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Techniques specific to non-fiction

One of the three unseen texts is always non-fiction, and it uses a distinct toolkit from poetry or prose fiction.

Non-fiction-specific features to watch for

• DIRECT ADDRESS ("you", imperative commands) — pulls the reader personally into the argument, rather than describing events at a distance.
• RHETORICAL QUESTIONS — invite the reader to supply their own answer, which usually agrees with the writer's position, making the reader complicit in reaching the writer's conclusion.
• STATISTICS AND FACTS, and their PLACEMENT — a shocking statistic placed as the opening line hits differently from the same statistic buried mid-paragraph.
• ANECDOTE (a specific, personal story) used to make an abstract issue feel concrete and emotionally real before broadening to a general claim.
• HEADLINE/TITLE choices, especially wordplay or a provocative claim, which frame how the whole piece should be read before the body text begins.

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Treating non-fiction as if it had no craft at all

A common weak assumption is that non-fiction is just "facts", with no deliberate crafting the way a poem or novel has. In reality, a non-fiction writer makes the same kinds of deliberate choices — which facts to lead with, when to switch to direct address, where to place an anecdote — and these choices are exactly what a "significant aspect" question about a non-fiction text wants named and explained. ℹ

Non-fiction still uses figurative language

Non-fiction writers frequently borrow metaphor, personification and other literary techniques usually associated with fiction or poetry — a piece about a natural disaster might personify a storm, or a piece about protest might use war metaphors. Do not assume the poetry/prose techniques toolkit is off-limits just because the text is classified as non-fiction.

Practise just this