How to Write a Literary Analysis and How to Write about Poetry.

Directions for Essay Two Read all six steps!
Step One:
Understand the Assignment Before writing the essay, read the following documents in Resources for Writing Assignments in the course Content:
How to Write a Literary Analysis and How to Write about Poetry
Instructions for Doing Research
Rubric for Grading Essays
Guidelines for Using MLA Style
Example of a Works Cited Page
Sample Student Essays A Word of Caution: if you do not read/ understand the documents listed above, you will not fully understand the assignment and may not make a passing grade. Many of you did not read all of these instructions for Paper One.
Step Two:
Understand the Requirements (see Rubric for Grading Essays) Each Essay is required to have/contain the following:
3 4 typed pages, not counting Works Cited page
Times New Roman, 12 point font
A Works Cited page, even if only a primary source is used
A critical argument, a thesis, based on one of the questions provided (see questions in Step Three)
Essays thesis is supported with quotes/examples from the primary source; remember to always introduce quotes and then explain them after you have correctly cited them. Put your quotes into context for the reader.
Essays thesis is supported also with at least one secondary source (the sources provided in the course content are highly recommended. If you use other scholarly sources not provided in the course content, to GALILEO to find them. Follow the Instructions for Doing Research provided in Unit 1. More than one secondary sources is not required but strongly encouraged. Do NOT use online sources, particularly Wikipedia or Sparknotes if you do, you will fail the assignment.
Logical organization that flows, using clear transitions between sentences and paragraphs
Grammatically/mechanically correct
MLA style (see Guidelines for Using MLA Style) correctly used
Submitted in the Dropbox tool. Essay must be in Word format; PDF files are not accepted. Essays submitted by email attachment are not accepted.
Original work do not plagiarize.
All papers submitted to the Dropbox are checked for plagiarism through turnitin.com. Read: How to Check Originality in the Dropbox in the course Content.
Step Three:
Answer the following questions in a fully-developed essay. (See How to Write a Literary Analysis in Course Resources.)
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Define American Modernism; include specific examples and from the class notes or other scholarly source. Use ONE of the following texts to define the term: The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock, Pauls Case, or Mending Wall or one of the other Modern texts in the course content.

Step Four:
Plan and Write the Essay Plan your essay: narrow and focus the question you have selected. Make sure you have a debatable, narrow focus that can be fully supported in a short essay. Then after you have selected your primary text, search for evidence in the text to support your argument; also search for scholarly articles that may support your focus.
1. Do not simply retell the texts plot; your thesis is an analysis of a text.
2. Define all relevant terms. For example, if you are discussing To Build a Fire as an example of Naturalism, then you must define American Naturalism as a literary movement, using a specific scholarly definition. Cite your sources.
3. Relate your thesis back to the storys meaning: This point is extremely important to remember. Always relate your purpose, back to the storys meaning. Apply what I call the so what question. Heres an example: lets say you want to write about Grandison as a trickster figure in The Passing of Grandison. Well, how does looking at the trickster figure help us understand the meaning of The Passing of Grandison? Fully think out and explain to your audience the essays purpose keep your audience in mind what do you want your audience to understand after reading your paper?
Structure of the Essay Introduction:
An introduction may be more than one paragraph; use several if needed
The introduction will achieve the following: Identify author and story title you are writing about Include a brief overview of the plot as it relates to your focus; if you explain who your characters are, the setting, etc., then your ideas will be placed in context for the reader always place your ideas in context for the reader. Establish and fully explain your thesis, your purpose for writing; the thesis is a specific critical argument, not just a plot summary
Define relevant terms The thesis will be clearly defined/ established; do not wait to explain the purpose in the conclusion.
Do not begin with general statements; do not begin general and then narrow; begin with your purpose. Body:
The body of your paper supports your thesis; you must fully support your purpose or focus. Basically youre doing a close reading of your text to support your focus you must find evidence in the text to support your reading.
Do not include anything that does not support your thesis. An example is background on the author; you do not need any biographical information on the author unless this relates to your focus.
Remember you are supporting a particular reading of the story, a point of view, and to do this, you must supply evidence from the story. You are required to use specific examples and short quotes from your primary source.
You may also use evidence from secondary sources, scholarly articles; the use of secondary sources is strongly encouraged.
Do NOT use unreliable online sources in your paper, even for literary terms: use the definitions provided in the course Content. Using these sources may result in failure of the assignment. Conclusion: You do not need to repeat information in the conclusion; if you have already said everything, you may not need a formal conclusion.
NEVER say, In conclusion; I can see it is the end of the paper.