The type of list used for items that are in chronological or sequential order.

In a chronological sequence the author uses the order of events, or chronology, to inform readers about events or content. The events may be organised by time or date, by arranging events as a series of steps or by following a list-like structure. Chronological sequencing is commonly used in nonfiction texts. In nonfiction, there are usually clear time markers such as dates or times of day to indicate a clear timeline.

Even in fiction the text is arranged in time-order sequence, but signals or markers may not be as overt. A sequence occurs even if an author uses flashbacks or flash-forwards. Flashbacks or flash-forwards are still understood by the reader to have happened at a particular time in the overall chronological sequence.

In addition to time and date markers, a sequence structure can be recognised by the use of signal words such as before, after and next.

Signal Words:

after, afterwards, ago already, always, at last, at that time, at the same time, before, during, eventually, finally, first, first of all, following, further, immediately, initially, in the first place, in the meantime, in that moment, in that instant, last, lastly, later, now, not long after, next, once, presently, second, secondly, sometimes, soon, soon after, subsequently, suddenly, then, to begin with, today, until, while, PLUS: specific time indicators, such as names of days, months or years, times of day, etc.

Sample Text Model:

The following sample text model uses the Chronological Sequence Structure.

On July 7, 2005, 37-year old Australian, Gillian Hicks’ life changed forever. After arriving at the tube, rushed and running unusually late, Gillian learned the King’s Cross line was not operating. She immediately boarded the next train which travelled on the Piccadilly line. Unbeknown to Gillian, as she boarded the train just before 9 a.m. suicide bomber, Germaine Lindsay, boarded alongside her.

Once the train reached a deep underground tunnel, Lindsay detonated the bomb. To begin with, Gillian thought she might be having a heart attack. She reported feeling as though she was falling into thick, black liquid in slow motion.

Not long after, Gillian described the blackness around her and the smoke and dust which filled the air. Breathing was difficult, but her attention was drawn to the sound of screaming. Initially, Gillian felt the urge to get up, but noticed she was unable to feel her legs. While lying on the floor she called out and a man assisted her off the carriage floor and onto an empty bench seat. Suddenly, the emergency light in the tunnel flicked on. Gillian looked down and discovered the bomb blast had blown off her lower legs. From the knees down Gillian saw exposed bones hanging from a mess of flapping skin, muscle and tendon. In that instant, Gillian knew her life would never be the same.

View the Graphic Organisers Black Line Masters.

Time-Order Sequence structures and the use of graphic organisers are covered in depth in our Balanced Literacy Program workshop.

Part: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7

by Angela Ehmer

Tags: chronological, graphic organisers, time-order sequence

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 10th, 2016 at 8:53 pm and is filed under Literacy general, Reading, Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

An ordered list, created using the element, should contain information where order should be emphasized, as in a recipe:

1. Mix dry ingredients thoroughly.
2. Pour in wet ingredients.
3. Mix for 10 minutes.
4. Bake for one hour at 300 degrees.

Definition lists, created using the element, generally consist of a series of term/definition pairs (although definition lists may have other applications). Thus, when advertising a product, one might use a definition list:

defined in HTML as:

Lower cost
The new version of this product costs significantly less than the
previous one!
Easier to use
We've changed the product so that it's much easier to use!
Safe for kids
You can leave your kids alone in a room with this product and
they won't get hurt (not a guarantee).

Lists may also be nested and different list types may be used together, as in the following example, which is a definition list that contains an unordered list (the ingredients) and an ordered list (the procedure):

• 100 g. flour
• 10 g. sugar
• 1 cup water
• 2 eggs
• salt, pepper

1. Mix dry ingredients thoroughly.
2. Pour in wet ingredients.
3. Mix for 10 minutes.
4. Bake for one hour at 300 degrees.

The exact presentation of the three list types depends on the user agent. We discourage authors from using lists purely as a means of indenting text. This is a stylistic issue and is properly handled by style sheets.

Start tag: required, End tag: required

Start tag: required, End tag: optional

Attribute definitions

Attributes defined elsewhere

Ordered and unordered lists are rendered in an identical manner except that visual user agents number ordered list items. User agents may present those numbers in a variety of ways. Unordered list items are not numbered.

Both types of lists are made up of sequences of list items defined by the LI element (whose end tag may be omitted).

This example illustrates the basic structure of a list.

   
 ... first list item...
   
 ... second list item...
   ...

Lists may also be nested:

Details about number order. In ordered lists, it is not possible to continue list numbering automatically from a previous list or to hide numbering of some list items. However, authors can reset the number of a list item by setting its value attribute. Numbering continues from the new value for subsequent list items. For example:

 makes this list item number 30.
 makes this list item number 40.
 makes this list item number 41.

DL - - (DT|DD)+              -- definition list -->
%attrs;                              -- %coreattrs, %i18n, %events --
  >

Start tag: required, End tag: required

Start tag: required, End tag: optional

Attributes defined elsewhere

Definition lists vary only slightly from other types of lists in that list items consist of two parts: a term and a description. The term is given by the element and is restricted to inline content. The description is given with a element that contains block-level content.

Here is an example:

  

  Dweeb
  
young excitable person who may mature
    into a Nerd or Geek

  
Hacker
  
a clever programmer

  
Nerd
  
technically bright but socially inept person

Here is an example with multiple terms and descriptions:

   Center
   Centre
   
 A point equidistant from all points
              on the surface of a sphere.
   
 In some field sports, the player who
              holds the middle position on the field, court,
              or forward line.

Another application of , for example, is for marking up dialogues, with each naming a speaker, and each containing his or her words.

Note. The following is an informative description of the behavior of some current visual user agents when formatting lists. Style sheets allow better control of list formatting (e.g., for numbering, language-dependent conventions, indenting, etc.).

Visual user agents generally indent nested lists with respect to the current level of nesting.

For both and , the attribute specifies rendering options for visual user agents.

For the element, possible values for the attribute are disc, square, and circle. The default value depends on the level of nesting of the current list. These values are case-insensitive.

How each value is presented depends on the user agent. User agents should attempt to present a "disc" as a small filled-in circle, a "circle" as a small circle outline, and a "square" as a small square outline.

A graphical user agent might render this as:

For the element, possible values for the attribute are summarized in the table below (they are case-sensitive):

Note that the attribute is and list styles should be handled through style sheets.

For example, using CSS, one may specify that the style of numbers for list elements in a numbered list should be lowercase roman numerals. In the excerpt below, every element belonging to the class "withroman" will have roman numerals in front of its list items.

 Step one ...  
 Step two ...

The rendering of a definition list also depends on the user agent. The example:

  Dweeb
  
young excitable person who may mature
    into a Nerd or Geek

  
Hacker
  
a clever programmer

  
Nerd
  
technically bright but socially inept person

might be rendered as follows:

Dweeb
       young excitable person who may mature into a Nerd or Geek
Hacker
       a clever programmer
Nerd
       technically bright but socially inept person

DIR and MENU are .

See the for the formal definition.

Attributes defined elsewhere

The element was designed to be used for creating multicolumn directory lists. The element was designed to be used for single column menu lists. Both elements have the same structure as , just different rendering. In practice, a user agent will render a or list exactly as a list.

Which of the following lists the sources used in a report?

What is the last line of a paragraph that displays as the first line of a page?

What is the pane used to find document text?

What is normal spacing in Word?