Helping Students - Learn How to Identify and Use Nonfiction

Nonfiction

Literature written in prose based on facts, real people, and real events. Biography, autobiography, history...

Fiction

Literature written in prose that is about imaginary people and events. Made up short stories and novels.

Idntifying Nonfiction and Fiction

Students need to use both words within the context of literature to understand and remember their meaning.

Students easily confuse which is which. The word associations of - (fact : nonfiction) and (not fact : fiction) are easily switched. Even the associations of (nonfiction : true) and (fiction : false) can be switched.

Seeing the non in nonfiction, can cause students to think not and thinking not true seems more sensible than not not true or not false. No wonder they get confused.

Learning the definitions is one problem. A second problem is students often believe or want something to be true so even knowing the meanings of fiction and non fiction may still not be enough to have them identify a piece of literature accordingly.

A good discussion about the meaning of fiction and nonfiction, how to remember, and how to decide can be beneficial. The following questions can provide insite for the teacher as well as the student.

• What is the difference between fiction and nonfiction?
• How do you remember which is which?
• Is there anything true in fiction?
• Is there anything false in nonfiction?
• How much truth has to be in fiction before it can be nonfiction?

Model for students how to use nonfiction books.

Ask questions to help students learn how to ask questions as well as how to find answers.

• How do we know if information in nonfiction is accurate?
• Where can we find answers to that question?
• Where would we look for information about people?
• Places?
• World events?
• Recent information?
• Past information?

 

Model how to find information in different texts. and how to use different parts of those texts if necessary (tables, charts, graphs, outlines, pictures, captions, venn diagrams, matrix, maps, table of contents, and index).

• How do we know if information is accurate when we find it?

Model how to verify information with multiple sources.

Make a chart to list ideas presented in a book in one column and two other columns for verification - secondary verification and primary verification.

Example from text - "Antietam was the bloodiest battle in the Civil war between the states."

Fact?	Secondary source	Primary source
Antietam - bloodiest battle	Heard it from dad	Heard it on TV documentary - Civil War Checked casualties of civil war battles in the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies Wikipedia -
Lincoln was ...

 

Activities for Quality of Nonfiction Elements

1. Ask questions for students to evaluate nonfiction.
2. Provide a check sheet with characteristics of nonfiction and share quality examples.
3. Have students complete check sheets with ratings of different characteristics and ask why and what proof they have to evaluate the criteria the way they did.
4. Conduct a year long study of nonfiction and use multiple books to share qualities among them to show the comparisons. A matrix or chart with characteristics listed on one side and the names of the books across the top.