1. The Research Paper
Literary Analysis and Thesis:……… Time to Get Psyched!!!
British and World Literature
November 1, 2012
“GCA: Working toprovide an exemplary individualized and engaging
educational experience for all students “
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2. GCA VISION: GCA students will emerge as confident leaders in the 21st century
global community through a holistic approach of rigorous academic standards, a
commitment to individualized learning paths, and attention to the growth of each
student as a civic minded contributor both within their local communities and beyond.
GCA MISSION: Our mission is to provide an exemplary individualized and
engaging educational experience for all students by incorporating school and
community/family partnerships coupled with a rigorous curriculum within a data-
driven and student-centered instructional model. Student success will be measured by
valid & reliable assessment data, parent and student satisfaction, and continued
institutional growth within the academic community.

3. Today we will look at:
• How we approach
the writing of a
literary analysis
research paper.
• Standards addressed:
• ELACC9-10RL1
• ELACC9-10RL2
• ELACC9-10RL7
• ELACC9-10W1
• ELACC9-10W2
• ELACC9-10W7
• ELACC9-10W8
• ELACC9-10W9

4. Where are we?

5. Really important

6. THE BASICS

7. The Research Project
• A 2-3 page literary criticism research paper writing that
evaluates and analyzes a work of literature
•3 parts:
•Planning
•Drafting
•Finalizing

8. Topics to Choose From
• Compare and contrast class structure in the society of
Shakespeare’s time, and the times of Hamlet
• Research Question: In what ways did Shakespeare’s works contrast class
structure in the society of his time?
• What were the political developments in Tudor England during
the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, and how was it reflected in
Shakespeare’s plays or poetry?
• Research Question: In what ways did Shakespeare works reflect the political
developments in Tudor England during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1?
• Research an area of Shakespeare’s life, and how was it
reflected in Shakespeare’s plays or poetry
• Research Question: In what ways did Shakespeare’s works reflect specific areas
or events in his life?

9. Topics continued…
• Research the influence of Elizabethan and earlier playwrights, other than
Shakespeare, and how the lack of copy writes laws impacted Shakespeare’s
body of works. (authorship, original source_
• Research Question: In what ways did the lack of copywrite laws impact
Shakespeare’s works?
• Shakespeare’s sonnets
• Research Question: What ideas of love, friendship, and marriage are
displayed in Shakespearean sonnets, such as 30, 55, and 116?
• Shakespeare and the English monarchy
• Research Question: In what ways did Shakespeare write his plays to
please the monarchy?
• The authorship of Shakespeare’s plays
• Research Question: Did Shakespeare write all the plays attributed to
him?

10. From the LMS
• Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales as a portrait of the rising middle class in the
Middle Ages
• · The question of authorship of Shakespeare’s plays
• · Elizabethan theater as popular entertainment for its time
• · The nineteenth-century novel as an examination of the British class
system: either Hard Times by Charles Dickens or Pride and Prejudice by
Jane Austen
• · How William Butler Yeats’s Irish identity shaped his poetry
• · Chinua Achebe’s fiction as a depiction of social change in a British
colony
•

11. Planning
• Review the assignment instructions and grading criteria thoroughly.
• The research project is divided into three sections spread across three
units.
• Choose a topic for your paper.
• Conduct research to help you narrow and develop your topic.
• Use both print and online sources for your research.
• Cite at least four sources, at least one of which is a print source.
• Do not cite an encyclopedia.
• Your final paper should be from 600 to 900 words. (2-3 typed pages)
• Complete the first assignment, Research Paper Planning
Assignment, which includes writing a thesis statement and developing
a formal outline.
• You will submit the completed plan for a grade.

12. Drafting
• Begin drafting your paper.
• Use your planning assignment and the feedback that you received from your
teacher.
• Use your research notes to support your thesis.
• Write in standard formal English,
• Use the third person and the present tense. Your ideas should be
• expressed objectively and be supported with your research.
• Avoid sentences that begin with “I think” or “I feel.”
• Review the Checklist and Rubric. Your first draft will be graded against the
checklist, so be sure that you have included everything that the checklist
requires.
• Keep the rubric in mind as you draft because your final paper will be graded
against the rubric.
• Continue to work on your draft, referring to your research materials.
• Then submit the first draft of your Research Paper after you have double-
checked it against the checklist that follows in this document.

