Guidelines for Writing Literary Analysis Papers
 

PLEASE read and re-read this document as you work on your essays.

1. The best literary analysis papers are those in which the student cites the text not as an example or proof of a given assertion, but rather as subject matter to be analyzed and interpreted. Avoid mere illustrative use of quotations and instead allow the argument to arise from your response to and analysis of key passages.  For the sake of illustration, let's say the text is the well-known rhyme:

Roses are red,
Violets are blue.
Sugar is sweet,
And so are you.

A.    According to the verse, the essential quality of "Roses" is that they "are red" (1); similarly, "Violets are blue" (2). The color of "Sugar," however, is irrelevant; all that matters is that it "is sweet" (3). Hence, the depth of the compliment, "And so are you" (4). Your appearance does not matter, given your positively confectionery personality.
B.    The speaker proclaims that "Roses are red, / Violets are blue. / Sugar is sweet" (1-3). These are the sorts of assertions one might address to a very small child; in fact, the observations are so simple as to be insulting to an adult addressee. In such a context, the final observation that "you" (4) are also sweet seems patronizing at best.

2. Let your analysis of the text and the ideas that spring from that analysis determine the form of your paper. Do not write an essay that relies on the rote formula of an introduction, three examples, and then a dull, repetitive conclusion. Instead, investigate with particular care passages or issues or images that are problematic for you, things you don't fully understand or can't fully account for; make the writing process the means by which you come to a clearer understanding, and then convey that understanding to your reader. In order to do so, think organically; first, choose a text you find interesting; read and re-read it carefully, many times, asking yourself questions about individual lines, phrases, and images. This detail-work will help you to find a topic.

3. Remembering that a topic is not the same thing as a thesis, seek out a thesis within your topic. How? Once you have found an intriguing topic, return to the text again and again, continuing to ask questions about its language.

4. The finished product of your analysis of the text should, then, be a critical essay which proposes a clear, defensible and arguable thesis, and then goes on to defend that thesis with interpretive arguments and explanations. A thesis that is too subjective or that is based on enormous generalizations will not be defensible, while a thesis that is too obvious--so that no one would bother to take issue with it or to ask how you came to such a conclusion--is not arguable.

5. Note that the more specific and narrowly-focused the thesis is, the more detailed and informative the paper itself will be; work to define your topic and your thesis very clearly. Too broad a topic will lead to a thesis that is itself broad, vague, and either impossible to discuss thoroughly in a brief or medium-length essay or else too obvious to be worth proving. Go for a thesis that is more specific and thus more significant and more interesting. If you should find that the thesis is too narrow, then expand the topic to include related issues. Ask yourself questions relating to your original thesis, yet widening its scope.

6. A literary analysis paper usually does not require outside research. However, if you do read any scholarly or critical works, reference materials, historical background materials or the like, be sure to document any use you make of them, whether it involves a summary of information or ideas, a paraphrase or a quotation. Keep photocopies and/or careful notes of any sources you use, making sure that you have full bibliographic information about each (including author, title [of the author's book or of the author's article and the journal in which it appears], editor/s [if the piece is an article from a edited collection of essays], page numbers [of the entire essay, if you are quoting from an article, and of any particular passage you quote or paraphrase], volume and year [if it is an article in a journal], or place of publication, publisher, and year of publication [if it is a book or an article from a book]). Document your sources according to the MLA method (Works Cited list and parenthetical citations referring to the list).

7. When quoting from the text of the work you are analyzing, quote only those parts relevant to your point, working them into your own sentences grammatically. If the passage comes from a poem, and you are quoting two or three lines, use slash marks / within the quotation to show where line breaks come (see examples in #1 above). When quoting more than three lines of text (which you should do only if  absolutely necessary), set the quoted material off by indenting ten spaces from the left margin.  Make sure that the entire quotation is indented (a "hanging indent") rather than just the first line. If the quotation is from a prose work, you need not preserve the arrangement of the words on the page, as it doesn't matter where the line breaks come in prose. But if the quotation comes from a poem, you must cite it line by line as it appears on the page, with each new line appearing on a new line of your text and any indented line indented as it is in the original.  Whatever the length of the quotation, and whether or not it is poetry or prose, indented or worked into your text, be sure to use capital letters whenever (and only whenever) the author did so and scrupulously preserve his or her spelling and punctuation. Quotations should be followed by a parenthetical citation including line numbers (for poems); act, scene and line numbers (for plays); or page numbers (for essays, stories, novels, and plays that don't have numbered lines). There is no need to repeat the author's name or the title of the work if it is already clear in context. Thus, if (as is usually the case) you've already mentioned which work you are discussing, then all you will need in parentheses are the page numbers or line numbers of the passage quoted. No words (such as page or lines) and no abbreviations (such as p. l. or ll.) are needed; just cite the numbers.  When one works a quotation into the body of one's text, the final punctuation (comma or period) is moved from within the quotation to follow the parenthetical citation (again, see examples in #1 above); by contrast, the parenthetical citation follows final punctuation in an indented quotation.  For more detailed examples and guidelines on the MLA method for punctuating citations, link to Handling Quotations at the Perdue University Writing Center web page.

