Using a single poem by William Carlos Williams as the basis for the process of writing a paper about a piece of literature, Writing Essays About Literature walks students through the processes of reading, brainstorming, researching secondary sources, gathering evidence, and composing and editing the paper.

Section One: IntroductionChapter One: The Purpose of an Essay about LiteratureLiterature: Instruction, Delight, ImitationThe Literary Essay EvidenceCommunicationSubjectivityHow to Use This BookReview QuestionsSection Two: Research and AnalysisChapter Two: Research within the Text Taking Notes about LiteratureRecording Your Responses to the Text Do I Like the Work?What Words Stand Out?What Feelings Does It Give Me?Do I Identify with Any of the People Represented?Is There Anything about How It's Written That Stands Out?What Is the Work about?Conclusion Review QuestionsChapter Three: Using Reference Works The Oxford English Dictionary Etymology DefinitionsExamples of UsageScholarly EditionsEncyclopediasConclusionReview QuestionsChapter Four: Research about Social and Historical ContextsTopics for Research: Social Phenomena and Literary MovementsUseful ResourcesUsing Your FindingsConclusionReview QuestionsChapter Five: Research about the Current Critical Assessment of Literary WorksFinding Critical Works Assessing PublicationsUsing BibliographiesReading Critical WorksTaking Notes from Critical ReadingsConclusionReview QuestionsChapter Six: Inventing Your Argument Arranging Your Evidence Reviewing Your Labeled Evidence Categorizing Your Evidence Charting Your Evidence Conclusion Review QuestionsSection Three: CompositionChapter Seven: Composing Your Argument Inductive ReasoningComposing the Thesis Statement Writing the Subtopic SentencesComposing the Body of the Thesis StatementComposing the Body of the IntroductionConcluding the IntroductionA Variation: An Essay without Secondary SourcesConclusionReview QuestionsChapter Eight: Writing the Body of the Essay The Body ParagraphsFeatures of Strong ParagraphsWriting the Conclusion and Revising the Introduction The ConclusionRevising the IntroductionConclusionReview Questions Section Four: Polish and PresentationChapter Nine: Editing and Proofreading Your EssayConventions of Essay-Writing Style Diction VocabularyConnecting WordsCommon Grammatical Errors ApostrophesDemonstrative PronounsPronoun AgreementVerb Tense Common Errors in Punctuation and Sentence Structure SemicolonsComma SplicesSentence Fragments Subordinating ConjunctionsConjunctive Adverbs ConclusionReview Questions Chapter Ten: Documenting Your Sources and Presenting Your Work Reasons for Documenting Sources Documentation PracticesPresenting Your WorkLayout and Order Illustrations Multimedia and the Literary Essay Exemplary IllustrationsComplementary IllustrationsSupplementary IllustrationsLast-Minute Checks ConclusionReview Questions Section Five: Conclusion and ReviewChapter Eleven: The Process of Essay Writing-A Summary Collecting Evidence (Chapters 2-5)Categorizing Evidence (Chapter 6)Writing Your Thesis Statement (Chapter 7)Troubleshooting the Thesis Statement (Chapter 7)Writing the Body Paragraphs (Chapter 8) Concluding Your Essay (Chapter 8) Proofreading (Chapter 9) Documentation and Presentation (Chapter 10)Conclusion Works CitedSample Essay OneSample Essay TwoSample Essay ThreeSubject Index

“I’ve been using Writing Essays About Literature in my courses for years now because it is by far the clearest, most direct, and most engaging explanation of the processes of literary analysis. It explains through demonstration, taking readers through each step with the genuine curiosity we want to encourage in our students. The revisions to the second edition clarify the steps students struggle with most: developing the thesis statement as part of the introduction and then revising the thesis after writing the body of the essay.” — Kylee-Anne Hingston, St. Thomas More College“I was especially impressed by the lively and approachable authorial voice in Writing Essays About Literature. Where students might be accustomed to start with a thesis and write an essay straight through from beginning to end, the book demonstrates a more nuanced writing process that is both inductive and recursive. It gives students the tools to do higher-level research and thinking, and it concludes with sample essays that model those outcomes.” — Sunny Stalter-Pace, Auburn UniversityPraise for the first edition“I am a student studying English and American Studies, and this may be a bit unorthodox, but I wanted to say that Writing Essays About Literature was one of the best textbooks I have ever read … You have done a brilliant job making essay-writing easy, structured, and actually enjoyable!” — Lauren Gaylor, University of Kansas