Before you have students create a non-fiction book in Book Creator, you must explore the features in a non-fiction piece.
Text features in a non-fiction piece of writing, is like story elements in a fiction piece of writing. Just like you need to teach students about characters, setting, problem, plot and resolution before writing stories, you must also teach students about specific features of non-fiction writing.
These feature are there to help the reader make sense of what is written.
Features include and are not limited to:
- Headings
Helps to know what the text topic is about and help make predictions.
- Timeline
Helps determine the time an event happens.
- Labels
Helps identify a picture or photograph, and/or its parts.
- Photographs
Helps understand exactly what something looks like.
- Captions
Helps better understand a picture or photograph.
- Comparisons
Helps understand the size of something by comparing it to the size of something familiar.
- Cut Aways/Cross Sections
Helps understand something by looking at it from the inside.
- Maps
Helps understand where things are in the world.
- Types of Print
Helps by signalling, “Look at me! I’m important!”
- Close-ups
Helps seeing details in something small.
- Graphs
Helps in a visual way so that it is more easily understood by readers.
- Charts or Tables
Helps by giving information in a visual way so that it is quicker and easier to read.
- Diagrams
Helps with a drawing of the parts of something.
- Indexes
Helps with an alphabetical list of most everything covered in the text, with page numbers.
- Table of Contents
Helps identify key topics in the order they are presented.
- Glossaries
Helps define words found in the text.