The Characteristic Of Non-Fiction Writing And How To Interpret Those Text
Arranged To Fulfill Course Assignments Introduction To Literature
Arranged by Group 1
Eka Lestari 1911040326
Eka Lingga Saputri 1911040070 Imam Khoironi 1911040355 Rafilda Hanifa 1911040447 Sheila Ananda Putri 1911040485 Tania Safira 1911040217
Class 3 A
Lecture : Mrs. Evi Fitri Aglina, M. Pd
ENGLISH EDUCATION MAJOR
EDUCATION AND TEACHER TRAINING FACULTY RADEN INTAN ISLAMIC STATE UNIVERSITY, LAMPUNG
2020
PREFACE
Praise to Allah SWT for providing us convenience so that we can finish this paper on time. Without The help, of course we won’t finish this paper on time. Shalawat and Salam we send to our Prophet Muhammad SAW who brought us from the darkness in to the brightness.
The author gives thanks to Allah SWT ‘cause The blessings of healthy favors, both in the form of physical health and mind, so the author is able to complete the writing for Introduction to Literature task entitled "The
Characteristic Of Non Fiction Writing And How To Interpret Those Text”.
The author certainly realizes that this paper is far from perfect and there are still many mistakes and deficiencies. For this reason, the author expects criticism and suggestions from readers for this paper, so this paper later will become a better paper later. Then if there are many mistakes in this paper the author apologizes for that. Thus, the author hope this paper can be useful. Thanks.
Bandar Lampung, November 5th 2020
Group 1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE PREFACE
TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE: PREVIEW
A. Background...
B. Formulation of the Problem...
C. Writing Purpose...
CHAPTER TWO : DISCUSSION
A. The Characteristic of Non-Fiction...
B. General Structure of Non-fiction...
C. The Problem of Writing Non-Fiction...
D. Interpretation of Non-fiction...
CHAPTER THREE : CONCLUSION
A. Conclusion...
REFRENCES
CHAPTER I PREVIEW
A. Background
After the development of the English literature, the English literature became divided. They are fiction, poetry, drama. In English literature there two type of narrative text. One of which is non-fiction. If fiction based on imagination, then non-fiction is made according to reality. It can be autobiographies, expository text, memoirs, and etc. In the first discussion of this type of literature, it wasn’t explain that non-fiction included in the literature. So in this paper, we will discuss is non-fiction included in the literature? What are the characteristics of non-fiction? And how to interpret it?
B. Formulation of the Problem
1. What is characteristic of non-fiction text?
2. What is the general structure of it?
3. What is the problem in writing non-fiction?
4. How to interpret non-fiction?
C. Writing Purpose
1. To know what is the non-fiction text.
2. To comprehent the structure of non-fiction text
3. To know and solve the problem in writing non-fiction text 4. To interpret non-fiction
CHAPTER 2 DISCUSSION
A. The Characteristic of Non-fiction 1.Definition of Non-fiction
Nonfiction is a classification for all the informative creation (mostly in a story form) which the author with good attention, responsible of truth or accuration of an accident, person, and the information that served.
A non-fiction text is based on facts. It is really any text which isn’t fiction (a made-up story or poetry). Non-fiction texts come in a huge variety of types. You find them everywhere in life, from the back of the cereal packet at breakfast, to a text book at the library. They can range from a newspaper article to a review of a new computer game. They are written for many different purposes, and are aimed at many different people or audiences.
Literary non-fiction is a type of writing which uses similar techniques as fiction to create an interesting piece of writing about real events. These techniques help to create non-fiction which is enjoyable and exciting to read. Some travel writing, autobiographies, or essays that consider a particular viewpoint are key examples of literary non-fiction.
Their main purpose is to entertain whilst they inform about factual events or information. “Literary” means “qualities of literature”. That means that even though autobiographies, memoirs, and personal narratives are true like nonfiction texts, they have qualities like fiction, such as: Themes; first person Point of View; Figurative Language; A narrator/ protagonist;
Setting; Author’s Purpose; Narrator’s/character reactions to events; Plot (personal narratives); Narrator experiences changes; Reflection/ Lessons learned; Time period is the past; Text structure is chronological/
sequential.
