Non-Fiction

Not as boring as you’d think!

WHAT IS NONFICTION?

The subject of nonfiction is real The author writes about actual persons,

places and events. The writer may just report facts The writer may also include personal

opinions Often there is a mixture of both Readers must read critically

CRITICAL READINGLook at writer’s backgroundLook at writer’s purposeLook at writer’s attitudeLook at writer’s audience

JOURNALISM

•Newspapers

•Magazines

•Online sources

TYPES OF JOURNALISM

Interviews Columns Reviews Articles Editorials Editorial Cartoons

ESSAYS

TYPES OF ESSAYS

•Formal Essay

•A prose discussion on a serious topic in a serious manner, usually rigidly structured and organized.

•Informal Essay

•A prose discussion on any topic in a light, humorous, amusing manner; often loosely organized, rambling and casual in approach.

CHARACTERISTICS (CONT.) The Formal Essay

Purpose: to inform, explain, convince Tone: serious, rhetorical, balanced

The Informal Essay Narrative structure Tone: conversational, sometimes witty

and humorous

OTHER TYPES OF ESSAYS Comparison and

Contrast Essays Persuasive Essays Cause and Effect

Essays

PERSONAL CHRONICLES

DIARIES AND JOURNALS Diaries: a private form

of writing with no further intended audience

Journals: varying styles and topics. Give a glimpse of the writer’s value of his or her world

LETTERS

Private Letters Public Letter Letters can

Reveal character Express opinions Ask for information Give information

Audience and Purpose influence tone.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Written by the subject for publication Author has some purpose for writing

To teach To arouse awareness To warn Simply to entertain

MEMOIRS

A TYPE OF AUTOBIOGRAPHICAOL WRITING, DEALING WITH THE RECOLLECTIONS OF PROMINENT PEOPLE OR PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN A PART OF OR HAVE WITNESSED SIGNIFICANT EVENTS.

CONSIDERED BOTH AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL

BIOGRAPHY

The accurate presentation of a life story from birth to death of an individual.

Historical biographies include strands of an individual’s life interwoven with historical persons, places and events.

OTHER TYPES OF NONFICTION

Speeches Historical Writing Science Writing Technical writing Writing online Miscellaneous

writing

ELEMENTS OF NONFICTION Characters, Plot, and Setting. Like

fiction, nonfiction has characters, plot, and setting. However, these elements are real, not made up. The main character in an autobiography or biography is called the subject. The subject's words, thoughts, and actions are presented.

HOW TO READ NONFICTION

Try to separate Facts from Opinions.

The writer has chosen facts that present a certain picture of the subject.

Think about what might be missing as well as what is there.

Author’s Purpose Most non-fiction writing (or writing in general)

falls into 3 main categories: Informative

Basic information/ facts Entertaining

This is mostly fiction, it really just to be enjoyed Persuasive

The writer is trying to convince you to buy or believe something

The reader (YOU) can determine which category the work falls into by finding the author’s purpose in writing.

Objective VS

Subjective Writing

Objective Writing Objective writing reports only the facts; the writer is invisible

Example An encyclopedia article about the Holocaust that contains only facts and gives no clue to the writer’s thoughts and feelings.

Would this be informative, entertaining or persuasive?

Subjective WritingSubjective writing, the writer adds his or her opinions, judgments, or feelings.

ExampleWhen someone writes a report about the holocaust they reveal their thoughts, judgments and feelings through their writing.

Would this be informative, entertaining or persuasive?

Example #1 The Holocaust is a history of enduring horror and

sorrow. It seems as though there is no spark of human concern, no act of humanity, to lighten that dark history.

You find gripping and horrifying stories of Adolf Hitler and his most ruthless henchmen - men often seen as the very personifications of evil, like Rudolf Hoess, the SS Commandant of Auschwitz, the Nazi butcher Amon Goeth at Plaszow and Josef Mengele, The Angel Of Death. What might be the author’s purpose with this excerpt?

This would be Subjective and persuasive.

Example # 2 Fueled by anti-Semitism, the Nazi persecution of

Jews began soon after Adolf Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933 with a boycott of Jewish businesses and the dismissal of Jewish civil servants. Under the Nürnberg Laws (1935), Jews lost their citizenship. About 7,500 Jewish businesses were gutted and some 1,000 synagogues burned or damaged in the Kristallnacht pogrom in 1938, and thereafter Jews were imprisoned in concentration camps or forced into ghettos. What might be the author’s purpose with this excerpt?

This would be objective and informative.