In this article, the authors want to help readers become acquainted with the state of the field in the area of education policy, to get clearer about what has been demonstrated with evidence, what has been argued with or without evidence, and what gaps still exist in what is known about children, literacy, and these texts that take up the position of informing their readers about the world. The authors lay the groundwork for their later discussion of instruction by working through the various ways that researchers and Common Core State Standards (CCCS) writers have defined terms like informational texts and nonfiction. The purpose is to help provide clarity on what researchers mean when they say informational texts and, more important, why teachers and researchers must consider and understand the different ways this term is defined and used within the CCSS.