Argumentative Informational/Explanatory Narrative Types of Nonfiction Argumentative Informational/Explanatory Narrative

About real people, places, Nonfiction Genre About real people, places, ideas, and experiences

Common forms of Nonfiction Letters and journals—contain personal thoughts and reflections Biographies and autobiographies—life stories Biography—the life story of someone that is written by another person Autobiography—a writer’s account of his/her own life Memoir—a writer’s record of experiences from his/her own life

Common forms of Nonfiction Media accounts—works written for newspapers, magazines, television, or radio Essays and Articles—short works written about a particular subject

Essays Medium prose (piece of written language) Discussion of a topic Sometimes tell a lot about the author Express author’s personal feelings

Articles A brief prose (piece of written language) Focuses in on the facts of a subject Express an author’s bias (slant on a topic)

Audiences and Purposes Essays Found in well-known magazines and essay collections Attract readers looking for inspiration and information Articles Appear in newspapers Attract readers looking for facts

Essays and Articles Types of writing Argumentative—Attempts to convince the reader to think about or act on something or accept a writer’s opinion using evidence for support Informational/Explanatory—Presents facts, discusses ideas, or explains a process Narrative—Conveys a real experience

Elements of Nonfiction writing Organization—presents information clearly and logically Author’s purpose—information is related to the author’s reason for writing

Organization Chronological—presents details in time order (from first to last) or sometimes from last to first. Comparison/Contrast—shows the ways in which two or more subjects are similar and different. Cause-and-Effect—shows the relationship among events. Problem-and-Solution—identifies a problem and then proposes a solution.

Purpose for Nonfiction To explain To entertain To inform To persuade/argue

Author’s Viewpoint What the author thinks and feels about his/her subject. Identifying an author’s viewpoint is important because the reader can: Understand why the author is interested in the subject Understand what the author thinks about the topic Understand what the author may want the reader to think

Author’s Viewpoint Readers can often establish what the author’s viewpoint is by: Thinking about the facts and opinions given in the text Thinking about the language used by the author Determining the author’s purpose for writing

Author’s Viewpoint Ask yourself these questions as the reader: What opinions or belief statements are evident in the text? What evidence did the author include to support his/her opinions? What words/phrases did the author use to present the information? Why did the author write this selection?