Analysis

Paper details
Short Paper (3-5 pages, double-spaced, 11 or 12pt font, Times New Roman or similar):
The short paper is a longer and more focused version of your response papers. This essay should analyze
at least one of the texts that we’ve read so far (including To the Lighthouse), breaking down how it delivers
information, literary devices it uses (e.g. narration type, development of plot—internal/external conflict, etc.
—character types, metaphorical language, etc.), and also the message it delivers. Begin by pinpointing a
theme or viewpoint the text deals with, and then explain how you think the author writes about it.
By examining the stylistic choices the author makes, you will discuss how the form affects the content of
the piece. That is, you should be making an argument for, and have a thesis about, your particular
interpretation of the text, and discuss how, literarily, the text achieves this.
I am primarily interested in your analysis of the text or texts you choose to write about, so no outside
research is required. However, feel free to include brief references to scholarly (peer-reviewed) sources to
focus or contextualize your analysis if you wish (making sure to cite them in-text in MLA style and in a
Works Cited page at the end of your essay).
The short paper is worth 10% of your final grade. You will receive an A on your essay if you (1) include
specific details from the text; (2) balance description of the text (limit to a few sentences of plot summary)
with analysis of it (the majority of your essay); (3) make a persuasive and coherently organized argument in
favor of your own interpretation of an aspect of the text.