Author Project
1. The object of this project is for you to become an expert on an American author. Additionally, you will practice the process of studying and communicating your discoveries and do in-depth work of a focused kind. Your general presentation and style exercise will demonstrate how much you know about this author’s life, emotional and intellectual content, and style. Your creative project will allow you to have fun with the themes and ideas that you get from the author.
2.
Second semester you will write a college level, 8-10 page essay following the
design of the AP synthesis essay. You will need to decide on a subject inspired
by your book, your reading, or your experience first semester
The project is divided into several steps to help keep you on task throughout the year. The final outcomes will be due in the second semester, so this project will have more impact on the second semester grade than on that of first semester.
1. Working independently over time
2. Careful study of style and rhetoric
3. Ability to complete research and organize a project
4. Applying themes over a wide variety of genres
STEP 1:Select an author from the given
list. You are encouraged to make
suggestions of authors not on the list as long as the author is an American and
is represented in academic study. Each
student will study a different author. No
duplications will be allowed.
STEP 4:Read at least two critics and write at least a one page summary of their criticism of the work of your author. The articles must be complete, not excerpts, and should deal with a single work by your author. Xerox a copy of each article so you can take note to help you with your style paper later. These copies and summaries will be turned in to me for review. ARTICLES AND SUMMARIES DUE: ___________October 30___________
EXERCISES DUE-January 18th
STEP 7-Read one hundred pages of biography or autobiography and summarize them. Write a bibliography to acknowledge your sources.SUMMARY DUE DATE: ______October 30th______________
STEP 4
STEP 8:
ANALYSIS PROJECTSThe analysis project is a written work which addresses the author’s style.Dialectical JournalsQuestion List with AnswersCopy-changeArtistic Responses in paint, drawing or comics with explanatory notesPersonal Response Journal throughout the reading processQuotations with interpretive notesStructural Analysis (diction, syntax, tone )Comparison/Contrast with author’s other worksBiography/Fiction ComparisonInterview with an expert on your particular author
CREATIVE PROJECTS
The creative project is a presentation to the class. Parody of the author’s work Dramatic reading Acting project Artistic rendition of an author’s work; be prepared to explain how your author’s style influenced your art, and how your art represents the ideas of your author. Photographic essay Illustrated version of a book Poetry inspired by the works of your author. Video version of a story or of the author’s life
An author’s style is the way he or she uses language.. Style involves using language that is endowed with point and force which is organized to achieve an intended effect upon the reader.
Look for the following when evaluating style:
1. Diction: the use of vocabulary or word choice.
Describe the use of vocabulary or word choice.
Is word usage vague or concrete, vivid and vigorous, turgid and dull, denotative or connotative, straightforward or figurative, conversational or unusual, archaic, artificial, and/or ornate?
Does the author employ words and details economically or expansively?
2. How well does the author handle description and sense impressions? Does the author use detailed
description, and figures of speech? How about allusions, puns (plays on words), or other literary
devices? For what purpose are these devices used?
3. What are the main characteristics of the author’s sentence patterns? Are sentence patterns simple or
complex? Do sentences demonstrate a balance of parts and parallelism? Is anything remarkable
about the syntax?
4. Is economy of expression characteristic of the style? If not, why? What purpose is achieved?
5. What adjectives (graceful, dull, verbose, lively, terse, simple) best describe the style?
6. How does dialogue contribute to the style? Do dialects accurately represent character backgrounds to
make them realistic? Is the dialogue stilted or artificial, natural or witty? Is the dialogue appropriate
to the characters who speak?
7. Is the style appropriate to the story, characters or purpose? Should the author have used different
levels of language, sentence patterns, or other methods to achieve the desired effect?
8. Is the author’s emphasis on style more important than what is said, or is there a meaningful and artistic fusion of style and content?
9. Is there a musical quality to the style? Prose, as well as poetry, can involve a study of sounds.
10. Is the work fluent? Is there a smooth movement from sentence to sentence and paragraph to
paragraph? Is the reader gently guided through the work by the use of transitions? Sometimes an
author will be deliberately incoherent, especially if a character with inner confusions is being depicted.
11. How does the tone affect the style? If the tone shifts, does the change affect the style?
The tone is the author’s attitude, which is apparent because of the choice of words or arrangement of
details. Tone involves such attitudes as the ironic, satiric, objective, pessimistic, optimistic, cynical,
comic, tragic, etc.
Writing a Literary Analysis
Some questions to answer during the writing process
1. If you have been assigned a specific question, carefully read it and understand what is being
asked of you. If you do not understand words in the question, look them up in a dictionary to
help you understand the question. Develop your thesis statement from the original question.
2. Why are you writing the paper? What are you trying to prove? Does the paper have a
specific, directed thesis? Is your topic broad or specific? Limit the scope of the paper to meet
the length requirements or time limitations in which the paper must be written.
3. Does the body of the paper deal with the thesis statement and prove it? Are your major points
directed toward proving the thesis?
4. Does the content of the paper clearly demonstrate your understanding of what you have read?
Show that you know your subject; select evidence which is appropriate for proving the thesis.
Make sure all information is accurate; do not fabricate information.
5. Does the paper contain adequate details? Avoid excessive retelling of the story line; be
selective about examples. Select the strongest possible examples for support.
Does the paper explain the relevancy of the details in relation to the thesis? You must explain
why your points are valid; do not simply list a series of events from a story and assume that
your reader can interpret their relevance to your thesis. Us insight; avoid superficial
observations.
