Non-Fiction Techniques (with Interactive Exercises)

Comprehensive glossary of non-fiction techniques includes usage examples. Interactive exercises teach students how to spot and analyze literary techniques.

One interactive exercise helps students differentiate anecdote, personal experience, argument/claim, and example. Follow-up exercises use the article “All Booked Up: The Frustrations of Finding a Black Therapist” by Alicia Lue to assist students in separating “fallacious” appeals to authority from “legitimate” appeals, as well as connect empirical evidence to thesis formation.

A comparison activity helps students differentiate analogy, metaphor, simile, and contrast, then gets them to try out their knowledge in a mini quiz and an analysis of an article excerpt from “The Big One: Getting Ready for North America’s Next Major Quake” by Gregor Craigie.

Subsequent activities link techniques to modes of persuasion and get students to discover techniques in the articles “The Cactus That Came Back from the Dead” by Amir Aziz, “Doctor, Shut Up and Listen” by Nirmal Joshi, and “Justin Bieber Would Like to Reintroduce Himself” by Caity Weaver.

In case of PowerPoint elements moving around in transit, a PDF version is included so that you can easily make corrections.