Characteristics of a non-fiction text includes the presence of a table of contents, headings, captions, diagrams, charts, graphs, a glossary and an
index. Additionally, the subjects of non-fiction are real and not imagined or made up, as the subjects in fiction are.
Another characteristic of non-fiction is the presence of a narrator, who is a real person and often the author of the text. Non-fiction texts are also written for a specific audience and purpose, which heavily influences the information that is included in the text. The most common types of non-fiction are narrative, expository, descriptive and persuasive.
Narrative non-fiction usually tells a real life story, experience or idea, or it accounts an event. Examples of this kind of non-fiction are autobiographies, memoirs, personal essays and journals. Expository non- fiction refers to a text that informs or explains a subject, an example of which is a research report. Descriptive non-fiction uses details to help the reader imagine a real place or person. An example of descriptive non- fiction is scientific observation. Persuasive non-fiction is a text that attempts to convince or change the reader's way of thinking by presenting pertinent facts and details. A political speech or an editorial are examples of this kind of non-fiction. A specific and well-known example of non- fiction is "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl," which accounts the life of Anne Frank during her time spent as a Jew in Europe during World War II.
2. The Importance of Non-fiction
a. To provide choice—especially for those of us who would prefer reading and writing nonfiction over reading and writing fiction.
b. To continue to build our curiosity for our world by promoting a spirit of inquiry.
c. To develop myriad strategies for building content and to find ways to organize and synthesize our learning.
d. To make use of powerful scaffolds to help create new and enjoyable patterns for our writing.
e. To take ownership for learning about our world and being able to share that knowledge with others.
f. To demonstrate our ability to write in different text forms.
g. To enhance our vocabulary, visual literacy, and use of technology.
h. To obtain a thorough understanding of a topic of study.
i. To write for wider audiences with authentic purposes.
j. To share our expertise with others and develop self-confidence and self-esteem.
3. The Types of Literary Nonfiction a. Biography
Biography is a true story of someone’s life and it’s written by an author or someone else. There is other form of biography, that is autobiography. It is a true story about someone’s whole life and is written and narrated by the person it’s about. The example of autobiography is Dover.Thrift.Editions (The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin 1790); Mein Kampf (The Autobiography ofAdolf Hitler). Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela.
b. Memoir
Memoir is a true story about part of someone’s life is written and narrated by the person it’s about. The assertations made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has hitorically been defined as a subcategory of biography since the late 20th century, the genre is differentiaed in form, presenting a narrowed focus. It could be just about their childhood, their adolescent (teenage) years, their adult life, and their life in old age. Like The Diary of A Young Girl by Anne Frank;
Marshfield Dreams by Ralph Fletcher.
c. Personal Narrative
Personal narrative is a true story about one event in someone’s life, like their first time experiencing something, facing a fear, being
succesful at something challenging, or overcoming an obstacle. Personal
narrative follow the story montain diagram. These like your small moment stories. Example, Seventh Grade by Gary Soto.
d. Essay
A literary composition that is shorter and less detailed than a thesis, expresses an author’s opinions, and is informal and personal in tone opinions. There some kinds of essay. Essay narrative that is the writer explores the subject by telling a true story. And then the humorous essay, gives a writer’s thoughtful but humorous view of a subject; uses exaggeration.humorous view of a subject. Descriptive essay, an author describes or creates a word picture of a subject. Expository essay, explains or gives information about a topic. Persuasive essay, a writer presents his or her views. Example: Men Explain Things to Me by Rebecca Solnit.
