Nonfiction: A text based on facts and reality, including biography, history, and the essay

Essay: A short piece of writing on one subject, usually presenting the author’s own views

Speech: A formal address or discourse delivered to an audience

Audience: The assembled spectators or listeners at a public event, such as a play, movie, concert, or meeting

Purpose: The reason an author decides to write about a specific topic

Rhetoric: The art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing; the ability to convince someone to do or believe something

Ethos: A type of rhetoric that uses the credibility or ethical appeal of a writer or speaker  to persuade an audience

Pathos: A type of rhetoric that is an appeal to the emotions and attempts to convince an audience by creating an emotional response

Logos: A type of rhetoric that is an appeal to logic and is a way of persuading an audience by reason

Anecdote: A short story used to engage the audience that serves to make the listeners laugh or ponder over a topic

Bias: The way the audience or reader already feels about a topic or person prior to reading or listening to the person’s ideas—may be favorable or unfavorable

Propaganda: Information, especially of a biased or misleading nature, used to promote or publicize a particular political cause or point of view