SSR Quarterly Project: Writing Assignment Quarter 1
Character Analysis Paper
A character analysis paper is a piece of writing which explores a character more in-depth than the actual
story they appear in may do. These analyses come from not only what a character actually says, but also
through their actions or in-actions in certain situations. Your task for this paper will be to choose one of
your characters (may be the protagonist, antagonist, or another character seen throughout the story (try not
to select a character who only makes one small appearance, as you want as much information on them as
possible)) and write an analysis of their character/personality. If your book is a nonfiction work, you are
still to do a character analysis. In this case it is your opinion (however, not in first person) of this
individual. You are to use the things they say and their choices as traits to analyze.
Traits to consider
1. Appearance and Name
2. Actions
3. Speech
4. Thoughts and Feelings
5. Choices
6. Past/Biography
7. Comments from other Characters
Organization of paper
Step 1: select quotes/descriptions from/about your character to format your paper around
Step 2: write your thesis
Step 3: write your topic sentences
Step 4: write your body paragraphs using TIQA
Step 5: write introduction
Step 6: write conclusion
Quotes/Descriptions
For this paper, you will need to include quotes/descriptions from your text. Quotes help to support
your claims made within your paper, and you need to get accustomed to using them in your
writing. These may be direct quotes from your character (used to support claims made about their
personality through interactions with others), or descriptions (still quotes made by the author in
their work, and which help you to describe their personality through their actions).
Thesis
1. Your thesis should consist of a topic and limiting ideas. It should never be a question. The
thesis is an answer to a question which seems important to you.
2. The thesis is a road map for your readers to follow your argument. It should do the organizing
for you.
Topic Sentence
Since a paragraph is a group of sentences that share a single idea, the topic sentence must have
two parts:
Topic and Limiting Idea
T.I.Q.A.
Your body paragraphs should provide a topic sentence. The rest of the paragraph should provide
context for a quote or paraphrase example. Then you should provide that example. After you
provide that example, you should explain how it supports your thesis statement. DO NOT
MERELY TELL YOUR READER WHAT THE QUOTE MEANS; this can lead to a summary.
Follow TIQA:
Topic sentence
Introduce quote: put the quote into context
Quote: provide your quote [USE IN-TEXT CITATIONS!]
Analyze: explain to readers the importance of the quote and how it supports your topic sentence.
Transition sentence: transition from first example to second
Introduce quote: introduce your second piece of evidence
Quote: provide your second quote [AGAIN, USING IN-TEXT CITATIONS!]
Analyze: analyze your second quote, and if possible, tie the two pieces of evidence together
And repeat…
Introduction
Follow ANT:
Attention getter: use one of the many types of attention getters to start your essay.
Necessary information: necessary info includes:
1. Author’s full name
2. Title of story
3. Brief plot summary (VERY brief)
Thesis: this is generally the last sentence of your introduction
Conclusion
Your conclusion should not merely be a summary. Rather, it should restate and reemphasize your
thesis. It should show the importance of the analysis that you have been making in the paper.
You should also try to connect your paper’s topic to the bigger picture of the outside world—for
example, “this character is like many people today, having to face the hardships.
The most important thing to remember for this paper,
YOU ARE TO ANALYZE,
NOT MERELY SUMMARIZE!
This means: Examine, study, evaluate, investigate,
explore, question, dissect, consider, etc.