How To Create A Literary Analysis Essay/Rubric

Follow these steps to make a literary analysis essay:

• Have an intelligible thesis
• Ask a few questions
• Reread and underline
• Gather ideas
• Relook at your thesis
• Organize and write
• Find a proofreader and rewrite

Have an intelligible thesis

If you cannot understand what your thesis is about then it is time to go back to the drawing board. Once you have an understandable thesis run it by someone else, if it makes sense to a neutral party then you are good to go.

Ask a few questions

Asking yourself a question can sometimes be the best way to kick start your brain. By giving yourself a question to answer you will find that it is easier to research your thesis, rather than trying to find a means of pushing forward without any real direction.

Reread and underline

Go back to the literary work you have chosen and reread it, marking significant passages for your essay as you go. Underline the things that stand out in the book or poem that have to do with your thesis, this way when you need a quote to back up what you are saying in your paper it will be easier to find.

Gather ideas

Based on your questions and thesis you can gather ideas from which the direction of where your paper will go will become obvious. It is inevitable that during your research another idea might spring up, revealing a hidden depth of your topic that you did not know existed.

Relook at your thesis

A second look at your thesis after doing some minor prep work will let you know if you are still on track. If, during the course of your research, what you have found does not match your thesis you can either change your thesis or start off from scratch again in the research.

Organize and write

Now that you have got your ideas down it is time to organize them and write. Organize how your paper will go; just make a brief outline of how the paragraphs will fall and where the information will go, and then you can start writing.

Find a proofreader and rewrite

Not just anyone will do as a proofreader, you will have to be meticulous in your choosing and here is why. The proofreader must be someone who will have no qualms in marking up your paper in red ink, criticizing everything and rendering you to tears, as that is the only way to turn your paper into a real work of art. Once the paper is proofread you can rewrite it, this will probably have to be done at least one more time before you turn it in.