Your paper #2 is to be a literary analysis.
Directions: Choose a literary work (this can be anything in short story form or book form, but not poetry! We covered poetry explication in ENGL 1301). Next, analyze this work based on the examples in the modules. You can analyze author function (whether or not the author inserted a part of themselfe such as their personal life story into the writing), the character portrayal, plot development, etc.
It needs to be 600-800 words in length and have at least two sources: the original source of your literary work and at least one other source that can support or validate or even challenge your claims. However, do not have more than two sources, and do not quote large portions of the literary work. You only use the work to support your claims and your thesis statement; they don’t carry your paper. Remember the rule of no more than two quotes per page with no more than two lines in each quote. This prevents over-citing and not enough of your voice.
You can find examples of short stories here.
And, you can find examples of flash fiction here.
Remember to follow all MLA format instructions with margins and spacing and citing.
Don’t let the words “literary analysis” scare you. As long as you follow formatting rules and use proper punctuation and grammar, you can’t get it wrong. It is your opinion on a literary work.
Don’t confuse literary analysis with a literary summary. A summary simpy reiterates the plot, character formation, and course of events of a literary work. An analysis is based on a thesis–on an argument of what the author (you) thinks about the literary work.
You can examine things like theme, dialogue, characters, author function, imagery, figues of speech, metaphors, symbolism, tone, rhyme scheme (if poetry), and point of view. You can break all of these down, or you could only choose several depending on the length of your essay.
You must remember to have a debatable thesis and a strong argument that can carry the length of your paper while still engaging the audience’s attention.
