What is Nonfiction?
Nonfiction? Informational? Narrative nonfiction?
What is the correct term to use?
Nonfiction is any text that is factual.
"Informational text refers to information about the natural or social world, typically from someone presumed to know that information to someone presumed not to, with particular linguistic features such as headings and technical vocabulary tohelp accomplish that purpose. By our definition, therefore, biography is nonfiction but is not informational text, because its primary purpose is to convey information about an individual’slife. Procedural or how-to text is also nonfiction, but not informational text because its primary purpose is to tell someone how to do something, not convey information about some thing." (Scholastic,p.16)
"Nonfiction narrative or “true stories” are also nonfiction but not informational text, because their primary purpose is to tell of an event or series of events that have occurred." (Scholastic, p.16)
Source:
Nonfiction Text Features
What is important and what is not? By learning the characteristics and features of nonfiction, readers can construct more meaning from the text.
Nonfiction Text Features
|
Feature |
Purpose |
|
Labels |
to identify a picture or photograph, and/or its parts. |
|
Photographs |
understand exactly what something looks like |
|
Captions |
understand a picture or photograph |
|
Comparisons |
understand the size of something by comparing it to the size of something familiar |
|
Cut Aways |
understand something by looking at it from the inside |
|
Maps |
understand where things are in the world |
|
Types of Print |
understand the varying degree of importance |
|
Close-ups |
see details in something small |
|
Table of Contents |
identify key topics in the order they are presented |
|
Glossaries |
define words found in the text |
|
Indexes |
an alphabetical list of most everything covered in the text, with page numbers |
*Source: The Reading Lady
