Literature Nonfiction Terms

Anecdote

a brief story about an interesting, amusing, or strange event told to entertain or to make a point.

Autobiography

a form of nonfiction in which a writer tells his or her own life story. An autobiography may tell about the person's whole life or only a part of it.

Biography

a form of nonfiction in which a writer tells the life story of another person. Biographies have been written about many famous people, historical and contemporary, but they can also be written about "ordinary" people

Interview

a meeting in which writer or reporter receives information from a person. It is also a record of the information.

Description

a portrait in words of a person, a place or an object. Descriptive writing uses sensory details, those that appeal to the senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.

Argument

a reason offered as proof; conversation (discourse) used to persuade

Essay

a short nonfiction work about a particular subject. There are five types of essays-descriptive, narrative, expository, persuasive and visual.

Inference

assumptions based on details in a story. (pg 200)

Theme

central message or insight into life revealed though a literary work.

Nonfiction

prose writing that presents and explains ideas or that tells about real people, places, ideas, or events. To be classified as nonfiction, a work must be true.

Diction

refers to an author's choice of words especially with regard to range of vocabulary, use of slang and colloquial (words used in a normal conversation that varies from region to region-more informal)language, and level of formality

Purpose

the author's reason for writing. Common purposes are to inform, to persuade, to honor, to entertain, to explain and to warn. (pg 388)

Perspective

the viewpoint or opinion an author expresses about the subject, either directly or indirectly. Bias occurs when a writer makes a one-sided presentation (for example, by ignoring relevant facts or by using emotional language that unfairly sways readers' or listeners' feelings) (pg 388)

Sensory Details

writing or speech that appeals to one or more of the senses.

Persuasion

writing or speech that attempts to convince the reader to adopt a particular opinion or course of action.

Speech

written to be read aloud-presents a topic and may persuade, inform, explain, or entertain. (pg 388)