Author's Questions and Answers Study Guide

Author's Questions and Answers

In this lesson, you'll find out how authors ask you questions to keep you interested in what they write!

SOME AUTHORS USE a question-and-answer text structure. This text structure is especially common in science books. The author asks readers a question, then answers it. Sometimes the answer can easily be found in the text word for word.

Example 1

What lets you see tiny things up-close-and-personal? A microscope! It gives you a peek at a tiny world that plays a big part in our lives!

Other times, readers have to put details from the text together to get the answer.

Example 2

How does a microscope work? Light reflects off objects and bends as it goes through a lens. When the light reaches your eyes, the objects look larger than they are.

And other times, an author wants to connect with readers . . . to get them involved. So the author asks a personal question.

Example 3

Do you use a microscope in science class? Then you know how tiny things look bigger.

Words like who, what, when, where, why, and how signal readers that an author is using a question-and-answer text structure. A question mark can also be a signal, but sometimes the author's question is not stated directly.

Example 4

People wonder how big a microscope can make things look. Well, the first ones made things 10 times larger. Now microscopes make things 2,000 times larger. And electron microscopes reflect electric particles instead of light off objects to make things 200,000 times larger!

Use a question-and-answer chart to keep track of what's asked and answered.

Practice exercises for this study guide can be found at:

Author's Questions and Answers Practice Exercises