17 Literary Response Writing

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Page 213 from Write for College

Ideas for Literary Analyses

Use this page to encourage students to find a unique inroad to whatever they are reading and responding to.

Fiction, history, and biography feature people (characters) in a particular place and time (setting) doing things (plot and conflict) for specific reasons (theme). These forms and all nonfiction also feature authors who write with a particular style. Any of these elements can provide a strong starting point for a literary analysis.

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Writing Reading

Page 214 from Write for College

Guidelines: Writing a Personal Response

Our favorite literature is very personal. We connect to a specific character or setting or author and can't get enough. That's why personal responses provide an excellent starting point for literary analyses.

Use the model on pages 216–217 to show one student's personal response to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Lead students through the prewriting guidelines and give them time to find and review the literature that they will respond to. Point them to page 215 for many possible starting points for personal responses.

Once students have read their selections and gathered their thoughts, lead them through the drafting guidelines. Emphasize that a personal response can freely use an "I" voice, showing the connection between reader and literature.

Provide students the Checklist for Revising and Editing Personal Responses to help them improve their work.

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Checklist for Revising and Editing Personal Responses

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Reading Writing Process

Page 215 from Write for College

Starting Points for Personal Responses

The questions on this page prompt students to find points of entry for their responses. Invite students to read through the list and pick out one or two questions they would like to explore. Then direct them to the bottom of the page and suggest that they freewrite responses to the question(s) they have chosen. After 5 to 10 minutes of freewriting, they will likely have a strong sense of where they would like their responses to head.

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Page 216 from Write for College

Personal Response

Have students read the sample personal response on this page and the next. Then lead a discussion about it.

How does the writer connect with the story?
What words show the writer's enthusiasm for Alice's Adventures in Wonderland?
How does the writer use details from the story?

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Page 217 from Write for College

Personal Response (Cont.)

After students have read this page and the last, have them respond to the reading by answering the "Reading for Better Writing" questions at the bottom of the page.

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Page 218 from Write for College

Guidelines: Writing a Book Review

Students have written book reports from the time that they became readers. High school book reviews, however, need to demonstrate greater sophistication. Students should avoid the "I" voice from personal responses (pages 214–217), instead focusing on the elements in the literature itself. Also, the review should do more than chronologically list events, but instead should evaluate their significance and help the reader decide whether to read the work or not.

Review with students the sample book review on pages 219–220. Then lead them through the prewriting guidelines and give them time to work.

Once students finish prewriting, have them develop their drafts.

Provide them the Checklist for Revising and Editing Book Reviews to use as they improve their work.

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Checklist for Revising and Editing Book Reviews

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Book Review

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Writing Process

Page 219 from Write for College

Book Review

Have students read the sample book review silently to themselves. Then use the side notes to lead a discussion about the parts of the review.

On this page, have students focus on the writer's use of quotations from the book and paraphrases of the action in the book. Have them determine why each quotation provides a significant insight stated in an especially effective way. Tell students they also should choose quotations carefully, paraphrasing most information.

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Book Review

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Page 220 from Write for College

Book Review (Cont.)

Complete your discussion of the model book review.

Note how the review discusses the ending without ruining it (no spoilers).

Also, note how the final paragraph captures the theme of the book, broadening it out to connect to life in general.

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Page 221 from Write for College

Guidelines: Writing a Limited Literary Analysis

Instead of reviewing a whole work, students can dig in more deeply to analyze one part. They could select a physical part, such as a chapter or section, or they could choose one of the classic components of fiction: character, setting, conflict, theme, exposition, rising action, climax, denouement, dialogue, or description.

Have students read the sample literary analysis, which focuses on a specific scene in The Scarlet Letter.

Afterward, lead students through the prewriting guidelines. Give them time to work. Tell them to transition to drafting whenever they feel ready to do so.

Provide the Checklist for Revising and Editing Limited Literary Analyses to help students improve their work.

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Checklist for Revising and Editing Limited Literary Analyses

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Writing Process

Page 222 from Write for College

Limited Literary Analysis

Have a volunteer read aloud the excerpt from The Scarlet Letter. Then have students silently read the limited literary analysis beginning on this page.

Afterward, lead a discussion. Note how the writer identifies the passage, credits the source and author, and gives background leading up to the thesis statement.

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Page 223 from Write for College

Limited Literary Analysis (Cont.)

Continue your discussion of this analysis. Note the interplay of paraphrases and quotations of especially effective passages. Also note that the writer continually goes beyond both types of evidence to infer and interpret from the text.

With the definition of "foundered" (see the third side note), the writer brings outside evidence into the interpretation. Encourage students to connect the passage to other readings, historical events, definitions, and other types of external information. (Of course, the connection should illuminate the text.)

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Page 224 from Write for College

Limited Literary Analysis (Cont.)

