Write a research paper that includes the following components:
Persuasive thesis.
Analysis of the work’s characteristics (don’t try to cover everything in the list below):
Character(s)
Format (how it’s organized)
Setting
Genre
Themes, symbols, metaphors
Literary associations
Perspective (1st person, 3rd person limited, 3rd person omniscient)
Author’s use of literary techniques (unreliable narrator, irony, allusions, etc.)
Use of direct quotes and paraphrases of the work as support.
Use of secondary sources as support: use at least three sources. Secondary sources are articles, webpages, videos, or books that provide support for your thesis. Yes, these may include the evil Wikipedia. You must also cite the work itself, but I’ll give you those citations. You must cite all sources used within the essay and on a works cited page.
A works cited page in MLA 9 style.
I recommend approaching this as if you’re writing to an audience of first-year college students, and this research paper will be like a study guide to them—it will help them understand the work you’ve chosen and how that work demonstrates literary techniques: the unreliable narrator, allusion, irony, etc.
Each of the works I’ve chosen is considered “popular fiction,” (or “nonfiction” in one case) which means that people read them because they want to, as opposed to reading them because they’re class assignments. (Not true in your case, but let’s pretend). Therefore, in your analysis, consider what makes this work effective for its readers. Popular works become popular because they make readers think, or feel, because readers can relate to the characters, because they want something from the story. Figure out what that is. Then discuss how the author uses literary techniques to deliver an effective story to their readers.
Literary analysis generally focuses on the author’s choices within the work. When analyzing literature, it’s important to “step back” from the work and see the work as a series of choices made by the author.
A literary analysis is considered an argument/persuasive essay because it states a claim about how the work should be interpreted/read.
Literary analysis usually includes one or more of the following:
How the work being studied connects to other works of its time,
How the work is related to works that preceded it (like it was inspired by older works),
How the work references current ideologies (social, economic, philosophical theories),
How the work references historical (or current) events,
The form the work uses: is it a poem, a newspaper article, a short story. Does it use an unusual or experimental form?
The genre(s) the work belongs to
Tips
Don’t just look for sources that analyze the specific work you’ve chosen. Instead, broaden your search to other works like that one, such as other works in the same genre. And you’ll often find that sources study an author’s works together rather than separately. Therefore, you may not find a goldmine of webpages about Atwood’s “Unpopular Gals,” but you’re sure to find a lot about Atwood’s writing in general. Those are useful, too!
Don’t load your paper with biographical information about the author. We don’t need to know where Stephen King was born or who Margaret Atwood married. Only refer to that stuff if it’s actually relevant to the work in question (and that’s unlikely).
You don’t have to construct some elaborate argument about how “Boogeyman” is a metaphor for Communism or whatever. Instead, focus on what makes it an effective story.