8. Make your introduction is brief and brisk; simply identify your topic (being sure to mention which work[s] you are analyzing) and the thesis you are proposing without spending valuable space on generalized, large-scale assertions that will add little to what follows.

9. Note well! Organization is essential to good writing. It is good practice to give each paragraph of your essay a mini-thesis of its own. Whether you state the "point" of the paragraph in its topic sentence or merely imply it through coherent argument, knowing what that "point" is will help ensure that the paragraph plays an integral part in the essay. Individual paragraphs should be as well-focused and clearly defined as is the paper as a whole. Arguments and examples that belong in one paragraph should not crop up earlier or later, in a paragraph devoted to a different stage of the argument. It is often helpful to write up an outline of a completed first draft, mapping the structure of the argument as it stands in order to detect organizational imperfections (such as illogical flow of ideas, redundancy, or missing links in the argument). This "retrospective outline" (as I call it) will help you figure out how to improve the organization in the next draft.

10. Again, note well! Coherence is essential to good writing. Pay attention to the transitions between paragraphs and between sentences within a given paragraph, making sure that the argument flows smoothly and that each paragraph or sentence picks up where the previous paragraph or sentence left off. It is usually inadvisable to begin a paragraph with a quotation. Instead, begin with a statement of the conclusions you have come to through your analysis of certain lines; then, quote the lines and explain how you came to the conclusions you did.

11. Take as much care in shaping individual sentences as you do in shaping your argument as a whole. Read your sentences aloud slowly and ask yourself how clear they are. If they are too long and convoluted for the reader to follow easily, break them up into two independent clauses or sentences, rework the subordinate clauses, cut out unnecessary phrases and words. Of course, long and complicated constructions may not be your problem; you may have the opposite kind of trouble. If you have too many short, curt sentences in a row, the rhythm of your thought will seem choppy; in such a case, combine those brief thoughts into compound or complex sentences in which the ideas are linked together and secondary ideas are subordinated to primary ones.

12. When you have defended your thesis clearly and thoroughly, it is time to conclude your essay. Do not begin the concluding paragraph with an artificial-sounding announcement like "To conclude . . ." or "In conclusion . . ." And do not make the final paragraph a little summary of all that has come before: in a well-written essay of moderate length, it will not be necessary to remind your reader of the argument you've just presented. If you can think of nothing that adds to the essay, it's better to end abruptly than to tack on a dull, repetitious summary. But here are a couple of suggestions on how to write a more effective conclusion. A) You may wish to rephrase your thesis in more subtle terms--terms that reflect the foregoing analysis and that your reader would not have been prepared for before reading the body of the essay. B) You may wish to place your thesis in a broader context, to leave your reader with food for thought about its larger implications for the interpretation of the writer's work in general or for the understanding of a given theme, etc.

13. Make a policy of using the present tense as your point of departure for discussing literary texts.

14. If you use a computer, run the spell-check to find typos and spelling mistakes. But whatever you do, you must still proofread your work as well; the spell-check cannot catch everything! It is important to proofread not only while the document is on your computer screen or in your typewriter, but after you have printed it out or finished typing.

15. Type papers in a standard 12-point courier font; margins must be one inch (no larger!) on all sides, top and bottom; use double spacing (which in standard fonts will result in 26 lines of text per page) and do not insert extra space between paragraphs. A 2-3page paper is a minimum of two full pages long. If you find yourself coming up short, go into greater detail, expand a section (substantially, not with junk), and rethink. Whatever you do, don't expand the margins or enlarge the font.

16. Give the essay an interesting and appropriate title that will pull readers in and make them want to read the paper. A title that is too cute or too mysterious can keep people from taking your work seriously; but a good, meaty title is like a preview of the paper's thesis. Don't simply give your essay the same title as the poem you are analyzing.

17. Do not fall into the trap of trying to tell your reader what an author believed or thought or meant. Instead, concentrate on what he or she conveys in the poem, on the effect of his or her language, form, and imagery. Whenever you are tempted to assert something as being obvious or clear, consider alternative assertions that someone might make in arguing with you. Remember that great art is not clear, objective argumentation (like a philosophical treatise, a scientific report, or even a critical essay of the sort you are writing). One of the strengths of literature is its endless ambiguity, its power to undercut itself, its ability to perform the paradoxical feat of exploring and affirming two opposed realities. Be clear and analytic in your own writing, but remember that you are analyzing art.

18. Keep a hard copy (printout or xerox) of your paper when you hand it in. Do not rely on a computer disk alone.

19. Make sure to distinguish carefully between poets and the personae (speakers) of their poems. In some cases, certainly, the poem represents the poet's own voice, but that is not always the case. If you do refer to the speaker of the poem as the poet, make sure to explain and defend your reasons for doing so. Similarly, keep in mind that the narrator of a prose work isn't necessarily the same person as the author of that work, and that dramatic characters only rarely express the opinions of a playwright directly.

20. All papers must be turned in on time, at the beginning of the class during which they are due. I will not accept papers that are more than 5 days late unless you have made arrangements in advance for an extension, which I will be happy to grant if you are sick or dealing with other circumstances beyond your control (such as a family emergency).