Brief and affordable. Short enough to be read in an evening and far less expensive than comparable guides,
Writing about Literature: A Portable Guide is an ideal supplement for writing courses where trade literature anthologies and individual literary works that lack writing instruction are assigned.
Introduces strategies for reading literature. Because good writing about literature depends on good reading of it, chapter 1 discusses and demonstrates active critical reading.
Explains the writing process and common writing assignments. Chapter 2 takes students through the stages of the writing about literature, from invention to final editing, with examples of how to quote literature effectively in their papers. Chapter 3 discusses a range of typical writing assignments, including explications, analyses, comparisons, and essay exams.
Offers specific instruction in writing about fiction, poetry, and drama. Students learn to write about these three major genres in Chapters 4, 5 and 6. Three sample student papers that model writing about each genre are included.
Covers the literary research paper and using critical approaches to literature. These especially challenging assignments are covered in Chapter 7 (which presents detailed coverage of finding, evaluating, and documenting sources) and Chapter 8 (which includes concise descriptions of critical approaches students may have to use in their analytical writing about literature).