Nonfiction Reading and Writing Workshops

Nonfiction Analysis Guide

Nonfiction WorkshoP Overview

Nonfiction Overview

Workshop Resources

Workshops are linked to below each section. 

Section 1--Workshops Using Foundational American Nonfiction
​American Heroes A workshop based on committed Americans
Benjamin Franklin

• Poor Richard’s Almanack (selections) — Benjamin Franklin
  https://www.gutenberg.org/files/35508/35508-h/35508-h.htm
• The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin — Benjamin Franklin
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20203

Thomas Paine

• Common Sense (1776) — Thomas Paine
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/147
• The American Crisis (1776–1783) — Thomas Paine
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1404

Thomas Jefferson

• Declaration of Independence (1776) — Thomas Jefferson
  https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/declaration-transcript

Frederick Douglass

• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass (1845) — Frederick Douglass
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23

Booker T. Washington

• Up From Slavery (1901) — Booker T. Washington
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2376

W.E.B. Du Bois

• The Souls of Black Folk (1903) — W. E. B. Du Bois
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/408

Section 2--Workshops Using Speeches & Documents Common in Textbooks
Equity In America  A Workshop Based on Inequities

• Gettysburg Address (1863) — Abraham Lincoln
  https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4/4-h/4-h.htm
• Second Inaugural Address (1865) — Abraham Lincoln
  https://www.gutenberg.org/files/8/8-h/8-h.htm

Sojourner Truth

• Ain’t I a Woman? (1851) — Sojourner Truth
  https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ain%27t_I_a_Woman%3F

Susan B. Anthony

• On Women’s Right to Vote (1872) — Susan B. Anthonyhttps://en.wikisource.org/wiki/On_Women%27s_Right_to_Vote

Chief Joseph

• I Will Fight No More Forever (1877)
  https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/185/civil-rights-and-conflict-in-the-united-states-selected-speeches/4856/the-surrender-of-chief-joseph-of-the-nez-perce-montana-territory-october-5-1877-chief-josephs-own-story.pdf

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

• Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963)
  Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee
Contains true stories about the treatment of Native Americans in the United States

Section 3--Philosophy & Political Thought
Shaping Ideas A workshop based on Major Thinkers
Plato

• Republic
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1497

Aristotle

• Politics
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6762

Niccolò Machiavelli

• The Prince (1532)
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1232

John Locke

• Second Treatise of Government (1690)
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/7370

Henry David Thoreau

• Civil Disobedience (1849)
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/71
• Walden (1854)
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/205

Ralph Waldo Emerson

• Self-Reliance (1841)
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/16643
• Nature (1836)
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/29433

Section 4--American Letters, Essays & Journalism
​The American Experience A Workshop based on American Life

Mark Twain

• Life on the Mississippi (1883)
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/245
• Essays (including “What is Man”)
  https://www.gutenberg.org/files/70/70-h/70-h.htm

Washington Irving

• The Sketch Book (1820) — essays & literary sketches
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2048

Jacob Riis

• How the Other Half Lives (1890)
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/45502

Frederick Lewis Allen

• Only Yesterday 1931

          Only Yesterday : Frederick Lewis Allen : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Section 5--Science & Exploration
Discovering Worlds A Workshop based on Thinkers and Explorers
Charles Darwin

• On the Origin of Species (1859)
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1228

Mary Wollstonecraft

• A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792)
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3420

Book of Exploration Classics

• The Journals of Lewis and Clark
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/8419
• Marco Polo’s Travels
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10636
• The Voyages of Columbus
  https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18571

Section 7--Global Religious & Cultural Texts (Commonly Anthologized)
Ethical Living Workshop Based on Diverse Texts
Bhagavad-Gita
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2388
Tao Te Ching — Lao-Tzu
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/216
Analects of Confucius
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3330
The Koran (English translation, public domain)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2800
The Bible (King James Version)
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10



Educator Notes
These works are commonly used to teach:

• Informational reading and rhetorical analysis
• Argument structure and persuasive writing
• American civics & U.S. history integration
• Comparative religion & philosophy
• Early American literature traditions
• AP English Language & Literature anchor texts