1. Writing for Literary Analysis
AEC Model

2. Standards
ELACC8RL1: Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
This will also apply to the majority of your 9th- 12th grade common core literary reading and writing standards.

3. What is AEC? Assertion Evidence Commentary
AEC is a formula for writing. It stands for:
Assertion
Evidence
Commentary

4. What is Assertion?
Assertion is a statement that offers an opinion about a subject or something to prove about a subject.
It is your claim about the subject.
It’s used as the topic sentence of each body paragraph of an essay.

5. Sample Assertion based on the queen in Snow White
Writing Prompt: Describe the queen’s attitude about herself in the fairytale Snow White.
An assertion will answer the prompt:
In the fairytale Snow White, the queen is vain.

6. What is Evidence
The evidence offers an example to support your assertion.
This evidence or concrete detail, is a specific example from the text that proves the opinion offered by the assertion.
Evidence sentences should include:
A transition
A contextual lead in
A concrete detail (Quotation, fact, paraphrasing)
(TLC)

7. Here is an example from Snow White
Assertion: In the story “Snow White,” the queen is described as vain.
Evidence: For example, when the queen wakes up every morning, she looks into her magic mirror, and she says, “Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”
Find the:
Transition
Contextual Lead in
Concrete Detail/Quotation

8. What is Commentary
Commentary explains why the evidence supports the opinion given in the assertion.
It explains the thinking behind your example.
You should have 2-3 commentary sentences for each example.

9. Commentary Example for Snow White
Topic Sentence: In the fairytale Snow White, the queen is vain.
Evidence: For example, when the queen wakes up every morning, she looks into her magic mirror, and she says, “Mirror, Mirror, on the wall, who’s the fairest of them all?”
Commentary 1: Looking in the mirror daily and praising her own beauty is a self-centered act.
Commentary 2: The queen is more concerned about her own appearance than anything else in her life.

10. A Basic Paragraph
Generally, a body paragraph in an essay will go like this:
Assertion (Topic Sentence)
Evidence
Commentary
Conclusion/transition Sentence

11. Advanced Body Paragraph
Assertion (Topic Sentence)
Evidence using (TLC & TIE)
Commentary (Explain the quote)
Evidence (TLC & TIE)
Commentary (Explain the Quote)
Concluding or transition sentence

12. Analyze the following paragraph for the AECCECC format.
As the story approaches the climax, the symbolism of the pearl transitions from greed and envy to that of danger and utter despair. For instance, after Kino refuses the pearl buyers’ offers, Juan Tomas warns Kino of probable danger because he has “defied not the pearl buyers, but the whole structure, the whole way of life” and questions whether Kino feels “the game is over?” (Steinbeck 54). Juan Tomas’s comment to Kino alerts the reader that those who have been defied will not stop encroaching upon their lives until they get what they want--the pearl. In fact, soon after, danger comes in the form of a thief who tries to steal the pearl which then provokes a “grunting struggle” between Kino and the unknown thief which leaves Kino bloodied and barely conscious (56). Even Juana’s cry that “the pearl is evil” is a blunt acknowledgement of the peril brought on to them (Steinbeck 56). Although the pearl at this point represents trouble and danger, nothing compares to the symbolic despair the pearl brings.

13. Although the pearl at this point represents trouble and danger, nothing compares to the symbolic despair the pearl brings. At the climax, Kino kills a man who is stalking him and more trouble ensues. The narrator explains that Kino’s “canoe is broken…[his] house burned, and in the brush a dead man lies...every escape is cut off” (Steinbeck 65). There is no turning back at his point. He, Juana and Coyotito must escape into the mountains with trackers pursuing them. Sadly, anguish soon follows them. As Kino leaps to attack the trackers, “the gun crashed...the knife swung” but “something was wrong.” Kino heard “the cry of death” for his son Coyotito who had been shot in the head (Steinbeck 86-87). For Kino and Juana, there is no tragedy stronger than the death of their beloved child. All that was the tranquil Song of the Family has been destroyed: their home, their livelihood, their child, and their trust of the world. Although the pearl is no longer with the family, its essence has brought danger, and then in turn brought on complete heartache to Kino and Juana.

14. Analyzing a Topic
Look at your essay topic and figure out what it is asking you to do.
Figure out what you want to say about your topic (Assertion)
Figure out the evidence you will use to support your topic (Direct quotations and paraphrasing)
Figure out how you will divide the information into paragraphs.

15. The Pearl Prompt
In The Pearl by John Steinbeck, the symbolism of the pearl is a literary element prevalent throughout the book’s plot development. Write a well developed, multi-paragraph essay showing how plot (the events of the story) supports and aligns with the symbolism of the pearl. Use specific plot details and evidence from the novella to support your thesis.

16. Look back at the prompt for our book, and write your own assertion now.
In The Pearl by John Steinbeck, the symbolism of the pearl is a literary element represented throughout the book’s plot development. Write a well developed, multi-paragraph essay showing how the symbolism of the pearl develops throughout the story and aligns with the plot. Use specific plot details and evidence from the novella to support your thesis.

17. In High School, Never Use:
I, Me, My
You
This shows…
This proves…
I am going to...
The teachers will expect you to use FORMAL English in an analysis piece.