Literature and the Writing Process, MLA Update

by McMahan, Elizabeth; Day, Susan X; Funk, Robert; Coleman, Linda

• ISBN13: 9780134678757
• ISBN10: 0134678753
• eBook ISBN(s): 9780134151083
• Additional ISBN(s): 9780135569344
• Edition: 11th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2017-01-10
• Publisher: Pearson
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

For courses in Literature for Composition, Writing About Literature, and Introduction to Literature.

This version of   Literature and the Writing Process has been updated to reflect the 8th Edition of the MLA Handbook (April 2016)*

Great literature as a path to learning writing and critical-thinking skills
Great literature is always thought provoking, always new — why not use it to improve students’ writing skills and sharpen critical thinking?
 
Literature and the Writing Process  combines an introductory anthology with detailed instruction in the writing process. By seamlessly integrating literature and composition into one multi-purpose text, the authors enable students to enjoy, understand, and learn from imaginative literature — and to write clearly and intelligently about what they have learned.
 
Text writing assignments use literature as a tool of critical thought, a method for analysis, and a way of communicating ideas. Careful integration of rhetorical instruction with the critical study of literature guides students through the allied processes of analytical reading and argumentative writing.  As a result, students learn how to write essays about the major features that are involved in interpreting short stories, poems, and plays.

* The 8th Edition introduces sweeping changes to the philosophy and details of MLA works cited entries. Responding to the “increasing mobility of texts,” MLA now encourages writers to focus on the process of crafting the citation, beginning with the same questions for any source. These changes, then, align with current best practices in the teaching of writing which privilege inquiry and critical thinking over rote recall and rule-following.

Table of Contents

NOTE: Brief and Comprehensive Tables of Contents follow.

BRIEF TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents by Genre
Contents by Theme
Preface
 
I. COMPOSING: AN OVERVIEW
1.        The Prewriting Process
2.        The Writing Process
3.        Writing a Convincing Argument
4.        The Rewriting Process
5.        Researched Writing

II. WRITING ABOUT SHORT FICTION
6.        How Do I Read Short Fiction?
7.        Writing About Structure
8.        Writing About Imagery and Symbolism
9.        Writing About Point of View
10.      Writing About Setting and Atmosphere
11.      Writing About Theme
12.      Critical Casebook: Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”
13.      Anthology of Short Fiction
14.      A Portfolio of Science Fiction Stories
15.      A Portfolio of Humorous and Satirical Stories
16.      A Portfolio of Stories about Singular Women

III. WRITING ABOUT POETRY
17.      How Do I Read Poetry?
18.      Writing About Persona and Tone
19.      Writing About Poetic Language
20.      Writing About Poetic Form
21.      Critical Casebook: The Poetry of Langston Hughes
22.      The Art of Poetry
23.      Anthology of Poetry
24. Paired Poems for Comparison
25. A Portfolio of Poems about Work
26. A Portfolio of War Poetry
27. A Portfolio of Humorous and Satirical Poetry

IV. WRITING ABOUT DRAMA(28. How Do I Read a Play?
29. Writing About Dramatic Structure
30. Writing About Character
31. Critical Casebook: The Glass Menagerie: Interpreting Amanda
32. Anthology of Drama
33. A Portfolio of Humorous and Satirical Plays

V. CRITICAL APPROACHES TO LITERATURE
34. Critical Approaches for Interpreting Literature
35. Critical Casebook: Reading and Writing About Culture and Identity

Glossary of Literary and Rhetorical Terms
Credits
Index of Authors, Titles, and First Lines of Poetry
Subject Index


COMPREHENSIVE TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents by Genre

Contents by Theme

Preface

 

I. COMPOSING: AN OVERVIEW

1.        The Prewriting Process

Reading for Writing

                  James Joyce,  Eveline

Who Are My Readers?

                  Analyze the Audience

Why Am I Writing?

                  Reasons for Writing

What Ideas Should I Use?

                  Reading and Thinking Critically

Discovering and Developing Ideas

                  Self-Questioning

                  Directed Freewriting

                  Problem Solving

                  Sample Student Prewriting: Directed Freewriting

                  Clustering

                  Sample Student Prewriting: Clustering

What Point Should I Make?

                  Relate a Part to the Whole

                  Finding the Theme

                  Stating the Thesis

 

2.        The Writing Process

How Should I Organize My Ideas?

Arguing Your Interpretation

                  The Elements of Good Argument

                  Building an Effective Argument

                  Arranging the Ideas

Developing with Details

                  Questions for Consideration

Maintaining a Critical Focus

                  Distinguishing Critical Comments from Plot Details

How Should I Begin?

