Writing academic essays is challenging, even for the native speaker!
For this reason, the Macmillan Readers team has come up with some great tips and ideas to help you when talking and writing about literature.
From useful phrases to use when speaking about plot, to advice on how to conduct comparisons between stories in your essays, the following articles will help you perfect your skills for analysing works of literature.
Article: Writing for University by Stella Cottrell
Stella Cottrell is the author of The Study Skills Handbook, published by Palgrave Macmillan Ltd.
The following articles will help you speak and write about the books you read. You will need to login (or register) to view these materials, so please click on each link to complete this process.
Writing an Essay - an introduction to key concepts and literary terms.
This article provides detailed explanations and practical examples of the concepts, terms and skills needed to speak and write about literature. This material also contains a useful glossary of key concepts and literary terms. When you have completed the activities, please download the answer key to check your score.
Writing a Short Account of a Novel
A short account is like a review. It should give a short description of the novel and no more. It should cover the main subjects of plot, characters, narration, themes and style. There is no need to go into detail. It may help the reader decide if they want to read the novel or not. Or it may show an examiner or a tutor that you, as a student, have read and understood the main points of the novel. This material helps you perfect the technique through practical exercises, and there is an answer key to help you check your answers once you have completed the questions
This useful resource looks at how to write a detailed answer to an essay question. When writing an answer to an essay question, it is important to make sure you understand the question and answer it directly and fully. The strongest essays have simple arguments which are well supported with information from the novel - usually either quotations or descriptions of actions and style. Once again, there is an answer key to accompany the material so you can check your answers.
