Lesson

Reading Nonfiction Part 1: Conventions of Nonfiction Books (Developed by Barb Stein, Victoria Walton and Becky Gelman)

	Locates parts of a book
	Uses both text and visuals to understand literature

Literature Model Objectives

Read or listen to nonfiction book

Objective

Students will learn understand the special conventions used in nonfiction books. Conventions include:

External features

Cover, flaps, spine label, call number

Internal features

Text organizers -Table of contents, index, glossary

Fonts and effects - bullets, titles, headings, color print, italics, captions, labels, boldface print

Graphics - graphs, charts, timelines, maps, tables, word bubbles

Illustrations and photographs

Materials Needed

	Overhead/transparencies
	Nonfiction books with indexes and other conventions

Anticipatory Set

Reading books for your own pleasure and using books to gain information for research are two different types of reading. When you pick up a fiction book, you are reading for story. If you are enjoying it, you read the book from beginning to end. When you read nonfiction for your own interest you may read from beginning to end, or you may skip around and find the parts of interest. When you are reading for information you may not need to read a whole book. You may be only interested in one specific part of the book.

We are going to examine the conventions of a well-produced nonfiction book that help a researcher find information. At the end of the lesson you will be able to identify what these conventions are and how they can lead to faster and more efficient location of information.

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External Conventions

Input and Modeling: External Conventions

Please note that even before you open a book there is information that gives you clues about what is inside. The cover may be inviting and welcome you in. You may want to read the back and/or the inside flaps to check on the author information. If the book has flaps they will tell something about what is inside. You may also note that the spine label contains a call number. If it has a number and the first three letters of an author’s last name, it is nonfiction. You can expect that it will include information. If it has an E or F and the first 3 letters of the author’s last name, it is a fiction title and although it may have some information, it is not considered an information source.

Guided Practice: External Conventions

Have students identify each of these features of their books. Pay particular attention to the spine label and have them share their topic and the numbers.

Internal Conventions

Input and Modeling: Internal Conventions

The design of a nonfiction title will often include many ways to draw your attention to information. They are like red flags that tell you to look here, notice this information. We are going to look at some of these in an effort to identify types of conventions that can help us.

Text Organizers (see Part II of this lesson)

Table of Contents, Index, Glossary are features that help readers locate information.

Fonts and Effects

Note that headings, titles, boldface print, color print, italics, bullets, captions and labels draw our eyes and attention. Show examples on the overhead. They signal for us to read carefully.

Graphics

Note that important information is shown by use of diagrams, cut-aways, timelines, cross-sections, overlays, distribution maps, word bubbles, tables, graphs and charts.

Illustrations and Photographs (Use your own example here)

Note that photographs and illustrations enhance reading comprehension and help readers gain deeper meaning.

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Other Notable Features

In some books, the author will also provide other helpful features to help the reader understand the material more easily. Examples include:

	Bibliography - a list for further reading, sending you on to other places to find more information
	Source bibliography - a list of sources used by the author to research the topic
	Web sites – a list of information found online
	Author/illustrator information
	Page layout – arrangement of text and graphics on a page
	Location of page numbers

Guided Practice: Internal Conventions

Use Conventions of Nonfiction Books transparency.

Examine your book, noticing the features that are welcoming and helpful to your eye as your read. Have students find examples of as many of the conventions and features as possible and share with a partner or the whole group.

Independent Practice

Students will use these conventions in their real research. This will serve as independent practice. Otherwise, a second visit to work with books could provide more practice.

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This page was last updated on July 16, 2005.