1. Objective for Today O To craft and construct a clear and concise THESIS statement. You will need paper and pen.

2. Thesis statement THESIS SENTENCE INTRODUCTION BODY PARAGRAPHS CONCLUSION

3. Preparing to Write O Good writing is close reading O Read a work more than once looking for symbols, foreshadowing, character development. O Annotating, marking your book.

4. Introductions O To interest your reader O To introduce your subject O To state your thesis (hint to what is to come)

5. How to? O Opening lead: Hook O Author’s name and title O Brief plot of work with a narrow focus O Thesis statement

6. Avoid: O Opening with a question or quote. O Parroting prompt. O Vague generalizations

7. Inverted Pyramid Introduction Generalizations Title and author Thesis

8. Function of a thesis O It is the main point or purpose of a paper/analysis—it is what you intend to prove.

9. Your thesis statement should include two parts: WHAT and WHY. O *WHAT: What claim are you making about the text? O *WHY: Why should we care? Why is your claim important? Your thesis should answer the “so what?” question.

10. “Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a great American novel.” What’s wrong with this thesis statement?

11. “In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a contrast between life on the river and life on the shore.” Better? How so? What is still missing?

12. “Through its contrasting river and shore scenes, Twain’s Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the true expression of American ideals, one must leave ‘civilized’ society and go back to nature.”

13. O In everyone’s life, there comes a time when one must leave behind the innocence of childhood and face the harsh realities of the adult world. Although, most teenagers handle this period with few problems, young Connie in Joyce Carol Oates’ short story “Where are you going?” faces her initialization into the experienced world with much hardship. Connie makes a mythic journey from innocence to experience as she journeys with Arnold. Through, characterization, Oates suggests that Connie realizes she cannot return to her innocent world, so she forges ahead to encounter the harshness of her adult world.

14. O We as a species are torn between emotion and reason. Often, the struggle is greatest when we are put in the most dire circumstances. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy begins with a human head on a stake in the middle of the road. It later follows with a boy staring at a bloody mattress. McCarthy demonstrates extreme graphic violence to reflect the animalistic side of human behavior and the constant struggle with the inner beast.

15. O Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a poignant look at the Black-American experience in a time when society was dominated by the inhumane treatment of slaves. Beloved’s character provides not only suspense of supernatural forces; but is used to highlight Morrison’s overriding themes of ancestor- elder relationships and the attempt to erase the past.

16. O As the hawk flies through the sky during the failing light of the coming evening, the world grows still. In the poem “Evening Hawk” by Robert Penn Warren, the hawk is used to represent an ‘all knowing and all seeing’ figure, such as death. Here Warren sets the scene with specific word choice utilizing many different mathematical terms to emphasis the precision and swiftness of the hawk’s movements.

17. Writing Body Paragraphs O Helps the reader follow your argument. O Each body paragraph begins with a TOPIC SENTENCE that relates to some aspect of the THESIS. (HINT: this can be achieved by repeating words from the thesis as the controlling idea in your topic sentence. O The analysis should focus on how the theme is revealed. O Quotations are part of evidence. O Each paragraph develops some aspect to Thesis

18. O So, if the thesis is: Through characters and their actions, Ibsen illustrates the theme that pride leads to man’s downfall. TS= The power of pride is clearly seen in the Torvald’s character. + Analysis+embedded text (quote) Torvald’s perception on “what would others think” establish his hubris.

19. Writing Conclusions O Lets the reader know you have come to an end. O Should be a paragraph. O Show how theme relates to everyone’s life because of the universal condition.

20. The Four S’s: O Signal= thus, then, therefore, so O Summary= creative rewording of ideas (like a final bow)…never repetition of thesis verbatim. O Significance= drive home point. What should we glean from your paper. O Speed=change tempo and style…end with a clincher (never a quote).

21. Conclusion (specific to general)… REMIND: Additional statements about the paper topic. Mention some of your best points. RELATE: General statement that ends the essay (clincher).

22. Embedding quotes O Guidelines for Quotes: O Cannot stand alone as a sentence. O Should not be back-to-back (must interpret evidence and explain after each quote). O Should not begin or end a paragraph (they are support for statements made and need commentary after). O Should all be four or fewer typed lines. O Should be worked right into your writing. O Do not always need to be full sentences / can be phrases (use ellipses…to indicate left our part). O Need to be in present tense since the paper is written in present tense (must flow). O Should not be dropped into writing suddenly.

23. We learn about Mrs. Ramsey's personality by observing her feelings about other characters. For example, Mrs. Ramsey has mixed feelings toward Mr. Tansley, but her feelings seem to grow more positive over time as she comes to know him better. At first Mrs. Ramsey finds Mr. Tansley annoying, as shown especially when he mentions that no one is going to the lighthouse. But rather than hating him, at this point she feels pity: "she pitied men always as if they lacked something..." (85). Then later, during the gathering, pity turns to empathy as she realizes that Mr. Tansley must feel inferior. He must know, Mrs. Ramsey thinks, that "no woman would look at him with Paul Rayley in the room" (106).

24. Finally, by the end of the dinner scene, she feels some attraction to Mr. Tansley and also a new respect: "She liked his laugh.... She liked his awkwardness. There was a lot in that man after all" (110). In observing this evolution in her attitude, we learn more about Mrs. Ramsey than we do about Mr. Tansley. The change in Mrs. Ramsey's attitude is not used by Woolf to show that Mrs. Ramsey is fickle or confused; rather it is used to show her capacity for understanding both the frailty and complexity of human beings. This is a central characteristic of Mrs. Ramsey's personality.

25. O As you choose quotations for a literary analysis, remember the purpose of quoting. Your paper develops an argument about what the author of the text is doing--how the text "works." You use quotations to support this O argument; that is, you select, present, and discuss material from the text specifically to "prove" your point—to make your case--in much the same way a lawyer brings evidence before a jury. Quoting for any other purpose is counterproductive. Don't quote to "tell the story" or otherwise convey basic information about the text; assume the reader knows the text. Don't quote just for the sake of quoting or just to fill up space. Don't make the reader jump up and shout "Irrelevant!"

26. O All quotes should have signal phrases (lead- ins). These serve as the introduction to the quote and should provide the context needed to interpret the quote. Do not depend on the quote to make the point for you. O You MUST: O 1) lead-in to quote O 2) give the quote in present tense O 3) cite the author and page number (unless a single work O 4) give commentary

27. Types of Lead-ins 1. The “somebody said” lead-in: Ex. After he hears of Kemmerich’s death, Paul comments, “I become faint, all at once I cannot do any more. I won’t revile any more, it is senseless” (Remarque 32). 2. The “blended” lead-in: Some of the quoted material is left out. What is retained is blended right into the sentence. Ex. Paul becomes disillusioned early on by the war and views it as “senseless” (32). 3. The “sentence” lead-in: This lead-in is followed by a colon. Ex. Paul evidently suffers from despair after the death of his fellow soldier: “it is senseless” (32).

28. Common Lead-in Verbs O Argues, asserts, believes, claims, comments, declares, illustrates, notes observes, reasons, reports, suggests, thinks, writes.