6. Can a valid argument be made against your thesis? Can you defend your points against an
attack? It is wise to briefly present opposing views and demonstrate why your points are
stronger.
7. The content of your essay must be relevant, directed, and coherent. Reread your paper. If you can’t understand what you have written, do not expect that your reader will be able to do so. Although you may not always be able to select your own topic, when you have the opportunity to do so, choose a topic which interests you; if you don’t like the topic or find it boring, don’t expect your reader to find it stimulating.
8. Proofread your paper for errors in mechanics, grammar, and coherence. If you have the
opportunity, have someone else proofread the essay for you. If you have the time, set the
paper aside and look at it later. The passage of time often helps improve the editing process.
9. If you need help, seek it. Some of the best papers have come from students who have sought
help, discussed their subject with someone else, and have come to understand their subjects
better.
Possible Themes to Look for in Literature
The following list is a suggestion of possible themes or conflicts to look for when reading literature. This is by no means a complete list. You may find that none of these will apply to a particular work, or more than one may be relevant. When writing about theme, your thesis must be more specific than the generalized themes below.
General conflicts: Man vs. Man; Man vs. Nature; Man vs. Himself; Man vs. Society
The individual and the need for social acceptance
The value of tolerance for others
Personal integrity vs. social image
Personal conscience vs. social values
Higher justice vs. social laws
The search for justice and dignity
The effects of war ( experiences with war and peace )
The personal experience: passages and transformations; fulfillment; courage
The corrupting effects of power
The conflict between the higher and lower side of human nature
Fantasy and the unexplained
The environment and its effects upon the individual
Historical works; experiencing the life of another
Behavioral motivation and ethical principles; moral reasoning
Man’s position in the universe
Terms to Understand when Completing a Literary Analysis
allegory alliteration allusion ambiguity analogy
antecedent aphorism apostrophe atmosphere clause
colloquialism conceit connotation denotation diction
didactic euphemism extended metaphor figurative language
figure of speech generic conventions genre homily
hyperbole imagery inference/infer invective irony
loose sentence metaphor metonomy mood narrative
onomatopoeia oxymoron paradox parallelism parody
pedantic periodic sentence personification point of view
predicate adjective predicate nominative prose
repetition rhetoric rhetorical modes sarcasm
satire semantics style subject complement
subordinate clause syllogism symbolism syntax
theme thesis tone transition understatement
wit
attitude
concrete detail
descriptive detail
devices
language
narrative devices
narrative technique
persuasive devices
persuasive essay
resources of language
rhetorical features
rhetorical structure
sentence structure
stylistic devices
Quote Blending
In explaining and arguing, quotation of spoken or written words is a standard means of presenting evidence. Quotation is especially useful in argument when writing about literature. By using solid evidence, you are proving that you know your subject well and are not presenting superficial ideas.
To make quotations effective, they must be smoothly blended with your own writing. Do not simply thrust a quotation into your paper and hope that it fits. An irrelevant quote is worse than no quote at all. A strong quotation poorly blended is ineffective and may serve to weaken your point. As a writer of critical analysis, you must first select the quotations which best support what you are trying to prove in your paper. Second, decide what you want to say about the significance of the selected quotation; analysis must always accompany quoted material. The reader must clearly understand why you have included the quotation in your paper.
Once you have determined which evidence is best suited for your paper and are ready to integrate the quote into the paper, you must make sure that the quote fits smoothly into the structure and syntax of your paper. Although there are no set standards or specific formats for quote blending, the following three steps provide a general method:
1. Introduce the quotation.
2. Give the quotation.
3. Analyze the quotation ( give commentary ) and explain its relevance to your thesis.
In the best critical writing, quotations are integrated so well that they sound as if they are not quotes at all, but a part of the paper in which they serve as evidence only. Try to make the quote fit into the paper as if you had written it yourself as part of the paper. Such smoothness is not always possible, but with careful editing, you will find that the flow of the paper is much better when the quotation is an inseparable part of your paper.
Notes about Punctuation of Quotations
1. Direct quotations ( the exacts words of another person, whether spoken or written ) must be
punctuated with quotation marks.
Ernest Hemingway once said, “ All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.”
Do not use quotation marks around indirect quotations. An indirect quotation is the
rephrasing of someone’s ideas without using that person’s exact words.
Ernest Hemingway believed that Mark Twain’s novel, Huckleberry Finn, served as the inspiration for all American literature which followed it.
2. Set off long quotations of poetry or prose by indenting. When a quotation of prose runs to
more than four typed lines in your paper, set it off by indenting ten spaces from the left margin.
Quotation marks are not required because the indentation tells the reader that the quotation is
taken word for word from its source. Long quotations are ordinarily introduce by a sentence
which ends with a colon.
3. Use single quotation marks to enclose a quotation within a quotation.
4. Periods and commas are always placed inside ( to the left of closing quotation marks ).
5. Colons and semicolons are placed outside closing quotation marks.
6. Question marks and exclamation points are placed inside the closing quotation mark if the end punctuation is part of the quotation. If the question mark or exclamation point refers to the entire sentence, the end punctuation is placed outside of the closing quotation mark.
The Ellipsis Mark
The ellipsis mark consists of three spaced periods ( . . . ). An ellipsis indicates that you have omitted words from an otherwise word-for-word quotation.
Do not use an ellipsis at the beginning of a quotation.
Do not use one at the end of a quotation unless you have deleted words from the final sentence quoted. In the event that you do end a quotation with an ellipsis, you must also add a period to show that the sentence ends.