At the start and end of your essay…

1. At the start and end of your essay… Answer the “So What?” Question, which may include: • Why is this work/topic important, and why is your particular position on the work/topic noteworthy? • How does the work/topic provide insights into human nature? • How is the work/topic connected with the author’s overall purpose? • How does the work/topic relate to the real world?

2. Introduction Paragraph: 1. Broad Lens/Hook/Attention-Getter/Address the “So What?” Question: Here you demonstrate why your analysis should matter to the reader by showing how it relates to life outside the work and/or human nature in general. • Shocking or universal statement • Quotation from famous person or the work • Rhetorical question • Brief (2-3 sentence) story related to topic 2. Introduce title, author, and main characters of the work/summarize the work. 3. Preview Main Ideas: • Write a separate sentence stating the main idea of each body paragraph you will write. (Ex. If you will write five body paragraphs, you need five preview sentences.) • Cover main ideas in the same order in both the intro and body. 4. Narrow Lens/State Thesis

3. Writing an Effective Thesis Statement A good thesis will be: • Arguable. “The Great Gatsby describes New York society in the 1920s” isn’t a thesis—it’s a fact. • Provable through textual evidence. “Hamlet is a confusing but ultimately well-written play” is a weak thesis because it’s not a claim that can be proved or supported with examples taken from the play itself. • Surprising. “Both George and Lenny change a great deal in Of Mice and Men” is a weak thesis because it’s obvious. A really strong thesis will argue for a reading of the text that is not immediately apparent. • Specific. “Dr. Frankenstein’s monster tells us a lot about the human condition” is almost a good thesis statement, but it’s still too vague. What does the writer mean by “a lot”? How does the monster tell us so much about the human condition?

4. Ideally, your introduction should pique the reader’s interest by suggesting how your argument is surprising or otherwise counterintuitive. Literary essays make unexpected connections and reveal less-than-obvious truths.

5. Body Paragraphs:Answer the following questions… • What does the writer do? • Where does the writer do it? (examples) • Why does the writer do it? (purpose/effect) • How would the work be different without it? In Jane Eyre, Bronte uses nature imagery to foreshadow major events. Toward the beginning of the novel, the weather is cold, stormy, and ominous, which foreshadows the violence and alienation Jane is about to experience at the hands of her relatives. Later in the novel, following Rochester’s proposal to Jane, lightning strikes the oak tree and splits it in two; this foreshadows Jane and Rochester’s break-up. If Bronte did not provide clues through nature imagery, the major events of the novel would seem to happen out of nowhere. Catching readers too much by surprise could alienate them, but Bronte uses descriptions of natural elements to forewarn readers just enough to keep them engaged.

6. Conclusion Paragraph: 1. Narrow Lens/Restate Thesis: • State the same main idea as your original thesis, but use slightly different wording. 2. Summarize/Synthesize Main Ideas: • Touch on the main idea from each body paragraph • Link the main ideas to each other; show the interconnectedness of your points 3. Broad Lens/Address the “So What?” Question: Here you again emphasize why your analysis should matter to the reader by showing how it relates to life outside the work and/or human nature in general. • Discuss why the topic/work and your position are important • Broaden your focus • Relate ideas to life outside the work and/or human nature in general The introduction and conclusion mirror each other.