p. 1263-1302, 1303-1317, 1318-1324 Notes

Chapter 1-writing about literature

• Writing about literature forces us to organize our thoughts.

Good reading:

• slow down
• pay attention
• reread
• "active reading"

Active Reading:

• Take notes
• mark passages that seem important
• Say why they're important
• ask questions when you read (ex why would she do that?)
• Talk back to the text...have a conversation with yourself about it
• Use your own shorthand 

Critical Questions:

• Ask probing questions, dig into the text
• Answers may not be found directly in the text
• 4 categeries--text (genre, structure, language. Why did these words work? What images appear when you read?), author (What was the writers history? How would the time period they lived during change what they wrote?), reader (Think about the intended audience, How would they have related to this reading?), and cultural context (What was society like during this time? What big events happened? How does our life now change our view of what they wrote?)

Chapter 2-The Writing Process

• Write about something you care about
• Don't try to look into the topic too much
• Write a paper to convince.

Developing a Thesis

• Make sure your thesis is strong enough to write a paper on.
• Thesis should be a complete sentence, debatable, clear, relevant, and original.
• Your thesis can evolve as you write.

Support for your Thesis

• Support comes from three sources; the text itself, other people's ideas, your own thoughts are the most important source of support.
• Use your annotated text to help support your writing.
• If an idea doesn't fit your thesis, let it drop.
• Organize evidence according to your thesis.
• Each paragraph may be about a diff character, or image, or cause and effect
• "Tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, then tell them what you told them."
• Thesis provides an overview of upcoming topics
• 5 paragraph essay
• You can change up the organization to see what works. Use an outline to help.

Drafting, Revising, and Editing

• Stick with a method of drafting that works for you
• You're first draft isn't expected to be percect.
• Prewriting, drafting, revising, editing and proofreading
• Write your first draft quickly
• If you get stuck, move on
• Revision is where your writing comes together. Look at your paper multiple times.
• Try not to finish your draft and revise on the same day. Get a fresh look at your paper the next day.
• (Page 1288)

Peer Editing

• Look at the work from a new point of view. 
• Be specific
• Not all of your comments have to be good.

Trouble Spots

• Opening and closing
• Opening sets tone
• Closing should give the reader something new to think about.

Tips for writing about lit

• Don't assume your readers will remember-use quotes
• Support your quotes
• (page 1295)

Chapter 3

Summary

• Brief recapof important pieces of info

Explication and Close Reading

• takes a vague piece of lit and makes it clear
• pays attention to language and structure
• Don't summarize
• analyze the piece

Analysis

• examine how parts relate together
• traces speach and actions of a character

Compare and Contrast

• between to characters
• make sure you do both when asked
• go item-by-item or point-by-point

Literary Criticism and Literary Theory