Consider what you have learned about nonfiction writing as you respond to the questions below.
Nonfiction is written about real people, events, and occurrences. Literary nonfiction and instructive nonfiction are the two categories of nonfiction. Notably, the writer of a biography or autobiography emphasizes the fascinating and meaningful aspects of the subject's life.
Nonfiction makes introspective, speculative claims about the past, present, future, ethics, faith, culture, society, and the natural world. (Adler and Van Doren, 2014). Provide a minimum of 2 classifications.
Nonfiction is about actual persons, experiences, and phenomena. There are two types of nonfiction: literary nonfiction and informative. Notably, in biography and autobiography, the writer focuses on what is meaningful as well as interesting in the life of an individual.
Nonfiction speculates on abstract and philosophical questions of history, politics, ethics, religion, culture, society, and the natural world (Adler and Van Doren, 2014).
Question 2: What are ways that nonfiction differs from fiction?
Provide a minimum of 2 answers.
Nonfiction is true. It is based on facts, things that we know actually happened. Fiction is imaginary, and it consists of the stories that are mainly made up.
In writing nonfiction, one is most likely to provide reference sources and add quotes to the information. This is not the case in fiction writing, as one is not required to provide reference materials for sincerity and credibility of the information (Stumbaum, 2006).
Question 3: What are ways that nonfiction is similar to fiction?
Provide a minimum of 2 answers.
Both nonfiction and fiction require worthy writing skills. For instance, there should an introduction, body as well as the end of a story (Stumbaum, 2006).
Both nonfiction as well as fiction writings need to have an entertaining, engaging and interesting plot (Stumbaum, 2006).
Question 4: What are the three components of nonfiction literature?
List the components.
Tone, which refers to the author's attitude toward the subject matter. It may be identified through different elements, such as the choice of words and the usage of punctuation (Stumbaum, 2006).
Thesis, meaning the central idea of the writing. This statement mainly consists of two or more sentences. It involves a subject, idea, and opinions (Stumbaum, 2006).
Characterization; it addresses how the author of a text reveals the personality of the characters. It may be direct or indirect (Adler and Van Doren, 2014).
Do you think active reading helps to determine the message in nonfiction literature the same way it does in fiction? Why or why not?
According to Ma (2006), active reading entails a collection of deep reading and searching, unravelling of a problem, and metacognitive skills employed to proactively develop new knowledge. This kind of reading helps one determine the intended message in both fiction and nonfiction literature. Notably, it is mainly employed to highlight the dynamic and opportunistic procedures witnessed in the non-recreational reading of expository texts.
In understanding nonfiction text, an individual should employ skills of an active and metacognitive reader. This involves being able to utilize and articulate various strategies of interaction with the factual material. Firstly, active reading helps learners to make connections within a nonfiction book. It enables to draw on solid background knowledge and personal experiences while deriving meaning from the text (Adler & Van Doren, 2014). Additionally, it aids to identify the main message of a nonfiction text through evaluation. In this case, an individual can ask both literal and inferential queries before, during and after going through a book to clarify and comprehend it.
An apt reader is able to form a mental picture of a book, thus strengthening his or her understanding. Further, acquired skills can be employed to draw inferences, to hypothesize, and to predict what is going to happen next based on the evidence from the nonfiction literature. Moreover, critical thinking skills aid in determining the relevance of evidence in a work of art and selecting main ideas. Intense reading also forms the ability to synthesize and analyze facts through breaking down the message and come up with a conclusion based on the individual thinking. Finally, active reading skills are important in nonfiction literature by helping to monitor the comprehension. In other words, they make one aware when his or her understanding is being compromised, thus calling the reader to reread the text and find its meaning.
References
Adler, M. & Van Doren, C. (2014). How to read a book: The classic guide to intelligent reading. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Ma, Z. (2006). Web-based intelligent e-learning systems. Hershey PA: Information Science Pub.
Stumbaum, L. (2006). Go facts. Reading and writing nonfiction. Glebe, N.S.W: Blake Education.