13. Finalizing
• Revise your research paper. Use the feedback on the first draft you
received from your teacher.
• Also consider feedback you may have received from your mentor or
other readers.
• The final paper will be graded against a rubric that assesses the essay in
the following five categories:
• purpose and voice; ideas and content; structure and organization;
language, word choice, and tone; and sentences and mechanics.
• Keep the criteria listed on the rubric in mind as you revise your paper.
• Proofread your research paper. Use the proofreading checklist as a
guide.
• Be sure you review how to cite sources correctly, both within your
paper and on the Works Cited page before you hand in your paper.
• Make a final, clean copy of your Research Paper and submit it to your
teacher.

14. The Purpose of Research
• The purpose of research is to find factual
information about a subject or topic.
• The purpose is generally not entertainment.
• You must be careful to select sources that are
reliable, applicable to your project, and readily
available.
• Make sure your sources are not slanted or biased
by a special interest group.

15. WHY LITERARY ANALYSIS?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfwYtfgZC98&feature=related
http://viewpure.com/WfwYtfgZC98

16. What is literary analysis?
• It involves reading , thinking, and writing
about literature.
• Reading is the “literature” part.
• Thinking about what you read and drawing
conclusions about that is the “analysis” part.
• After you draw your conclusions about what you
have read, you development an “argument” that you
will then prove in your paper.
• You may need to find secondary sources to prove
your argument—this is where the “research” comes
in.

17. In other words…
• It is analysis.
• It is about literature.
• It is an exploration of a piece of literature for a
specific purpose.
• Sometimes it involves RESEARCH of secondary
sources.

18. How is It “Literary”?
• Usually, a literary
analysis will involve a
discussion of a text as
writing, thus the term
literary, which means
“having to do with
letters.”
• This will involve the
use of certain
concepts that are very
specifically associated
with literature.
• -Purdue OWL

19. What is an Analysis?
• An analysis of a literary work may discuss various
things (this is where the thorough reading and
thinking comes in)
• How the various components of an individual work relate to
each other.
• How two separate literary works deal with similar concepts or
forms.
• The literary piece’s connection or comparison to some aspect
of your world – social, political, economical, etc.
-Purdue OWL
http://viewpure.com/cU1CC1vvh98

20. So how do we begin?
•Literary
analysis is
an
ARGUMENT!

21. What do I do?
• Read a particular piece of literature, like a short
story, novella, novel, poem, or play. In our case, we
will look at the British and World works we have read.
• Look at one or more specified literary devices –
elements of literature
• Plot
• Character
• Theme
• Symbolism
• Conflict

22. You may also consider…
• Figurative language
• Irony
• Setting
• Historical connections
• Societal connections
• Point of view
• Personal connections
• others

23. How is Literary Analysis an
Argument? • When writing a literary
analysis, you will focus
on specific attribute(s)
of the text(s).
• When discussing these
attributes, you will
want to make sure that
you are making a
specific, arguable point
(thesis) about these
attributes.
• You will defend this
point with reasons and
evidence drawn from
the text. (Much like a
lawyer!)
• -Purdue OWL

24. So here’s the tricky part…
• The most difficult part of writing a literary analysis is
coming up with a good thesis statement.
• This statement will guide your entire paper.

25. How do I define my PURPOSE?
• You come up with the thesis of your paper by defining the
purpose of what you are trying to say in the paper.
• Your purpose may be chosen for you (like discuss one
THEME of a piece, or compare the story’s protagonist to
someone in history, etc.)
• You will identify this purpose in your introductory
paragraph which will contain the THESIS Statement.
• AND then you will support or defend your purpose in your
body paragraphs.
• Piece of cake!!

26. THE THESIS STATEMENT
viewpure.com/5AAOkoITNBw The Thesis Statement Rap
Thesis Statement: 60 second recap
http://viewpure.com/m8wN6XIXhvA

27. What is the thesis statement?
• The thesis statement is a STATEMENT.
• It states your opinion of the subject and is arguable and
provable.
• It acts as the overarching idea of the entire paper.
• It is NOT a question.
• It is NOT a summary of facts.
• It is NOT just a topic sentence.
• Here’s an great way to explain a thesis statement…
• http://viewpure.com/5HePQWodWiQ

28. Example:
• You are asked to analyze the one of the characters in
the story The Three Little Pigs.
• You decide to talk about the character you find to be
the most interesting—the Big Bad Wolf.
• You think about the plot of the story, the description of
the wolf, and knowing what you do about human
nature, you come up with the thesis of your paper.

