Writing
a literary analysis should be no more difficult than writing any
other persuasive-pattern essays.
A literary (or "critical analysis") is organized by the
same pattern of thesis and support
that is used for 90% of college
writing and workplace writing.
Comparing two sample essay outlines for five-paragraph essays written
using my trademark writing skeleton format will make the similarities
obvious.
Sample essay outline: non-literary
Here's a writing skeleton for a hypothetical non-literary
essay:
Thesis: Computers can hurt you.(The body paragraphs prove
the point by showing how computers can hurt you.)
Body paragraph 1 topic sentence: Computers can hurt you
because computers can cause eyestrain.
Body paragraph 2 topic sentence: Computers can hurt you
because computers can cause repetitive stress injury to hands.
Body paragraph 3 topic sentence: Computers can hurt you
because computers can cause neck and back strain.
Sample essay outline: literary
Here's a writing skeleton for a hypothetical literary analysis:
Thesis: Brilliant Author uses nature to underscore his theme
that life is a cycle. (The body paragraphs show reasons why the
writer believes that thesis to be true.)
Body paragraph 1 topic sentence: Brilliant Author uses natural
settings to underscore his theme that life is a cycle.
Body paragraph 2 topic sentence: Brilliant Author uses nature
metaphors to underscore his theme that life is a cycle.
Body paragraph 1 topic sentence: Brilliant Author uses nature
symbolically to underscore his theme that life is a cycle.
Paragraph development
Students would develop each body paragraph following the standard
expository paragraph format
when writing a literary analysis from the outline.
The beauty of that expository paragraph format for literary
analysis work is that it limits the amount of source material
a student can include.
Keeping borrowed material to a minimum is extremely important for
college-bound students. Limiting the amount of borrowing encourages
students to think and reduces the likelihood of plagiarism.
Most of the colleges at which I have taught limit to 20-25%
of the total word count the amount that can be borrowed
material. Quotation is typically limited to about 10% of the total
paper.
If you teach students to write using the persuasive essay pattern,
you won't have to teach them a separate method for writing a literary
analysis.
I'm not opposed to doing less work; are you?
created: 05-Jun-2008 updated:18-Sep-2008