WRITING PAPERS OF

LITERARY ANALYSIS
Key Points
If you are writing about poems,
remember that in poetry, while the line
is the most essential unit of sound, the
unit of meaning is the sentence, just
as in prose
If you are writing about fiction,
remember that summary alone is
worthless
Organization
Present a thesis (something that has to be
proved or back-up; arouses interest) and
marshals arguments to support it
Ernest Hemingway wrote many short stories,
some of which are as famous as his novels.
Hemingways short stories achieve through
compression and understatement
emotional effects as powerful as any he
achieved in his novels.
Organization
Introductory paragraph:
Background
Thesis statement
Brief description of theory (optional)
Body paragraph: arguments supporting
the thesis statement
Concluding paragraph
Organization
Give it a helpful title. Do not call it final
paper; do not give it the name of the
work you are writing about. Aim for an
unpretentious descriptive title, such as
Nature Imagery in Three Poems by
Modern Poets.
Content
Try to avoid using words with absolute
meaning, such as always, never, etc.
Avoid words with meanings cannot be
measured, such as beautiful, good, bad,
etc.
Avoid apologizing for what you say. No
need for such boring phrases as It seems
to me or In my opinion.
Be original: find the source or your ideas
and feelings within yourself.
Content
Use concepts and terms you have worked
with.
Never let the quotation just lie there on the
page inertly; make use of it, put it to work.
Avoid summary for its own sake.
Summarizing content in order to make a
point in your argument.

Compare:
Content
Hamlet then goes to talk with his mother in her
bedroom or closet and grows more and more angry
as he talks to her. Finally, he has a vision of his
fathers Ghost, and this restores him to some
calmness.

When Hamlet talks to his mother in her bedroom or

closet, his reproaches to her grow more and more
and angry and uncontrolled. Ironically, its only his
vision of the Ghost which she interprets as his
madness that restores him to some degree of
reasonableness.
Style
Use the first person singular as you would
in natural speaking. Avoid words or
phrases such as the present writer.
Offer your opinion freely, do not apologize
for them
Write without slang
Grammatically correct: use the past tense
to talk about biographical facts or
publication data, but the present tense to
talk about what goes on in a work of fiction
Documentation and Quoting
Use standard technique of quotation and
be consistent
If you are quoting poem, be sure to
retain the line breaks
Change nothing from your source
without showing that you are doing so
Guidelines for literary essay
Read the primary source more than once.
Do not focus in the paper you must write,
concentrate on the work you are reading.
The second time you read the primary
source, gear your reading toward those
elements of the work that deal with your
thesis.
Your thesis should be obvious to anyone who
has read the work.
Stay on track.