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Writing a Literary Analysis Essay: A Student Guide to Analysis. Understanding the concepts and intricacies of literary analysis By Mr. Ramirez. There are Different Types of Essays? Yes , Don’t Freak Out!. Different Types of Essays.
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Writing a Literary Analysis Essay:A Student Guide to Analysis Understanding the concepts and intricacies of literary analysis By Mr. Ramirez
Different Types of Essays • Narrative Essay – In a narrative essay, the writer tells a story about a real-life experience. • Descriptive Essay – A descriptive essay paints a picture with words. A writer might describe a person, place, object, or even memory of special significance. • Persuasive Essay – The goal of the persuasive essay is to convince the reader to accept the writer’s point of view or recommendation. The writer must build a case using facts and logic, as well as examples, expert opinion, and sound reasoning. • Expository Essay – The expository essay is an informative piece of writing that presents a balanced analysis of a topic. In an expository essay, the writer explains or defines a topic, using facts, statistics, and examples. • Analysis Essay –There are many types of analysis, most notably, literary and rhetorical. An analysis essay requires you to take something apart to see HOW it works. To write an analysis, you need to think about how each part of something contributes to the success of the whole. Caution! Make sure that you're NOT just summarizing the original article, story, novel, poem, etc. Go beyond simply telling us WHAT you are talking about: describe HOW and WHY its elements function.
What is a Literary Analysis • Example of you listening to my lecture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhiCFdWeQfA • The purpose of a literary analysis essay is to carefully examine and sometimes evaluate a work of literature or an aspect of a work of literature. As with any analysis, this requires you to break the subject down into its component parts. (This concept is referred to as Chunking). • Examining the different elements of a piece of literature is not an end in itself but rather a process to help you better appreciate and understand the work of literature as a whole.
Choosing a Topic • Some students need guidance when choosing a topic, but others have ideas that they would like to explore. Topics can be divided into the main literary elements: • Characters • Themes • Literary devices • Setting • Narrative • Critique • Social themes
Establishing Direction • Writing ultimately boils down to the development of an idea.Your objective in writing a literary analysis essay is to convince the person reading your essay that you have supported the idea you are developing. • Therefore, your essay must have a central idea (thesis), it must have several paragraphs that grow systematically out of the central idea, and everything in it must be directly related to the central ideaand must contribute to the reader’s understanding of that central idea. • REMAIN FOCUSED ON THE CENTRAL IDEA!
The Basics About Analysis • 1. Your essay must cover the topic you are writing about. • 2. Your essay must have a central idea (stated in your thesis) that governs its development. • 3. Your essay must be organized so that every part contributessomething to the reader’s understanding of the central idea. • YOUR EVIDENCE SHOULD SUPPORT YOUR CLAIM!
Writing an Argument • When writing a literary analysis, you will focus on specific attribute(s) of the text(s). • When discussing these attributes, you will want to make sure that you are making a specific, arguable point (thesis) about these attributes. • You will defend this point with reasons and evidence drawn from the text.
Beginning an Essay • Getting started can be tough. • Truly, it does not matter where you choose to begin your essay, however at some point you must decide to actually put something on paper. Here are a few options for getting started:
Beginning an Essay • Begin with the Thesis Statement (Central Idea, Claim) • Begin with a Hook (Capturing the attention of your audience) • Answer a question that you pose to yourself • Find evidence and begin by developing your body paragraphs • Visual Planning (Outline, bubble map, graphic organizer, etc.)
What is a Thesis Statement? • The thesis statement tells your reader what to expect: it is a restricted, precisely worded declarative sentence that states the purpose of your essay--the point you are trying to make. • Without a carefully conceived thesis, an essay has no chance of success! • Typically, the thesis statement falls at the end of your introductory paragraph.
