Writing is a way of communication that is used very frequently. It has become an unavoidable way of communication from academic to job level. It would not be wrong to say that writing is a primary need of almost every person. Most people focus on the main body of the text. This is the right approach to writing about anything, but have you noticed the importance of other writing components? These components are termed text features. First of all, make it clear what is text feature. In this way, you can better understand writing demands. Text features are all parts of writing other than the main body. Text features make reporting easy to understand for the majority of readers. As per the importance of text features, this article aims to discuss how to analyse text features.
Why is it Important to Analyse Text Features?
Text features include the following parts of writing:
- Title
- Captions
- Index
- Table of content
- Graphs
- Charts
- Labelled diagrams
- Headings
- Subheadings
- Glossary
- Sidebars
- Bold words
All of these parts of writing have great importance in any document. The primary purpose of ensuring text features is to make things easy to understand for the reader. Also, the reader can locate any information without wasting a long time. If you do not analyse text features, there are strong chances that you will get confused about the proper structuring of writing. To analyse text features, you need to extract meaningful information from writing. When a reader does not focus on text features, he has to spend a long time finding the relevant information. Also, he may need to get help from assignment writing services.
On the other hand, a reader who analyses text features saves time. Also, the writers who ensure text features get more attention from the reader. All of these aspects make it essential to analyse text features.
1. How do Text Features Enhance a Text?
The presence of text features in a text makes it attractive. A plain paragraph of thousand words seems to be very difficult to read. On the other hand, a document of thousand words with headings and subheadings appears attractive. When readers analyse text features, they focus on labelled diagrams. Such diagrams save a lot of word counts and help get more information in tiny sections. All text features play a particular role in writing and make it easy to understand. Also, it enhances text in terms of looks that do not let the reader get bored. Therefore, it becomes necessary to analyse text features and improve writing.
2. How do you Analyse the Text, Explain It?
You have to deal with many documents at the academic and organisational levels. To deal with bundles of documents in a short time, you need to learn how to analyse text features. You can analyse text features quickly by following some steps mentioned below:
- First of all, you need to ensure the purpose of reading any text. In this way, it becomes easy to focus on the most relevant information. Also, you can save your effort and time for another task. By reading the title, you can know if the document is appropriate or not. Furthermore, read the table of contents. It includes all of the headings and subheadings used in the document that helps you in targeting the particular passage rather than the whole document.
- After targeting the particular passage, you have to note the bold words. All of the bold words help get the core idea of the passage. Other than bold words, you can highlight more lines that seem essential to you.
- In the case of the fiction text, your primary focus should be on the background information of the story and author. In the same way, you need to identify the central theme of writing. The piece of the text leads you to determine the main idea. Another important aspect is the supporting idea or point that reinforces the main idea.
- In the case of nonfiction text, you should start with the purpose of writing. After that, note down the claim of the writer. Similarly, all evidence supporting the claim needs to be highlighted. Here, you have to understand all of the graphs, charts and labelled diagrams used in the main body of the text. This way to analyse text features is very effective for all the readers.
3. How do you Improve Text Analysis?
At a higher academic level, critical evaluation is the primary demand. It is not your choice to improve your analysis skills at this level, but it is a fundamental requirement. So, you have to work on strategies that can help you improve text analysis skills.
- First of all, you must have a clear understanding of text features. How can you analyse text features if you do not even know these parts? In the same way, you would not be able to improve your skills to analyse text features.
- List down all text features and make sure which text feature is present in the document. A single copy doesn’t need to have all of the text features. You need to identify which one is present in the document to analyse it. Suppose a table of contents and graphs are present in the document, while the charts and maps are not used by the writer because of no need. You can identify which information is current on which page number from a table of contents. Maybe you just have to collect data on a single aspect. There is no need to read the whole document but use a table of contents and directly hit the target section. That is how you can save much of your time.
Final Thoughts
Text features are necessary parts of writing. You must work on the tips mentioned above and strategies to analyse text features. In this way, you can improve your fictional and nonfictional writing.
