(BTU) Lesson Topic 1: Nonfiction Review

Lesson Topic 1: Nonfiction Review

Types of Nonfiction

Nonfiction texts can provide the historical context of a novel, which helps the understanding of political and social events of a time period that may be relevant to understanding the meaning of the story.

Along with the historical context, nonfiction might provide the cultural context, which is how readers understand the behaviors, beliefs, and characteristics of a particular social, ethnic, or age group that may be relevant to understanding the meaning of the story.

Often, autobiographies, biographies, and memoirs provide information in chronological order. Chronological order is the arrangement of events following one after another in time. Putting events in order can help readers keep the information straight in their minds.

Nonfiction also consists of articles, essays, and interviews. Many of these forms of literature you might find in a textbook at school. Each of these texts has individual characteristics that put them into the nonfiction category, and we will look at articles, essays, and interviews in-depth in this module.

Biography Basics: Biographies represent a subgenre of nonfiction in literature. A biography is the story of someone's life written by another person. You might write a story about a member of your family, and that would be a biography. Also, you might read a story about your favorite writer, singer, or artist--these would all be considered biographies if other people write the information. Autobiography Introduction: The prefix "auto" means self. Therefore, whereas biographies are the story of someone's life written by another person, autobiographies are the story of someone's life written by the particular person of the story's focus. Memoir Memories: Many people have confusion regarding the differences between an autobiography and a memoir. Memoirs differ slightly from autobiographies in that memoirs are a type of autobiography focusing on a specific time period or experience in a person's life instead of covering the entire life of a person like an autobiography does. Because memoirs focus on specific events, they also tend to be more emotional and more detailed regarding the certain experience.

 

Practice

Now, practice your knowledge of the terms for this module below.

 

 

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