1. Understanding the Features of a Magazine
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Understanding the Features of a Magazine

2. Features of a Magazine
Different kinds of informational materials have different structural features.
The structural features of magazines are designed to give you an overview of what’s inside.

3. Features of a Magazine
The next time you’re at the library, look through the magazine racks.
You can also find magazines at most grocery stores and drugstores—usually near the cash registers.

4. The first important feature of a magazine is the cover.
Features of a Magazine
The first important feature of a magazine is the cover.
The artwork, photos, and title on the cover tell you a lot.
Who reads the magazine?
Women? Teenagers? Men? Parents? Young children?
Is it for everybody or only for people with certain interests?
Brides? Bicycle riders? Soap opera fans? Music lovers?

5. Features of a Magazine
A magazine cover also usually announces the lead article and other feature articles.

6. Inside This Issue Features of a Magazine
If you’re like most people, you turn next to the
contents page.
The contents page might not actually say “contents.”
This Month…
≈≈≈≈
Inside
This Issue
************

7. What Will Our Towns Look Like? [If We Take Care of Our Planet]
Features of a Magazine
Before you read a magazine article, notice the way it’s structured.
What’s the title? Does it catch your interest?
What Will Our Towns Look Like?
Does it have a subtitle that tells you more about the article?
[If We Take Care of Our Planet]
Are headings used to break the text into sections?

8. Features of a Magazine
Many articles use illustrations to help you understand the article and to provide more information.
Drawings
Most illustrations will have brief explanations called captions.
Photographs
Maps
Graphs
Tables

9. Features of a Magazine
A magazine article about Venus would be very different from Ray Bradbury’s story “All Summer in a Day.” The article would be full of facts.
On Bradbury’s Venus, it’s always raining, but
“rain” on the real Venus is drops of sulfuric acid!
In Bradbury’s story, children run outside to see the sun for the first time, but
the temperature on Venus is over 450°C (800°F)!

10. Features of a Magazine
As you read the magazine article in your textbook, look for structural features.
This is the illustration from the article. Why do you think there are numbers in the picture?

11. Understanding the Features of a Magazine
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Understanding the Features of a Magazine
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