What direct instruction is essential for students' success when using informational texts for personal research?

When students engage with informational texts, understanding how to navigate those texts efficiently is vital for their success in personal research. Instruction focused on using text features—such as headings, subheadings, bolded words, bullet points, captions, and indexes—equips students with the skills needed to locate specific information quickly and effectively.

Text features guide readers in organizing their efforts and comprehending the structure of the material. Recognizing these features helps students to identify key concepts and pertinent details without getting overwhelmed by the entirety of the text. This skill is particularly crucial in research contexts, where time is often limited, and precise information is needed.

The other aspects, such as presenting information in charts and tables, using an outline to organize information, and distinguishing between implied and explicitly stated information, are certainly important for effective research overall. However, the foundational ability to navigate and extract information directly from an informational text through its features is what sets the stage for successful engagement with the content. Mastering this skill allows students to tackle various types of texts more confidently and efficiently.