LitMUSE

In the following forum, consider one of the following for your initial thread posting. Identify and discuss a major or minor theme. What is a primary concern of the literary text? How is it identified within the text? What does the text say about this theme? Analyze a major or minor character. What is the [...]

In writing comments on a blog or forum, you should try to add to the conversation the entry begins. First, has the author done a good job in carefully considering her position? If not, your comment might indicate what has been omitted and provide additional ideas for her to consider, including your own. You should [...]

In this course, your blog should represent your critical and creative ideas and feelings about the literature read, ideas discussed, activities assigned, and all other aspects of the course. Topics for your blog entries may occasionally be assigned, but often they will be chosen by you and they should be about 350-500 words.

When writing for a wiki, think of yourself as contributing to an encyclopedia. Wiki.org provides a succinct definition: The simplest online database that could possibly work. Wiki is a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple [...]

The study of literature — or really any cultural text — requires two components: research and response. The latter builds on the former. Begin by studying the primary text then researching that text using secondary sources. Take copious notes during your study; this will help you remember facts and arguments in order to compose your [...]

What is it we are supposed to get out of a work of literature, especially those composed hundreds of years ago? We can approach any work of literature from a variety of perspectives, but reader-response criticism locates the center of meaning in the reader, and therefore relies on her experiences to guide her interpretation. If [...]

Go to Class Even though you can get notes elsewhere, without hearing the lecture and participating in the discussion, you will probably not have the prior knowledge or cognitive framework necessary to assimilate the externally provided notes.

Most writers know that copying another’s work word for word without giving author credit is considered plagiarism. But they often assume that this practice is frowned on only when long passages are involved — whole pages or paragraphs. Consequently, they feel free to copy phrases and sentences without using quotation marks or acknowledgments. Actually, any [...]

MLA Documentation Style, or simply MLA style, is used in the humanities when researchers need to give credit to any source — a book, web page, article, CD-ROM, lecture — outside of their own experience. The information here is meant only as a quick guide. You should consult the most current MLA Handbook for Writers [...]

Listed below are some general tips for helping you get started writing in all your courses.