Heather – ENGC - Nonfiction Unit
Week 5. Session 1
Nonfiction Texts + Nonfiction Elements
When you read a movie review, a science or social studies textbook, or
almost any article in a magazine, you are reading nonfiction prose. Nonfiction
is a type of writing that deals with real people, real places, and real events. A
newspaper article, a set of instructions and an encyclopedia article are also
forms of nonfiction prose. Nonfiction contains factual information; however,
the writer can select and organize the information so suit his or her purpose.
Common Types of Nonfiction:
1. Autobiography
2. Biography
3. Essay
4. Article/Informational Texts
5. Interview
- diary entries, journals & memoirs fall
under this category too
– textbooks, pamphlets, etc. fall under
this category
Heather – ENGC - Nonfiction Unit
Week 5. Session 1
1. Autobiography: (Auto means “self”, bio means “life”,–graphy means
“writing”) An autobiography is the story of a person’s life told by that person.
It is written from the first person point of view, using pronouns like I and me.
An autobiography is usually book length because is covers a long period of the
writer’s life. Shorter forms of autobiographical writing include journals, diaries,
letters, and memoirs. Autobiographies are often written for a purpose to
entertain, persuade, inform, or express an opinion.
2. Biography: (bio means “life”, –graphy means “writing”) A biography is the
story of a person’s life as told by someone else. It is written in the third-person
point of view, using pronouns like her and she. The writer, or biographer, gets
information by conducting interviews and by reading letters, diaries, and
documents. Biographies contain some of the same elements as fiction, such as
characters and setting. Unlike fiction, the purpose of biographies is to present
and accurate account of the subject’s life.
3. Essay: An essay is a short piece of writing on a single subject. Essays are
often found in newspapers and magazines. The purpose of an essay might be
to share an opinion, explain, express personal feelings, try to entertain or
persuade, or simply describe a topic or incident that has special meaning for the
writer.
Three common types of essays are exposition “expository” (formal), personal
“narrative”(informal), and persuasive. Formal essays tend to have a scholarly
tone, while informal essays tend to have a conversational tone.
Expository:
 Highly
structured
(example: 5
paragraph essay)
 Has
impersonal style
 Presents or
explains
information and
ideas.
Narrative:
 Looser
structure
 Has personal
style
 Expresses
writer’s thoughts
and feelings.
Persuasive:
 Develops
arguments or
opinion
 Tries to
convince readers
to adopt a point
of view, or
perspective.
 Takes into
account the
reader’s
viewpoint to
guide the
arguments
presented.
Heather – ENGC - Nonfiction Unit
Week 5. Session 1
4. Articles/Informational Texts: An article provides facts about a subject.
Newspapers and magazine articles and feature stories are examples of
informative nonfiction. Other types of informational materials include
textbooks, pamphlets, history books, gardening books, and how-to books.
5. Interview: An interview is a conversation in which one person asks questions
of another for the purpose of obtaining information. The interviewer takes
notes on, tape-records, or films the conversation in order to
keep an accurate record.
Nonfiction Elements:
A. Subjective and Objective Points of View:
When reading for nonfiction you need to consider from what point of
view the author writes. Some magazines feature article that contains a mixture
of facts and opinion, written from a subjective point of view. Using subjective
point of view allows the writer to include his or her opinion in a story. An
opinion is a statement that cannot be proved. An opinion can also be an
interpretation of the facts. News articles, on the other hand, are written from
an objective point of view. Works written from an objective point of view are
ideally free of the author’s personal opinion, and strictly report the facts. A
statement of fact is a statement that can be proved.
B. Central Idea:
This is the main point that the author is making. In other words, it’s
what the nonfiction text is about. Sometimes a text has more than one main
idea. A main idea should always be supported with details or evident from the
text – which can be anything from a fact or a quotation. A good place to look
initially is the title. Oftentimes the title of a written piece will sum up what its
focus is on.
C. Supporting Evidence/Details:
Information used to support the main idea, a claim or an argument that
author is presenting. If you are writing about something or trying to explain
your point of view about something, you need to use support to back up or
prove whatever point you are making. Supporting evidence can look like many
Heather – ENGC - Nonfiction Unit
Week 5. Session 1
things: facts, quotations, examples, statistics, or even personal anecdotes.
Sometimes writers will use just one type of evidence and other times they will
use a combination of different types.