                  Postpone If Nothing Comes

                  Write an Appealing Opening

                  State the Thesis

How Should I End?

                  Relate the Discussion to Theme

                  Postpone or Write Ahead

                  Write an Emphatic Final Sentence

Composing the First Draft

                  Pausing to Rescan

Quoting from Your Sources

Sample Student Paper: First Draft

 

3.        Writing a Convincing Argument

Interpreting and Arguing

                  Identifying Issues

                  Making Claims

                  Using Evidence

                  Using Reasoning

                  Answering Opposing Views

Organizing Your Argument

                  Using the Inductive Approach

                  Making a Counterargument

                  Arguing through Comparison

Sample Student Paper: An Argument

Dagoberto Gilb,  Love in L. A.

 

4.        The Rewriting Process

What Is Revision?

Getting Feedback: Peer Review

                  Revising in Peer Groups

What Should I Add or Take Out?

                  Outlining After the First Draft

                  Making the Outline

                  Checking the Outline

                  Sample After-Writing Outline

                  Examining the Sample Outline

What Should I Rearrange?

Does It Flow?

What Is Editing?

Combining for Conciseness

Rearranging for Emphasis and Variety

                  Varying the Pattern

Which Words Should I Change?

                  Check Your Verbs

                  Use Active Voice Most of the Time

                  Use Passive If Appropriate

                  Feel the Words

                  Attend to Tone

                  Use Formal Language

What Is Proofreading?

                  Try Reading It Backward

                  Look for Your Typical Errors

                  Read the Paper Aloud

                  Find a Friend to Help

Sample Student Paper: Final Draft

 

5.        Researched Writing

Using Library Sources in Your Writing

Conducting Your Research

                  Locating Sources

                  Using the Online Catalog

                  Using Indexes and Databases

                  Using the Internet

                  Evaluating Online Sources

                  Using Reference Works in Print

Working with Sources

                  Taking Notes

                  Using a Research Notebook

                  Using the Printout/Photocopy Option

                  Summarizing, Paraphrasing, and Quoting

                  Devising a Working Outline

Writing a First Draft

                  Organizing Your Notes

                  Using Quotations and Paraphrases

                  Integrating Sources

                  Block Quotations

                  Quoting from Primary Sources

                  Avoiding Plagiarism

Rewriting and Editing

                  Documenting Your Sources

                  Revising the Draft

                  Formatting Your Paper

Sample Student Paper in MLA Style

Sample Published Article in MLA Style

Explanation of the MLA Documentation Style

                  In-Text Citations

                  Preparing the List of Works Cited

                  Sample Entries for a List of Works Cited

                  Citing Print Publications

                  Citing Online Publications

                  Citing Other Common Sources

 

II. WRITING ABOUT SHORT FICTION

 

6.        How Do I Read Short Fiction?

Notice the Structure

Consider Point of View and Setting

Study the Characters

Look for Specialized Literary Techniques

Examine the Title

Investigate the Author’s Life and Times

Continue Questioning to Discover Theme

                                                  

7.        Writing About Structure

What Is Structure?

How Do I Discover Structure?

Looking at Structure

                  Tim O’Brien,  The Things They Carried

Prewriting

                  Finding Patterns

Writing

                  Grouping Details

                  Relating Details to Theme

Ideas for Writing

                  Ideas for Responsive Writing

                  Ideas for Critical Writing

                  Ideas for Researched Writing

                  MultiModal Project

Rewriting

                  Integrating Quotations Gracefully

 

8.        Writing About Imagery and Symbolism

What Are Images?

What Are Symbols?

                  Archetypal Symbols

                  Phallic and Yonic Symbols

How Will I Recognize Symbols?

                  Reference Works on Symbols

Looking at Images and Symbols

                  Shirley Jackson,  The Lottery

Prewriting

                  Interpreting Symbols

Writing

                  Producing a Workable Thesis

Ideas for Writing

                  Ideas for Responsive Writing

                  Ideas for Critical Writing

                  Ideas for Researched Writing

                  MultiModal Project

Rewriting

                  Sharpening the Introduction

Sample Student Paper on Symbolism: Second and Final Drafts

 

9.        Writing About Point of View

What Is Point of View?

                  Describing Point of View

Looking at Point of View

                  Alice Walker,  Everyday Use

Prewriting

                  Analyzing Point of View

Writing

                  Relating Point of View to Theme

Ideas for Writing

                  Ideas for Responsive Writing

                  Ideas for Critical Writing

                  Ideas for Researched Writing

                  MultiModal Project

Rewriting

                  Sharpening the Conclusion

 

10.      Writing About Setting and Atmosphere

What Are Setting and Atmosphere?

