CLAIM
In a literary analysis paragraph, your claim
is the topic sentence.
Your claim must support your thesis
statement (found in the introductory
paragraph).
Your claim must control the entire
paragraph. Everything that comes after the
claim (evidence and analysis) should set out
to prove the claim is true.
CONTEXT
Plot context sets up what is happening in the
story at the time the evidence is used.
You need to set up the evidence with the
necessary context to provide brief background
and to locate the reader in the text.
Context is also important because you must show
that you are using evidence in context.
You cannot simply choose any evidence to fit your
claim and argument. It must be correct. It must
be in context.
Without context, your reader may feel “lost.”
Finally, context should be brief and relevant.
Do not give a lot of “book summary.”
INTEGRATED EVIDENCE
You must integrate your evidence.
You cannot let evidence “stand alone” or
be a sentence by itself.
Either lead into the quote or exit the quote
with your own words.
Alternatively, you can take phrases from
the quote and use them in your sentence.
CITATION
At the end of the sentence, you need to
identify the origin of the evidence.
Example: blah blah blah” (Smith 36).
ANALYSIS
Analysis is an examination and discussion of how
and why the evidence proves the controlling idea
of your topic sentence or claim.
You need to provide analysis so your reader
understands how it proves your point.
The best way to create analysis is to answer the
question, “How does this evidence prove my claim
is true?”
DO NOT use the phrase “this quote shows” or
something similar.
DO NOT simply repeat what the evidence says.
REPEAT
Repeat the context, evidence, and analysis
as needed, until you have fully supported
the claim.
WHY USE EVIDENCE?
• Textual evidence is used to support your
thesis/argument. It is not used to make
the argument for you.
• The evidence helps you to prove that your
thesis/argument is true.
• Evidence gives credibility to your
thesis/argument.
HOW DO YOU
USE EVIDENCE?
• First, carefully select the best parts of the text
to support your thesis/argument.
• Second, abridge the selection to only the most
relevant and strongest evidence. Look for the
“power words and passages.”
• Third, integrate the evidence into your own
writing. -- Remember, the evidence is there to
support your argument, not to make it for you.
• Make any changes necessary so that the
evidence flows grammatically with your writing.
What is
“Evidence Integration”?
Evidence integration means incorporating
the evidence into your own writing.
You cannot let evidence “stand alone”
or be a sentence by itself.
Do not simply “drop in” your evidence.
You must connect the evidence with your
own words by using “signal phrases” or by
“weaving” it into your sentences.
How Do I
Integrate Evidence?
Standard Evidence Integration:
At a minimum, you must either lead into the
evidence or exit the evidence with your own
words. These are called “signal phrases.”
Natural Evidence Integration:
When possible, you should take phrases from the
evidence and use them within your own sentence.
This technique makes your argument “flow”
better, as you “weave” the evidence with your
own thoughts.
Standard
Evidence Integration
Standard Evidence Integration:
•
•
This type of integration uses “signal phrases” to
introduce a piece of evidence.
It is preferable to use this type of integration when you
want to attribute the idea to its source.
•
•
Henry David Thoreau explained, “I went to the woods because I wished
to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I
could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die,
discover that I had not lived.”
Standard integration should be connected to your
argument and integrated in a way to allow your reader
to understand the relevance of the selected evidence.
Standard
Evidence Integration
Do not leave your evidence “naked.” Make
sure it is clearly connected to your argument.
WRONG:
Grendel describes how he knows it is
time to start his war again. “I feel my anger
coming back, building like invisible fire, and at
last, when my soul can no longer resist, I go up"
(Gardner 9).
Why is this wrong? Note how the evidence is standing alone as
its own sentence. You can not do this. You must either lead into the
evidence, or lead out of it with your own words.
Standard
Evidence Integration
WRONG:
Grendel describes how he knows it is time to
start his war again. “I feel my anger coming back, building
like invisible fire, and at last, when my soul can no longer
resist, I go up" (Gardner 9).
CORRECT:
Grendel describes how he knows it is time to
start his war again. He states, “I feel my anger coming back,
building like invisible fire, and at last, when my soul can no
longer resist, I go up" (Gardner 9).
FIXING THE ERROR: In this example, by simply adding
the phrase “He states,” the evidence is now integrated with
the writing.
How to use
“Natural”
Evidence Integration
Natural
Evidence Integration
Whenever possible, try to integrate the
evidence so that it flows “naturally” with
your own writing. Instead of integrating
the evidence by using something like:
the character states, “yada yada yada,”
use the evidence as an integrated part of
your own writing. It makes it better!
Natural
Evidence Integration
Remember, evidence should never be used to make the
argument for you; it should be used to support your
argument.
Natural evidence integration makes the evidence a part
of your own writing, leading to better support.
