Literary Analysis Advice:
Your essay should have a unique and interesting title. The title simply gets centered, but not underlined or bolded.
Your introduction should name the titleandauthor and include a few, brief sentences that summarize the basic plot. There is no need for additional summary anywhere else in your paper. Remember, your task is to prove your specific argument, not to explain the entire story.
If you’re writing about a short story, do not call it a novel or book. Titles of “Short Stories” go in quotation marks.
If you’re writing about a novel or book, do not call it a story. Titles of Novels get italicized.
Remember to write in literary present tense (e.g. “The dog dies.”)
For quotations, be sure to introduce them with a complete sentence that has context (information that situates the quote in the plot of the story, in other words, what was happening around the time this quote was said). Follow that lead-in sentence with a COLON:
Cite quotations with the page number followed by a period: “For example, this is my quotation” (7). You should not write pg. or page before the #.
1. Complete sentence: “Quote” (#).
2. Dependent clause, “Quote” (#). Ex. Henry says, “I hate that dog!” (7) Henry says when he first sees Red, “I hate that dog!” (7)
3. You use the quote to make a complete sentence.
Ex. Henry wants to “earn a dog” (8).
Henry is so angry that he calls his mother “a dog” (8).
Henry’s mother tells him that to “earn a dog” he’ll have to sell his organs for cash (8).
Follow all of your quotations with 3-5 sentences of analysis. Don’t bother restating the quotation in your own words or paraphrasing the quotation. Instead, tell the reader your ideas about the significance of this quotation. How does it prove your thesis? What is your unique understanding of this moment in the story and its importance?
Things to avoid:
Repeated words (even if they’re part of your thesis). Find synonyms.
Beginning sentences the same way. Vary your sentences!
Unconfident language (e.g. “This sort of relates to my thesis.”) and Overconfident language (e.g. “It is obvious that…”, “Anyone would agree that…”)
Generalizing (e.g. “all people everywhere experience problems”), Fortune-Telling (e.g. “had the characters never been born, the plot would be different”), or Preaching (e.g. “no person should behave this way”).
“This quote shows that” or “This means that” or “On page 9” or “I believe” or “In my opinion”
How to Write a Conclusion:
Do not bother restating what you already said (your subtopics)—you just said it! Instead, *say something new*.
You should consider the following: If you were going to expand this 2- 3 page paper into a considerably longer work (of 20-30 pages), what would you focus on next? What questions are left unanswered? How can you broaden this study to a larger one about literature or human nature?
You may also choose to end your paper with a relevant personal anecdote, or with a thoughtful connection to a different text. This could also be a chance for you to address and refute counterarguments.