Non-fiction

Writing about real people, events, experiences or ideas, rather than an invented story. It can include opinions and personal interpretations.

Writing about real people, experiences, events or ideas. It can include opinions and selective presentation as well as factual information.

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.

Non-fiction deals with real people, experiences, events and ideas. That does not make every sentence an objective fact. A journalist can argue for change, a reviewer can dislike a film, and an autobiographer can remember an event from a particular point of view.

Writing about real people, events, experiences or ideas. It can include opinions and persuasion, so it is not necessarily impartial or accurate.

Non-fiction concerns the real world, but it is not automatically neutral. A guide can promote its author's own method; an article can select facts to support an argument. Understanding a text therefore means recognising both what it says and the viewpoint shaping it.

Writing about real people, events, experiences or ideas, although it can still present a selective or personal account.

In OCR Component 01, Communicating information and ideas, you read two linked non-fiction texts: one from the 19th century and one from the 20th or 21st century. Section A contains four reading questions worth 40 marks altogether. The whole paper lasts two hours and is worth 80 marks.

Writing that communicates ideas, information or views rather than telling a fictional story; examples include articles, letters and speeches.

Writing about real people, events, experiences or ideas. Its writer can still select details, express opinions and use imaginative language.

Component 2 Section A presents two unseen non-fiction texts: one from the 19th century and one from the 21st century, totalling about 900–1200 words. ‘Unseen’ means that you have not studied those particular extracts beforehand. You are learning a way of reading that you can transfer to unfamiliar material, rather than memorising an interpretation of one text.

Definition

How each exam board covers it

AQA GCSE English Language · 8700

Edexcel GCSE English Language · 1EN0

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Edexcel GCSE English Language 2.0 · 1EN2

OCR GCSE English Language · J351

Eduqas GCSE English Language · C700