It’s Non-Fiction

Lyrics

Chorus
It’s not fiction
It’s non-fiction
It’s non-fiction, yo we’re keeping it real
Nothing fake, only opinions and facts to reveal

Verse I
When you’re sitting home at your desk
And your thoughts are all a mess
And your brain can’t think any more
And even though your research is done
Your assignment’s just begun, because your
Thoughts are all scattered on the floor
So listen up, pick ‘em up, sort ‘em out, and create an outline
Like a roadmap to direct your prose
And you’ll find if you’re outlining it properly
You’re streamlining the process
You see the rest of the assignment just flows

Starting with the introduction
A paragraph whose primary function
Is to introduce what you’re about to say
And so it should go easy on the length
But establish the strength of
The argument you’re tryin to make
Do you know what a paragraph is?
It’s a bunch of sentences
That express one continuous thought
So now I think you can take it from here
And you won’t have any fear
If you just remember what you’ve been taught!

Chorus

Verse II
In every paragraph you should be finding
A topic sentence shining
Coming at you from a mile away
It’s the one that kicks it off
And you know that it’s always on the ball
About the content that’s about to be relayed.
At every paragraph’s end there’s a sentence that will append
A conclusion to whatever was said
And rather than just ending it there
Instead it’s gonna prepare us
For the content that’s just ahead

Now when you’ve worked through the night
And you’ve written all you can write
You gotta wrap up everything you’ve put down
So you write a conclusion paragraph
That’s the one that comes last
And it should be thoroughly strong and profound
Now after all this, you gotta make a list
Of the articles and books that you used
The list is called a bibliography
It’s what your readers gotta see
Or else they will get unbelievably confused.

Breakdown
Plagiarism—copying what someone else has written
Without admitting—yo that is strictly forbidden
I’m not kidding. That’s like stealing all their wisdom
As your own erudition, that’s a dishonest system
So listen: If you take a phrase from somewhere else
Anything at all that isn’t written by yourself
You gotta use quotation marks around the quote
And then put a citation or a footnote

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Description

“It’s Non-Fiction” helps students learn about how to write and understand non-fiction prose, especially short-stories. The educational song covers the introduction paragraph, topic sentence, conclusion, bibliography, and works cited list by teaching non-fiction through music, rhyme, and memorization. The teaching materials at the bottom of the page, including writing lesson plans and worksheets, help teachers and homeschool parents generate teaching ideas for the song topics.

This Language Arts song is suitable for teaching non-fiction to advanced elementary school students (3rd grade, 4th grade, 5th grade, and 6th grade), middle school, high school, and home school.

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Related Reading and Activities

Reading

Internet public library for teens
Steps to writing
This site is quite unusual. It describes in detail all the steps necessary in expository writing and does it with a sense of humor. Thorough and thoughtful.
Grades 7-12

Suite 101.com
Suite 101 Full of interesting pages of writing topics and samples, this site offers articles about prepositions, split infinitives, misused words, etc. Fertile territory for the interested writer. Very useful.
Grades 7-12

EssayStart.com
Essay writing
This site offers a step-by-step guide to writing an essay. It lists many different kinds of essays with hints and guides to effective essay writing for many different kinds of essays. Lots of selection and help. Easy to understand.
Grades 6-12

Lesson Plans & Activities

Readwritethink.org
Fiction & Non-Fiction
This lesson plan helps students improve writing skill by including both fiction and non-fiction texts. Students compare, discuss and write original pieces.
Grades 3-5

Electronic messaging
A lesson plan that explores the language of electronic messaging and how it affects other writing. The lesson also examines the importance of a more formal style of writing based on the audience.
Grades 6-12

Writing ideas and topics
This site has a large number of lesson plans that illustrate and ask for the creation of many different kinds of writing. A goldmine of ideas!
Grades 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

Scholastic.com
Writing News
An activity-based site, this link is useful for teachers and students alike. It walks the reader through all of the steps of writing a news article and asks that you write one too. Students can submit works online for publishing.
Grades 6-12

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State Standards

State standards listed here are representative of school standards across the United States.

