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A Brief Guide to Arguing About Literature
Fourth Edition ©2024 John Schilb; John Clifford Formats: Achieve, E-book, Print
As low as C$29.99
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Authors
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John Schilb
John Schilb (Ph.D., State University of New York—Binghamton) is Culbertson Chair and Professor of English Emeritus at Indiana University, Bloomington. From 2006 to 2012, he was editor of the journal College English. He has coedited Contending with Words: Composition and Rhetoric in a Postmodern Age, and with John Clifford, Writing Theory and Critical Theory. He is author of Between the Lines: Relating Composition Theory and Literary Theory and Rhetorical Refusals: Defying Audiences’ Expectations.
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John Clifford
John Clifford (Ph.D., New York University) is Professor of English Emeritus at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. He is the editor of The Experience of Reading: Louise Rosenblatt and Reader Response Theory and has written a number of literature and composition textbooks with John Schilb, including Making Literature Matter and Constellations. He has published scholarly articles on pedagogy, critical theory, and composition theory in a variety of journals.
Table of Contents
Preface for Instructors
Contents by Genre
PART ONE: A Brief Guide to Arguing about Literature
1. What Is Argument?
An Argument about Cell Phones
Paul Goldberger, Disconnected Urbanism
Getting Another Perspective
Pamela Paul, The Phone Call
Understanding Rhetoric
The Elements of Argument
Sample Argument for Analysis
Sandy Sufian and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, The Dark Side of CRISPR
Writing a Response to an Argument
Further Strategies for Analyzing an Argument So You Can Write a Response to It
An Argument for Analysis
Regina Rini, Should We Rename Institutions That Honor Dead Racists?
2. Writing Effective Arguments
Strategies for Developing an Effective Style of Argument
Structuring Your Argument: Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay
A Student Response to an Argument
Paul Austin, The Need for True Consent to CRISPR
Arguing in the First Person: Can You Use I?
Use Inclusive Language
Arguments for Analysis
Lee Siegel, Why I Defaulted on My Student Loans
Alexandra Petri, Take all books off the shelves. They’re just too dangerous.
3. How to Argue about Literature
Why Study Literature in a College Writing Course?
A Story for Analysis
Jamaica Kincaid, Girl
Strategies for Arguing about Literature
A Sample Student Argument about Literature
Ann Schumwalt, The Mother’s Mixed Messages in “Girl”
Looking at Literature as Argument
Jimmy Santiago Baca, So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans
Robert Frost, Mending Wall
Ted Chiang, The Great Silence
Literature and Current Issues: Poems about Climate Change
Jane Hirshfield, Let Them Not Say
Rena Priest, The Index
Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Dear Matafele Peinem
4. The Reading Process
Strategies for Close Reading
A Poem for Analysis
Sharon Olds, Summer Solstice, New York City
Applying the Strategies
Reading Closely by Annotating
Emily Skillings, Girls Online
Further Strategies: Topics of Literary Studies
Lynda Hull, Night Waitress
Identify Speech Acts
Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Elizabeth Bishop, One Art
5. The Writing Process
Rachel Kadish, Letters Arrive from the Dead
Strategies for Exploring
Strategies for Planning
Strategies for Composing
First Draft of a Student Essay
Dylan Rieff, Letters Don’t Arrive from the Dead
Strategies for Revising
A Checklist for Revising
Revised Draft of a Student Essay
Dylan Rieff, Letters Don’t Arrive from the Dead
Strategies for Writing a Comparative Essay
Don Paterson, Two Trees
Luisa A. Igloria, Regarding History
A Student Comparative Essay
Jeremy Cooper, Don Paterson’s Criticism of Nature’s Owners
6. Writing about Literary Genres
Writing about Stories
Rivka Galchen, Usl at the Stadium
The Elements of Short Fiction
Final Draft of a Student Essay
Lydia Marsh, Why It’s Good for Usl to Wait
Writing about Poems
Mary Oliver, Singapore
Yusef Komunyakaa, Blackberries
Edwin Arlington Robinson, The Mill
The Elements of Poetry
Final Draft of a Student Essay
Michaela Fiorucci, Negotiating Boundaries
Comparing Poems and Pictures
Rolando Perez, Office at Night
Edward Hopper, Office at Night
A Sample Essay Comparing a Poem and a Picture
Karl Magnusson, Lack of Motion and Speech in Rolando Perez’s “Office at Night”
Writing about Plays
August Strindberg, The Stronger
A Student’s Personal Response to the Play
The Elements of Drama
Final Draft of a Student Essay
Carly Chen, Which Is the Stronger Actress in August Strindberg’s Play?