Looking at Setting and Atmosphere

                  Tobias Wolff,  Hunters in the Snow

Prewriting

                  Examining the Elements of Setting

Writing

                  Discovering an Organization

Ideas for Writing

                  Ideas for Responsive Writing

                  Ideas for Critical Writing

                  Ideas for Researched Writing

                  MultiModal Project

Rewriting

                  Checking Your Organization

                  Improving the Style: Balanced Sentences

 

11.      Writing About Theme

What Is Theme?

Looking at Theme

                  Flannery O'Connor,  A Good Man Is Hard to Find

Prewriting

                  Figuring Out the Theme

                  Stating the Theme

Writing

                  Choosing Supporting Details

Ideas for Writing

                  Ideas for Responsive Writing

                  Ideas for Critical Writing

                  Ideas for Researched Writing

                  MultiModal Project

Rewriting

                  Achieving Coherence

                  Checking for Coherence

Editing

                  Repeat Words and Synonyms

                  Try Parallel Structure

 

12.      Critical Casebook: Joyce Carol Oates’s “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?”

Joyce Carol Oates,  Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?

The Story’s Origins

Four Critical Interpretations

Topics for Discussion and Writing

Ideas for Researched Writing

MultiModal Project

 

13.      Anthology of Short Fiction

Nathaniel Hawthorne,  The Birthmark

Edgar Allan Poe,  The Cask of Amontillado

Sarah Orne Jewett,  A White Heron

Kate Chopin,  The Story of an Hour

Charlotte Perkins Gilman,  The Yellow Wallpaper

James Joyce,  Araby

Katherine Anne Porter,  The Grave

Zora Neale Hurston,  Spunk

William Faulkner,  Barn Burning

Ernest Hemingway,  Hills Like White Elephants

Arna Bontemps,  A Summer Tragedy

Tillie Olsen,  I Stand Here Ironing

Hisaye Yamamoto,  Seventeen Syllables

Rosario Morales,  The Day It Happened

Raymond Carver,  What We Talk About When We Talk About Love

T. Coraghessan Boyle,  The Love of My Life

Louise Erdrich,  The Red Convertible

                                                     

14.      A Portfolio of Science Fiction Stories

Ray Bradbury,  There Will Come Soft Rains

Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas

Octavia E. Butler,  Speech Sounds

MultiModal Project

Sample Student Paper: Comparing Dystopias

 

15.      A Portfolio of Humorous and Satirical Stories

H. H. Munro (“Saki”),  The Open Window

John Updike,  A & P

Margaret Atwood,  Happy Endings

Ron Hansen,  My Kid’s Dog

         MultiModal Project

 

16.      A Portfolio of Stories about Singular Women

Katherine Mansfield,  Miss Brill

John Steinbeck,  The Chrysanthemums

Eudora Welty,  A Worn Path

Katherine Min,  Secondhand World

         MultiModal Project

 

III. WRITING ABOUT POETRY

 

17.      How Do I Read Poetry?

Get the Literal Meaning First: Paraphrase

Make Associations for Meaning

  

18.      Writing About Persona and Tone

Who Is Speaking?

What Is Tone?

Recognizing Verbal Irony

Describing Tone

Looking at Persona and Tone

Theodore Roethke,  My Papa’s Waltz

W. D. Ehrhart,  Sins of the Father

Thomas Hardy,  The Ruined Maid

W. H. Auden,  The Unknown Citizen

Edmund Waller,  Go, Lovely Rose

Prewriting

                  Asking Questions About the Speaker in “My Papa's Waltz”

                           Devising a Thesis

                  Considering the Speaker in “The Sins of the Father”

                  Describing the Tone in “The Ruined Maid”

                           Developing a Thesis

                  Describing the Tone in “The Unknown Citizen”

                           Formulating a Thesis

                  Determining Tone in “Go, Lovely Rose”

Writing

                  Explicating and Analyzing

Ideas for Writing

                  Ideas for Responsive Writing

                  Ideas for Critical Writing

                  Ideas for Researched Writing

                  MultiModal Project

Editing

                  Quoting Poetry in Essays

Sample Student Paper: Reflection on Persona and Tone

                  Analyzing the Student Response

 

19.      Writing About Poetic Language

What Do the Words Suggest?

                  Connotation and Denotation

                  Figures of Speech

                  Metaphor and Simile

                  Personification

                  Imagery

                  Symbol

                  Paradox

                  Oxymoron

Looking at Poetic Language

Mary Oliver, August

Walt Whitman,  A Noiseless Patient Spider

William Shakespeare,  Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?