California

6th Grade
1.0 Writing Strategies - Create multiple-paragraph expository compositions:

A. engage the interest of the reader ad state a clear purpose.
B. Develop the topic with supporting details and precise verse, nouns, and adjectives to pint a visual image in the mind of the reader.
C. Conclude with a detailed summary linked to the purpose of the composition.

7th Grade
1.0 Writing Strategies - Support all statements and claims with anecdotes, descriptions, facts and statistics, and specific examples.
1.0 Writing Strategies - Use strategies of note taking, outlining, and summarizing to impose structure on composition drafts.
1.0 Writing Strategies - Give credit for both quoted and paraphrased information in a bibliography by using a consistent and sanctioned format and methodology for citations.

8th Grade
1.0 Writing Strategies - Create compositions that establish a controlling impression, have a coherent thesis, and end with a clear and well-supported conclusion.
1.0 Writing Strategies - Support theses or conclusions with analogies, paraphrases, quotations, opinions from authorities, comparisons, and similar devices.
1.0 Writing Strategies - Achieve an effective balance between researched information and original ideas.

Florida

6th Grade
LA.6.4.1.1 - Write narrative accounts with an engaging plot (including rising action, conflict, climax, falling action, and resolution) include a clearly described setting with figurative language and descriptive words or phrases to enhance style and tone.
LA.6.4.1.2 - Write a variety of expressive forms (e.g., short play, song lyrics, historical fiction, limericks) that employ figurative language, rhythm, dialogue, characterization, and/or appropriate format.

7th-8th Grades
LA.7.2.1.3, LA.8.2.1.3 - Locate various literary devices (e.g., sound, meter, figurative and descriptive language), graphics, and structure and analyze how they contribute to mood and meaning in poetry.
LA.7.2.1.7, LA.8.2.1.7 - Locate and analyze an author's use of allusions and descriptive, idiomatic, and figurative language in a variety of literary text, identifying how word choice is used to appeal to the reader's senses and emotions, providing evidence from text to support the analysis.
LA.7.4.1.1 - Write narrative accounts with an engaging plot (including rising action, conflict, suspense, climax, falling action, and resolution), and that use a range of appropriate strategies and specific narrative action (e.g., dialogue, movement, gestures, expressions) and include effectively developed and complex characters, a clearly described setting, figurative language, and descriptive words or phrases to enhance style and tone.
LA.7.4.1.2, LA.8.4.1.2 - Write a variety of expressive forms (e.g., realistic fiction, one-act play, suspense story, poetry) that according to the type of writing employed, incorporate figurative language, rhythm, dialogue, characterization, plot, and appropriate format.

Illinois

3rd Grade
3.B.1a - Use prewriting strategies to generate and organize ideas (e.g., focus on one topic; organize writing to include a beginning, middle and end; use descriptive words when writing about people, places, things, events).
3.B.1b - Demonstrate focus, organization, elaboration and integration in written compositions (e.g., short stories, letters, essays, reports).
5.B.1b - Cite sources used.

4th-6th Grades
3.A.2 - Write paragraphs that include a variety of sentence types; appropriate use of the eight parts of speech; and accurate spelling, capitalization and punctuation.
3.B.2a - Generate and organize ideas using a variety of planning strategies (e.g., mapping, outlining, drafting).
3.B.2b - Establish central idea, organization, elaboration and unity in relation to purpose and audience.
I5.B.2b - Cite sources used.

7th-8th Grades
3.A.3 - Write compositions that contain complete sentences and effective paragraphs using English conventions.
3.B.3b - Edit and revise for word choice, organization, consistent point of view and transitions among paragraphs using contemporary technology and formats suitable for submission and/or publication.
5.B.3b - Identify, evaluate and cite primary sources.