7. Writing Researched Arguments
Begin Your Research by Giving It Direction
Search for Sources in the Library and Online
Evaluate the Sources
Record Your Sources’ Key Details
Strategies for Integrating Sources
Avoid Plagiarism
Strategies for Documenting Sources (MLA Format)
Directory to MLA Works-Cited Entries
Books
Short Works from Collections and Anthologies
Multiple Works by the Same Author
Works in Periodicals
Online Sources
Citation Formats for Other Kinds of Sources
A Note on Endnotes
Three Annotated Student Researched Arguments
Sarah Hassan, “The Yellow Wallpaper” as a Guide to Social Factors in Postpartum Depression
How Sarah Uses Her Sources
Nathan Johnson, The Meaning of the Husband’s Fainting in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
How Nathan Uses His Sources
Fatima Nagi, The Relative Absence of the Human Touch in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
How Fatima Uses Her Sources
Contexts for Research: Confinement, Mental Illness, and “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper
Cultural Contexts
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Why I Wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”
S. Weir Mitchell, From “The Evolution of the Rest Treatment”
John Harvey Kellogg, From The Ladies’ Guide in Health and Disease
8. Evaluating Internet Resources in a “Post-Truth” Age
Evaluating Written Arguments You Find on the Internet
Margaret Atwood, All Bread
Helena Minton, “Bread”
Varda He, Restaurants Should Be More Aware of Celiac, Gluten-Free Diet Limits
Critically Analyzing Web Sites’ Truth Claims
Summing Up the Recommendations
Understanding Strategies in Visual Arguments on the Internet
Topic: War
Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum Est (poem)
WWI recruitment poster
Identifying the Visual Strategies
Topic: Environmental Destruction
Linda Hogan, Songs for Turtles in the Gulf (poem)
Image: Anti-liter ad
Identifying the Visual Strategies
Topic: Refugees
Tracy K. Smith, Refuge
Photograph: Ukrainian refugees
Identifying the Visual Strategies
Topic: Borders
Alberto Ríos, The Border: A Double Sonnet (poem)
Map: U.S.-Mexico Border
Identifying the Visual Strategies
Topic: Guns
Katie Bickham, The Ferryman (poem)
Graph: Mass Shootings in 222
Identifying the Visual Strategies
Summing Up the Strategies
Identifying Biases You Might Bring to Your Internet Research
Appendix: Writing with Critical Approaches to Literature
Contemporary Schools of Criticism
Working with the Critical Approaches
James Joyce, Counterparts
Sample Student Essay
Molly Frye, A Refugee at Home (student essay)
James Joyce, Eveline (story)
Index of Authors, Titles, First Lines, and Key Terms
Product Updates
Emerging issues that will resonate with students. Chapter 1 includes a timely opinion article in which two scholars of disability studies raise questions about the ethics of gene editing.
A guide to using inclusive language. A new section in Chapter 2 “Writing Effective Arguments” explains how to use inclusive language and that using inclusive language will only strengthen one’s writing. Many instructors have told us that they and their students would appreciate having a resource like this to consult.
New literature selections and arguments. Readings and visual arguments tackle contemporary issues such as our cell phone-focused society, the ethics of gene editing, immigration and refugees, and climate change, including:
- Pamela Paul, The Phone Call
- Sandy Sufian and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, The Dark Side of CRISPR
- Jimmy Santiago Baca, So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans
- Tracy K. Smith, Refugee
- Rena Priest, The Index
- Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Dear Matafele Peinem
Authors
-
John Schilb
John Schilb (Ph.D., State University of New York—Binghamton) is Culbertson Chair and Professor of English Emeritus at Indiana University, Bloomington. From 2006 to 2012, he was editor of the journal College English. He has coedited Contending with Words: Composition and Rhetoric in a Postmodern Age, and with John Clifford, Writing Theory and Critical Theory. He is author of Between the Lines: Relating Composition Theory and Literary Theory and Rhetorical Refusals: Defying Audiences’ Expectations.
