Objective for Today
O To craft and construct a clear and concise
THESIS statement.
You will need paper and pen.
Thesis statement
THESIS SENTENCE
INTRODUCTION
BODY PARAGRAPHS
CONCLUSION
Preparing to Write
O Good writing is close reading
O Read a work more than once looking for
symbols, foreshadowing, character
development.
O Annotating, marking your book.
Introductions
O To interest your reader
O To introduce your subject
O To state your thesis (hint to what is to come)
How to?
O Opening lead: Hook
O Author’s name and title
O Brief plot of work with a narrow focus
O Thesis statement
Avoid:
O Opening with a question or quote.
O Parroting prompt.
O Vague generalizations
Inverted Pyramid
Introduction
Generalizations
Title and author
Thesis
Function of a thesis
O It is the main point or purpose of a
paper/analysis—it is what you intend to
prove.
Your thesis statement should include two
parts: WHAT and WHY.
O *WHAT: What claim are you making about
the text?
O *WHY: Why should we care? Why is your
claim important? Your thesis should answer
the “so what?” question.
“Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a great
American novel.”
What’s wrong with this thesis statement?
“In Huckleberry Finn, Mark Twain develops a
contrast between life on the river and life on
the shore.”
Better? How so? What is still missing?
“Through its contrasting river and shore scenes,
Twain’s Huckleberry Finn suggests that to find the
true expression of American ideals, one must leave
‘civilized’ society and go back to nature.”
O In everyone’s life, there comes a time when
one must leave behind the innocence of
childhood and face the harsh realities of the
adult world. Although, most teenagers handle
this period with few problems, young Connie in
Joyce Carol Oates’ short story “Where are you
going?” faces her initialization into the
experienced world with much hardship. Connie
makes a mythic journey from innocence to
experience as she journeys with Arnold.
Through, characterization, Oates suggests that
Connie realizes she cannot return to her
innocent world, so she forges ahead to
encounter the harshness of her adult world.
O We as a species are torn between emotion
and reason. Often, the struggle is greatest
when we are put in the most dire
circumstances. The Road, by Cormac
McCarthy begins with a human head on a
stake in the middle of the road. It later follows
with a boy staring at a bloody mattress.
McCarthy demonstrates extreme graphic
violence to reflect the animalistic side of
human behavior and the constant struggle
with the inner beast.
O Toni Morrison’s Beloved is a poignant look at
the Black-American experience in a time
when society was dominated by the
inhumane treatment of slaves. Beloved’s
character provides not only suspense of
supernatural forces; but is used to highlight
Morrison’s overriding themes of ancestorelder relationships and the attempt to erase
the past.
O As the hawk flies through the sky during the
failing light of the coming evening, the world
grows still. In the poem “Evening Hawk” by
Robert Penn Warren, the hawk is used to
represent an ‘all knowing and all seeing’
figure, such as death. Here Warren sets the
scene with specific word choice utilizing
many different mathematical terms to
emphasis the precision and swiftness of the
hawk’s movements.
Writing Body Paragraphs
O Helps the reader follow your argument.
O Each body paragraph begins with a TOPIC
SENTENCE that relates to some aspect of the
THESIS. (HINT: this can be achieved by repeating
words from the thesis as the controlling idea in
your topic sentence.
O The analysis should focus on how the theme is
revealed.
O Quotations are part of evidence.
O Each paragraph develops some aspect to Thesis
O So, if the thesis is:
Through characters and their actions, Ibsen
illustrates the theme that pride leads to man’s
downfall.
TS= The power of pride is clearly seen in the
Torvald’s character.
+
Analysis+embedded text (quote)
Torvald’s perception on “what would others
think” establish his hubris.
Writing Conclusions
O Lets the reader know you have come to an
end.
O Should be a paragraph.
O Show how theme relates to everyone’s life
because of the universal condition.
The Four S’s:
O Signal= thus, then, therefore, so
O Summary= creative rewording of ideas (like
a final bow)…never repetition of thesis
verbatim.
O Significance= drive home point. What should
we glean from your paper.
O Speed=change tempo and style…end with a
clincher (never a quote).
Conclusion (specific to
general)…
REMIND: Additional
statements about the paper
topic. Mention some of your
best points.
• RELATE: General statement
that ends the essay (clincher).
Embedding quotes
O Guidelines for Quotes:
O Cannot stand alone as a sentence.
O Should not be back-to-back (must interpret evidence and explain
after each quote).
O Should not begin or end a paragraph (they are support for
statements made and need commentary after).
O Should all be four or fewer typed lines.
O Should be worked right into your writing.
O Do not always need to be full sentences / can be phrases (use
ellipses…to indicate left our part).
O Need to be in present tense since the paper is written in present
tense (must flow).
O Should not be dropped into writing suddenly.
We learn about Mrs. Ramsey's personality by observing
her feelings about other characters. For example, Mrs.
Ramsey has mixed feelings toward Mr. Tansley, but her
feelings seem to grow more positive over time as she
comes to know him better. At first Mrs. Ramsey finds
Mr. Tansley annoying, as shown especially when he
mentions that no one is going to the lighthouse. But
rather than hating him, at this point she feels pity: "she
pitied men always as if they lacked something . . ." (85).
Then later, during the gathering, pity turns to empathy
as she realizes that Mr. Tansley must feel inferior. He
must know, Mrs. Ramsey thinks, that "no woman would
look at him with Paul Rayley in the room" (106).
Finally, by the end of the dinner scene, she feels some
attraction to Mr. Tansley and also a new respect: "She
liked his laugh. . . . She liked his awkwardness. There
was a lot in that man after all" (110). In observing this
evolution in her attitude, we learn more about Mrs.
Ramsey than we do about Mr. Tansley. The change in
Mrs. Ramsey's attitude is not used by Woolf to show
that Mrs. Ramsey is fickle or confused; rather it is
used to show her capacity for understanding both the
frailty and complexity of human beings. This is a
central characteristic of Mrs. Ramsey's personality.
O As you choose quotations for a literary analysis,
remember the purpose of quoting. Your paper
develops an argument about what the author of the
text is doing--how the text "works." You use quotations
to support this
O argument; that is, you select, present, and discuss
material from the text specifically to "prove" your
point—to make your case--in much the same way a
lawyer brings evidence before a jury. Quoting for any
other purpose is counterproductive. Don't quote to
"tell the story" or otherwise convey basic information
about the text; assume the reader knows the text.
Don't quote just for the sake of quoting or just to fill
up space. Don't make the reader jump up and shout
"Irrelevant!"
O All quotes should have signal phrases (lead-
ins). These serve as the introduction to the
quote and should provide the context
needed to interpret the quote. Do not
depend on the quote to make the point for
you.
O You MUST:
O 1) lead-in to quote
O 2) give the quote in present tense
O 3) cite the author and page number (unless a
single work
O 4) give commentary
Types of Lead-ins
1.
The “somebody said” lead-in:
Ex. After he hears of Kemmerich’s death, Paul
comments, “I become faint, all at once I cannot do
any more. I won’t revile any more, it is senseless”
(Remarque 32).
2.
The “blended” lead-in:
Some of the quoted material is left out . What is
retained is blended right into the sentence.
Ex. Paul becomes disillusioned early on by the
war and views it as “senseless” (32).
3.
The “sentence” lead-in:
This lead-in is followed by a colon.
Ex. Paul evidently suffers from despair after the
death of his fellow soldier: “it is senseless” (32).
Common Lead-in Verbs
O Argues, asserts, believes, claims,
comments, declares, illustrates, notes
observes, reasons, reports, suggests, thinks,
writes.