On-Line Guides to Writing About Literature

The following are guides to writing about literature from various university writing centers, instructors, and from W.W. Norton.  The Norton is the most comprehensive.  I suggest printing out a couple of the writing center handouts initially, and consulting the Norton site as you get further along in your paper.

Reading and Writing about Literature
Created by Joi Chevalier, based on work by Robby Sulcer
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~babydoll/coursematerial/spring96/closereading.html

D.K. Peterson's Writing About Literature--The Basics
Includes Conventions for Writing About Literature and Developing and Supporting a Thesis.
http://www.english.wayne.edu/~peterson/Fiction/litbasics.html

Writing A Literature Paper
from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/cws/wworkshop/tips/writtechlitpaper.htm

Writing About Literature
Dr. David Kay, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Includes information on formatting, etc.
http://www.english.uiuc.edu/siewers/106/writinglit.htm

Writing About Literature:Some Helpful Things to Know
Purdue University Online Writing Lab
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/general/gl_lit.html

Writing About Literature
Handout from UNC Chapel Hill Writing Center
More comprehensive than the ones above, but still relatively brief.
http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/literature.html

Writing About Literature
On-Line Companion to the Norton Introduction to Literature
A very comprehensive guide that discusses theory in addition to the basics.
http://www.wwnorton.com/introlit/wal.htm