Elements of Non-Fiction

§ Author’s Purpose: To provide information to the reader.

Three reasons to provide information are:

§ inform

§ entertain

§ persuade

§ Major Idea(s): The key points the author wants his/her reader to understand.

§ Supporting Detail(s): The information that clarifies the major ideas.

§ Vocabulary: The labels for ideas and concepts.

§ Reader’s Aids: The variety of pictorial, graphic, typographic and structural representations used to convey information.

Non-Fiction Text Structures

A text structure is the manner in which major ideas and supporting details are organized in a non-fiction text. The information being presented and the author’s purpose determine how the writer organizes the concepts and ideas.

§ Enumeration: A major idea is supported by a list of details and examples.

§ Time Order: A major idea is supported by details. Both major ideas and supporting details must be in a particular sequence.

§ Compare/Contrast: The supporting details of two or more major ideas indicate how those concepts are similar or different.

§ Cause/Effect: The supporting details give the causes of a major idea or the supporting details are the results produced by the major idea.