Interpretive Analyses and Writing about Literature
Interpretation is searching for meaning. You will frequently receive assignments in
college that require you to explore the meaning of written documents, literary works,
cultural artifacts, social situations, or natural events. These assignments will usually ask
you to compare, explain, analyze, discuss, or do a reading of something. You are
encouraged to move beyond simple description.
How to Approach Writing an Interpretive Analysis
1. Discover an aspect of the subject that is meaningful to you—by connecting your
own thoughts and experiences to what you are studying, you develop fresh
interpretations.
2. Develop a thoughtful stance—you are exploring the possible meaning of
something. Therefore you write as if you are taking your readers on an
intellectual journey.
3. Use an intellectual framework—to interpret your subject effectively, you have to
analyze it using a relevant perspective or intellectual framework. No matter the
framework, analysis often means taking something apart and then putting it back
together by figuring out how the parts make up a cohesive whole. You must treat
the whole as more than the sum of its parts and recognize that determining
meaning is a complex problem with multiple solutions.
4. Discovering your thesis—it is useful to explore separate aspects of your subject
before creating a thesis.
a. Take notes about what you read and write a summary of each paragraph or
certain sections. Look for interesting issues that emerge as you work on
your summary and/or notes.
b. Ask yourself questions about the subject you are analyzing and write
down any interesting answers. Think about the kind of questions your
professor would ask. Research is also a good place to help answer the
questions.
5. Make your thesis focused and purposeful—the subject is meant to be complex,
you are not expected to write about all of its dimensions. Focus on one or two
issues or questions that are key to understanding the subject. The purpose of an
analysis is to make a point about your subject.
6. Introduce the general issue, give a clear thesis and give relevant context—don’t
be surprised if your introduction si more than one paragraph. There is a lot of
introducing to do.
a. Identify the general issue, concept or problem at hand.
b. Provide relevant background information.
c. Name the specific item or items you will focus on in your analysis.
d. State the thesis you will support and develop
e. Does not need to be done in this order.
7. Plan your paper so that each point/each paragraph supports your thesis—from
beginning to end readers must be able to follow the train of thought in your interpretive
analysis and see how each point is related to the thesis.