Choose from our assigned texts a story that interests you most and investigate it further with a question of critical inquiry, whose answer will become the essay’s topic statement. Develop an argument with a careful analysis of the primary text and support your position with credible outside material.

Choose from our assigned texts a story that interests you most and investigate it further with a question of critical inquiry, whose answer will become the essay’s topic statement. Develop an argument with a careful analysis of the primary text and support your position with credible outside material.

In addition to textual evidence from the story itself, you must supplement your analysis with at least one (1) scholarly secondary text and at least one (1) credible popular text. Synthesize into your argument the ideas of others: think critically about them, analyze their value, then use these ideas to support your own thesis.”

 

Directions

Examine one of our assigned texts with a question of critical inquiry. Employ literary analysis to examine a component or theme of the story, paying specific attention to what is revealed when seen from your chosen position. Focus your examination into a critical argument about the work, stating either your perspective on, interpretation of, or critical evaluation of the work.

For example, a student might examine in Gene Luen Yang’s American Born Chinese protagonist Jin Wang’s internalized racism and its effects on self-esteem and self-acceptance. See the example below for an analysis of the upcoming graphic novel:

Literary Analysis Example Essay (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.) (Links to an external site.) (pdf via Drive)

In addition to gathering evidence from the primary text, you must support your analysis with credible secondary sources. Synthesize into your argument the ideas of others: think critically about them, analyze their value, then use these ideas to support your own claim.

Demonstrate the authority and value of the sources within your essay itself. A minimum of two (2) quality secondary sources—in addition to the primary text—are required, including:

At least one (1) scholarly source
At least one (1) popular source

Explain to the reader the credentials of those you incorporate into your essay, and provide context for their inclusion. If you have questions about what constitutes an academic/professional or popular source, check out the SCC Library’s research guide at the following link:

 

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