Nonfiction Notes Nonfiction is prose that explains ideas

Nonfiction Notes • Nonfiction is prose that explains ideas or tells about real people. • Nonfiction is based on some sort of fact. • It can be verified.

Diction is the author’s choice of words, especially the vocabulary they choose, or whether they use formal vs. informal writing or speech.

The particular words we choose tell something about: • • • the actual experience our personality our personal beliefs or prejudices about our background and especially about our purpose as the writer.

• Every good writer of nonfiction has a purpose when he or she sits down to write.

The author’s intention or reason for writing can be: • to explain or inform; • to create a mood or stir an emotion; • to tell about a series of events; • to persuade the reader to believe something or do something.

• Bias occurs when a writer makes a onesided presentation. • For example, when a writer ignores relevant facts or by using emotional language that unfairly sways readers’ feelings. • Perspective is the viewpoint or opinion an author expresses about the subject, either directly or indirectly.

Forms of Nonfiction: – Reports are factual accounts of places or events. – Personal essays reveal a great deal about the writer. Its tone is conversational, sometimes even humorous, and there may be no attempt to be objective. It focuses on a writers feelings and responses to an experience.

• Essay – short nonfiction work about a particular subject. • A Biography is an account of a person’s life, written or told by someone else.

• An Autobiography is an account of the writer’s own life, as told by the writer, and covers his or her lifetime. • A Memoir is a form of autobiography that covers a certain time period or incident in a person’s life. (for example, your years in high school or a special summer abroad)

• Article: Provides information about a topic, event, or person. They tend to be objective and answer the “what, when, and where” rather than what the author thinks or feels. • Speech: Written to be read aloud and presents a topic and may persuade, inform, explain, or entertain.

Although there are many different types of nonfiction, all include certain literary methods and devices. • The five major methods of writing that we find in nonfiction are – Description – Narration – Exposition – Persuasion – Reflective

Description is a method of writing that establishes a mood or stirs an emotion. • Description works by using images – words that help us experience something with our senses: to see it, hear it, smell it, taste it or touch it.

• Narration is the method of writing that tells about a series of events, usually in chronological order. • Expositions are methods of writing whose purpose is to explain or inform, to define or to clarify an idea. • Persuasion is a kind of writing that aims at convincing the reader or listener to think or act in a certain way.

Each essay form or type answers certain questions for a reader. – Exposition answers the question, “What is it and how does it work? ” – Description answers the question, “What does it look, sound, smell, feel and taste like? ” – Narration answers the question, “What happened? ” – Persuasion answers, “What should I feel or do about it? ”

How does the writer try to interest us with the purpose of the piece? He or she uses all of the elements that are also found in fiction such as: • • Conflict Suspense Characters Dialogue Irony Comedy and figures of speech.

Elements of/used in Nonfiction (other terms to know) • Author’s argument – the point the author is trying to make • Cause and Effect - linking two related ideas, used in persuasion • Chronological order – time-order in writing, eg. in how-to instructions

• Connotation - ideas we associate with the meaning of a word • Denotation - dictionary definition of a word, e. g. , lake = inland body of water • Evidence - used to support, prove, clarify an argument, e. g. , analogy or anecdote • Fact vs. Truth - something known to exist or to have happened vs. personal “truth”

• Focus - idea on which writing is centered • Hyperbole - exaggeration or overstatement, often used for comic effect, e. g. , Mark Twain • Inference - educated guess, conclusion or judgment from evidence • Informational text - writing that provides knowledge to guide & educate, eg. magazine & newspaper articles, instruction manuals, textbooks, web sites, atlases, journals

• Journals - opinions, comments, & thoughts of people (usually from another time) • Literal language - not figurative, uses ordinary meaning of words, e. g. , jump in the pool • Objective - unbiased, impartial, based on facts, impersonal, not subjective • Opinion - personal attitude, belief, or judgment

• Propaganda - info or ideas spread to promote or injure a cause, group, nation, etc. • Subjective - personal or individual opinion, not objective • Tone - writer’s attitude toward his subject and audience, formal vs. informal, serious vs. playful, bitter or ironic. • Slice of life - A realistic representation of everyday experience in a film, play, or book.

e. g. and i. e. • e. g. is an abbreviation of the Latin words exempli gratia, which means “for the sake of example” (or simply “for example”). • e. g. is used to clarify an idea by giving supporting examples to the topic. “I like card games, e. g. , bridge and crazy eights. ”

• i. e. is an abbreviation of the Latin words id est, which means “that is” (or “in other words”) • i. e. is used to clarify a topic by giving more information to explain the first part of a sentence. (that is) • “Louise has minimum day, i. e. , she leaves school after 5 th period. ” • i. e. is used in a sentence for informal documents.