Today: Monday, May 8th Independent Reading- 15 minutes Literary Essay-Lesson & Notes Brainstorming English 10

Literary Essay Semester 2 Project NOTE: To change the image on this slide, select the picture and delete it. Then click the Pictures icon in the placeholder to insert your own image. Semester 2 Project

Literary Essay A literary essay tells about a theme, or big idea, in a book you have read. To write your own literary essay, choose a book to focus on. As you read, ask yourself: Does this book teach a lesson? What big idea is the author trying to get across to his or her readers? What examples from the book illustrate this big idea?

Choices To Kill a Mockingbird Twelfth Night Mid Summers Night Dream Independent Reading Novel

Book: Author: Summary of the book: Theme or big idea from the book: Three examples from the book that illustrate this theme: Example 1 Example 2 Example 3

INTRODUCTION: the first paragraph in your essay. It begins creatively in order to catch your reader’s interest, provides essential background about the literary work, and prepares the reader for your thesis. The introduction must include the author and title of the work as well as an explanation of the theme to be discussed. Other essential background may include setting, an introduction of main characters, etc. The thesis goes in this paragraph usually at the end. Because the thesis sometimes sounds tacked on, make special attempts to link it to the sentence that precedes it by building on a key word or idea.

Creative Opening/Hook: the beginning sentences of the introduction that catch the reader’s interest. Ways of beginning creatively include the following: A startling fact or bit of information A snatch of dialogue between two characters A meaningful quotation (from the book you are analyzing or another source) A universal idea A rich, vivid description of the setting

Thesis: a statement that provides the subject and overall opinion of your essay. For a literary analysis your major thesis must: (1) relate to the theme of the work and (2) suggest how this theme is revealed by the author. A good thesis may also suggest the organization of the paper.  Example: "Although the play Twelfth Night is all about love and different character's attempts to gain each others attention and affections, it is clear that not one of the characters are truly in love. They may be infatuated, or intrigued by the characters they proclaim their love for, but the play includes no examples of true love."

Evidence Quotation: When providing evidence word for word from a primary or secondary source, students should be reminded to use quotation marks only if the words have not been altered. Summary: Students summarize a piece of evidence by restating it in a shorter form using their own words. Paraphrase: Students explain a piece of evidence using their own words. Reminder: Cite and give credit for words and ideas that belong to others. Academic honesty is very important and all work will be checked for plagiarism, Which will result in a ZERO.

Conclusion A strong conclusion outlines the main ideas of the essay, but it also works to provide a solution to a real-life problem. Focus on concluding with what they hope to get out of their analysis, or provide closure to the topic. Most importantly, students should seize the conclusion as an opportunity to provide their own opinion and reflection about their process of analyzing the text.