Literary Analysis Paper Assignment Sheet. Book Report

Assignment:
Write a 3-page literary analysis paper that provides a developed, thesis-driven argument about a single text. I would recommend that you chose Oedipus or A Midsummer Night’s Dream, because we’ll have discussed in class. If you’d like to do an alternative text, please check with me first.
The goal of this paper is for you to deepen your understanding of the text and, as a result, make an original argument about the text. The point of this essay is not to evaluate the text. Instead, you will be expected to work with the text to discover and make an argument about the way the text works or message that it conveys. This will require you to have a clear thesis presented in the introduction with quotations from the text cited as evidence for your argument. Simply saying “Fate is difficult for Oedipus to accept” won’t work because that’s not really an argument. Saying something like “Oedipus’s real struggle is not with fate, but with knowledge and identity” is better, but you must also show why this is important and how it impacts the text and characters as a whole. We’ve discussed several possible types of topics in class. Ask yourself what interests you about the text(s), and use that answer as a way of guiding you to your own interpretation.
Things to Note:
Your paper must have a thesis statement. Your thesis statement must be underlined.
You should quote/paraphrase sections of the novel, short story, play, or song you choose. There is no minimum or maximum number of citations needed; just make sure you have enough to support your thesis.
You must have a Works Cited page, which does not count as a page of writing.
You must follow MLA guidelines: Times New Roman, 12 pt font with 1” margins, double-spaced.
For every ½ page your paper is short of the required page length, 5% will be deducted from your grade.
Writing Rubric:
When grading papers, I look at six areas:
- Thesis – Is there a definite argument laid out in the introduction (as opposed to just a statement of the topic or topics you’ll address)? Do you make clear what aspects of the text or texts you will be examining and why they are significant? Is the argument sustained throughout the essay? (Often the clearest statement of the thesis can be found in the conclusion, since you’ve discovered it while writing. You might want to put that statement in the introduction and rewrite accordingly.)
- Evidence – Is every point supported through direct evidence from the text? Do you make clear precisely where the text does what you claim? Are your claims based on explicit proof, or are they more or less assertions without direct substantiation in the essay? Does the evidence you’ve quoted fit the point(s) you’re trying to make?

- Explanation/Explication – Do you make clear how the evidence you present does what you say it does? Do you offer discussion of the details or tone of the quotes you present? Do you draw on those details as a way of developing and nuancing your points?

- Transitions – Does the topic sentence of each paragraph make clear what that paragraph will be arguing? Does the topic sentence make clear how that paragraph follows from or builds on the one before it? Do you tell your reader why this paragraph comes after the previous one? Do the paragraphs seem more like a list than an argument (“another example...”)? Is the structure chronological (just following the order of events in the text), or is it logical (organized around the main points of your argument)?

- Style – Have you proofread for spelling, punctuation, and grammar? Are your sentences clear, and do they flow? Are there any awkward or vague moments? Do you offer any turns of phrase that capture your points in a particularly evocative or compelling way?
- Overall Coherence – Do the parts of the essay all work together? Does it read like a unified whole?