B. The Structural Pattern of Non-fiction
Actually, nonfiction has many different structural patterns base on the types, but generally there a similar structure between each types. In this part, will explained general structure of nonfiction are:
1. Problem/Solution
The author will introduce a problem and tell us how the problem could be fixed. There may be one solution to fix the problem or several different solutions mentioned. Real life example:
Advertisements in magazines for products (problem-pain; solution) 2. Cause and Effect
The author describes something that has happened which has had an effect on or caused something else to happen. It could be a good effect or a bad effect. There may be more than one cause and there may also be more than one effect. (Many times, problem/solution and cause and effect seem like “cousins” because they can be
together.) Real life example: A newspaper article about a volcano eruption which had an effect on tourism
3. Compare/Contrast
The author’s purpose is to tell you how two things are the same and how they are different by comparing them. Real life example: A bargain hunter writing on her blog about buying store-brand items and how it compares with buying name-brand items.
4. Description/List
Although this is a very common text structure, I think it’s one of the trickiest because the author throws a lot of information at the reader (or lists facts) about a certain subject. It’s up to the reader to determine what he thinks is important and sometimes even interesting enough to remember. Real life example: A soccer coach’s letter describing to parents exactly what kind of cleats to buy for their kids.
5. Time Order/Sequence
Texts are written in an order or timeline format. Real life examples: recipes, directions, events in history.
C. The Problem and Mistakes in Non-fiction Writing 1. Pretentiousness
Especially when the stories are really autobiographical and the author is reveling in the awesomeness of their own experience, filtered through educated pandering reflection and elevated, flowery word choice. Always a turn off.
Pretentiousness is obvious when the words themselves are more important than the content or the story; when otherwise boring material is being dressed-up to show off how clever the author is.
2. No Guide Or Organization
A lot of non-fiction these days is actually a collection of short articles or blog posts; research writing without a common theme. AKA a brain dump, as in “here’s all this stuff. Now deal with it.” What’s the point of this book? What’s your main argument or claim? I feel like a lot of people have grown an audience and now say to themselves, I better write something, so people can buy it. So they clobber together 80,000 words and send it to an editor or ghost-writer.
3. No Research (Lack Of Education)
4. You Tell Instead Of Show
There is a tendency for nonfiction writers to focus primarily on the information they want to provide. As a nonfiction writer, you may feel much more comfortable producing content based on facts rather than something more descriptive. Or you may feel all you need—and all your readers want—is the information. Down and dirty. No fooling around.
As a result, you may choose not to provide examples, anecdotes or vignettes as support of your information, even though these are excellent ways to illustrate your points.
Quick Fix: Paint a picture! Allow your stories or those provided by or about others to help your readers connect emotionally with your subject. Dig deep within and write about your experiences, and find others who can help make your points.
5. You Assume Your Reader Has Some Knowledge Of The Subject.
It’s easy to write an article or a nonfiction book and forget that your reader may have no knowledge or experience related to your topic.
They might all be “newbies.” If you use terms or jargon you don’t define
—because you assume readers know what they mean—or don’t explain concepts in basic terminology, you lose readers. They won’t understand
what you write and will put the book down—or never take it to the register.
Quick Fix: Write for the newcomer to your topic. Define every term, explain every concept, provide data and research, and go
overboard to ensure every reader will “get it.” This does not mean you have to “dumb down” your writing. It does mean you need to write for all your readers, including those who buy your book to begin rather than continue their learning. Also, reread your manuscript as if you know nothing about the topic—or have a developmental editor do this for you.
Notice where you have questions—and answer them.
6. You Think You Are The Only Expert—Or The Best Expert.
Most nonfiction benefits from additional resources. If you only rely on your knowledge and experience and don’t back it up with data, studies or quotes from other experts, your readers might doubt that you know what you’re writing about. Don’t assume all they need is you and what you know.
Quick Fix: Generously include other experts in your work.
Interview thought leaders or include relevant quotes you find online, in publications or books (with proper permission and attribution). Find research to back up your story. Ask them to provide blurbs or forewords for your books as well. In this way, prove that you are the leading expert on the topic.
