Many students in Advanced Placement courses or in the International Baccalaureate program, find analyzing literature challenging. Here are some practical tips for writing literary analysis that will help develop critical thinking skills while studying literature.
Top Ten Tips for Writing Literary Analysis
- Characters in plays and novels are fictional characters; they are not real people! You need to look at how the writer has developed the character through the process of characterization. Examine the characters in relation to the imaginary world which has been created by the writer.
- Look for patterns in a text. What words and images are repeated? What ideas are repeated or connected? How are these linked to the patterns of themes and concepts which are implicit in the text itself?. Be a detective and look for clues!
- Look for the layers of meaning and the subtext. Look beyond the literal meanings and go for abstract meanings.
- Of all the tips for writing literary analysis, this one is most important: read the text in detail! Students must familiarize themselves with the words on the page, especially in key passages or scenes.
- When sharing tips for writing literary analysis, students complain, thinking there is no logical reason to do so. Imagine you are dissecting a frog. Why does the science teacher ask students to do this? So they know how the body works, how the parts fit together and function. The same is true when analyzing a novel, poem, or play. What students need to understand is they are deconstructing the text : taking it apart to see how the pieces fit together.
- Yes, literary devices have to be identified in the books being read in class. This is a given. However a good analytical essay will delve deeper and ask why. Why and to what effect is the colour red repeated, for example? What effect does the use of animal imagery have on the development of the narrative? This is what students find most challenging. It is a skill that takes time to develop. Patience is needed!
- Annotation. For some reason , many students feel guilty writing in their books. Admittedly, this may because the school owns them (the books, not the students)! Where possible students should buy their own copies of the books being studied, so then can make notes--underlining and highlighting as much as they want. Even then, however, they are loathe to do so, fearing a thunderbolt might strike them for writing all over a great work of literature. Tell them they are wrong! Annotating texts facilitates a much closer textual analysis of the words on the page.
- Breaking news! You don't have to like the text to analyze it! Frequently, students tell teachers they don't like the novel or they don't like the play. Guess what ? We don't care! Analyze it anyway, your job is to examine how and why writers write what they write.
- Register. Whether it is an essay or an oral presentation students should use an appropriate register which makes them sound like they are knowledgable about the text. Yes! You do want to sound like a university professor! Write and/or speak like a literary expert!
- Students should know their literary terms. Every subject has its specialized jargon and literature is no exception. Always use literary teminology when talking about well, yes ... literature!