"Writing about Fiction and Literature" Purdue's Online Writing Lab; Extra Credit

“Writing about fiction”, a topic of the Purdue online writing lab’s main ideas are; close reading, developing a thesis and pre-writing. The lab states that highlighting key passages and phrases when reading fiction is important, because, fiction usually consists of several points and themes. Make sure that you are not over highlighting only key points and ideas. Using a notebook like you would a journal to evaluate a story’s meaning and commenting on it can be very helpful after close reading, which is also being active in the process of reading. Purdue also says making notes is about asking questions, making comments about key statements in the writing. Developing a thesis comes after close reading and making notes in the margins so you can generate ideas of your own. these ideas could be a character or a particular period of time, and elaborating on them. The lab also talks about pre-writing to review, research, and evaluate a piece of fiction. Focus on the detail to be discussed, make lists, and identify evidence by using outside sources, like major events, people, which will help you to eliminate and narrow your focus. Another sub-heading in the online lab is, quoting which is using a sentence that will help you to analyze a point, writing in your own words what already has been said is paraphrasing, which usually comes in the conclusion.
Purdue’s online writing lab also discusses “writing about Literature” the main ideas are; The introduction, literature topics and formatting. The introduction gathers research that will help you make the argument that your interpretation or evaluation is valid. The lab also shows how to make a debatable thesis by showing the how, why, and what that unifies your points for the thesis. Do not use generalities; be specific in your statements. Narrow down what it is you are asking or clarifying. Purdue also say that finding a topic can be one of many choices, for instance; Characters in a piece of literature, historical events, political issues and analyses, these are just a few topics that can be used. Your own thoughts should be the major part of your essay, using secondary sources in your research such as the internet or library. Avoiding dictionaries and encyclopedias, use scholarly sources to back up your evidence. Formatting your paper; It is important to underline, use quotations which introduce or explain a thought that comes from a key phrase or passage, also your last name and page number. MLA format is the universal citation method according to Purdue.
Purdue’s online writing lab has given me information to use to become more skeptical of my own work of writing. I have started my own journal of note taking on my thoughts during reading. I know that rereading is going to benefit me because this way I will be more analytical of the piece I am reading by asking questions and noting the phrases that pop out at me. Narrowing down my thoughts and making lists of my ideas will also help me to formulate a more organized paper. I have, and will continue to use free write as a means developing my thesis ideas. I like the idea of quoting a sentence because even though I may not use it in the final paper I will use it to critically think about what I see as the meaning behind it. I liked the part of Purdue’s lab that discussed the how, why, and what, for a debatable thesis when writing about literature and just those questions alone can give me a great many points that will be helpful for unifying my thesis ideas. I have taken the library literacy class and now I am so thankful I did. I can go anywhere in the library at the JC and get the information I need, especially helpful on MLA citing. I know this will help me to be a better writer but most of I know that critical thinking, using your own thoughts and ideas are paramount to writing a good paper.