Literary Analysis Prewriting

1. Which of the five short stories have you selected to analyze for Essay #3? Why have you chosen this one? The short story you analyze for this essay must come from the list in your writing prompt.

2. In a minimum of 5-8 sentences, write a summary of the short story you have chosen. You can use the Reading Comprehension Assignment to help with this.

3. Which four literary elements do you plan to use in your analysis? Why have you chosen these? Which specific theme will you be using? See the Literary Analysis Lecture Notes PowerPoint for subtopic options and more information.

4. Outline: Below, state your judgment on each subtopic (positive or negative), provide at least one direct quote or example from the short story to serve as evidence, and explain why this example supports your judgment.

a. For a positive judgment, you are stating that the author does use that literary element effectively. For a negative judgment, you are stating that the author does not use that literary element effectively.

1. Subtopic #1:

i. Judgment:

ii. Evidence from Text:

iii. Explanation:

2. Subtopic #2:

i. Judgment:

ii. Evidence from Text:

iii. Explanation:

3. Subtopic #3:

i. Judgment:

ii. Evidence from Text:

iii. Explanation:

4. Subtopic #4:

i. Judgment:

ii. Evidence from Text:

iii. Explanation:

5. Write a draft of the thesis sentence. Include the short story title, judgment (this can be overall positive, negative, or a mixture of both) and list the literary elements that you will be analyzing. Keep in mind that the order in which the subtopics are listed is the order in which you should address them in the body paragraphs.