Kay Ryan,  Turtle

Hayden Carruth,  In the Long Hall

Donald Hall,  My Son My Executioner

Prewriting

                  Examining Poetic Language

Writing

                  Comparing and Contrasting

Ideas for Writing

                  Ideas for Responsive Writing

                  Ideas for Critical Writing

                  Ideas for Researched Writing

                  MultiModal Project

Rewriting

                  Choosing Vivid, Descriptive Terms

                  Finding Lively Words

Sample Student Paper on Poetic Language: Second and Final Drafts

 

20.      Writing About Poetic Form

What Are the Forms of Poetry?

                  Rhythm and Rhyme

                  Alliteration, Assonance, and Consonance

                           Exercise on Poetic Form

                  Stanzas: Closed and Open Form

                  Poetic Syntax

                  Visual Poetry

Looking at the Forms of Poetry

Gwendolyn Brooks,  We Real Cool

A. E. Housman,  Eight O’Clock

E. E. Cummings,  anyone lived in a pretty how town

Robert Frost,  The Silken Tent

Billy Collins,  Sonnet

David Shumate,  A Hundred Years from Now

Roger McGough, 40-----Love

Prewriting

                  Experimenting with Poetic Forms

Writing

                  Relating Form to Meaning

Ideas for Writing

                  Ideas for Expressive Writing

                  Ideas for Critical Writing

                  Ideas for Researched Writing

                  MultiModal Project

Rewriting

                  Finding the Exact Word

Sample Student Paper on Poetic Form

Sample Published Essay on Poetic Form

 

21.      Critical Casebook: The Poetry of Langston Hughes

Langston Hughes: A Brief Biography

Langston Hughes

The Negro Speaks of Rivers

Mother to Son

The Weary Blues

Saturday Night

Harlem (A Dream Deferred)

Theme for English B

Considering the Poems

Critical Commentaries

Arnold Rampersad,  On the Persona in “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”

                        Margaret Larkin,  A Poet for the People

Karen Jackson Ford,  Do Right to Write Right: Langston Hughes’s Aesthetics of Simplicity

Peter Townsend,  Jazz and Langston Hughes’s Poetry

Langston Hughes,  Harlem Rent Parties

         Ideas for Writing About Langston Hughes

         Ideas for Researched Writing

         MultiModal Project

 

22.      The Art of Poetry

Poetic Interpretations of Art

Lisel Mueller,  American Literature

Edward Hopper, Nighthawks

Samuel Yellen,  Nighthawks

Susan Ludvigson,  Inventing My Parents

Peter Brueghel the Elder, Landscape with the Fall of Icarus 

W. H. Auden,  Musée des Beaux Arts

Paolo Uccello, St. George and the Dragon

U. A. Fanthorpe,  Not My Best Side

Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night

Anne Sexton,  The Starry Night

Henri Matisse, The Red Studio

W. D. Snodgrass,  Matisse: ‘The Red Studio’

 Kitagawa Utamaro, Two Women Dressing Their Hair

 Cathy Song,  Beauty and Sadness

The Art of Poetry: Questions for Discussion

Poetry and Art: Ideas for Writing

MultiModal Project

Sample Student Paper: Reflection on Poetry and Art

 

23.      Anthology of Poetry

Thomas Wyatt,  They Flee from Me

William Shakespeare

When in Disgrace with Fortune and Men’s Eyes

Let Me Not to the Marriage of True Minds

That Time of Year Thou Mayst in Me Behold

My Mistress’ Eyes Are Nothing Like the Sun

John Donne

Death, Be Not Proud

The Flea

A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning

Andrew Marvell, To His Coy Mistress

William Blake

The Lamb

The Tyger

The Sick Rose

William Wordsworth

The World Is Too Much with Us

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

George Gordon, Lord Byron, She Walks in Beauty

Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias

John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ulysses

Walt Whitman

When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer

Song of Myself  (Section 11)

Matthew Arnold,  Dover Beach

Emily Dickinson

Faith Is a Fine Invention

I’m Nobody! Who Are You?

Much Madness Is Divinest Sense

Because I Could Not Stop for Death

Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church

Wild Nights—Wild Nights!

Christina Rossetti, In an Artist’s Studio

Gerard Manley Hopkins

Pied Beauty

Spring and Fall

A. E. Housman

To an Athlete Dying Young

Loveliest of Trees

William Butler Yeats  

The Second Coming

Sailing to Byzantium

Edgar Lee Masters

Lucinda Matlock
Margaret Fuller Slack

Paul Laurence Dunbar, We Wear the Mask

Robert Frost

Mending Wall

Birches

“Out, Out—”