Your Literary Analysis Essay

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1)This week, you will begin working on your Literary Analysis Essay, which you will work on in two parts. The first part is planning for the essay by writing an outline, which you will submit for a grade.

In this learning module, you will

· learn about the importance of writing an outline and the strategies for writing a successful outline,

· review the topics to choose from for your Literary Analysis Essay,

· download and complete your Literary Analysis Outline, which you will submit for a grade.

2) This week you will write an outline to organize your ideas and your source material for the Literary Analysis Essay. Are you already in the habit of writing an outline before you write? If so, that's great! If not, you are missing out on an opportunity to write a stronger, more effective essay (that will likely result in a higher grade!).

Why take the time to write an outline? An outline can:

· Help you get started

· Help you plan what you are going to write about

· Keep you focused on your topic and proving your thesis

· Act as a guide to assure you include all the necessary information

· Improve the overall structure of an essay

· Help you draw interesting connections between ideas

· Save you time

Essays written without the use of an outline often fail to:

· Completely address the topic

· Stay on topic

· Effectively transition between ideas

· Prove the thesis

Strategies for Planning an Essay and Creating an Outline

Strategies for Planning an Essay

You may be asking yourself what Jack McCoy from the series Law and Order has to do with essay writing. If you look at academic essay writing and an argument that a prosecutor puts together to present to a jury, you will see that they have a lot in common. When you write an essay, you are stating a claim and then providing support for it, right? Look at the similarities in the table below.

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Academic Essay	Prosecution's Case	What Takes Place
Introduction	Opening Argument	Context is established so that the reader/jury knows what to expect.
Thesis Statement	Statement of Guilt	The main point of the essay/argument is clearly stated.
Body Paragraph	Presentation of Evidence	Evidence is introduced, authenticated (through citations for an essay; through establishing a chain of custody for a trial), and explained.
Body Paragraph	Presentation of Evidence	Same as above.
Body Paragraph	Presentation of Evidence	Same as above. Evidence is presented until the argument is fully developed.
Conclusion	Closing Argument	Evidence is summarized, conclusions are drawn, and the thesis/statement of guilt is paraphrased.

Give this idea some thought as you plan your literary analysis for this class. What argument are you making? What evidence will you present to prove that argument? How will you interpret that evidence to guide your reader through your thought process?

Strategies for Writing an OutlineYou may be familiar with an outline that looks like the image above, which is the standard five-paragraph essay format. We'll be using something similar it for this class. You will be given a choice of topics to work with and a blank outline form to complete. For each body paragraph, you should have at least three details and at least one correctly cited quote (direct or paraphrased) to support your claims.

Make sure to carefully consider all aspects of the topic you choose and spend enough time on your outline so that you can use it as a guide to write your essay in Week 3.

Hart. W. (Photographer). (2010, May 17). Sam Waterston as Prosecutor Jack McCoy [digital image]. Retrieved from https://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/05/17/law-order-creator-still-looking-to-bring-original-back/.

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Final Essay TopicsTop of Form

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First, you'll need to choose a topic for your final essay, which will be at least 1,000 words in length. This is the topic you will use to create your outline in Week 2 and final essay in Week 3. Choose ONE of the topics below.

Option 1:

The American Dream lecture in Week 1 points out that Poor Richard’s Almanac was an annual publication that included calendar lists, home recipes, weather forecasts etc. What made Franklin’s almanac unlike other almanacs was the inclusion of Franklin’s witty parables and humorous writings. Franklin proposes in “The Way to Wealth” that anyone who works hard, avoids debt, and works toward attaining a virtuous character can be successful and ultimately wealthy—that the American Dream is accessible to all.

Watch either The Color Purple or The Great Gatsby (locate the films using Netflix, Amazon, or your local library) and argue why or why not Franklin’s assertions are correct. Provide examples from the film and your own explanations to support your assertions.

Your will have two choices for your thesis statement:

As is evident in the film The Color Purple (or The Great Gatsby), Franklin’s assertion that the American Dream is available to all people is incorrect because _________, ___________, and _________ (you will determine three points in support of your thesis, and those will become the topics of your three body paragraphs).

As is evident in the film The Color Purple (or The Great Gatsby), Franklin’s assertion that the American Dream is available to all people is correct because _________, ___________, and _________ (you will determine three points in support of your thesis, and those will become the topics of your three body paragraphs).

Option 2:

Write a comparison or contrast essay about two of the corresponding characters in the table below. You will choose three of the points of comparison from the pool below as your points of comparison or contrast. Keep in mind that the purpose of a comparison or contrast essay is to reveal something meaningful about the characters and their relationships to the text.

You will be using a point-by-point style of comparison, and you will have two choices for your thesis statement:

While some differences between __________ and __________ (names of characters in the pairing you chose) are evident, they are similar in the aspects of __________, __________, and __________ (you will determine three points of comparison from the pool, and those will become the topics of your three body paragraphs).

While some similarities between __________ and __________ (names of characters in the pairing you chose) are evident, they are different in the aspects of __________, __________, and __________ (you will determine three points of comparison from the pool, and those will become the topics of your three body paragraphs).

Choose one of the following pairings:	Choose three of the following points of comparison:
1. Rip Van Winkle and Anton Rosicky	A. Motivation
2. Dame Van Winkle and Mrs. Peters	B. Religion
3. Desiree Aubigny and Faith Brown	C. Generosity
4. Young Goodman Brown and Armand Aubigny	D Trustworthiness
5. Dame Van Winkle and Mrs. Hale	E. Independence/Dependence
	F. Communication skills
	G. Level of intelligence
	H. Sense of adventure
	I. Relationships with others
	J. Conflicts/trials faced

	K. Journeys, either physical or symbolic

For example, you might choose pairing #3 (Desiree Aubigny and Faith Brown) and points C, I, and B (generosity, relationship with others, and religion) as your points of comparison.