Understanding Text Types (2024)

Common text types

The most common text types that students will come across in their reading are the following:

• Narrative text tells a story, and can be either fiction or nonfiction. Narrative texts typically have a beginning, middle, and end, and they use characters, setting, and plot to create the story.
• Descriptive text creates a picture with words, using vivid language to describe people, places, things, or events. Descriptive text can be found in a variety of genres, including essays and poetry.
• Expository text explains or informs, by presenting facts, definitions, or processes in a clear and concise way. Expository text can be found in a variety of genres, including textbooks, news articles, and informational books for children — for example, visual encyclopedias and pictorial information books such as the DK and National Geographic series.
• Procedural or instructional text explains how to do something through step-by-step explanations, often accompanied by numbered diagrams, illustrations, or photographs. Recipes and how-to-build Playmobil® and Lego® kits are common examples.
• Argumentative or persuasive text tries to persuade the reader to agree with a particular point of view, by using evidence, logic, and reasoning to support the claims. Argumentative text can be found in essays, editorials, and speeches.

NOTE: Text types should not be confused with text structures, which are discussed in the sections below.