ENG 125 Week 5 Assignment/Final Paper

Literary Analysis

Why Write a Literary Analysis? 

Literature teaches us about the value of conflict. We experience conflict in our personal relationships and in our interactions with society. A literary analysis helps us recognize the conflict at work in literature; this gives us greater insight into the personal conflicts that we face. In addition, learning how to closely read, analyze, and critique a text is beneficial beyond a literature course in that it improves our writing, reading, and critiquing abilities overall.

How to Write a Literary Analysis

It is important to understand that some conflicts in literature might not always be obvious. Considering how an author addresses conflict via literary techniques can reveal other more complex conflicts or different kinds of conflicts that interact in multiple ways. Analyzing those more complicated elements can help you discover what literature represents about the human experience and condition. With this in mind, consider that your thesis might be a claim how conflict is represented in a work, whether through character, setting, or tone. This is not a personal reflection on conflict in general or a conflict you face but an analysis of how literary elements are used to express a conflict in a given work. The literary analysis should be organized around your rough draft and thesis statement. Your thesis is the controlling idea of the entire essay. 

In this assignment, you will refine your thesis even further and develop your argument. 

In your paper,

• Create a detailed introduction that contains a thesis that offers a debatable claim based on one of the prompts on the list.
• Apply critical thought by analyzing the primary source you selected from the approved List of Literary Works. Avoid summary and personal reflection.
• Develop body paragraphs that contain clear topic sentences and examples that support the argument.
• Write a conclusion that reaffirms the thesis statement and includes a summary of the key ideas in essay.
• Apply your knowledge of literary elements and other concepts in your response to the prompt. Reference the List of Literary Techniques.
• Incorporate research from the primary and secondary sources.

See the Eight Steps to Writing a Literary Analysis resource that provides information regarding how to effectively begin working on this project. You may use the Sample Literary Analysis as a reference, but do not re-use any information within this sample assignment.

The Final Paper:

• Must be four to five double-spaced pages in length (excluding title and reference pages), and formatted according to APA style as outlined in theAshford Writing Center.
• Must include a title page with the following:
• Title of paper
• Student’s name
• Course name and number
• Paper prompt #
• Instructor’s name
• Date submitted
• Must use one or two primary sources and two secondary scholarly sources in addition to the course text.
• The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
• Must document all sources in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.