When done correctly, if you were to remove the
quotation marks, you should not be able to tell where
your words end and the evidence begins. This
technique strengthens your writing, and it is the
preferred method in college.
Natural evidence integration leads to better analysis –
which is the point in an analysis writing assignment!
How to Use Natural
Evidence Integration
Use brackets [ ] and ellipses . . . to change verbs or other parts of the
evidence when necessary. Remember: Literature must be written
about in the PRESENT TENSE. So, if you need to change the tense of a
verb, use a bracket [ ] to indicate the change.
Example of Standard Integration: Dwight is a bully who takes
out his anger and insecurity on those who are weaker than he is. The
narrator states, "This made him furious; on the way back to the car
he would kill anything he saw. He killed chipmunks, squirrels, blue
jays, and robins"(Wolff 171).
Example of Natural Integration: Dwight is a bully who takes
out his anger and insecurity on those who are weaker than he is.
While hunting, he boosts his ego by "kill[ing] anything he [sees]. He
kill[s] chipmunks, squirrels, blue jays, and robins" (Wolff 171).
How to Use Natural
Evidence Integration
Also, natural evidence integration means making the evidence
“flow” with your own writing, as if it were a part of your own
thought, which means you must also keep the writing in 3rd
person. Again, use brackets [ ] to indicate a change to person.
Example of Standard Integration: Grendel becomes aware of
an evil force surrounding him. He states, “I’d be surprised, I had to
admit, if anything in myself could be as cold, as dark, as centuries old
as the presence I felt around me” (54).
Example of Natural Integration: Grendel becomes aware of
an evil force surrounding him, yet he does not believe that “anything
in [himself] could be as cold, as dark, as centuries old as the presence
[he feels] around [him]” (54).
How to Use Natural
Evidence Integration
Also, natural evidence integration means making the evidence “flow”
with your own writing, as if it were a part of your own thought, which
means you must also keep the writing in 3rd person. Again, use
brackets [ ] to indicate a change to person.
Finally, with natural evidence integration, you may need to ad or omit
a word or two in order for the evidence to grammatically fit your
sentence or to make it clearer.
When you add words, put them in brackets. If you omit any words,
indicate with ellipses. Also, keep in mind that you can only insert or
omit words provided you do not change the meaning of the evidence.
Natural Evidence
Integration Examples
Standard: After listening to the Shaper,
Grendel states, “I fled . . . torn apart by
poetry” (Gardner 44).
Natural: After listening to the Shaper,
Grendel feels confused and “torn apart by
poetry” (Gardner 44).
INTEGRATING EVIDENCE
• Do Not lead into evidence with
“In line blah blah blah”
– In line 21 Raffel says that “his heart . . .”
• Do give context with integration:
– As Grendel enters Herot and sees the sleeping
men, “his heart . . .”
INTEGRATING EVIDENCE
• Do Not Lead Into Evidence with
“In the story it says . . .”
– In the story it says, “he journeyed forever
joyless.”
• Do give context with integration:
– Grendel’s trip to Herot is not one filled with
great excitement; it is a trek that he
“journey[s], forever joyless” (line 11).
INTEGRATING EVIDENCE
• Do Not leave evidence “as is” if it does not make
sense grammatically!
– As Grendel enters Herot and sees the sleeping men,
“his heart laughed, he relished the sight, intending
to tear the life from those bodies.”
• Do add words as needed to make the sentence work!
– As Grendel enters Herot and sees the sleeping men,
“his heart laugh[s], [and] he relishe[s] the sight,
intending to tear the life from those bodies” (lines
21 – 22).
ASK YOURSELF:
• Is my chosen evidence RELEVANT and is it
THE BEST evidence to support my thesis?
• Do not choose evidence that has nothing (or
almost nothing) to do with supporting your
thesis.
• Do not choose only the most obvious evidence.
• Try to find some great evidence not discussed in
class, so that I can see your thinking – not mine.
ASK YOURSELF:
• Have I abridged the evidence down to the
most supportive, relevant, essential, and
focused parts?
• Use lengthy quotes sparingly!
• Use the evidence to support your argument;
do not use the evidence to make the argument
for you.
ASK YOURSELF:
• Have I changed the verb inflections,
added words, or deleted words as needed
to fit the grammatical structure and
understanding of my sentence?
• Remember: Literature is written about in the
present tense! Make changes to the evidence as
needed using brackets [ ] to fit that tense.
• It is okay to add words to the evidence, using
brackets [ ], in order to make the sentence
clearer, as long as it does not change the
meaning of the evidence.
ASK YOURSELF:
• Have I asked questions of my evidence?
(Example: how specifically does this
evidence support my argument?)
• Interact with the text! Break the evidence
down. Ask your evidence questions and then
answer them!