some things to consider:
a five paragraph literary essay on your independent novel
2-3 pages (1.5 spacing)
the thesis must be arguable, provable and worth proving
(this will be more difficult with those novels that are plot-driven and lack depth)
never use "I" or other personal pronouns in a literary essay
- underline (or italics) the title of the novel
General Outline:
INTRO (paragraph 1)
- contains a hook I a catchy , interesting intro...a fact, an example, a question, a quotation etc
- topic is introduced, background is introduced (book title, author, subject matter, genre etc
- a thesis statement that usually will also include your main points
BODY (paragraphs 2-4)
- each paragraph must have a topic sentence
- paragraphs should be organized logically to develop the thesis (strong argument last? etc)
- use transitions to signal new topics/sub-topics
-integrate details, facts and quotations (at lease one per point) to support and develop your points
CONCLUSION (paragraph 5)
- include final thoughts on a topic
- no new info should be interested
- thesis and main points should be restated
- try to end with an emphatic statement
For a better (more visual) explanation of this, check out the following powerpoint presentation:
sjdbh.ycdsb.ca/Departments/sjdb_english/.../Literary%20Essay.ppt
For examples of what a senior literary essay should look like and how to integrate quotations and create a works cited page, have a look at the following examples:
http://www.dianahacker.com/pdfs/hacker-lars-mla.pdf
http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/easywriter3e/studentwriting/pdf/SchraederMLALitEssay.pdf
another excellent source of format etc is On Your Own (4th edition) which is available in the library
Pgs 82-83 are excellent examples of what your essay should look like
the thesis is all-important and a good, strong, provable thesis is generally necessary for an effective essay
the extent of the development of the points in support of the thesis also contributes a great deal to whether or not an essay is poor, average or excellent
Good Luck
