Literary non-fiction

Writing about real people or experiences that uses literary techniques to shape its account, such as vivid description and carefully controlled narrative structure.

Non-fiction that uses crafted description, narrative or other literary techniques to present real experiences or ideas.

AQA Paper 2 Section A pairs two linked unseen sources: one from the nineteenth century and one from either the twentieth or twenty-first century. They include non-fiction and literary non-fiction. Both concern real subjects, but neither should automatically be treated as neutral: writers select details and may use vivid description to influence readers.

Writing about real experiences or subjects that uses crafted storytelling, description or other literary techniques to communicate them vividly.

One is literary non-fiction. Together they contain approximately 1,000 words, with each extract at least 300 words long. The whole paper, including transactional writing, lasts 2 hours 5 minutes and carries 96 marks.

Writing about real people, events or experiences which uses literary methods, such as vivid description and narrative, to shape the reader’s response.

Writing about real people, experiences or events that uses crafted language and organisation to engage readers.

Paper 2, Contemporary Texts, uses two thematically linked extracts from the twentieth or twenty-first century: one fiction and one literary non-fiction. ‘Contemporary’ here includes writing from the early 1900s, not just recently published work. Together, the extracts are approximately 900 words long.

OCR Component 02, Exploring effects and impact, uses two thematically linked literary prose extracts from the 20th and/or 21st centuries. They may come from novels or short stories; one may be literary non-fiction, such as autobiography. Fiction presents invented events.

Definition

How each exam board covers it

AQA GCSE English Language · 8700

Edexcel GCSE English Language · 1EN0

Get more free notes every week

Edexcel GCSE English Language 2.0 · 1EN2

OCR GCSE English Language · J351