-
John Clifford
John Clifford (Ph.D., New York University) is Professor of English Emeritus at the University of North Carolina, Wilmington. He is the editor of The Experience of Reading: Louise Rosenblatt and Reader Response Theory and has written a number of literature and composition textbooks with John Schilb, including Making Literature Matter and Constellations. He has published scholarly articles on pedagogy, critical theory, and composition theory in a variety of journals.
Table of Contents
Preface for Instructors
Contents by Genre
PART ONE: A Brief Guide to Arguing about Literature
1. What Is Argument?
An Argument about Cell Phones
Paul Goldberger, Disconnected Urbanism
Getting Another Perspective
Pamela Paul, The Phone Call
Understanding Rhetoric
The Elements of Argument
Sample Argument for Analysis
Sandy Sufian and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, The Dark Side of CRISPR
Writing a Response to an Argument
Further Strategies for Analyzing an Argument So You Can Write a Response to It
An Argument for Analysis
Regina Rini, Should We Rename Institutions That Honor Dead Racists?
2. Writing Effective Arguments
Strategies for Developing an Effective Style of Argument
Structuring Your Argument: Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay
A Student Response to an Argument
Paul Austin, The Need for True Consent to CRISPR
Arguing in the First Person: Can You Use I?
Use Inclusive Language
Arguments for Analysis
Lee Siegel, Why I Defaulted on My Student Loans
Alexandra Petri, Take all books off the shelves. They’re just too dangerous.
3. How to Argue about Literature
Why Study Literature in a College Writing Course?
A Story for Analysis
Jamaica Kincaid, Girl
Strategies for Arguing about Literature
A Sample Student Argument about Literature
Ann Schumwalt, The Mother’s Mixed Messages in “Girl”
Looking at Literature as Argument
Jimmy Santiago Baca, So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans
Robert Frost, Mending Wall
Ted Chiang, The Great Silence
Literature and Current Issues: Poems about Climate Change
Jane Hirshfield, Let Them Not Say
Rena Priest, The Index
Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Dear Matafele Peinem
4. The Reading Process
Strategies for Close Reading
A Poem for Analysis
Sharon Olds, Summer Solstice, New York City
Applying the Strategies
Reading Closely by Annotating
Emily Skillings, Girls Online
Further Strategies: Topics of Literary Studies
Lynda Hull, Night Waitress
Identify Speech Acts
Robert Frost, Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Elizabeth Bishop, One Art
5. The Writing Process
Rachel Kadish, Letters Arrive from the Dead
Strategies for Exploring
Strategies for Planning
Strategies for Composing
First Draft of a Student Essay
Dylan Rieff, Letters Don’t Arrive from the Dead
Strategies for Revising
A Checklist for Revising
Revised Draft of a Student Essay
Dylan Rieff, Letters Don’t Arrive from the Dead
Strategies for Writing a Comparative Essay
Don Paterson, Two Trees
Luisa A. Igloria, Regarding History
A Student Comparative Essay
Jeremy Cooper, Don Paterson’s Criticism of Nature’s Owners
6. Writing about Literary Genres
Writing about Stories
Rivka Galchen, Usl at the Stadium
The Elements of Short Fiction
Final Draft of a Student Essay
Lydia Marsh, Why It’s Good for Usl to Wait
Writing about Poems
Mary Oliver, Singapore
Yusef Komunyakaa, Blackberries
Edwin Arlington Robinson, The Mill
The Elements of Poetry
Final Draft of a Student Essay
Michaela Fiorucci, Negotiating Boundaries
Comparing Poems and Pictures
Rolando Perez, Office at Night
Edward Hopper, Office at Night
A Sample Essay Comparing a Poem and a Picture
Karl Magnusson, Lack of Motion and Speech in Rolando Perez’s “Office at Night”
Writing about Plays
August Strindberg, The Stronger
A Student’s Personal Response to the Play
The Elements of Drama
Final Draft of a Student Essay
Carly Chen, Which Is the Stronger Actress in August Strindberg’s Play?
