Connecting Ideas in Texts
Describe connections between events, ideas, or concepts in informational text using time, sequence, cause-and-effect, and comparison language, and identify logical connections between sentences and paragraphs
What a learner can do afterwards
- Read a science text and identify three cause-and-effect relationships using signal words like 'because', 'as a result'
- Explain the sequence of steps in a technical procedure using time-order language ('first', 'next', 'finally')
- Describe how two paragraphs in a text are connected (e.g. comparison, cause/effect, or sequence)
The lesson
Writers connect ideas with special words. Words like 'because' and 'as a result' show cause and effect. Words like 'first,' 'next,' and 'finally' show time order. Words like 'however' and 'similarly' show a comparison.
Read this: 'The frost killed the crops. As a result, farmers lost money.' The frost is the cause. Losing money is the effect. The phrase 'as a result' connects them.
Check the first sentence of a new paragraph. Words like 'in contrast' or 'because of this' often tell you how it connects to the paragraph before it.
Cause words, time words, and comparison words all show how ideas link across sentences and paragraphs.
Watch it
Where it sits
Where this leads
8 questions wait behind this lesson, each with its answer explained. Every answer feeds the sky: stars light as they are learned, and dim when it is time to come back.