Nonfiction Prose writing Presents and explains ideas or tells about real people Examples Essays Newspaper and magazine articles Journals Travelogues Biographies Autobiographies Autobiography ID: 691476
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Slide1
Intro to Nonfiction
What is nonfiction writing?Slide2
Nonfiction
Prose writing
Presents and explains ideas or tells about real people
Examples:
Essays
Newspaper and magazine articles
Journals
Travelogues
Biographies
AutobiographiesSlide3
Autobiography
A form of nonfiction in which a person relates his or her own life story
May tell about the person’s whole life, or just a specific part of it
The author’s purpose may be:
To explain his/her values
To teach lessons about life
To entertain or amuse readers
Any combination of theseSlide4
Example: Rosa Parks
“As I sat there, I tried not to think about what might happen. I knew that anything was possible. I could be manhandled, or beaten. I could be arrested. People have asked me if it occurred to me that then I could be the test case that the NAACP had been looking for. I did not think about that at all. In fact if I had let myself think too deeply about what might happen to me, I might have gotten off the bus. But I chose to remain.”Slide5
With the person next to you…
What does this passage from
Rosa Parks’
autobiography suggest about her purpose for writing?Slide6
Biography
A form of nonfiction in which a writer tells the life story of another person
Biographies have been written about famous people, historical and contemporary
Can also be written about “ordinary” people
Like autobiography, biographies are factual
Usually emphasizes the causes and effects of a person’s actions
May be written in order to:
Express a person’s values
Teach lessons about life
Entertain or inspire readersSlide7
Example: Arthur Ashe
“He once described his life as ‘a succession of fortunate circumstances.’ He was in his twenties then. More than half of his life was behind him. His memory of his mother was confined to a single image; in a blue corduroy bathrobe she stood in a doorway looking out at the courts and playing fields surrounding their house, which stood in the center of a Richmond playground. Weakened by illness, she was taken to a hospital that day, and died the age of twenty-seven. He was six” Slide8
With a partner…
What differences do you see between this example and the Rosa Parks example? What are the similarities?
Why do you think the author may have included this information in a biography of Arthur Ashe? Slide9
Essay
A short, nonfiction work about a particular subject
Presents a main idea and supports it with examples, facts, statistics, or anecdotes.
A narrative essay tells a true story
An expository essay gives information, discusses ideas, or explains a process
A persuasive essay tries to convince readers to do something or to accept the writers point of view
A reflective essay presents the writer’s reflections or thoughts on a topic of personal importanceSlide10
Example: “On Summer” Lorraine Hansberry
“It has taken me a good number of years to come to any measure of respect for summer. I was, being May-born, literally an ‘infant of the spring’ and during the later childhood years, tended, for some reason or other, to rather worship the cold aloofness of winter….For the longest kind of time I simply thought summer was a mistake.”Slide11
With a partner….
What kind of essay do you think this might be? Why?
What does this opening from the essay suggest about its main idea?Slide12
Informational Text
Writing that provides the knowledge to guide and educate you
Includes:
Magazines and newspaper articles on current topics
Instruction manuals
TextbooksSlide13
Example: “Caucasian Mummies Mystify Chinese”
Keay
Davidson
“San Francisco- In dim light they appear to be sleeping, but they’ve been dead up to 4,000 years: more than 100 astoundingly well-preserved mummies unearthed in a Chinese desert, whose inexplicably blond hair and white skin could topple dogmas about early human history.” Slide14
With a partner…
Based on this lead paragraph from a newspaper article, how might you expect the text to educate or enlighten you?