by Elizabeth Hedger

Created on: April 15, 2007   Last Updated: May 14, 2007

1. Read the text. If necessary, reread it. And keep referring back to it as you write. The process will be easier and the end result better if you begin with a good knowledge of the subject. Also, take time to think about the story and what interested you and what seemed important or strange.

2. Brainstorm topics. If nothing is obvious, look for any patterns in images, words, or events, or recurring thoughts or allusions. Look for problems too: unusual emphasis (or lack of), behaviour or explanations that don't make sense, actions or words in odd contexts. Then narrow down the list by eliminating those topics with a dearth of evidence. Literary analyses require plenty of evidence from the text in the form of examples and quotations to support them. Choosing too minor an aspect of the work to write about will leave you with an undersized paper. Finally, for working purposes, boil down your chosen topic into a single sentence: your thesis statement.

3. Gather your evidence. Go back through the text and note down everything that relates to your thesis, including aspects of character, setting, style, point of view, and genre. Look for details beyond the obvious and leave your thesis statement open to change. Sticking to the obvious is a surefire way to produce a simplistic paper. Don't ignore plot, either. There might be connections between your story and others. Write down page numbers as well; that way if you want to clarify something you can find it easily, and you can provide references for quotations. Later, weed out the weakest points. Save those which relate most closely to your thesis statement (whateer that now is), and those which you can write most about, and discard the rest. Also look for those details which will highlight your reasoning abilities.

4. Make sure your thesis will be of interest to your readers. A good way of doing this is trying to answer the question, 'So what?' regarding your topic. If you can't think of a reason for someone to care about your topic, choose another topic. Also make sure it is of interest to yourself. The work involved in writing a literary analysis will be a lot easier to bear if it's halfway enjoyable.

5. Organise and interpret your evidence. Put similar details together. Whatever ideas these groups have in common is a claim to be made and a conclusion to come to in your paper. Then arrange these groups into a logical order. At this stage, an outline might be useful. When interpreting, don't just throw in quotations for the sake of it, but choose relevant ones and always follow them with an explanation in your own words. It's not the reader's job to work out their significane; it's the writer's job to tell them.

6. Use quotations and paraphrasing from the work to support your arguments, but don't go overboard. The majority of your paper should be your own work.

7. Write in the present tense; this is the standard form for literary analyses. If you need some pointers, try reading the plot-summary sections of book or film reviews. These are generally written in the present tense also.

8. Unless otherwise specified, stick to the third person. This means avoiding 'you' or 'I'. If in doubt, check with your teacher.

9. Don't summarise the plot. Literary analyses are not for retelling the story; they are for theorising and explaining. Choose your viewpoint and keep to it. Often this will relate to the theme of the work, or another meaningful aspect.

10. Don't get characters and their viewpoints mixed up with authors and their viewpoints.

11. Use literary terminology; refer to character, theme, setting, point of view, symbolism, imagery, the protagonist, laguage usage, etc.

12. Remember to hand it in on time!

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