PREFACE LETTER TO STUDENTS   PART 1 Jumping In   2—THE WRITER AS READER: READING AND RESPONDING   Kate Chopin, “Ripe Figs”   The Act of Reading   Reading with a Pen in Hand   Recording Your First Responses   Audience and Purpose   A Writing Assignment on “Ripe Figs”   The Assignment   A Sample Essay: “Images of Ripening in Kate Chopin’s ‘Ripe Figs’ ”   The Student’s Analysis Analyzed   Critical Thinking and the Study of Literature    3—THE READER AS WRITER: DRAFTING AND WRITING   Pre-writing: Getting Ideas   Annotating a Text   More about Getting Ideas: A Second Story by Kate Chopin, “The Story of an Hour”   Kate Chopin: “The Story of an Hour”   Brainstorming for Ideas for Writing   Focused Free Writing   Listing   Asking Questions   Keeping a Journal   Critical Thinking: Arguing with Yourself   Arriving at a Thesis and Arguing It   Writing a Draft   A Sample Draft: “Ironies in an Hour”   Revising a Draft    A Checklist for Revising for Clarity  Two Ways of Outlining a Draft    A Checklist for Reviewing a Revised Draft   Peer Review   The Final Version   Sample Essay: “Ironies of Life in Kate Chopin’s ‘The Story of an Hour’ ”   The Analysis Analyzed   Quick Review: From First Response to Final Version: Writing an Essay about a Literary Work    4—TWO FORMS OF CRITICISM: EXPLICATION AND ANALYSIS   Explication   A Sample Explication: Langston Hughes’s “Harlem”   Working toward an Explication of “Harlem”   Some Journal Entries   The Final Draft: “Langston Hughes’s ‘Harlem’ ”   The Analysis Analyzed  A Checklist: Drafting an Explication   Analysis: The Judgment of Solomon   Thinking about Form   Thinking about Character   Thoughts about Other Possibilities   For Further reading and Analysis: The Parable of the Prodigal Son  NEW Comparison: An Analytic Tool  A Checklist: Revising a Comparison   For Further Reading and Comparison: Gwendolyn Brooks’s “We Real Cool” NEW   Finding a Topic   Considering the Evidence   Organizing the Material   Communicating Judgments   Review: How to Write an Effective Essay 1. Pre-writing    2. Drafting    3. Revising    4. Editing   An Editing Checklist: Questions to Ask Yourself When Editing  For Further Reading, Explication, and Comparison: William Blake’s “The Tyger” NEW   5–OTHER KINDS OF WRITING ABOUT LITERATURE   A Summary   A Paraphrase   A Review   A Review of a Dramatic Production   A Sample Review: “An Effective Macbeth”      PART 2 Standing Back: Thinking Critically about Literature

Part I emphasises the close connections between reading and writing, reflecting the need for good writers to be effective, analytic readers. Part II offers strategies and practical guidelines for understanding how literature "works" (form and meaning), and for understanding the differences between interpretation and evaluation. Part III explores the differences between writing about fiction, drama, and poetry, and includes an in-depth look at the writing of a single author (Langston Hughes). Part IV offers guidance for writing academic papers including research and formatting. Appendices include two stories that are the subjects of student essays in the book, a glossary of literary terms, and a quick review quiz. A wealth of student papers, including preliminary notes, drafts, and revisions of drafts appear throughout the book. Checklists on a variety of topics offer brief, effective guidelines.

A new chapter on graphic novels (Ch. 11) offers guidance for writing about a fast-emerging genre.A new chapter on writing about poems and pictures (Ch. 14) lexplores the challenges of assignments that ask for comparisons of these two genres.New selections include works by Gwendolyn Brooks, William Blake, Robert Frost, and Anne Sexton, as well as the Parable of the Prodigal Son.Several new sample texts for analysis and interpretation appear throughout (see particularly Chs. 4 and 7).A new section on synthesis (Ch. 17) encourages students to understand and practice this critical skill.A new appendix on plagiarism--including a quick self-review quiz--enables student to test themselves on their use of sources.