Revising to Elaborate Details

Your research paper should be more than just a list of details: First of all . . . Second of all . . . Thirdly . . . Fourthly . . . . Instead, you should elaborate ideas. You can do so by introducing a concept, looking more carefully at it, defining the terms you are using, giving examples, telling an anecdote, providing historical context, and so on. Note how each of these types of details further "unpacks" the concept, allowing readers to understand it more fully.

In the following paragraph from "The Mind Behind Middle-earth," note how the topic sentences introduce two main points, and the writer explores each point separately, using a variety of details to unfold the picture for the reader. Click on the callouts to view each part.

Writing the Beginning Paragraph

If you're having trouble deciding how to start, you can experiment with different strategies for catching your reader's interest. (If you'd rather just plunge in to writing your middle paragraphs, go ahead, and circle back to this step later.) Your lead sentence will begin your first paragraph and help to introduce your thesis statement.

Reading a Literary Research Paper

Before you start work on your own literary research paper, you should read a paper created by another student. As you read, note how the writer analyzes his topic with a breadth of ideas and a depth of details. He draws evidence from multiple sources, including the fiction and nonfiction of the author as well as historical references. He also connects the literature to larger thematic questions about life itself. Click on the side notes to study these features.

Reading a Student Model

This research paper explores the meaning of the term fantasy, specifically in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien. The overall structure includes a beginning paragraph, multiple body paragraphs, an ending paragraph, and a works-cited page. The writer uses source citations as well as historical context and discussions of theme in the analysis.

Revising to Connect Characters to Themes

An effective character analysis should show how the words and actions of the characters demonstrate larger themes. Often themes express life lessons, social or cultural realities, or moral dilemmas. Answering questions about the literature can help you identify themes:

1. Why is this character so interesting?

   George Wilson is interesting because he seems so powerless all the way through but does the one action that changes everything.

2. What is the most critical moment for this character?

   After his wife is killed by Gatsby's car, Wilson shoots Gatsby in his pool.

3. If this character could do one thing over, what would it be?

   Wilson would not let his wife go with Tom Buchanan, which would save her life and Gatsby's as well.

4. What emotion best defines this character?

   Wilson goes through a number of emotions, from blissful ignorance to growing suspicion, then grief and desperation, and finally fury. He feels that he has been wronged and will work to right it.

5. What does this character's life say about life in general?

   Rich, powerful people often take away the little that poor, powerless people have. However, if the rich ignore this injustice, the poor often rise up to take revenge.

Writing the Beginning Paragraph

Start your essay with a lead that gets readers' attention and orients them to the piece of literature you will analyze. After your lead sentence, you will develop a paragraph that ends with your thesis statement.

1. Name the work and author and summarize its importance.

   Cry, the Beloved Country by Alan Paton unflinchingly portrays the deep societal divisions in 1948 South Africa, divisions that would lead to apartheid.

2. Ask a compelling question about the work.

   Why do most people consider The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald to be the quintessential "Great American Novel?"

3. Provide a powerful quotation from the author.

   “Show me a hero and I’ll write you a tragedy.”
   —F. Scott Fitzgerald

4. Share a historical reference that provides a context for the work.

   Nelson Mandela spent his youth as a political dissident, his middle age as a political prisoner, and his old age as president of a post-apartheid South Africa.

Reading a Character Analysis

Before you begin your own character analysis, you should read a paper created by another student. As you read, note how the writer describes characters, explores themes, cites evidence from the literature, connects to the larger context, and combines the whole with transitions. Click on the side notes to study these features.

Reading a Student Model

This reading analyzes multiple characters from Cry, the Beloved Country, showing how they help express the main themes of the work. The overall structure includes a beginning paragraph, multiple body paragraphs, and an ending paragraph. The writer uses source citations as well as historical context and discussions of theme to show the significance of the characters in the novel.

Sample Character Analysis

Warm-Up for Analyzing a Character

Try to describe an object. That's fairly easy: a stout coffee cup with a robin-egg blue interior and a matte-black exterior that advertises the "Crossroads of Civilization" exhibit at the Milwaukee Public Museum. Objects are often straightforward. What you see is what you get.

Try to describe a person. That can be incredibly difficult. In fact, some authors have written whole novels describing a person such as Jane Eyre or Oliver Twist and still felt like they only scratched the surface. And yet, sometimes, you must read a great work of literature and write an effective character analysis in just a few pages.

What Is a Character Analysis?

© Thoughtful Learning 2018

A character analysis is a response to literature that looks closely at one or more characters and connects them to the major themes of the story or novel. A successful analysis considers different aspects of a character, provides textual evidence about the person, and explains what these details mean in the larger picture of the work.

In this unit, you will write a character analysis that focuses on one or more key characters in a work of fiction. You need to select a work that you know well. Then you must think deeply about it and unearth evidence to support your position.

Thinking About People

Characters are, of course, just fictional people. You can warm up your character-analysis muscles by analyzing people you know and like. (Be kind!) You can describe the person physically and psychologically, and you can think about what motivates the person. For example, this table records details about a student's best friend since third grade:

Revising to Use Literary Present Tense

Sometimes you might struggle with the tense of verbs in a literary analysis. Do you say, "Richard Adams lived in Whitchurch, England" or "Richard Adams lives in Whitchurch, England," (when he is deceased)? Do you say "Richard Adams combined anthropomorphic fiction with naturalism" or "Richard Adams combines anthropomorphic fiction with naturalism"? And if you are in present tense for your main text, how do you handle quotations in past tense?

When you write a literature review, you should use literary present tense. This style of writing treats the piece of literature as something new and fresh whenever it is read rather than being something stuck in the past. Follow these rules to write effectively in the literary present tense:

When speaking about the work and the events in it, use the present tense.

When referring to historical events in the author's life or in the world at the time, use the past tense.

Keep the tense of quotations even if they do not match the surrounding text.