Non-Fiction Notes

Non-Fiction Notes

Biography “Written Life” or the story of a person’s life. Bio-Latin for life Graph-Latin for writing

Autobiography the written story of the author’s own life .

Diary a sort of autobiography recorded one day or week at a time as it is lived.

Objectivity unbiased account that is factually accurate and detailed.

Subjectivity writing that is biased and has “feeling.”

Imagery language that appeals to one of our five senses – sight, smell, taste, hearing, and touch.

Idiom An expression that has a figurative meaning apart from the meanings of its individual words. “raining cats and dogs” “kick the bucket”

The Writers Purpose

Exposition Writing that informs or explains something.

Narration Writing that tells about a sequence of events as a story.

Description Writing that creates mood using images to describe something in a way that appeals to our senses.

Persuasion Writing that tries to make the reader think or feel a certain way about something.

Persuasive Techniques

Deductive Reasoning Starts with an opinion and supports it with examples “I think ___ because ______ and ______.”

Inductive Reasoning starts with details and follows with a logical opinion “_______ and _____, so I think _______.”

Fallacies errors in logical thinking

Fallacies - Attacking Attacking a person’s character or judgment

Fallacies - Circular Reasoning

Simply restates an opinion “She is a nice person because she is nice.”

Fallacies - False Cause and Effect

Event 2 happened after event 1, so event 1 caused event 2. “I tripped after she sneezed, so it is her fault I tripped.”

Fallacies - Hasty Generalization

Generalizing about everything from one or two cases “ Stacy and John failed the test, so everyone failed it.”

Emotional Appeals appeals that try to sway a person’s emotions one way over another

Emotional Appeals – Bandwagon

Suggesting that someone jump on and follow a person or an idea

Emotional Appeals – Testimonial

An influential person endorsing a product or person

Ethos Pathos Logos

Ethos the ethical appeal, means to convince an audience of the author’s credibility or character

Pathos the emotional appeal, means to persuade an audience by appealing to their emotions.

Logos the appeal to logic, means to convince an audience by use of logic or reason.