Your Step-by-Step Guide

Step One: The Prompt Your essay should address everything the prompt asks you to do. Turn it into a question! What is the prompt asking? Choose a novel or play that depicts a conflict between a parent (or a parental figure) and a son or daughter. Write an essay in which you analyze the sources of the conflict and explain how the conflict contributes to the meaning of the work. Avoid plot summary.

Step Two: The Thesis The thesis is your road map for your essay. It should answer the question the prompt asks! A thesis should have two parts: what and why? What are you claiming? Why is it important?

* “Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn is a great American novel.” *What’s wrong with this thesis statement? *An opinion about the book, not an argument. * “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? *Doesn’t answer the “so what?” question—what is the point of the contrast? What does the contrast signify? * “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.” *Even better? *It presents an interpretation of a literary work based on an analysis of it content and answers the “so what” question

Step Three: The Introduction The easiest way to write an introduction is to rewrite the prompt. Use the information given to you! Then add specific information from the novel. However, DO NOT use your opinion, a large generalization, or a dictionary definition to start a literary analysis essay. End your introduction with your thesis.

Step Four: Body Paragraphs Yay! You have a thesis! Now what? Support your thesis with evidence from the text. Look for three specific instances, examples, or groups of evidence that can be turned into body paragraphs. You can have 1 paragraph about the river, 1 paragraph about the land, and 1 paragraph comparing the two.

Body Paragraphs Continued UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCE SHOULD YOU WRITE A SUMMARY OF THE PLOT. At most, you should have two or three sentences setting up the situation, FOLLOWED IMMEDIATELY by analysis. What’s analysis? Telling the reader how the information connects to the thesis and why it is important.

Step Five: Quotes Quotes are your best evidence. Quotes should be very short: one or two sentences that convey a specific bit of information. If you use a quote, you must immediately analyze it. When you use a quote in your paper, cite it by writing (Twain 50) at the END OF THE SENTENCE.

Step Six: Conclusion Conclusions are difficult. Ideally, you’re going to summarize the information you’ve analyzed and leave the reader with one new insight. The insight should usually connect to a larger theme or universal truth.

Step Seven: General Essay Tips Edit edit edit. Have multiple people read and check your essay. Be as specific as possible. Try to not make a single generalization. Relate everything back to the thesis. Every sentence should support the thesis somehow.

Forbidden Words Pretty Stuff Things Very Really A lot “I” or “me” or “my” “Us” or “We” or “Our” You You’re Your