Question

“A Desperate Trek Across America” is an informational text that chronicles the efforts of Spanish explorers of North America to recover from disaster. Informational texts may be written for a number of purposes, including: to explain or describe a situation or process to analyze a situation by explaining causes and effects to narrate a sequence of events Though informational texts are factual, they may also include the author’s commentary, including judgments, opinions, or conclusions. The evidence and examples included in the text and the way the text is structured support the author’s purpose for writing. As you read, think about the kinds of details the author includes and what they suggest about his purpose. What details does the author include about the explorers’ situation at the beginning of the text? What details does the author include about their efforts to address their problem?

Answer 1

Answer: The author includes details about the explorer's situation, such as that they hunted animals, roasted them, and ate them to survive, the various reasons why they passed, and how they lost communication with their ships. He also includes details about their efforts to address the situation, such as that they walked thousands of miles, despite being tired and not finding gold anywhere.

Explanation: An informational text explains a situation or has an opinion from the writer that can be inferred. In this text, the author includes details of their situation. He described how they had to hunt to survive and how difficult it was to be healthy due to threatful diseases. However, he also implied some opinions by saying that, although they walked a long distance to find gold and lost contact with their ships, they kept on going and tried to survive.