1. The Road to Literary Analysis!
Or:
Get excited, today you’ll be taking notes!

2. Header, Heading, and Title in MLA Format
Everything should be in Times New Roman, 12 point font and double spaced.
Your name
Teacher’s Name
Course title
Formatted Date
Heading
Title

3. Example Introduction with Hook, Background, and Thesis
“Yatzee!” “Checkmate!” “Hey, you sunk my battleship!” It takes very few words to communicate the thrilling victories and agonizing defeats in these classic board games. Who doesn’t have great memories of playing classic board games? Many of us grew up playing Life, Monopoly, Risk, and Checkers. Today, many people are discovering the joys of newer games like Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, or Dominion. Today, the list of games that brings people together to socialize and strategize is nearly endless, and that means there’s a game out there for everyone. There should be a board games club at Andover High School because it would be a wide variety of students together, board games help students learn creative and strategic thinking, and it would help Husky House remain a dedicated study hall.

4. Hook
Essays and presentations must begin with a “hook.” You want to seize your readers’ attention with an amazingly creative opening. Hooks help you connect with your readers by making a strong first impression and showing them that you really do care about your topic and your writing.

5. Hook Here are several options to consider when creating a hook…
Start with a personal anecdote or story (could be intriguing, humorous, or bizarre)
Inform your reader with an astonishing fact or statistic
Start with a powerful and relevant quote
Connect to the audience by connecting to a universal experience
Make it relevant by making it local (start with Minnesota, Andover, Andover High School)
Make it interesting and high interest for audience (teenagers, or…)

6. Background
The introduction should be a well-developed paragraph, so you should use the “space” between your creative hook and your straight-forward thesis statement to provide your reader with background information.
Ask yourself:
Is there specific information that a general audience might need to be “caught up to speed”?
Might the audience need some convincing that this an important/worthwhile topic?
Is there a way of illustrating some general information about topic through an anecdote or statistics (if you’ve used another strategy in your hook)?
The Acropolis in Greece.
Zoomed out to show perspective.

7. The Goal of Analysis:
To demonstrate some new understanding of the literary work
State this new understanding in the form of a claim (also called assertion).
Support your analysis with evidence and commentary.

8. “What’s a Claim or Assertion?” You Say!
Option 1: A claim is an opinion about a general subject, like life, relationships, gender or class that you think the author is making through some literary element (character, theme, symbol, etc.) of the novel. Option 2: It can also be statement about an element of story, like theme, that is conveyed through literary devices (figurative language, rhetoric, symbolism, etc.).

9. It answers “What’s important about this story?”
Think of it this way:
This is your claim!!
It answers “What’s important about this story?”
Title and/or Author’s Name Statement (opinion or lit. element) + Lit. element OR lit. devices
This part answers “How does the writer convey that importance?”

10. Think aloud: Finding a Claim
I noticed that in The Hunger Games series the main character, Katniss Everdean, changes.
Katniss changes in each book during the series: first she is fearful of the government and just wants to survive, then she just wants to protect her friends, and then finally she wants to rebel against the government.

11. What’s Next? Now make a claim based on this analysis of Katniss:
Ask: What new understanding about life, relationships, gender or class does this present?
(i.e. What is so important about this story?)
Answer: Katniss doesn’t like the world she lives in…she thinks it’s unfair (which it is)…so she challenges it and fights for a better life (less government control).

12. Formula to make a claim- Opinion:
(title and/or author’s name) is making a point about (general subject); the specific point s/he is making is that _____________________.
Example: In The Hunger Games, author Suzanne Collins makes a point about the dysfunction of government controlled societies; the specific point she is making is that by limiting individual freedoms, society becomes corrupt and only a few benefit.

13. From Claim to Thesis: Opinion + Lit. Element
Revise your claim statement, adding that the author is using a literary element to make that specific point
Example: Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games, uses the protagonist’s conflict, to argue that government controlled societies are dysfunctional and harmful to the people they claim to protect.
Et voilá! You have a preliminary thesis!

14. Formula to make a claim, Lit. Element:
(title and/or author’s name) conveys the literary element (be specific).
Example: In The Hunger Games, author Suzanne Collins conveys the theme that one person does have the power to change the world.

15. From Claim to Thesis: Lit. Element + Lit. Device
Revise your assertion statement by adding that the author is using a literary device(s) to convey that specific literary element to the reader.
Example: Suzanne Collins, author of The Hunger Games, uses the symbol of the mockingjay, to convey the theme that individuals have the power to change their world.
Et voilá! You have a different preliminary thesis!

16. Let’s try another one:
I noticed that in To Kill A Mockingbird, the main character, Scout, changes.
Scout changes during the course of the novel. First she is a young girl who believes good always triumphs over evil. However, after she experiences the trial of Tom Robinson, she is forced to grow up and realize that life isn’t always fair or right.

17. What’s next? Now make a claim based on this analysis of Scout.
What new understanding about life, relationships, gender or class does this present? (In other words, why is this novel important?)
Answer: Scout changes because she experiences racism and prejudice in her community. She finds out that good people can also be very wrong because of their inner prejudices.

18. Formula to make a claim:
(author’s name) is making a point about (general subject); the specific point s/he is making is that _____________________.
Example: Author Harper Lee makes a point about the complicated nature of racism in man; the specific point she is making is that a community one member knows and loves can also be a dangerous and unhappy place for another person living there.

19. From Claim to Thesis:
Revise your claim statement adding that the author is using the character (lit. element) to make that specific point.
Example: Through Scout’s struggles to understand the adults in her community, Lee demonstrates the complex and unfair nature of human prejudices through the juxtaposition between Scout’s experiences and the choices being made by the adults around her.

20. Think Aloud: Character compare/contrast
I noticed that Mie, in Red Cranes and Sachiko in The Firefly Hunt are similar in that both view nature with a dreamlike, childhood wonder. Both characters think fondly of interacting with nature and associate nature with the possibilities of life.

21. A Formula To Use To Make a Claim
Use the formula!
Jacey Choy, author of The Red Crane and Jun’ichiro Tanizaki, author of The Firefly Hunt are making a point about growing up; the specific point they are making is that children view their worlds as if anything is possible.

22. Now turn this into a thesis.
Revise your claim statement adding that the author is using the character (or a different lit. element) to make that specific point.
The authors Choy and Tanizaki are using their characters of Mie and Sachiko to illustrate that children view their worlds with endless possibilities through the characters’ child-like wonder with nature.

23. Cornell Notes Summary:
On a scale of Fist through 5, how well do you feel you would be able to write a claim statement if we wrote an essay tomorrow?
On a scale of Fist through 5, how well do you feel you would be able to turn a claim into a full literary analysis thesis statement?