1. Literary Criticism Research Paper
© Copyright Academic Year 2009 by M. Baltsas. All Rights Reserved. Revised , 2010

2. Evaluating the Time Period
What time period are you focusing on? Romantic, Victorian, Modern, Post-Modern?
What years are covered?
What were the social and political events?
What were some characteristics of the time period?
Paragraph 1
© Copyright Academic Year 2009 by M. Baltsas. All Rights Reserved. Revised , 2010

3. Comprehending your Author
Key events/ Influences
Works
Attitudes
Reactions from critics
Favorite themes
Forms of writing style
Paragraph 2
© Copyright Academic Year 2009 by M. Baltsas. All Rights Reserved. Revised , 2010

4. Analyzing the FORM/ Structure of poetry
Is there a rhyme scheme? Patterns, meter, rhyme?
Are there stanzas? How many? Are they short? Long?
Is there a problem? A solution?
What is the message the poet is conveying?
Paragraph 4
© Copyright Academic Year 2009 by M. Baltsas. All Rights Reserved. Revised , 2010

5. Analyzing the Content of poetry
What is the main point/ purpose?
What does the title suggest?
Who is this written for (audience)?
What are the arguments used?
What are some assumptions or biases?
What are the emotions/ feelings?
Paragraph 5
© Copyright Academic Year 2009 by M. Baltsas. All Rights Reserved. Revised , 2010

6. Analyzing Literary Devices
Select 1 literary device
Claim: Using 1-2 sentences, introduce the literary term… indicate what line or stanza the term is in. Example: “In the first stanza, Keats uses two metaphors to compare
_________ to ___________.”
Evidence: Use the exact quote from the poem and indicate the line or stanza # in parentheses
Analysis: Using 2-3 sentences, analyze.. break down the literary term and explain it in your own words.
Paragraph 6
© Copyright Academic Year 2009 by M. Baltsas. All Rights Reserved. Revised , 2010

7. Analyzing Literary Devices
Select 2nd literary device
Use the same format for paragraph 5
Paragraph 7
© Copyright Academic Year 2009 by M. Baltsas. All Rights Reserved. Revised , 2010

8. Your Conclusion
What conclusions can be made about this poem in relation to the literary time period and the author who write it?
Restate your thesis and summarize the main ideas articulated in your paper.
Paragraph 8
© Copyright Academic Year 2009 by M. Baltsas. All Rights Reserved. Revised , 2010

9. Sources you will use Databases (literary criticism)
Textbook (author, time period)
Masterplots Series (in school library)
1 book from the library
© Copyright Academic Year 2009 by M. Baltsas. All Rights Reserved. Revised , 2010

10. Additional Online Sources
Begin source card/ citation with “Sri Chimnoy et al…)
Begin source card/ citation with "The Academy of American Poets, Inc.”
© Copyright Academic Year 2009 by M. Baltsas. All Rights Reserved. Revised , 2010

11. Online Sources to Avoid
about.com, askjeeves.com, wikipedia, sparknotes, pinkmonkeynotes, cliffnotes
No web site that does not have an author/(s) or date
© Copyright Academic Year 2009 by M. Baltsas. All Rights Reserved. Revised , 2010

12. 1 General Online Source Card _____________ ____________ A B
A. Author’s Name (last name goes FIRST) or Contributing organization 1
_____________ A
____________ B
_______________________ B
B.Title of
web page
_____________
____________. C D
_______________________________ E
D. Date of access
C. Date of
web page
E. Web
address

13. Keeping Track of Sources
Keeping Track of Sources
Textbook Source Card
City of publication
Title of Textbook
The Language of Literature.
Evanston:
McDougal Littell.
2006.
Pages
Page(s)
Publisher
Year
© Copyright Academic Year 2009 by M. Baltsas. All Rights Reserved. Revised , 2010

14. Thesis Statement Templates
The general argument made by author ______________________ in his/her work _______________________________________ is that__________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________. More specifically, _________________ argues that _____________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________.

15. Although ___________________________________ (believes, demonstrates, argues) that_______ ____________________________________________________________________________________, I suggest that ___________________________________________________________________________________________. Or, simply In _______________________________________ (title), __________________________________ (author) uses ____________________________, ________________________________ and ________________________ In order to convey __________________________________________________________________________.