Continue your discussion of the model, using the side notes for talking points.

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Page 225 from Write for College

Limited Literary Analysis (Cont.)

After completing your discussion of the model analysis, have students spend five minutes freewriting in response to the "Reading for Better Writing" prompt at the bottom of the page.

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Page 226 from Write for College

Guidelines: Writing an Extended Literary Analysis

An extended literary analysis treats a whole work just as a limited literary analysis treats a specific part.

To prepare students to write their own extended literary analyses, have them read and review the sample play analysis on pages 226–227.

Present to students the guidelines for prewriting and give them time to work. Have them transition to drafting whenever they are ready.

Provide the Checklist for Revising and Editing Extended Literary Analyses to help students improve their work.

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Checklist for Revising and Editing Extended Literary Analyses

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Writing Process

Page 227 from Write for College

Extended Analysis of a Play

Ask students to read the analysis. Then lead a discussion of the model.

Discuss how the writer describes the action in the play and provides quotations from it. Also, show how the writer incorporates comments from the playwright (on this page) and information about the playwright (on the next page) to flesh out the analysis.

Point out to students that this analysis is shorter because of the medium it addresses, while a novel-length extended analysis may need to be longer to adequately explore the work. (See pages 229–232.)

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Page 228 from Write for College

Extended Analysis of a Play (Cont.)

Complete your discussion of this analysis. Afterward, have students reflect by freewriting responses to the "Reading for Better Writing" feature at the bottom of the page.

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Page 228 from Write for College

Extended Analysis of a Book

Have students read the extended analysis to themselves. Afterward, use the side notes to discuss the work. Note that this analysis digs in more deeply than the play analysis had. It cites more sources and more rigorously reviews them.

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Page 230 from Write for College

Extended Analysis of a Book (Cont.)

Continue your discussion of the analysis. Note how adeptly the writer incorporates outside viewpoints, including insights from the author's mother, an author in her own right.

Also show how the writer does not simply "plunk" quotations from the literature and other sources, but seamlessly incorporates the quotations with explanatory text.

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Page 231 from Write for College

Extended Analysis of a Book (Cont.)

Discuss the side note on this page, showing how the writer used the observation of a critic to add greater dimension to her analysis. The reference allows the writer to unpack one of the major themes of the literature.

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Page 232 from Write for College

Extended Analysis of a Book (Cont.)

Complete your discussion of the extended analysis. Point out how the writer used MLA documentation style to provide in-text citations (in parentheses) and works-cited entries.

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Page 233 from Write for College

Guidelines: Responding to a Literary Prompt

On many high-stakes tests, including the AP English exams, students will need to read a piece of literature and respond by writing an analysis essay.

An on-target response starts with analyzing the prompt using the PAST questions. After analyzing the prompt, students should closely read the literature. On a piece of scrap paper, they should write a thesis statement that names the literature, provides the subject, and creates a specific focus that answers the prompt. Students should jot supporting points below the thesis statement, creating a quick list to structure their responses.

Then students should draft their responses.

Afterward, they need to quickly revise and edit their responses. Provide them the Checklist for Revising and Editing Responses to Literary Prompts. Students should ask themselves these kinds of questions as they revise. (Of course, they will not be able to use the checklist during an actual testing situation.)

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Checklist for Revising and Editing Responses to Literary Prompts

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Writing for Assessment Response to Literature

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Page 234 from Write for College

Literary Prompt

Ask students to closely read the literary prompt and analyze it using the PAST questions:

Purpose: Capture Poe's sense of being alone, with evidence from the text (meaning, imagery, symbolism; rhythm, rhyme, enjambment)
Audience: Test grader
Subject: The poem "Alone" by Edgar Allen Poe and its major theme of isolation
Type: Literary analysis essay

Then have students read the text. Ask them to practice prompt responses by jotting down a thesis statement and quick list of main points. Have students draft, revise, and edit their responses.

Afterward, review the student response on page 235.

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Page 235 from Write for College

Prompt Response

After students have written their own responses to the prompt and text on page 234, have them closely read the sample student response on this page.

Ask students how their own responses differed from the sample response. Ask how the responses were similar. Then lead a general discussion of the sample, using the side notes to guide the conversation.

Afterward, ask students what they learned about responding to literary prompts in a timed situation.

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Page 236 from Write for College

Evaluating Literary Response Writing

Provide students the Assessment Rubric for Literary Response Writing to help them evaluate their responses to literature. You also can use this rubric to assess student's writing, assigning a score of 1 (incomplete) to 6 (amazing) for each trait, and dividing by 6 to receive an overall score (6 = A+, 5 = A, 4 = B, 3 = C, 2 = D, 1 = F).

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Assessment Rubric for Literary Response Writing

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Literary Analysis Book Review

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