How important is writing in your course? When Edgar Roberts taught literature and composition, a large part of his courses involved essay-writing assignments. He dedicated a substantial amount of his class time to explaining how students should prepare their writing assignments. He discovered that the more he described to his students what he wanted, and the more time he spent explaining things, the better the final essays turned out to be. There was a direct correlation between the way he made his assignments and the quality of student work he received. Professor Roberts started to hand out directions to his students, saving him valuable classroom and preparation time. Over the years, he tested each assignment in his own classes. To meet the needs of the literature and composition course, Professor Roberts seamlessly integrated writing-about-literature instruction with a comprehensive literature anthology. The result is the book you hold in your hands. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing is founded on the principles of writing about literature. It is not an afterthought and it is not treated as a separate chapter or appendix; but rather, it is the carefully integrated philosophy of Professor Robertsrs" approach to teaching literature and composition. Also available in a briefer paperback version. Literature: An Introduction to Reading and Writing, Compact Third Edition (c) 2006 1648 pp. ISBN 0-13-153435-1