29. What would be the best
example of a thesis statement?
• A. The Big Bad Wolf is
a character in the • C. The Three Little
story The Three Little Pigs is a story that
Pigs. most children know.
• B. The Big Bad Wolf • D. In the story The
spent his time chasing Three Little Pigs, the
and eating many of Big Bad Wolf is not
the pigs in the story evil, his actions are
The Three Little Pigs. simply
misunderstood.

30. The best example would be:
•D !
• Remember, you are presenting an argument (opinion)
that you can prove. You may have someone approach
you after they hear your thesis and challenge your
theory. They could say the Big Bad Wolf is just that—
big and bad and nothing more.
• Your job now is to PROVE your theory.
• The other choices do not present information that can
be proven through argument—they are facts of the
story, not opinions.

31. Testing…
• If your thesis cannot be challenged and argued, it is NOT a
good thesis!

32. Testing…
• The other choices
are nice sentences
that leave the reader
saying, “So what?”

33. Questions to ask…
• Is it one sentence?
• Do you know the topic?
• Is there a clear position on the topic?
• Can it be debated?
• Do you know how the essay will support
the argument?
• Is the point stated clearly with specific and
appropriate language?

34. Next, we work on PROVING the
theory…
• You would then use research to prove your theory.
• You have seen lines in the text saying that Big Bad felt
misunderstood.
• You have seen lines in the text describing Big Bad as a
philanthropist who gives 10% of his gross income to the local
home for homeless piglets.
• You might go online and find in reliable journals that people are
afraid of wolves through the years and make up stories about
them to back up their fears.
• You might find in online sources that wolves are the gentlest
creatures in the forest and only eat pigs when they are desperate
and close to starvation.
• You would continue to find sources that would prove your
theory…

35. Where else can I find
information to prove my thesis?
• Examples from the text:
• Direct quotations (word for word statements from the
text)
• Summaries of scenes (brief summaries of specific
scenes)
• Paraphrase (putting what the author says into your
own words – effective with longer passages)

36. PRIMARY & SECONDARY SOURCES
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0plq2E9ZjQ&feature=related
http://viewpure.com/g0plq2E9ZjQ

37. Secondary Sources…
• Other critics’ opinions
• Historical and social context
• As you research Secondary Sources, it is important to read
carefully and highlight useful passages and quotes.
• http://viewpure.com/g0plq2E9ZjQ

38. What exactly are secondary
sources?
• A book or article that discusses the text you
are discussing
• A book or article that discusses a theory
related to the argument you are making
• A book or article that discusses the social and
historical context of the text you are discussing

39. How Do I Find Secondary Sources?
• Your local library
• Reference books of Literary Criticisms
• Data bases of Literary Criticisms
• Literary periodicals
• Online search engines
• A bibliography that is part of your text
• Ask a teacher or librarian

40. How do I use these sources?
• When you use secondary sources, be sure to show how
they relate to your thesis
• Don’t overuse any one secondary source, or for that
matter, secondary sources in general
• Remember that this is your paper, your argument—the
secondary sources are just helping you out
• Never, never, never plagiarize. Always give credit for your
sources.
-Purdue OWL

41. Overview of Literary Analysis
• When writing a literary analysis:
• Be familiar with literary terms
• Analyze specific items
• Make an a argument
• Make appropriate use of secondary sources
• Consult instructors and tutors for help when needed

42. Where are we going?

43. Make sure to….
• Look at the LMS
• There are tons of resources available in the
LMS and/or Docsharing (depending on your
teacher) to help you through the process.
• Make sure you are reaching out to your teacher
when you have questions, concerns, issues.
• DO NOT WAIT UNTIL THE LAST MINUTE!!!!!!

44. SMALL GROUP SESSIONS
• Check with your teacher regarding small group
specialized sessions about specific parts of the research
process.
• See if they are going to have small group specific sessions
• Examples
• thesis statement
• Outline
• Parts of an essay
• MLA
• One-on-one conferencing