Writing Workshop Literary Analysis

The Five-Paragraph Essay Introduction Body: Supporting Paragraphs Conclusion

Title Your paper should have an interesting title that (not just CTC writing) Do the title last

Introduction Assume the reader of your essay does NOT know the writing prompt question AND has not read the piece of literature you are writing about. Provide any necessary background info, the author, title and perhaps of brief summary GRAB your reader’s attention Clear thesis statement 3-5 sentences (hook, necessary info, thesis)

Thesis Is the main idea and explains what you intend to discuss. [4] [4] Answers a specific question and explains how you plan to support your argument. Is debatable. Someone should be able to argue an alternate position, or conversely, support your claims.argue an alternate position This serves as the road map for the body of your paragraph

Example Thesis Hemingway's stories helped create a new prose style by employing extensive dialogue, shorter sentences, and strong Anglo-Saxon words. Body paragraph one is about the extensive dialogue Body paragraph two is about short sentences Body paragraph three is about strong Anglo-Saxon words

Body: Supporting Paragraphs CTC: This is where you make your claims, provide “evidence” to support your claim and give commentary Topic Sentence: State your claim. (Hemmingway uses extensive dialogue in his writing that was different than popular writers of his time.) Evidence: Cite a quote from the text that directly supports your claim Commentary: 2-3 sentences to discuss HOW the evidence you provided proves the claim you made in your topic sentence (NO FIRST PERSON) Concluding Sentence: Use to wrap up the paragraph and transition to the next paragraph (The great amount of dialogue in Hemmingway’s writing led to the use of other writing techniques as well.)

Concluding Paragraph Here, you summarize the ideas of the paper in different words. This is where you tie all of your points together. Include the following: Restatement of thesis: (In short, it was Hemmingway’s prolific use of dialogue, his execution of short sentences and his specific word choice that created a new style of short story prose.) Summarize – in 2-3 sentences give the importance of the ideas you have been analyzing Clincher – A personal insight, opinion, question, challenge, restatement of title (STILL NO FIRST PERSON!)

Style No First person No second person No first or second person NO FIRST OR SECOND PERSON! How could you reword this sentence so that it is not in first person? I believe George Orwell’s description of the animals in Animal Farm make you feel sorry for the horses and the sheep.

Style Use present tense verbs: the story happens again every time you read it Do not use contractions: ONLY if they appear in the material you are quoting Use formal language. Avoid slang, illegal words and abbreviations Use varied and sophisticated sentence structure Always double check spelling and punctuation

Citing Evidence There are four acceptable ways to cite evidence or “embed quotes” in your writing

Citing Evidence Rule 1: Introduce a quotation with a complete sentence and a colon Thoreau ends his essay with a metaphor: “Time is but a stream I go fishing in” (12). Poe believes revenge is a necessary evil: “The evils of Fortunator…”(89).

Citing Evidence Rule 2: Use an introductory phrase, but not a complete sentence, separated from the quotation with a comma. Use a common to separate your own words from the quotation. Thoreau asks, “Why should we live life with such hurry and waste of life?” (8). Zusanger challenges the reader, “Don’t you believe in fate?” (43)

Citing Evidence Rule 3: Make the quotation a part of your own sentence without any punctuation using THAT (THAT can be used in place of a comma) Thoreau argues that “shams and delusions are esteemed for the soundest truths” (7). Bates proposes that all teenagers “are curious, devious and immature humans” (17).

Citing Evidence Rule 4: If only quoting a few words you can use it part of your sentence as long as it is in quotes Although Thoreau “drinks at” the stream of time, he can “detect how shallow it is” (10). Jefferson is infuriated at the “obscene unfairness” of the British soldiers (42). When you integrate just a few words you do not need any special punctuation

Writing Commentary This illustrates…. This is significant because…. The author’s purpose in revealing this is… This illuminates/magnifies/demonstrates/ etc Using metaphors in this manner allows the author to communicate…