The Literary Analysis Paper

Key Points: Title  Every paper should have a TITLE.  The title should tell specifically what a paper is about.  Usually a title should also have a SUBTITLE.  It’s a good idea to make your title “catchy.”  Titles should be in upper and lower case and not underlined or in quotes.  Ex: Angles We Have Heard on Frye: Responses to the Literary Criticism of Northrop Frye

Key Point: Thesis  There should always be a point to your analysis, and this point should be stated in your thesis.  A thesis statement should be specific, not just a general statement.  Avoid something like: “These two works are alike in some ways but different in many other ways.”  For shorter papers, the thesis statement will be one sentence, but sometimes it is 2 or 3 sentences.

Thesis statement  A good thesis statement should make the reader say: “Wow, really? Prove it!”

How do I get a thesis statement?  A thesis is the result of a lengthy thinking process.  It is not something that you can think up in a couple of minutes!  Formulating a thesis is not the first thing you do after getting an essay assignment.

How do I get a thesis statement?  Before you develop an argument on any topic, you have to:  collect and organize evidence  look for possible relationships/connections  think about the significance of these relationships

Sample essay question  Write an analysis of some aspect of Mark Twain’s novel Huckleberry Finn that is important to its meaning.

Let’s look at a sample thesis statement  Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a great American novel.  Why is this thesis weak?

It’s weak because  The reader would expect a summary of the novel.  The teacher asked you to analyze, not summarize.  The questions asked you to pick an aspect of the novel.  You should pick an aspect that is important to the meaning of the novel: imagery, structure…  For example: the contrasting scenes between the river and the shore.

Let’s take it further  In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore.  This is a working thesis that has potential.

It’s still not complete because  You have identified a specific aspect you want to talk about, but the reader would still not know where you are going with it.  The reader is left asking: So what? What is your point?  Perhaps you don’t know yet, and that’s fine. This is still a good working thesis.  After you have done more research, you should be able to refine it.

The refined thesis statement  Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain's Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the true expression of American democratic ideals, one must leave "civilized" society and go back to nature.

Now  the reader knows where you’re going with your paper!  you must present evidence in the text to support your interpretation.

Purpose of Literary Analysis Paper  Summary is NOT ACCEPTABLE.  Remember, you are analyzing literature, not telling someone what it is about.  There should be a point to the analysis: the whole paper should be organized so as to prove a statement you are making about the work---  its meaning  its use of imagery  its similarity to other works you have read

Key Points: Introductory Paragraph  Your thesis should be somewhere in your introduction.  Many times, it’s the last sentence of the introduction.

Introductory Paragraph  A typical introductory paragraph should contain the following:  name the authors and titles of all the works you are going to discuss in the paper  provide a map of the rest of the paper  give any background information that the average reader would need to know to understand your paper. (THIS DOES NOT MEAN SUMMARY OF THE WORK!)

Length of Intro Paragraph  For a 4-5 page paper: ½ page long  For an 8-10 page paper: 2-3 paragraphs

Tense  You must stay in the PRESENT tense when you write about what happens in a book or poem. Ex: “ Joe Keller is…”  The main thing to remember here is that “literature is not dead,” so don’t talk about it as though it were a corpse!

Conclusion  You should sum up your points in the conclusion.  HOWEVER, that is not all.  You should also suggest further implications of your argument. argument.