Literary Terms

the writer’s aim, or goal

• voice

• tone

• purpose

• thesis

the story of a person’s life, written by that person

• biography

• autobiography

• memoir

• personal essay

a short nonfiction work that presents a single main idea, or thesis, about a particular topic

• short story

• thesis

• nonfiction

• essay

explores a topic with the goal of informing or enlightening the reader

• informative essay

• argumentative essay

• personal essay

• purpose

a type of autobiography that focuses on one incident or period in a person’s life

• personal essay

• memoir

• autobiography

• biography

explores real people's lives, places, things, events, and ideas

• thesis

• point of view

• nonfiction

• fiction

explores a topic related to the life or interests of the writer

• informative essay

• autobiography

• memoir

• personal essay

the basic unit of the World Wide Web, an organizational structure that includes a large part of what is offered on the internet

• photograph

• illustration

• visual media

• web page

the emotional attitude toward the reader or toward the subject implied by a literary work

• tone

• voice

• point of view

• thesis

the vantage point, or perspective, from which the story is told

• mood

• tone

• point of view

• purpose