Introductory Notes NONFICTION Nonfiction focuses on real rather

Introductory Notes NON-FICTION:

Nonfiction: � focuses on real, rather than imaginary, subjects, (people, things, events, and places) facts rather than opinions � Writers know the importance of being clear. �what they write must be of interest, or no one will want to read what they have to say

Facts vs. Opinions � On average, adults watch double the amount of television that teenagers do. � Adults watch too much TV. � The first CD pressed in the U. S. was Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA � The best CD ever produced was Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the USA

Types of Non-Fiction � Narrative Nonfiction � Informative Nonfiction

Narrative Nonfiction � Tells a story, just as fictional (made=up) stories do. � Includes setting, character, theme, plot, conflict � May be told in chronological order or in flashback.

Informative Nonfiction � Informative Nonfiction: writing that explains a topic or promotes an opinion � Newspapers, journals, and reputable magazines and some websites are sources of informative non-fiction � Two types of informative non-fiction are �Expository �Persuasive

Types of informative nonfiction � EXPOSITORY � PERSUASIVE � Type of writing that explains, � Type of writing that is gives information, defines, or clarifies an idea � Found in news articles, in histories, in biographies, cookbooks, how-to manuals, etc. aimed at leading the reader or listern to rethink or act in a certain way � Found in newspaper editorials, in speeches, in certain types of essays, advice columns, movie review, etc.

Types of Narrative and Informative Nonfiction � Autobiography � Biography � Memoir � Diary � Essay � Speech � Informational articles

Autobiography � Autobiography: story of a person’s life written by that person �written from a 1 st person point of view and based entirely on the author’s memory �Subjective: proceeding from or taking place within an indicidual’s mind and unaffected by the outside world �Advantage: reveals the motives, emotions, and fears that only the writer can know.

Biography � Biography: story of a person’s life written by someone other than that person, uses the third person point of view � Objective: Uninfluenced by emotion or personal prejudice � Advantage: An outsider can tell us things about background, history, influences, of another person—things that the person may not have realized

Memoir � Memoir: an account of an event or period in the author’s life that usually emphasizes the author’s personal experience of a particular event or time period �Like an autobiography, a memoir is told from the first-person point of view.

Diary � A first-person, day-to-day account of a person’s life written as it is lived

Essay � Essay: short piece of nonfiction writing that usually deals with a single subject- Many essays share the author’s thoughts about a subject or experience.

Types of Essays � Narrative: a nonfiction story � In this short form, authors present a real time and place, real people as characters, and events that actually happened. � often includes a central conflict or problem, as well as a climax and resolution (plot elements) �Knowing that a literary work is a narrative essay can help you to gain historical and/or general knowledge about other people, places and events.

Types of Essays � Personal: usually informal in their language and tone �often reflect an incident in the writer’s life �The writer may share a life lesson, or reminisce about a past event. � Descriptive: uses carefully selected details to help readers picture an object or place �Writers often use sensory details in their description to help the reader understand what something looks like, sounds like, and feels like.

Types of Essays (Informational nonfiction) � Expository: when you write to inform, give directions, explain an idea, or make something clear � Persuasive: employs techniques designed to convince an audience to think or act in a certain way � examples of techniques: ○ cause or effect reasoning (appeals to logic) ○ emotion ○ ethics ○ authority � A good persuasive writer anticipates the possible concerns and objectives of the audience and uses this insight to directly address possible arguments.

Speech � Speech: speaker tries to influence the listener’s ideas or actions

Informational Article � Informational Article: Provides facts about a subject �Newspaper and magazine articles, feature stories �Textbooks, pamphlets, how-to books

Literary Elements of Nonfiction � Title: the name of a work of literature �expresses themes, highlights important details, or points to a central character or event

Literary Elements of Nonfiction � Author’s purpose: reason for writing �may be to entertain, to persuade, to express opinions, to describe or to inform

Literary Elements of Nonfiction � Characterization: how the author reveals the personality of the characters �Direct characterization: author makes direct statements about a character �Indirect characterization: author reveals a character through his or her words, thoughts, and actions and through what other characters think and say about the character �

Literary Elements of Nonfiction � Historical Narrative: work of nonfiction that tells the story of important historical events or developments � people described have motives and writers can reveal them through their words, actions, appearances and other details � includes events that are usually told in chronological order �some also include a central conflict, rising action and a resolution

Literary Elements of Nonfiction � Narrator: person or voice that tells the story � Anecdote: a brief account of an interesting or significant circumstance �Writers often use anecdotes to illustrate their points, to get a reader’s attention, to clarify ideas or to convey a story element such as setting or rising action

Literary Elements of Nonfiction � Author’s purpose: the author’s reason for writing �The purpose may be to persuade, to express an opinion, or to inform

Literary Elements of Nonfiction � Tone: an author’s attitude toward his or her subject matter �conveyed through elements such as word choice, punctuation, sentence structure, and figures of speech �can convey a variety of attitudes, such as sympathy, objectivity or humor �the specific tone is often related both to the type of writing and its purpose

Objective versus Subjective Writing � Objective= facts which can be proved to be true by the senses, the calendar, or the clock �examples: the geographic location of a city, the time of day � Subjective= details that may be true, but are verifiable only by reference to your own state of mind � examples: feelings about an event, description of a person �word connotation (associations that affect meaning)

Literary Elements of Nonfiction � Plot: sequence of events �Exposition �Rising action �Climax �Falling action � Resolution

Literary Elements of Nonfiction � Aphorism: a short, pointed statement that expresses a wise or clever observation about human experience � “To travel hopefully is better than to arrive. ”- Robert Louis Stevenson

Literary Elements of Nonfiction � Setting: the time and place in which events of a work occur �In addition to physical characteristics, setting also includes the history, customs and values of the people who live there

Literary Elements of Nonfiction � Thesis: main idea of an essay or other work of non-fiction �It is generally stated in one or two sentences �Contains a subject, and opinions, and reasons for that opinion �Indentifying thesis of a work can help you better understand the work as a whole �The thesis may be stated directly or indirectly

Literary Elements of Nonfiction � Structure: the particular order a writer uses to present ideas

Literary Elements of Nonfiction � Dialogue: a conversation between characters in a literary work �usually set off with quotation marks and dialogue tags, or markers that let the reader know who said what

Literary Elements of Nonfiction � Rhetorical devices: techniques that an author uses to create particular effects or to engage the attention of the reader �Use language in artistic ways that make passages more memorable as well as more persuasive �Parallelism �Repetition

Literary Elements of Nonfiction � Antithesis: a contrasting relationship between two ideas �An author uses antithesis by placing contrasting ideas together, often in parallel structure � Mentioning two ideas next to each other highlights their differences � Can lead the reader to certain conclusions or opinions

Literary Elements of Nonfiction � Humor: quality of a literary work that makes the characters, situations, or events seem funny or ridiculous �Recognizing the author’s use of humor can help you determine how serious a selection is, as well as if it is fictional or factual �Often used to point out human failings or ironies of every day life ○ Sarcasm ○ Exaggeration ○ Puns ○ Verbal irony