For courses in English Composition, Argumentative Writing, and Introduction to Literature. Strategies for Reading and Arguing about Literature brings together the often divergent studies of argumentation and literature. This textbook teaches the art of academic argumentation through a focus on classic and contemporary literature. Using this book, students will learn, practice and master critical reading strategies, critical writing and research strategies, the essentials of academic argumentation, and basic literary theory as it relates to the development of an argument. Concurrently, students will explore and appreciate a variety of literature ranging from the classical to the contemporary in a variety of genres and critical analyses of literary works.

More and more, first- year writing courses foreground skills of critical analysis and argumentation. In response, Arguing about Literature first hones 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. From the authors of the groundbreaking and widely adopted Making Literature Matter, Arguing about Literature economically combines two books in one: a concise guide to reading literature and writing arguments, and a compact thematic anthology of stories, poems, plays, arguments, and other kinds of texts for inquiry, analysis and research. The second edition includes even more instruction in the key skills of argumentation, critical reading, and research, while linking literature more directly to the newsworthy current issues of today.

More and more, first-year writing courses foreground skills of critical analysis and argumentation. In response, A Brief Guide to Arguing about Literature first hones 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 aggregate their own anthology of readings and literary works for their literature-based composition courses, A Brief Guide to Arguing about Literature comprises only the writing-guide chapters of John Schilb and John Clifford's admired Arguing about Literature: Guide and Reader. Achieve with Schilb, Arguing about Literature, puts student reading, writing, and revision at the core of your course, with interactive close reading modules, reading comprehension quizzes for the selections in the book, videos of professional writers and students discussing literary works, and a dedicated composition space that guides students through draft, review, source check, reflection, and revision. For details, visit macmillanlearning.com/college/us/englishdigital.

A Brief Guide to Arguing about Literature provides an affordable guide to literary analysis and argument. The guide will hone your analytical skills through instruction in close critical reading of texts as well as sharpen your argumentative writing with effective activities.