Non-fiction/Informational Text Presentations INFORMATION

1. In class on Tuesday (3/3) I will be handing out a helpful strategy in approaching NONFICTION or INFORMATIONAL texts.  We have addressed this earlier in the class when we have spoken about reading the introductory information before a literary work.. i.e. Ancient Greek introduction, India introduction, etc. I have given you strategies to read such texts and manage its material through annotations and Cornell notes. I wanted, however, to give you some additional help before our big presentations next week.
2. Like with any text, a good reader is aware of its structures, its techniques, and the purpose it is attempting to achieve.. Therefore; here are some refreshers:
Often an informational text is EXPOSITORY (purposed to explain something). Here are some features of an expository text that can help you...

I know you have heard of these terms.. but look how they are designed to enhance your comprehension. When you feel lost.. depend upon the features to help guide you..


Headings and Subheadings are not listed... but are pretty significant as Expository texts often become Argumentative texts...

Types of print: BOLD and ITALICS... UNDERLINE and CAPS.. pretty important..


Also being aware of the structure of the text and what it is trying to achieve can become quite helpful for the reader. When the information becomes confusing or difficult... identify its STRUCTURE.. and it can provide the purpose of what the author is trying to achieve. Let this be your guide.

Is the author describing something? What? Why?

Is the author demonstrating a problem and proposing a solution?

How are things related? Do these comparisons help you understand a difficult concept better?

Why does the author chose to tell the events in this order?

This delves into more traditional 'textbookesque'/ articles.. This shows how to summarize small sections of text.. This can be a good strategy to help you manage the material as you are bringing it in..

What about AUTOBIOGRAPHIES/BIOGRAPHIES?
HOW DO WE ANALYZE AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY? 
For the most part, we use the same tools we use in fiction, although we might apply them in a slightly different way. The following are some of the possible critical approaches you might use:
1. Wordplay and Imagery: How do specific language choices reveal something about how the writer wants to make sense of experiences? Or how s/he wants to define his or her self?
2. Intertextuality: This is a fancy word for the idea that any given text contains in it references to other texts
3. Narrative, Structure: A writer makes choices about what to include, what to exclude, how to arrange events, and what degree of emphasis to give to different kinds of events.
4. Language and Self-Representation: How does writing the autobiography itself become part of the process of defining the self? One rich area of study is the ways in which writers of autobiography explore the relationship between language and identity.
5. Patterns of representation: Are there patterns of association in the text that reoccur at pivotal moments? What do these patterns suggest about how the writer defines his or herself? What does it reveal about their values, assumptions, etc.
6. Ideological structures: This is related to the last item; it is really an extension of it. Every narrative depends on certain cultural, religious, or philosophical assumptions about the world, human nature, or the self. Autobiographies often explore conflicts or tensions in these assumptions.
7. Gaps and Slippages — In autobiography, there are sometimes gaps in the facts, or places where there seems to be a contradiction or an inconsistency in the image of the self or the representation of events.