Nonfiction Notes

1. Nonfiction Notes

2. Nonfiction= prose writing about real people, places, and events • mainly written to convey factual information • information may be shaped by the author’s own purpose and attitudes II. Examples of nonfiction include: newspaper article, review, speech, story, advertisement, autobiography, biography, memoir, essay, journal, and editorial.

3. Autobiography—writer’s account of his life; in first person), • Biography—account of a person’s life • Memoir— “my story”—usually discusses one part of a person’s life • Essay= a brief work of nonfiction that deals with a single subject 1. Formal essay= writers develop and order ideas in an impersonal manner 2. Informal essay= writers expression of ideas is less strict and often employs humor and anecdotes

4. III. Kinds of Essays A. Persuasive essay= writer tries to convince a reader to share a belief, agree with an opinion, or to take some action • Expository essay= writer’s primary purpose is to convey or explain information C. Personal essay= expresses a writer’s thoughts, feelings, or opinions on a subject; usually written in an informal, conversational style

5. D. Descriptive essay= writer tries to recreate a person, place, or event mostly through language that appeals to the senses E. Narrative essay= writer’s purpose is to relate a series of events F.Reflective essay= the author reflects upon an event that occurred within his or her life; generally shows a lesson learned by the author.

6. IV. Objective versus Subjective Writing A.Objective= facts which can be proved to be true by the senses, the calendar, or the clock 1. examples: the geographic location of a city, the timeof day B. Subjective= details that may be true, but are verifiable only by reference to your own state of mind 1. examples: feelings about an event, description of a person 2. word connotation (associations that affect meaning) 3. May lead to bias—most writing will have some sort of bias within it.

7. Close Reading Notes

8. 3 levels of reading 1 Reading on the line—find meaning directly in the text. You may answer question such as “who,” “what,” and “where.” 2 Reading between the lines—interpret what is in the text. You may consider what a passage represents, suggests, or personifies. You are also analyzing what you are reading. You may interpret, classify, compare, contrast, and even find patterns.

9. 3 Reading beyond the lines—move beyond the text to connect to universal meaning. You may consider how the text relates to your life. You will consider what kind of perceptions about life the author is communicating to you.

10. Close reading • Becomes easier the more you do it • Very helpful on the ap exam, ACT, any standardized test—both the free response and the multiple choice.   • Helps you to understand the text itself as well as what the text suggests. Talking with the text • Annotation • Dialectical journal

11. Annotation • Write in the margins; include questions, comments, and mark words you don’t know. Dialectical journal • Like annotation, but more organized. • Include note taking (or the piece of the text you are referring to) and note making (what you want to say about that piece of text). • Include a page and paragraph number so you know where to find it in the book.

12. Writing about close reading: You have to reach a deeper understanding of the text, or you will simply end up summarizing the text. As you perform the close reading, you may be overwhelmed with all of the possibilities. When possible, I will provide you with something to focus on, whether it be diction, syntax, or even sound devices. If I have not provided you with a focus, find a pattern and focus on that. You can also consider the questions or elements from the handouts I have provided.

13. Once you understand the basics of nonfiction and argumentation and how to do a close reading, you are ready to read and write a rhetorical analysis Taken from Professional Development: AP English Language Reading and Writing Analytically

14. How to write the Rhetorical Analysis: • All textual analysis is ultimately rhetorical analysis. • Rhetoric is the faculty of discovering all the things a speaker or write might do in a given situation to make his or her text meaningful, purposeful, and effective.

15. Rhetorical analysis will include all the basic elements that a literary analysis would include: • Introduction • Body paragraphs (with supporting details, including analysis and support) • Conclusion The difference is what you focus on in the analysis. In a rhetorical analysis, you will identify the purpose of the writing and discuss how the author achieves that purpose.

16. Rhetorical Analysis: Critical Reading • You will apply your critical reading skills to break down the whole of the text into the sum of its parts. • You must determine what the writer is trying to achieve, and what writing strategies he/she is using to try to achieve it. • Reading critically means more than just being moved, affected, informed, influenced, and persuaded by a piece of writing. • Reading critically also means analyzing and understanding how the work has achieved its effect.

17. See your handouts for a list of questions to ask yourself when you begin to rhetorically analyze a piece of writing. • These questions can be used even if you're being asked only to read the text rather than write a formal analysis.   • Keep in mind that you don't need to apply all of these questions to every text; often times, you may apply one or two.  

18. You can also analyze by discussing various elements within the piece, including, but not limited to • Diction (word choice) • Syntax (sentence structure) • Logos (logical appeals) • Ethos (ethical appeals) • Pathos (emotional appeals) • Tone • Arrangement • Organization • Structure • Figurative language Again, focus on one or two!

19. Argumentation

20. Argumentation (not arguing) • Toulmin’s model: • These are all important piece of argumentation. Any valid argument will contain most of these pieces. • Claim • Grounds (or data) • Warrant • Rebuttal

21. Claim • a statement that you are asking the other person to accept. • This includes information you are asking them to accept as true or actions you want them to accept and enact. • Similar to a thesis.

22. Grounds (or data) • made up of data and hard facts, plus the reasoning behind the claim • include proof of expertise and the basic premises on which the rest of the argument is built Warrant • Explains how your data relates to or verifies your claim

23. Rebuttal • Despite the careful construction of the argument, the opposition may still be able to find areas of weakness, which they can use to construct a counter-argument. • Some counter-arguments may rebutted within the argument itself. • Any rebuttal is an argument in itself, and thus may include a claim, warrant, backing and so on.

24. Test of Evidence You should question the reliability of anything you see in print, on television, or online—even information you hear on the radio. There are certain qualities of the “text” that will help you determine its credibility. Consider: Authorship—who wrote it? What makes him credible? Publishing body—what biases do they have? Accuracy—can I find it elsewhere? Coverage—is enough information given on the topic?

25. In your writing and the published documents we read, you will use or see logical reasoning. • Logical reasoning will rely on • Facts as evidence • Research • Tradition (or precedent) • Authorities • Cause and effect • Analogies (comparisons) • Logic by sign (physical evidence)

26. Faulty Logic (fallacy)A.Appeal to popular opinion1.Everyone else is supporting it so it’s right (band wagon)2.Popularity doesn’t equal correctness or rightness3.      Tells nothing about the topicB.Appeal to tradition1.should leave the status quo alone because it’s always been that way. 2.“progress” must progress (progress for progress’ sake)3.tradition doesn’t mean it is rightC.Hasty generalizations1.Jumping to conclusions2.Problem: don’t have all the facts

27. D.Ad Hominem (against the man)1.The idea isn’t worthy because of the source2.test of evidenceE.Slippery slope1. Suggests that taking one good measure will lead to undesirable measure (one good decision could lead to a series of bad choices)F.Appeal to authority (begging the question)1.when you treat the claim as if it was evidence (the claim is what you’re trying to prove)2.just because you say it doesn’t make it true

28. Appeals to… Emotions= pathos • Passion, not logic, stirs most people. Use carefully! “Sob stories” should be avoided. Ethics=ethos • Effective arguers not only possess good character, but also argue in ways that reveal that good character. • Your test of evidence can establish your ethos, or credibility, as well as that of your sources. Logic=logos • See logical appeals!