1. Writing Workshop Analyzing Nonfiction
Feature Menu
Assignment
Prewriting
Choose a Biography
Analyze Character, Events, and Setting
Write and Support a Thesis Statement
Organize Your Analysis
Practice and Apply

2. Analyzing Nonfiction
Assignment: Write an analytical essay in which you examine how the parts of a biography fit together to support the writer’s thesis.
Every life has a story to tell, whether it’s the life of a celebrity, a real-life hero, or a famous person in history. That’s why biographies—nonfiction narratives about people’s lives—are so popular.
In this workshop you will analyze a biography about a person whose life you find interesting.
[End of Section]

3. Analyzing Nonfiction Prewriting: Choose a Biography
Whose life story do you think you would like to read? Consider
famous people in history
kings, queens, generals, doctors, scientists, artists, writers, inventors, explorers
people who have made an impact in recent decades
world leaders, humanitarians, activists, innovators, naturalists, architects, athletes

4. Analyzing Nonfiction Prewriting: Choose a Biography
For ideas about interesting people to investigate
scan history books for colorful personalities
flip through current magazines or newspapers to find noteworthy people
search the Internet for stories about prominent people in fields that interest you
Then, check to see whether there are biographies in print about any of those people.
[End of Section]

5. Analyzing Nonfiction Prewriting: Analyze Character, Events, and Setting
The elements of biography give readers a greater understanding of their subjects and reveal the biographer’s point of view about the subject.
Character—the subject’s personality, thoughts, feelings, and actions
Events—real-life incidents that involved the subject
Setting—time and place in which the events of the subject’s life took place

6. Analyzing Nonfiction Prewriting: Analyze Character, Events, and Setting
Record details about character, events, and setting in an analysis log.
Elements of Biography
Biographer’s Conclusions
Character •
Events
Setting

7. Analyzing Nonfiction Prewriting: Analyze Character, Events, and Setting
Take notes about what the person did, thought, felt, and said and about what others said about him or her.
Elements of Biography
Character
“As a child, Dickinson conformed to social norms and took part in games with the other children.” (p. 43)
She learned to cook and sew.
As an adult, she dressed all in white and rarely left her home.

8. Analyzing Nonfiction Prewriting: Analyze Character, Events, and Setting
List four to six of the most important events in the person’s life.
Elements of Biography
Events
Many speculate Dickinson experienced an unrequited love when she was about twenty-four years old.
During a trip to Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, she met Charles Wadsworth, who became her “muse.”
Charles Wadsworth moved to San Francisco.
Emily Dickinson sent some of her poems to Thomas Wentworth Higgins, an editor of The Atlantic Monthly.

9. Analyzing Nonfiction Prewriting: Analyze Character, Events, and Setting
Write down any details that relate to the time and place the person lived.
Elements of Biography
Setting
Emily Dickinson was born to a well-to-do New England family.
She attended boarding school as a young girl.
Life in the town was pleasant, with outings, holiday gatherings, and neighborly harmony.
Taking Notes

10. Analyzing Nonfiction Prewriting: Analyze Character, Events, and Setting
Drawing Conclusions
Look for the biographer’s conclusions about how the elements affected the subject’s life.
Elements of Biography
Biographer’s Conclusions
Character
“As a child, Dickinson conformed to social norms and took part in games with the other children.” (p. 43)
As an adult, she dressed all in white and rarely left her home.
The young Emily Dickinson was a normal child.
Something must have happened that made her suddenly withdraw from society.

11. Analyzing Nonfiction Prewriting: Analyze Character, Events, and Setting
Drawing Conclusions
Elements of Biography
Biographer’s Conclusions
Events
Many speculate Dickinson experienced an unrequited love when she was about twenty-four years old.
During a trip to Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, she met Charles Wadsworth, who became her “muse.”
“Dickinson’s painful romantic experiences caused her to withdraw into herself.” (p. 133)
She used her poetry to express herself and stay in contact with the outside world.
Making Inferences

12. Analyzing Nonfiction Prewriting: Analyze Character, Events, and Setting
Drawing Conclusions
Elements of Biography
Biographer’s Conclusions
Setting
Emily Dickinson was born to a well-to-do New England family.
Life in the town was pleasant, with outings, holiday gatherings, and neighborly harmony.
Dickinson lived comfortably and had time to focus on her poetry.
[End of Section]

13. Analyzing Nonfiction Prewriting: Write and Support a Thesis Statement
Take a close look at your analysis log. Ask yourself, “What is the biographer’s point of view on this person?”
Write a thesis statement, one or two sentences in which you identify the biographer’s main idea about the subject.
Emily Dickinson’s biographer asserts that intensely felt events in Emily Dickinson’s life caused her to withdraw from society and cultivate her poetic genius.

14. Analyzing Nonfiction Prewriting: Write and Support a Thesis Statement
Support your thesis statement with evidence and elaboration.
Evidence
Look over your analysis log. Select the details (quotations, summaries, and paraphrases) that best support your thesis. For each quotation you use, be sure to include a parenthetical citation.

15. Analyzing Nonfiction Prewriting: Write and Support a Thesis Statement
Support your thesis statement with evidence and elaboration.
Elaboration
Help your readers understand your analysis. Make the connections for them by explaining how the evidence supports your thesis statement.
[End of Section]

16. Analyzing Nonfiction Prewriting: Organize Your Analysis
Organize your analysis in order of importance.
Decide which element gives the strongest evidence to support your thesis statement.
Think about whether to discuss that element first or last.
Arrange your other ideas in order of importance to either lead up to or follow this key piece of evidence.

17. Analyzing Nonfiction Prewriting: Organize Your Analysis
Organize your analysis in order of importance.
strongest evidence, catches reader’s attention
least important support
more important support OR
less important support
strongest evidence, sticks in reader’s memory
least important support
[End of Section]

18. Analyzing Nonfiction Prewriting: Practice and Apply
Using the information in this presentation, choose and analyze a biography. Gather details for each of the elements of biography; then, write a thesis statement. Support your thesis statement with evidence and elaboration.
[End of Section]

19. The End