9th-10th Grades
3.B.4a - Produce documents that exhibit a range of writing techniques appropriate to purpose and audience, with clarity of focus, logic of organization, appropriate elaboration and support and overall coherence.
3.B.4b - Produce, edit, revise and format work for submission and/or publication (e.g., manuscript form, appropriate citation of sources) using contemporary technology.
5.B.4b - Use multiple sources and multiple formats; cite according to standard style manuals.

11th-12th Grades
I5.B.5b - Credit primary and secondary sources in a form appropriate for presentation or publication for a particular audience.

Massachusetts

5th-6th Grades
General Standard 19: Writing - Write a short explanation of a process that includes a topic statement, supporting details, and a conclusion.
General Standard 23: Organizing Ideas in Writing - Group related ideas and place them in logical order when writing summaries or reports.
General Standard 23: Organizing Ideas in Writing - Organize information about a topic into a coherent paragraph with a topic sentence, sufficient supporting detail, and a concluding sentence.

7th-8th Grades
General Standard 19: Writing - Write reports based on research that include quotations, footnotes or endnotes, and a bibliography.
General Standard 19: Writing - Write multi-paragraph compositions that have clear topic development, logical organization, effective use of detail, and variety in sentence structure.
General Standard 23: Organizing Ideas in Writing - Organize information into a coherent essay or report with a thesis statement in the introduction, transition sentences to link paragraphs, and a conclusion.

New York

6th Grade
Standard 1 Writing - State a main idea and support it with details and examples. Use paragraphing to organize ideas and information. Support ideas with examples, definitions, analogies, and direct references to the text, with assistance.
Standard 3 Writing - Use strategies, such as note taking, semantic webbing or mapping, and outlining, to plan and organize writing.
General Standard 24: Research - Document information and quotations and use a consistent format for footnotes or endnotes; and use standard bibliographic format to document sources.

7th Grade
Standard 1 Writing - Use outlines and graphic organizers, such as semantic webs, to plan reports, with assistance. Use paraphrase and quotation correctly. Cite sources in footnotes and bibliography, using correct form, with assistance.
Standard 3 Writing - Select content and choose strategies for written presentation on the basis of audience, purpose, and content.

Texas

6th Grade
110.18 (b) (17) (A) - Create multi-paragraph essays to convey information about a topic that:

(i) present effective introductions and concluding paragraphs;
(ii) guide and inform the reader's understanding of key ideas and evidence;
(ii) include specific facts, details, and examples in an appropriately organized structure;
(iv) use a variety of sentence structures and transitions to link paragraphs.

7th Grade
110.19 (b) (23) (D) - Differentiate between paraphrasing and plagiarism and identify the importance of citing valid and reliable sources.
110.19 (b) (25) (D) - Follow accepted formats for integrating quotations and citations into the written text to maintain a flow of ideas.

8th Grade
110.20 (b) (14) (A) - Plan first draft by selecting a genre appropriate for conveying the intended meaning to an audience, determining appropriate topics through a range of strategies, and developing a thesis or controlling idea.
110.20 (b) (17) (A) - Write multi-paragraph essay to convey information about a topic that:

(i) presents effective introductions and concluding paragraphs;
(ii) contains a clearly stated purpose or controlling idea;
(iii) is logically organized with appropriate facts and details and includes no extraneous information or inconsistencies;
(iv) accurately synthesizes ideas from several sources;
(v) uses a variety of sentence structures, rhetorical devices, and transitions to link paragraphs;
(vi) presents effective introductions and concluding paragraphs

110.20 (b) (23) (C) - Record bibliographic information (e.g., author, title, page number) for all notes and sources according to a standard format
110.20 (b) (23) (D) - Differentiate between paraphrasing and plagiarism and identify the importance of citing valid and reliable sources.
110.20 (b) (25) (D) - Follow accepted formats for integrating quotations and citations into the written text to maintain a flow of ideas.

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