Personal Experiences with Reading and Writing about Literature

Explore key literary concepts and skills. Through discussion, we’ll deepen our knowledge.

Prepare: As you prepare to write your discussion post, take a few moments to review the content covered regarding the following topics:

1. Defining literature.
2. Forms of literature and their characteristics: a novel, novella, short story, poetry, drama.
3. Literary theories.
4. Close reading for literary analysis.
5. Developing a descriptive thesis.
   Reflect: Take time to reflect on how literature, forms of literature and their characteristics, and literary theories have affected how you communicate with others and, perhaps, how you believe others respond to you.
   Write: Based on the content in this module, write at least two sentences on each of the 5 concepts or skills listed in Prepare. In the first sentence, write a summary of what the concept is or means to you. In the second sentence, give a specific example from your own reading and writing of how you experienced or applied the concept.

Respond: Respond to posts of at least two classmates. The goal is for each of you to get two different responses. If someone already has two, responses, choose first a classmate with no responses, then a classmate with only 1 response. When you respond, point out what you have in common, and say why you think you and your classmate might have a similar experience. Then choose one element of your classmate’s post that differs from your experience and say what you learned from that difference.