Elements of Nonfiction

Types of Nonfiction Biographies Autobiographies Essays Informative article Interview

What is a biography anyway? A writer writes a story telling us about another person’s life. The person whose life is being described is called the Subject It is usually written in third-person point of view, using pronouns such as she, he, her, him A little Greek: Biography comes from 2 Greek words Bios meaning “life” Graphein meaning “to write”

What is an autobiography? Is the story of a person’s life, told by that person. They are almost always written in first-person point of view, using pronouns I and me Shorter types of autobiographies are journals, diaries, letters, and memoirs

So what’s the difference? Biography Someone else writes the story about someone else Autobiography A person writes a story about themselves

What is an essay? Is a short work of nonfiction that deals with one subject. There are three types of essays: Expository Personal Persuasive

Types of Essays Expository: is a formal essay to present or explain information and ideas Personal: is a less formal essay that expresses a writer’s thoughts and feelings Persuasive: an essay that develops an argument and tries to persuade readers to agree with the writer

What is an informative article? Provides facts about a subject. Examples: magazine articles, newspaper articles, and feature stories

What is an interview? Is a conversation in which one person asks questions of another person to get information. The interviewer takes notes or records the conversation to get an accurate account of what was said.

Setting a purpose When you read non-fiction you want to find the main idea and details, Main idea: is the most important point about the topic Details: include words, phrases, or sentences that support or explain the main idea. So, what is a reading skill we can use to read non-fiction?

Reading Skill : SQ3R Survey: preview the text. Glance quickly at the headings, vocabulary words, and illustrations. Skim the captions, which explain the illustrations and read the first and last sentence of each paragraph Question: List the questions you’d like to ask about the text based on your survey.

SQ3R Continued Read: Read the text carefully to find ideas and information that will answer your questions. Take notes. Retell: Write responses to your questions in your own words. Try to hit the main points and include important details. You might want to say your answers out loud before you write them down.

SQ3R Continued Review: Start your review by looking over your completed SQ3R organizer. Try covering up the answers in the “Read and Takes Notes” and “Retell” boxes to see if you can answer your questions without looking at your notes. Then write a summary of the text.

Lets practice Newspaper article from The Herald Sun

Survey: Question Read and Take Notes Retell Review Summary