+1 862 207 3288 “Literary analysis is a vital stage in the development of students’ critical thinking skills. Bloom’s
Taxonomy illustrates that analysis should come at the fourth level, right after comprehension and
application. What this means is that students must be able to understand and describe the text before
they are able to analyze its elements. […] It’s very important for […] student[s] to understand that
literary analysis is indeed a process where there is no right or wrong answer. This empowers students
to be passionate about their topics and, most importantly, encourages them to look beyond the words on
the page.” ~ Rusul Alrubail
Requirements:
Choose a short story to analyze (See list below) and look beyond/beneath the obvious, find/discover
something deep/significant and write about it.
Assume the reader knows the story, so don’t spend much (if any) time on summary/story summarization;
If you do/must summarize your story, then be brief and do it in the introduction (just a couple/few
sentences) prior to the thesis statement (which should end your Introductory Paragraph).
Do not feel that you have to cover/analyze the whole story–find your point (or two) of significance
and focus on it (them).
4-5 pages (1,200-1,250 words)
MLA format (Links to an external site.):
1 inch margins, all-around
Double-spaced (no extra lines/space between paragraphs)
Times New Roman
Font size 12
Left Justified
Works Cited Page: Alphabetical listing of outside sources formatted with hanging indents.
Research
Internet-based resources, which can include video, podcasts, articles, blogs, music, et.al.
Link to Sample Student Essays and Essay Help: http://www.roanestate.edu/owl/writinglitanalysis1.html
Please remember a couple of things:
Outside sources Get More Out of Google.pptxPreview the documentView in a new window (Links to an
external site.)
incorporate at least 3, but no more than 5 outside sources to help you support your short story’s
analysis.
MLA formatting is expected, not only for your essay, but also for the “Works Cited” page you will
create to cite the sources you used in your essay. (Note: Your “Works Cited” page does not count toward
your total “word count.”)
Peer Review
This essay will be peer reviewed by 2 other people through the LMS/Canvas. Please have a rough draft
ready at the appointed time–a rough draft meets the minimum requirements (word count, included) of the
essay.
Short Story
“The Monkey’s Paw” by W.W. Jacobs
Resources:
Purdue University Online Writing Lab: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/01/
Roane State Online Writing Lab: http://www.roanestate.edu/owl/elementslit.html
Edutopia: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/reaching-literary-analysis-rusul-alrubail
Discussion/Lecture Notes:
Choose 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.
Focus the Topic
Here is where many students will need to do a lot of brainstorming, outlining, and specific thinking
about the element on which they would like to focus.
The brainstorming process involves mapping out the different aspects of the chosen element.
Make a choice by narrowing down the selection and focusing the ideas.
Come up with a question to answer (thesis statement): What do you want to explore about the topic? Why
does it stand out to you?
Answer the “why” question. Instead of letting students simply describe the text, “why” pushes them to
analyze and even synthesize. This aspect is vital to student understanding, as most of the time a
teacher is able to identify a relevant thesis related to modern-day issues and concepts. Here is where
real-world application, analysis, and synthesis can begin to form in this piece of writing.
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. Many students feel that they should not be using Google or
Wikipedia to research their texts. Here is where the teacher can have an honest discussion about
digital citizenship, and how to tell credible academic sources from non-credible ones.
Show students that close reading and gathering evidence doesn’t have to be a mundane, one-dimensional
task.
Identify common themes, repetitions, and patterns.
Categorize elements, tone, and narrative style.
Highlight characterization, setting, and foreshadowing.
Label character types, symbols, and metaphors.
Introduce, Evidence, Analyze
Learning through writing and literary analysis happens through stages (see Bloom’s Taxonomy (Links to
an external site.)). At this stage of writing, students have already accomplished remembering,
understanding, and applying. Next comes analysis.
Introduce
Students should introduce their point in one or two clear topic sentences. Next, it’s important to
provide evidence that supports the main topic in order to convince the reader of the stated point of
view. There are a few ways students can add their evidence.
Evidence
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.
At this stage, it’s important to use the lesson as a reminder to cite and give credit for words and
ideas that belong to others. A conversation with the class about academic honesty is very important to
help them understand intellectual property. This conversation will also prepare them for honesty and
ethics in the real or academic world.
Analyze
This critical stage is often a learning curve for many students. It’s important that the teacher helps
them distinguish between descriptive writing and analytical writing. Descriptive writing answers the
“who,” “what,” “where,” and “how” questions. It often tends to summarize the text. 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.
Conclusion
A strong conclusion outlines the main ideas of the essay, but it also works to provide a solution to a
real-life problem. Students can focus on concluding with what they hope to get out of their analysis,
or provide closure to the topic. Most importantly, students should seize the conclusion as an
opportunity to provide their own opinion and reflection about their process of analyzing the text. The
self-reflection here would be a vital key for teachers to assess the writing process and a great
opportunity to provide essential feedback to the student.
