Label the Text Features – A Sample Article to Practice On

All 13 text features on the diagram

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On the first page 7

Title Tells what the whole text is about.
Photograph A picture of something real from the text.
Caption Words by a picture that tell what it shows.
Sidebar A box set apart from the main text with an extra fact.
Heading Names a section and tells its main idea.
Bold word Darker print that makes an important word stand out.
Subheading A smaller heading inside a section.

Diagram, map and chart 3

Diagram A drawing with labels that name its parts.
Map Shows where places are.
Chart Shows numbers as a picture, here as bars.

Front and back of the book 3

Table of contents Lists the chapters in page order with their page numbers.
Glossary Lists important words in ABC order and tells what they mean.
Index Lists words in ABC order with the pages they are on.

How this list was compiled: Read 2026-09-30, for the names only; nothing was copied. (1) Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts as published by the California Department of Education, https://www.cde.ca.gov/be/st/ss/documents/finalelaccssstandards.pdf, Reading Standards for Informational Text, standards 5 and 7 in grades 1 to 4. (2) Kelley and Clausen-Grace, Guiding Students Through Expository Text with Text Feature Walks, at Reading Rockets, https://www.readingrockets.org/topics/comprehension/articles/guiding-students-through-expository-text-text-feature-walks (read in the Internet Archive copy). (3) New York State Education Department, Next Generation English Language Arts Learning Standards, glossary entry Text features, https://www.nysed.gov/sites/default/files/programs/standards-instruction/nys-next-generation-ela-standards.pdf. Every feature asked is named by at least two of the three. (4) The bee facts in the sample article were checked against Wikipedia (Honey bee, Nectar, Beehive, Insect) and the University of Delaware page The Colony and Its Organization, https://canr.udel.edu/maarec/honey-bee-biology/the-colony-and-its-organization/. Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30. The article, its pictures and its lists are own work, written and drawn for this page; no publisher's page was copied. Licence: own work

How it works

Label the text features of a two-page article about honeybees: title, heading, subheading, bold word, photograph, caption, sidebar, diagram, map and chart. Three slips from the same book add the table of contents, glossary and index.

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Tell look-alike features apart

A heading names a section; a subheading is smaller and sits inside one. A caption belongs to a picture, and a sidebar is a box with an extra fact. A diagram has labels on its parts, a map shows where places are, and a chart shows numbers.

Contents, glossary or index?

The three slips have no title, so look at how each is built. The table of contents lists chapters in page order. The glossary puts a meaning after each word, and the index puts page numbers after each word; both run in ABC order. For class, print the article blank, with a numbered line for each feature, or labeled as the answer key.

The bold word on the first page is workers, and the glossary slip tells what a worker is.
An index entry with three page numbers, like hive, is a word you can find on three pages.

Questions and answers

What are text features?

Text features are the parts of a text outside its main body of words that help a reader understand it and find information: the title, headings, bold print, pictures and captions, diagrams, maps, charts, sidebars, the table of contents, the glossary and the index.

What is the difference between a glossary and an index?

Both come at the back of a book in ABC order. A glossary tells what important words mean. An index tells which pages a word or topic is on, so you can turn straight to it.

What is the difference between a heading and a subheading?

A heading is the title of a section and points to its main idea. A subheading is a smaller title under a heading that splits the section into parts.

Is the honeybee article real?

No. The article, the garden map and the bee count were made up for this page. Its bee facts are real: a colony has one queen, she lays the eggs, and the workers do the other jobs.