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Common Core ELA5th GradeReading: Informational

RI.5.5: Compare How Texts Are Organized

Also written as CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.5 · Cluster: Craft and Structure.

All 43 5th Grade ELA Standards

The Official Wording

Compare and contrast the overall structure (e.g., chronology, comparison, cause/effect, problem/solution) of events, ideas, concepts, or information in two or more texts.

Common Core State Standards, Grade 5, Reading: Informational Text · Read it at the source · Checked October 14, 2026

What RI.5.5 Means in Plain English

Fifth graders put two or more texts on one topic side by side and compare how each is built. One Erie Canal article might run in time order from the first shovel to opening day. Another might be built on cause and effect, explaining what cheap shipping changed.

Fourth graders (RI.4.5) described the structure of one text or part of one. Fifth grade adds the comparison: the same topic, two different shapes. Sixth grade (RI.6.5) zooms in on how a single sentence, paragraph or section fits the whole and develops its ideas.

RI.5.5 I Can Statements

  • I can name the structure of a text, such as time order.
  • I can find the signal words that show how a text is organized.
  • I can compare how two texts on one topic are organized.

RI.5.5 Worked Example

Both texts are about the Erie Canal, and the weak answer compares what they say instead of how they are built.

Read the Story
Text A: Work on the Erie Canal began on July 4, 1817, in Rome, New York. For the next eight years, crews dug across the state with shovels, picks and horses.Text A: Sections opened to boats as they were finished. In October 1825, the full canal opened, 363 miles from Albany on the Hudson River to Buffalo on Lake Erie.Text B: Before the canal, hauling a ton of goods by wagon from Buffalo to New York City cost about $100. By canal boat, the same ton cost about $10.Text B: Because shipping was so much cheaper, farmers in the Midwest began sending their crops east through New York. As a result, New York City grew into the busiest port in the country.
A short passage written for this page.
Question: Both texts are about the Erie Canal. How is each one organized, and how do the two structures differ?
Not Yet“Text A has more dates and Text B has more numbers about money. They are both about the Erie Canal.”It compares the facts in each text, not how the texts are built. Dates and dollar amounts are content, and the answer never names a structure.
Meets the Standard“Text A is in time order: it moves from ‘July 4, 1817’ through ‘the next eight years’ to ‘October 1825’ to tell how the canal was built. Text B is cause and effect: cheaper shipping is the cause, and ‘Because’ and ‘As a result’ lead to the effects on farmers and New York City. Text A tells when things happened, and Text B tells what the canal changed.”It names both structures, proves each one with its signal words, and states the difference in one clear sentence.
Question Stems to Use
How is this text organized? Which words tell you?Is it time order, comparison, cause and effect or problem and solution?What signal words does each text use?How is the second text built differently from the first?Why might a writer choose this structure for this topic?

Common Mistakes with RI.5.5

Comparing content instead of structure

“Text A is about building the canal and Text B is about money.”

Try this: Ask “How is it built?” instead of “What is it about?” and have students circle signal words before they answer.

Calling any text with a date time order

Text B labeled chronology because it says “Before the canal”

Try this: Check whether the dates or time words carry the text from start to finish, or only set the scene for something else.

Naming structures without proof

“Text A is chronology and Text B is cause and effect.” and nothing more

Try this: Require two signal words or phrases from each text, quoted, as evidence for each structure the student names.

Where RI.5.5 Fits

Comes BeforeRI.4.5Describe the overall structure of events, ideas or information in one text or part of a text.
AlongsideRL.5.5Explain how chapters, scenes or stanzas fit together to give a story, play or poem its shape.W.5.2Organize informative writing on purpose, grouping related information logically.
Comes NextRI.6.5Analyze how a sentence, paragraph, chapter or section fits into a text’s overall structure.

Practice RI.5.5

Quick Check

  1. Which structure does Text A use, and which words show it?
  2. Which structure does Text B use, and which words show it?
  3. According to Text B, what did it cost to ship a ton of goods from Buffalo to New York City by wagon and by canal boat?

RI.5.5: Other Names

RI.5.5CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.5.5

Common Core State Standards © Copyright 2010. National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and Council of Chief State School Officers. All rights reserved. Official wording from the Common Core State Standards PDFs at corestandards.org, last checked October 14, 2026. The explanation, I can statements, example, mistakes and practice on this page are EMStudio’s own, written beside the official wording. They are not part of the standard.