Nonfiction

1. Nonfiction Introduction

2. What is nonfiction? • Nonfiction is any writing that is REAL or based on REAL LIFE EVENTS

3. What types of writing are considered nonfiction? • Autobiographies (written by the person that it is about) • Biographies (written by someone other than the individual that the book is about) • News articles • Web articles • Journal Entries • Web Pages

4. Elements of Nonfiction • You will be tested on your ability to read a piece of non-fiction and analyze: • The author’s purpose • The author’s perspective • Bias • Rhetoric and literary devices • Audience • Credibility • Structure • Understand the use of visuals in non-fiction. For example, a graph, chart, or picture.

5. Author’s Purpose • What the writer hopes to achieve by crafting a particular work Look at the choices the writer makes. Every choice – from the subject and the tone to the particular words and other important details – is a clue that can reveal the purpose. Another clue is your reaction to what you read.

6. Author’s Purpose – To inform or explain • Examples: encyclopedia or magazine articles, documents, instruction manuals, warranties, Web sites • Clues in the writing: • Facts and statistics • Steps in a process • Diagrams or illustrated explanations

7. Author’s Purpose – To Persuade • Examples: Editorials, TV ads, political speeches • Clues in the writing: • A statement of opinion • Supporting evidence • Appeals: to logic, to ethics, or to emotions • A Call to action

8. Author’s Purpose – To Entertain • Examples: humorous essays and articles, literary nonfiction, in addition to short stories, novels, plays • Clues in the writing: • Suspenseful or exciting situations • Humorous or fascinating details • Intriguing characters • Plot structure

9. Author’s Purpose – To Express thoughts or feelings • Examples: personal essays, blogs, journals, poems • Clues in the writing: • Thoughtful descriptions • Insightful observations • The writer’s personal feelings

10. Audience • the people or persons that the writer wants to read their work. For instance, an article about how cell phones are beneficial will more than likely be targeted at teens.

11. Author’s Perspective • The lens through which a writer looks at a topic. This lens is colored by the writer’s experiences, values, and feelings. • Tone - Look at word choice to determine the author’s attitude toward the subject • Watch for a shift in tone • The stylistic means by which an author conveys his/her her attitude

12. Rhetoric • the art of rhetoric is the art of persuasion with words, whether written or spoken • Appeals to logic, ethics, and/or emotions • Look for rhetorical questions, repetition, allusions, irony, hyperboles, understatements, sarcasm, antithesis, euphemisms

13. Imagery • Look for literary techniques used by the author that enhances or has an effect on meaning

14. Bias • is an inclination to present or hold a partial perspective at the expense of (possibly equally valid) alternatives. Anything biased generally is one-sided, and therefore lacks a neutral point of view.

15. Credibility • The believability of a source or message. • Ways to build credibility include stating qualifications for expertise, citing relevant authorities, allusions, providing facts and statistics, etc

16. Organizational Structure • Patterns in presenting information: cause/effect, chronological, compare/contrast, pros/cons, classification order of importance, spatial order • Look for subtopics or subheadings, words in different fonts, captions, illustrations, graphics, etc.

17. Types of Nonfiction we may cover • Expository- articles or essay that explain a concept or issue. • Persuasive- articles or essays that try to get the reader to think a certain way. • Procedural- articles, essays, or manuals that explain a step by step process of how to do something. • Literary Nonfiction- articles or essays that interweave facts with personal experience, examples, and descriptive language.