How to Write a Literary Critique: Guidelines and Instructions

Objectives

Our evaluation of the paper will be based on the marking scale included on the syllabus. In addition to written comments, we will be using a rubric that I will circulate in class before the deadline.

To do well on this paper, you will:

1. notice critical details from a text
2. link details to a specific issue treated by the text
3. define this issue clearly and explain why these details are important
4. construct a thesis that is creative and specific (rather than obvious and general)
5. incorporate details and quotes correctly
6. link textual details to the thesis through analysis
7. clearly communicate your discussion in paragraph form, with attention to grammar,spelling, organization, proper citation, and the format of a literary analysis paper.

1. Choose one or two texts from our list of readings. You may not write about a text you have already written about.

2. For this assignment you are asked to craft your own original thesis statement based on details you see in the text. Most importantly: your paper must have a clearly defined, specific, and debatable central claim that presents an original argument about the text you are reading.

Argue in support of your reading of the text. Do not merely describe what the text is saying; instead, critically analyze passages and details from the text in order to advocate for your own interpretation.  

You might attend to things like repetition, word choice, theme, rhythm, metaphors, images, or typology (capital letters, punctuation, line spacing etc.). You might make an argument about plot, character development, or what gets conspicuously left out of the text (whose voice do we not hear? What can we not see? What information is kept from us?). You might be interested in reading the text’s power dynamics or rhetorical strategies, or you might focus on narration, perspective, or point of view. Ask yourself: what is being represented to me as a reader and why? Where is our attention being drawn, in what way am I being asked to read this text, and why is this happening? Remember to trust yourself as a reader: if you see it, it’s there. Your job is to now show your reader what you see through your own carefully crafted interpretation of the text—you will accomplish this through the analysis of direct textual evidence.  

Remember that a strong thesis statement will answer:

1. What details do you notice? What specific aspect of the text do you want to discuss?
2. How are these details linked to a specific issue? How is this aspect operating in the text?
3. Why is this thing happening? What is the larger significance of what you’ve noticed?

Ask yourself why the text chooses to present something in a particular way and what argument it might be making about a specific issue. Remember that texts are crafted deliberately, not by accident, and that everything we read in this course is making some kind of claim. Your job as a literary critic is to decide what you think the text is saying and argue for that reading. As you write, think about the following: What is the work critiquing/endorsing? What is its social or cultural commentary? Does it identify specific problems? Does it offer any solutions (it may not)?  

3. Your paper should be 1500-2000 words. You should use the work we’ve done with close reading to assist you with the evidence. While you can draw on the text as a whole,you should use quoted material and analysis to prove your thesis. You do not need to summarize the text (we’ve read it!); instead focus on evidence and analysis.

4. You are required to incorporate one secondary, critical source into your paper. This can be a scholarly article or book chapter. Your source must be no older than 2008, and it must be peer-reviewed. Remember to citeand quote your source appropriately according to MLA style conventions. You may also always cite lecture or class discussion as one of your sources.

5. Each paper must include a Works Citedat the end. Please use MLA style. We will deduct 5 points for papers that do not include a Works Cited.

6. Please give your paper a descriptive title. In other words, titles such as “Final Paper” or

“The Red Wheelbarrow” or “Gender” are way too vague. Instead, give me something like: “‘A close, dank smell’: The Decay of White Supremacy in Faulkner’s ‘A Rose for Emily’”  

7. Paper format: Your paper should have 1-inch/2.54 cm margins (be careful, default for MS

Word is 1.25” so you need to change this), is double-spaced, in Times New Roman font (Mac users: not Cambria). Your name and information should be at the top left of the paper. Your last name and page numbers should be present on each page. No cover sheets or title pages are necessary.