Characterizing the genomic sequences of influenza A viruses is important for pathophysiological and evolutionary studies. Noncoding regions (NCR) of influenza A virus have been shown to play critical roles in replication and transcription but their sequences are infrequently determined. In this study, a method employing poly(A) addition and SMART (switching mechanism at 5´ end of RNA transcript) technology is described for directly determining and discriminating both NCR ends of viral RNA (vRNA), complementary RNA (cRNA), or NCR and cap sequences from viral mRNA. This modified method may also be used to characterize the NCRs of influenza A virus samples in which the RNA has been degraded.