7. Writing Researched Arguments
Begin Your Research by Giving It Direction
Search for Sources in the Library and Online
Evaluate the Sources
Record Your Sources’ Key Details
Strategies for Integrating Sources
Avoid Plagiarism
Strategies for Documenting Sources (MLA Format)
Directory to MLA Works-Cited Entries
Books
Short Works from Collections and Anthologies
Multiple Works by the Same Author
Works in Periodicals
Online Sources
Citation Formats for Other Kinds of Sources
A Note on Endnotes
Three Annotated Student Researched Arguments
Sarah Hassan, “The Yellow Wallpaper” as a Guide to Social Factors in Postpartum Depression
How Sarah Uses Her Sources
Nathan Johnson, The Meaning of the Husband’s Fainting in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
How Nathan Uses His Sources
Fatima Nagi, The Relative Absence of the Human Touch in “The Yellow Wallpaper”
How Fatima Uses Her Sources
Contexts for Research: Confinement, Mental Illness, and “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper
Cultural Contexts
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, Why I Wrote “The Yellow Wallpaper”
S. Weir Mitchell, From “The Evolution of the Rest Treatment”
John Harvey Kellogg, From The Ladies’ Guide in Health and Disease
8. Evaluating Internet Resources in a “Post-Truth” Age
Evaluating Written Arguments You Find on the Internet
Margaret Atwood, All Bread
Helena Minton, “Bread”
Varda He, Restaurants Should Be More Aware of Celiac, Gluten-Free Diet Limits
Critically Analyzing Web Sites’ Truth Claims
Summing Up the Recommendations
Understanding Strategies in Visual Arguments on the Internet
Topic: War
Wilfred Owen, Dulce et Decorum Est (poem)
WWI recruitment poster
Identifying the Visual Strategies
Topic: Environmental Destruction
Linda Hogan, Songs for Turtles in the Gulf (poem)
Image: Anti-liter ad
Identifying the Visual Strategies
Topic: Refugees
Tracy K. Smith, Refuge
Photograph: Ukrainian refugees
Identifying the Visual Strategies
Topic: Borders
Alberto Ríos, The Border: A Double Sonnet (poem)
Map: U.S.-Mexico Border
Identifying the Visual Strategies
Topic: Guns
Katie Bickham, The Ferryman (poem)
Graph: Mass Shootings in 222
Identifying the Visual Strategies
Summing Up the Strategies
Identifying Biases You Might Bring to Your Internet Research
Appendix: Writing with Critical Approaches to Literature
Contemporary Schools of Criticism
Working with the Critical Approaches
James Joyce, Counterparts
Sample Student Essay
Molly Frye, A Refugee at Home (student essay)
James Joyce, Eveline (story)
Index of Authors, Titles, First Lines, and Key Terms
Product Updates
Emerging issues that will resonate with students. Chapter 1 includes a timely opinion article in which two scholars of disability studies raise questions about the ethics of gene editing.
A guide to using inclusive language. A new section in Chapter 2 “Writing Effective Arguments” explains how to use inclusive language and that using inclusive language will only strengthen one’s writing. Many instructors have told us that they and their students would appreciate having a resource like this to consult.
