Literary genres: nonfiction You will take notes!!! You will turn them in at the end of the hour.

Nonfiction is a literary work in which the content is based on fact. Nonfiction writing is not made up or imaginary. In other words, it is not fiction. There are many kinds of nonfiction writing, including biographies, autobiographies, essays, and documents from history.

Article gives information about certain topics. An article can be found in a newspaper, magazine, encyclopedia, journal, or other published works. Newspaper articles are published daily and present facts and information about current events that happen locally or around the world. Magazine and journal articles are published less frequently than newspaper articles and may be slightly less current. Other types of articles may be even less current depending on how recently they have been published.

Editorial is a type of newspaper article that expresses the author's opinions on certain topics.

Autobiography is a piece of writing that a person writes about his or her own life. Autobiographies are written in the first person using the pronouns "I," "me," "us," and "we." If you were to write about your summer vacation, that work would be autobiographical.

Biography is an account of a person's life written, composed, or produced by another person. A biography is written by someone other than the person whose life is being described. Many famous people have biographies written about them that tell their life story. If you were to write a book about the life of George Washington, you would be writing a biography.

Diary/journal is a written account of events or circumstances in a person's life where each entry is dated. A journal is similar to a diary in that it includes a dated record of daily events. Both diaries and journals may include a person's thoughts and feelings about the events that are recorded. The difference is that a journal is more likely to be a continuous log of each day's events, whereas a diary may only be used on different days.

essay is a relatively short literary composition in prose on a single subject, usually presenting the personal view of the author. The writer discusses a topic, often restricted in scope, or tries to persuade the reader to accept a particular point of view.

letter is a piece of writing sent from one person to another. It gives information from the writer's personal point of view. Friendly, or personal, letters are informal and communicate information between people who know each other well. Business letters are formal and show respect to the reader.

memoir is an account of an actual person's experience. It is very similar to an autobiography, but it is more personal in nature.

Research report is a paper that gives information on a specific topic. It relies on many sources of information to thoroughly cover the topic. A research report might include interviews, encyclopedia entries, and even newspaper articles.

Speech is a special genre because it is meant to be spoken aloud to an audience. Because the audience is addressed directly, the speaker can connect to the listeners and often uses words like "you," "your," "we," and "our."