1. Passage Analysis Essay
The how and why and all that

2. What is it? Prose passage Variety of genres or time periods
Exposition -- Description
Narration -- Argumentation
Variety of genres or time periods
Analysis of rhetorical strategies
Example --Cause and effect
Contrast/comparison --Classification
Process --Definition
Narration --Description

3. What is it? Analysis of language Analysis of stylistic elements
--subject matter --language/diction
--Selection of detail --point of view
--figurative language --tone
--syntax --organization

4. What’s the purpose?
Determine how well you read, understand and analyze challenging texts
Assess how well you manipulate language to communicate your ideas

5. Key Point:
The level of your writing is/should be a direct reflection of your critical thinking

6. What kinds of questions?
Analyze the author’s view
Analyze rhetorical devices the author uses to achieve her purpose
Analyze stylistic elements and their effects
Compare/contrast two passages with regard to style, purpose, or tone

7. More… Analyze author’s purpose and how he achieves it
Analyze how an author re-creates an experience
Analyze how the author presents herself in the passage
Discuss the intended or probable effect of the passage

8. How is it graded? On a 9 point rubric
Readers reward you for what you do well
As a draft (40 minutes)

9. How to tackle this? Planning is crucial, so spend:
1-3 minutes reading and working the prompt
5 minutes reading and making margin notes on the passage
10 minutes preparing to write
20 minutes writing your essay
3 minutes proofreading

10. Reading the prompt
The following paragraphs are from the opening of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. After carefully reading the excerpt, write a well-organized essay in which you characterize Capote’s view of Holcomb, Kansas, and analyze how Capote conveys this view. Your analysis may consider such stylistic elements as diction, imagery, syntax, structure, tone, and selection of detail.

11. The prompt…annotated
The following paragraphs are from the opening of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood. After carefully reading the excerpt, write a well-organized essay in which you characterize Capote’s view of Holcomb, Kansas, and analyze how Capote conveys this view. Your analysis may consider such stylistic elements as diction, imagery, syntax, structure, tone, and selection of detail.

12. Helpful hint
Sometimes it is difficult and stressful to get everything from your brain onto your paper
You can write: In this essay I have to….
In this essay I have to tell what Capote’s view of the town is and explain how he reveals this
…I have to identify the author’s view and analyze the diction, imagery and structure he uses to reveal his view
…I have to tell that Capote thinks the town is boring but also has some positive attributes. I have to explain the diction, imagery, and detail.

13. Reading the passage Option #1 Option #2
Read quickly to get the gist of the passage
Reread, highlighting and taking margin notes
Option #2
Read slowly, highlighting and taking margin notes
Reread to confirm that you have caught the full impact of the passage

14. Warning!!!! Don’t skip this step
Careful reading AND annotating the passage are crucial to success

15. Developing the opening Paragraph
Forget everything you’ve learned about beginning an essay (not really, but almost)
It should catch the reader’s attention
It should set the tone of your essay
It should only be a couple of sentences long

16. Opening paragraph Make a direct reference to the passage (suggested)
Identify the text and its author
Address the question (Capote’s view of Holcomb)
Specifically mention the elements you will refer to (diction, tone, etc.)

17. Samples Intro A
In the opening of In Cold Blood, Truman Capote presents a picture of the town of Holcomb, Kansas. Through structure, selection of detail, and a detached tone, he makes it clear that he views Holcomb as dull and ordinary.

18. Sample Intro B
Holcomb, Kansas. Holcomb, Kansas. Even the sound of the place is boring and uninteresting. Moreover, Truman Capote seems to agree with this in his opening to In Cold Blood. I, too, would be inclined to pass by this sleepy, bland, and undistinguished hamlet. This view is developed through the author’s tone, structure, and selection of detail.

19. Sample Intro C
“Like the waters of the river, like the motorists on the highway, and like the yellow trains streaking down the Santa Fe tracks, drama in the shape of exceptional happenings had never stopped here.” This is the town of Holcomb, Kansas. Using a reportorial tone, specific structure, and selection of detail, Capote introduces the reader to this unremarkable town in the opening of In Cold Blood.

20. Sample Intro D
In Cold Blood is a very appropriate title, because Capote presents a cold and unemotional view of Holcomb, Kansas. His tone, structure, and selection of detail create a distant and detached picture of this desolate farm community.

21. Sample Intro E
Truman Capote opens with a passage describing a small town called Holcomb, Kansas. Capote uses a variety of elements to express his view.

22. Developing Body Paragraphs
Present your analysis
Use specific references and details from the passage
Don’t just paraphrase
Place quotation mark around exact words
Citations are not necessary; integrate author in sentence
Integrate quotes; condense quotes

23. Body paragraphs continued
Use ‘connective tissue’ to establish adherence to the questions
--use repetition of key ideas in prompt and in your opening paragraph
--Use echo words/synonyms (town, village, hamlet)
Stay on topic

24. A.P. We know it stands of Advanced Placement BUT……
Keep in mind the people who read your essay joke that it means “Address the Prompt.”
In other words……be sure you do what the questions is asking; stay on topic

25. A.P. Refer back to your prewriting often
Look at the “In this essay I have to…” statement that you wrote
If you get stuck in the middle of the essay, you can actually write the above phrase in your essay. Keep writing until you get back on track. Then, cross out the phrase.

26. Concluding paragraph
Forget everything you’ve learned about conclusions
Yes, really!!!!
Do NOT summarize in your concluding paragraph

27. Bad Conclusion
Capote’s imagery, tone, and diction convey his view about Holcomb. Through these devices we get the idea that Capote views the town as dull and ordinary.
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28. Instead, write a conclusion like this:
Holcomb may be dull and boring, but Capote hints that the “quiet” and “ordinary” town may be disrupted. Something other than wheat is on the horizon.
The last two paragraphs contain a shift. Capote contrasts the town with the school and foreshadows a change. This contrast may indicate more to come for the town of Holcomb.