New literature selections and arguments. Readings and visual arguments tackle contemporary issues such as our cell phone-focused society, the ethics of gene editing, immigration and refugees, and climate change, including:
- Pamela Paul, The Phone Call
- Sandy Sufian and Rosemarie Garland-Thomson, The Dark Side of CRISPR
- Jimmy Santiago Baca, So Mexicans Are Taking Jobs from Americans
- Tracy K. Smith, Refugee
- Rena Priest, The Index
- Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner, Dear Matafele Peinem
A brief, affordable guide to literary analysis and argument
As first-year writing courses continue to foreground skills of critical analysis and argumentation, A Brief Guide to Arguing about Literature provides concise instruction in reading literature and writing arguments. The book activates students’ analytical skills through instruction in close critical reading of texts; then, it shows them how to turn their reading into well-supported and rhetorically effective argumentative writing. For instructors who prefer to offer their own anthology of readings and literary works for their composition courses, A Brief Guide to Arguing about Literature comprises only the writing-guide chapters from Arguing about Literature: Guide and Reader. Paired with Achieve, an engaging and powerful digital platform (see Related Titles for more details).Success Stories
Here are a few examples of how Achieve has helped instructors like you improve student preparedness, enhance their sense of belonging, and achieve course goals they set for themselves.
Prof. Kiandra Johnson, Spelman College
See how the resources in Achieve help you engage students before, during, and after class.
Prof. Jennifer Duncan
Use diagnostics in Achieve for a snapshot into cognitive and non-cognitive factors that may impact your students’ preparedness.
Prof. Ryan Elsenpeter
Here’s why educators who use Achieve would recommend it to their peers.
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Are you a campus bookstore looking for ordering information?
MPS Order Search Tool (MOST) is a web-based purchase order tracking program that allows customers to view and track their purchases. No registration or special codes needed! Just enter your BILL-TO ACCT # and your ZIP CODE to track orders.
Canadian Stores: Please use only the first five digits/letters in your zip code on MOST.
Visit MOST, our online ordering system for booksellers: https://tracking.mpsvirginia.com/Login.aspx
Learn more about our Bookstore programs here: https://www.macmillanlearning.com/college/us/contact-us/booksellers
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Our courses currently integrate with Canvas, Blackboard (Learn and Ultra), Brightspace, D2L, and Moodle. Click on the support documentation below to find out more details about the integration with each LMS.
Integrate Macmillan courses with Blackboard
Integrate Macmillan courses with Canvas
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If you’re a verified instructor, you can request a free sample of our courseware, e-book, or print textbook to consider for use in your courses. Only registered and verified instructors can receive free print and digital samples, and they should not be sold to bookstores or book resellers. If you don't yet have an existing account with Macmillan Learning, it can take up to two business days to verify your status as an instructor. You can request a free sample from the right side of this product page by clicking on the "Request Instructor Sample" button or by contacting your rep. Learn more.
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Sometimes also referred to as a spiral-bound or binder-ready textbook, loose-leaf textbooks are available to purchase. This three-hole punched, unbound version of the book costs less than a hardcover or paperback book.
-
-
-
Achieve (full course) includes our complete e-book, as well as online quizzing tools, multimedia assets, and iClicker active classroom manager.
Most Achieve Essentials courses do not include our e-books and adaptive quizzing.
Visit our comparison table for details: https://www.macmillanlearning.com/college/us/digital/achieve/compare
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Achieve (full course) includes our complete e-book, as well as online quizzing tools, multimedia assets, and iClicker active classroom manager.
Achieve Read & Practice only includes our e-book and adaptive quizzing, and does not include instructor resources and assignable assessments. Read & Practice does integrate with LMS.
Visit our comparison table for details: https://www.macmillanlearning.com/college/us/digital/achieve/compare
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We can help! Contact your representative to discuss your specific needs for your course. If our off-the-shelf course materials don’t quite hit the mark, we also offer custom solutions made to fit your needs.
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A Brief Guide to Arguing About Literature
As first-year writing courses continue to foreground skills of critical analysis and argumentation, A Brief Guide to Arguing about Literature provides concise instruction in reading literature and writing arguments. The book activates students’ analytical skills through instruction in close critical reading of texts; then, it shows them how to turn their reading into well-supported and rhetorically effective argumentative writing. For instructors who prefer to offer their own anthology of readings and literary works for their composition courses, A Brief Guide to Arguing about Literature comprises only the writing-guide chapters from Arguing about Literature: Guide and Reader. Paired with Achieve, an engaging and powerful digital platform (see Related Titles for more details).
Select a demo to view:
Sample Achieve