Introduction • The introduction to your literary analysis essay should try to capture your reader’s interest. To bring immediate focus to your subject, you may want to use a quotation, a brief anecdote, a startling statement, or a combination of these. You may also want to include background information relevant to your thesis and necessary for the reader to understand the position you are taking. • In addition, you need to include the title of the work of literature and name of the author.
Sample Introduction: • The first paragraph of Alberto Alvaro Rios‟s short story “The Secret Lion” presents a twelve-year-old boy‟s view of growing up—everything changes. As the narrator informs the reader, when the magician pulls a tablecloth out from under a pile of dishes, children are amazed at the “stay-the-same part,” while adults focus only on the tablecloth itself (42). Adults have the benefit of experience and know the trick will work as long as the technique is correct. When people “grow up,” they gain this experience and knowledge but lose their innocence and sense of wonder. In other words, the price paid for growing up is a permanent sense of loss. This tradeoff is central to “The Secret Lion.” The key symbols in the story reinforce its main theme: change is inevitable and always accompanied by a sense of loss.
Gather Textual Evidence • Collecting material to answer or support your question is often a time-consuming stage, because most of the close reading will occur here. It's important for students to know that they're allowed to research the topic or text before starting to write. • Quotation: When providing evidence word for word from a primary or secondary source, students should be reminded to use quotation marks only if the words have not been altered. • Summary: Students summarize a piece of evidence by restating it in a shorter form using their own words. • Paraphrase: Students explain a piece of evidence using their own words.
The Body Paragraphs • The term regularly used for the development of the central idea of a literary analysis essay is the body. In this section you present the paragraphs that support your thesis statement. Good literary analysis essays contain an explanation of your ideas and evidence from the text (short story, poem, play) that supports those ideas. (TIEAC) Topic Sentence – What you are saying in the paragraph Introduction of Evidence – Where it comes from Evidence to support Topic Sentence – Quotes, etc. Analysis of the Evidence – What does the quote mean Conclusion – What the paragraph proved
The Body Paragraphs • Each paragraph should contain a topic sentence (usually the first sentence of the paragraph) which states one of the topics associated with your thesis, combined with some assertion about how the topic will support the central idea. • A good topic sentence should, relate the details of the paragraph to your thesis statement, and tie the details of the paragraph together.
Developing your Analysis • The substance of each of your developmental paragraphs(the body of your essay) will be the explanations, summaries, paraphrases, specific details, and direct quotations you need to support and develop the more general statement you have made in your topic sentence. • Analytical writing, however, answers to the "why" question. When students consider the question, "Why is this point important?", it pushes them beyond mere description into ideas that are convincing, argumentative, and defend a position.
Conclusions • Your literary analysis essay should have a concluding paragraph that gives your essay a sense of completeness and lets your readers know that they have come to the end of your paper. • Your concluding paragraph might restate the thesis in different words, summarize the main points you have made, or make a relevant comment about the literary work you are analyzing, but from a different perspective. Do not introduce a new topic in your conclusion.
Conclusions (cont’d) • Return to the theme or themes in the introduction. This strategy brings the reader full circle. For example, if you begin by describing a scenario, you can end with the same scenario as proof that your essay is helpful in creating a new understanding. You may also refer to the introductory paragraph by using key words or parallel concepts and images that you also used in the introduction. • Synthesize, don’t summarize: Include a brief summary of the paper’s main points, but don’t simply repeat things that were in your paper. Instead, show your reader how the points you made and the support and examples you used fit together. Pull it all together.
Conclusions (cont’d) • Include a provocative insight or quotation from the research or reading you did for your paper. • Propose a course of action, a solution to an issue, or questions for further study. This can redirect your reader’s thought process and help her to apply your info and ideas to her own life or to see the broader implications. • Point to broader implications.
References • You can find this ppt on my website, as usual, under the title: Writing an Analysis Essay. • Various information was borrowed from the following websites: • http://www.bucks.edu • http://www.edutopia.org • http://www.writingcenter.unc.edu • https://owl.english.purdue.edu
