What is nonfiction literature?  Nonfiction literature is not fiction.  Nonfiction literature is true. It is about real people, places, things, and events.

 Nonfiction texts are organized around specific topics and main ideas.  Nonfiction texts give you information that is true.  Nonfiction texts may try to teach you something.  Nonfiction texts have features to help readers understand the text better.

 Informational Book  Textbook  Magazine Article  Newspaper Article  Autobiography or Biography  Encyclopedia  Essay

FICTION LITERATURE BOTH NONFICTION LITERATURE Contains a story with a beginning, middle, and end Characters Events Conflict and Resolution Themes Read from front to back They are made up of text Sometimes have a Table of Contents Illustrations They help you learn Informational/factual Index Glossary Photographs Read in any order

 Authors include text features to help the reader better understand what he or she has read.  Text features provide information that may not be written in the text itself.  Text features can be found in textbooks, magazine articles, newspapers, reports, web pages, and other forms of nonfiction text.

 Usually found at the top of the page or paragraph  Usually printed in a larger or colored font  Describes the topic or paragraph in a short phrase, sentence, or question

 A title or heading that appears below the main title or heading of the page or paragraph

 Found in the front of the book, the Table of Contents lists all of the parts of the book in the order in which they appear  Includes chapter titles and subtitles

 Authors use different ways to make words stand out in the text.

 Boxed information  Usually has a border or colored background  Often provides text or illustrations that relate to the information in the main text

 Pictures to enhance or explain what is in the text

 A visual image of a geographic feature often accompanied by a key or distance scale.

 Used to show written or additional information in a different and simple way  Provides visual appeal

 A graphical representation of a sequence of chronological events  Often seen in history, science, or biography texts  Meant to give background information to the reader

 Single words, short phrases, sentences, or paragraphs that accompany illustrations, photographs, or diagrams.

 Usually provides interesting or fascinating facts that will grab the reader’s attention

 An alphabetical list of words and their definitions, typically found in the back of a text  Typically includes items that are being introduced for the first time or are not common knowledge

 A detailed list, typically arranged alphabetically, of the contents of a text  Used to make finding information easier  Often includes the page number where the information can be found in the text