Just as we did with the Literacy Narrative, we will start the process of completing the Literary Analysis Essay with a free-writing process. The goal of this pre-writing is to start developing the ideas that will form the core of your textual analysis.
When you have completed the Pre-Write, using the instructions below, please give the file the name “Your Name – Literary Analysis Pre-Write” and place it in our shared folder, which I’ve linked to HERE. Please make sure that your work is in this folder no later than 9 am on Monday.
Pre-Writing Instructions
- Start by identifying the text you’ve decided to write about.
- Next, decide which of the prompts listed on the assignment sheet makes the most sense for you to pursue. (Remember, that you also have the option of proposing your own prompt, if none of these works for you.)
- Combining your chosen prompt with your text, identify the question that you want to try to answer in your essay. Keep in mind that the purpose of these essays it to try to figure out something that you don’t fully understand about your text – not to just describe something about the text that is already obvious to you.
- Reread your text.
- Once you have figured out your question and reacquainted yourself with the text, the next step is to start generating ideas through free-writing. For this pre-write, rather than trying to write in paragraphs or to create a narrative, I suggest that you brainstorm using a list format. See how many different ideas you can generate that respond to the question you have asked. You may want to experiment with setting a timer and writing for a specific amount of time (perhaps 20 minutes?) or with setting a goal of how many ideas you want to come up with (8-10?).
***Place your pre-write in the designated folder. We will be using this material in class on Monday, so make sure that you will have a way to access this work either electronically or by printing it out.
***If you get through all of this and want to continue working, the next step is to start collecting quotations that relate to your question. As you find quotes that might prove helpful in your essay, copy them into your Pre-Write document, making sure to include the page number, where appropriate.