32 Writing About Literature

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Writing About Literature

Start-Up Activity

Introduce this chapter by discussing theme, or the central message in literature. Theme is a big-picture lesson about life revealed through the words and actions of the characters. Share a few familiar stories with recognizable themes. For example, one theme in Charlotte's Web is that true friendship involves loyalty and sacrifice.

You can have your students ask these questions to identify themes in stories or poems:

  • What does the main character learn in the story?
  • How does the main character change?
  • How am I changed by reading this story or poem?
  • What is the author trying to say about life?

Think About It

“The books that help you the most are those that make you think the most.”  

—Theodore Parker

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Sample Essay About Literature

Have your students silently read the sample essay about literature, or ask for a volunteer to read it out loud. Afterward, review some of the key parts of the essay. Point out that the first paragraph provides a focus statement about the poem and the middle paragraphs support the focus using details from the poem. Stress the importance of drawing evidence directly from the text. This is the best way for a writer to support a focus and to analyze the meaning of the literature.  

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Writing a Literature Essay

Use this page to help your students prepare to write literature essays. Start by reading the sample prompt and PAST analysis. Explain to students that not all literature prompts will be exactly like the sample; however, the PAST strategy will always help them know what a prompt is asking them to accomplish. 

Make sure your students know that literature essays go beyond what was asked of them in book reviews. Instead of simply recounting the key parts of the story or poem, literature essays require your students to analyze the meaning of what they read and how the writer creates that meaning. You can recommend that students take notes of important words, actions, or writing techniques while they read. 

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Writing a Literature Essay (continued)

Take your students through the final steps of prewriting. Stress the importance of having a clear main idea, which shares a key thought or focus about the literature. Have your students also list reasons to support the focus. They can do so by looking at their clusters or lists. They also may need to reread parts of the story or poem.

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Writing: Developing the First Draft

Encourage your students to refer to this page as they draft their literature essays. 

When discussing the purpose of drafting the middle part, remind your students that the best way to support the focus is with specific details and examples from the story or poem. Instruct them to use quotation marks around the exact words from the piece of literature. You can point to the example quotations in the middle paragraphs. 

 

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Revising, Editing, and Publishing

Review the final steps of writing a literature essay with your students. Download and distribute the literature essay revising checklist to help your students improve their writing. To support their editing, download and distribute the editing checklist.

Remind students to check the placement of punctuation with quotations marks. Use this as an opportunity to highlight two key punctuation rules with your class: 

  1. Put periods and commas that come at the end of quoted words inside quotation marks.  
  2. Place question marks or exclamation points inside the quotation marks when they punctuate the quotation; place them outside when they punctuate the main sentence. 
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