, without explaining how it works. They may summarize each section instead of explaining its role. They may also confuse text features, such as headings, with the overall organization.
How to Assess It
- Give students a four-section article and ask: “What job does each section do, and how does the section order build the main idea?”
Lesson moves
Ways to Teach It
Cut an article into sections, then have groups arrange the sections, label each section’s job, and defend their order.
Ask students to write: “Why did the author place this section here rather than earlier or later?”
Play Structure Match by pairing short articles with structure cards, then require one sentence of evidence for each match.
Compare a news report and an instruction manual, noting how each organization helps readers find and understand information.
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Printable RI.7.5 Worksheet
A ready-to-print activity worksheet aligned to CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.7.5, with an answer key for the teacher on its own page. No account needed.
PDF, US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white.
Download the worksheetLearning progression
Where This Standard Sits
See the whole path on the Reading: Informational Text progression map.
Before This Standard
If students are struggling here, check these first.
What This Unlocks
Mastery here sets students up for these next.
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Related Standards
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RH.9-10.5
Analyze how a text uses structure to emphasize key points or advance an explanation or analysis
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.5
Analyze the structure of texts, including how specific sentences, paragraphs, and larger portions of the text (e.g., a section, chapter, scene, or stanza) relat...
- CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RST.6-8.5
Analyze the structure an author uses to organize a text, including how the major sections contribute to the whole and to an understanding of the topic.
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