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LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY PLANNING SHEET
Journal Prompt: What do the customs and beliefs portrayed in the passage from Fahrenheit 451 reveal about that society, and how can our society relate? Write a 3-minute free response-journal reflection on the meaning of the above prompt.
Complete the essay planning sheet below before writing your essay. Include only literary devices you plan to focus on in your essay for the chart. Although you may not use the model paragraph we wrote together as a class, it is highly advised that you use the paragraphs you wrote as a group, then independently, and had graded in Lesson 2 for this assignment.
INTRO3-5 sentences
Begin with lead-in statements
End with a thesis statement / Lead-in statement –Intro of broad subject: Lead in statements might (1) make a striking assertion, (2) provide an anecdote or example that helps to
illustrate your subject, (3) use an interesting detail, statistic, or quote, or (4) ask a provocative question. Regardless of your approach, you need to let your reader know about the broad subject of the essay.
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Thesis Statement –
Sample: Shakespeare uses metaphor and an ominous tone to demonstrate that corruption comes with the gaining of power.
Even if you play around with the structure, be sure to include the following elements in your thesis:
1.title of text (unless it’s recently been mentioned in the introduction);
2. author’s name (You may refer to the author by his/her last name if the author’s full name was previously mentioned.)
3. two literary elements (or more, pay attention to the number required in the prompt). The first device will be the one you wrote about in Lesson 2. The second device will be any other that is used in the Fahrenheit 451 passage.
4. an active verb (such as demonstrates, displays, reveals, portrays, shows, etc.) saying what the author does.
5. a thematic statement - is a message about life or human nature; it’s something the author seems to believe is universally true. It must be arguable, it must be universal, and it must be a complete sentence all by itself. However, a theme cannot be 1) just a topic, 2) just an opinion, 3) a fact, 4) a suggestion. Ideally, the thematic statement will not be a cliché and will imply some sort of cause and effect.) Example: Corruption comes with the gaining of power. / Write your introduction here. Begin with your lead-in statements and end with your thesis statement.
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BODY #1
Topic Sentence (pattern 1)
3 Chunks (sentence patterns 2-3-4)
Concluding Sentence (pattern 5) / The topic sentence should support what you said in the thesis using parallel structure. Therefore, it should include both the literary element and the theme. Example: Shakespeare uses metaphor to assert that corruption comes with the gaining of power.
You will write your two body paragraphs using the same numbering system from Lesson 2. Therefore, you will have 3 chunk sections (sentence patterns 2-3-4) including evidence, citations, support, and examples.
Now that your paragraphs from Lesson 2 are being used as part of an essay, you will need to tweak your topic sentences and some wording here and there to make sure you are answering the prompt for the essay, not just the device specific prompts you wrote about for Lesson 2. / Plan your 1st Body Paragraph here. Be sure to change your topic sentence so that it addresses the essay’s prompt.
Topic Sentence ______
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Chunk #1 citation ______
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Chunk #2 citation ______
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Chunk #3 citation ______
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BODY #2
Topic Sentence (pattern 1)
3 Chunks (sentence patterns 2-3-4)
Concluding Sentence (pattern 5) / The topic sentence should support what you said in the thesis using parallel structure. Therefore, it should include both the literary element and the theme. Example: Shakespeare uses metaphor to assert that corruption comes with the gaining of power.
You will write your two body paragraphs using the same numbering system from Lesson 2. Therefore, you will have 3 chunk sections (sentence patterns 2-3-4) including evidence, citations, support, and examples.
Now that your paragraphs from Lesson 2 are being used as part of an essay, you will need to tweak your topic sentences and some wording here and there to make sure you are answering the prompt for the essay, not just the device specific prompts you wrote about for Lesson 2. / Plan your 2nd Body Paragraph here. Be sure to change your topic sentence so that it addresses the essay’s prompt.
Topic Sentence ______
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Chunk #1 citation ______
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Chunk #2 citation ______
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Chunk #3 citation ______
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CONCLUSION
2-3 Sentences
Restate Thesis Statement
Universal message or real world lesson / The concluding paragraph should include a general summary statement that recaps the thesis, a sentence that restates the major points of argument, and a wrap-up statement. The conclusion could also contain the end of a split anecdote that would finish the story begun in the introduction. The wrap-up statement could contain insights of the essay writer, encourage the reader to take action, emphasize the importance of one of the points of argument, or create a solid sense of finality.
The “So what?” section of your essay – sometimes
referred to as the “kicker” statement. You may discuss ideas beyond what has been stated in the essay: draw a further conclusion, or give an opinion. However, you should not include new evidence in your last paragraph. / Plan your conclusion lesson here.
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Name ______
Literary Analysis Essay
Prompt: In the following excerpt from Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury introduces a society unlike our own. Write an essay in which you analyze how Bradbury uses patterns of language in this passage to reveal the customs and beliefs of this society. Base your essay on the provided planning sheet.
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Name______Period______
ESSAY GRADING SCALE
Read each box carefully looking at the differences among the levels 4-1.
Put an X on the box that applies. Average the five categories, and put grade on line below the boxes.
Categories / 4 / 3 / 2 / 1Focus -
Thesis & maintaining a controlling idea / Clear and direct answer to prompt with focus on thesis maintained throughout essay. / Answer may not be direct and clear. Essay veers off topic slightly. / Answer is vague and confusing, lacking clarity. Repeatedly veers off topic. / Answer is attempted, but is loosely related to the prompt and focus on the thesis is very weak.
Content-
Details & quality of development / Details and support are accurate and perfectly relevant to the thesis and supporting ideas. / Details and support are mostly accurate and one-two may not be entirely relevant to the thesis. / Details and support are partially accurate; a few of the examples are not relevant to thesis. / Details and support are incorrect or are incoherent or entirely irrelevant.
Organization-
Pattern & transitions / Organization perfectly follows a logical continuity and proper transitions support the flow and connections between paragraphs and sentences. / Organization has lapses in a logical continuity; transitions are absent in one-two places either between sentences or paragraphs. / Organization is attempted but continuity is broken in multiple places. Transitions are weak, but attempted in spots. / Organization is present in some spots and a lack of transitions results in a lack of flow and a sense of choppiness.
Voice -
Style, syntax, diction choice. / Word choice is precise and vivid. Sentence order is varied (reverse word order) and sentence lengths vary, adding to sophisticated mature style. / One – two words are vague and vivid description lapses in one-two spots. One-two consecutive sentences are exactly the same in structure and one –two consecutive sentences may be same length. / Word choice is vague in multiple spots and sentences lack variation, resulting in an average level of maturity in voice. / Word choice and sentence lengths are repetitive resulting in a voice that is very immature and a voice below what would be expected of a student at this academic level.
Conventions – Grammar, usage, & mechanics / No errors evident. / One-two errors may be evident but do not interfere with meaning and flow. / Three + errors that cause reader to hesitate with confusion while reading. / Six + errors that cause challenges for reader in comprehending the meaning.
SELF-EVALUATION - I give myself a ______because . . . . (On lines below justify your score using words from the scale.)
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TEACHER EVALUATION- Grade______Comments______
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