D. How to Interpret Nonfiction
This strategy is intended to help in reading effectively and retain as much information as possible. If you are reading fiction, or just reading for pleasure, please forego this strategy. It will ruin the immersive experience and taint your
love of words, as you will not be able to admire the lyrical and poetic prose that makes literature, literature.
When interpreting, the thing that needs to be considered is the elements, especially characters and events. We also have to pay attention to topic, main idea, and supporting details in order to conclude the meaning of the literature.
However, if you read to support your profession, learn new ideas, or simply survive your boss’ initiatives, this guide is for you. You may proceed.
1. Pre-reading:
a. Read the summary, bio and overview
Know what it is that you are reading about, what angle the writer takes and the broader argument of the literature. No less important is the writer’s background, so that you can understand where the writer is coming from. There may be a lot of interviews or articles online about the author, so read that quickly, or better yet, find a video of an interview on YouTube. It will give you a sense of the person’s perspective; building on your own
understanding.
b. Read with purpose
After you have an idea of what the literature is about, create an objective in mind on why you want to read it and what you want to get from the literature. Take some time to formulate the guiding questions based on the limited information you have from the overview and summary. Don't be afraid, these guiding questions are not intended to be comprehensive, but to give you a purpose and equip you to be better at spotting important information.
2. Initial reading:
a. Skim through the chapters
Read the conclusion first, then go to the table of contents
material so that you have a familiarity over the main ideas that are discussed. You can read just the first and the last sentence at this point. We don’t want to be overwhelmed by details yet.
b. Jot things down
Make mind maps or bullet points, or even both. You can organize your thoughts by chapter or by concept. Having a side note as a reference is a good method to track ideas, answers or discussion points relevant to the purpose of your reading.
c. Make action points
Action points are one-time actions you can do within the next day or two to help you fine tune the primary concept that you are learning about. It can be activities or mental exercises – such as writing a summary, or explaining ideas to others.
d. Practice what you learn
Leave the literature for a day or two to let it sink in and give your mind a break. Instead, try to practice the principles of the literature so that you don't get stuck in the theory. Most of the time, real-life practice will give you better and more relevant feedback rather than just reading the literature repeatedly.
The steps above will answer questions related to the literature we read, for example:
What is this text really about?
What happen to …?
When … happen?
Those steps also makes us able to summarize the non-fictional literary.
CHAPTER 3 CONCLUSION A. Conclusion
From explanation above, we can conclude that : a. Characteristic of Non-fiction writing :
Nonfiction is a classification for all the informative creation. A non- fiction text is based on facts. They can range from a newspaper article to a review of a new computer game. They are written for many different purposes, and are aimed at many different people or audiences. Literary non-fiction is a type of writing which uses similar techniques as fiction to create an interesting piece of writing about real events. Characteristics of a non-fiction text includes the presence of a table of contents, headings, captions, diagrams, charts, graphs, a glossary and an index.
Additionally, the subjects of non-fiction are real and not imagined or made up, as the subjects in fiction are. Another characteristic of non- fiction is the presence of a narrator, who is a real person and often the author of the text. Non-fiction texts are also written for a specific audience and purpose, which heavily influences the information that is included in the text.
b. The Structural Pattern of Non-fiction :
Problem/Solution
Cause and Effect
Compare/Contrast
Description/List
Time Order/Sequence
Pretentiousness
No Guide Or Organization
No Research (Lack Of Education)
You Tell Instead Of Show
You Assume Your Reader Has Some Knowledge Of The Subject.
You Think You Are The Only Expert—Or The Best Expert.
d. How to Interpret Nonfiction : Pre-reading:
Read the summary, bio and overview
Read with purpose Initial reading:
Skim through the chapters
Jot things down
Make action points
Practice what you learn
Those steps also makes us able to summarize the non-fictional literary.
REFFERENCES
Lynne R. Dorfman and Rose Capeli. 2009. Nonfiction-Mentor Texts:
Teaching Informational Writing Through Children’s Literature. Portsmouth:
Stenhouse Publisher.
