Reflect in your journal:

On a scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you in your analytical writing skills? Explain.

When I say “literary analysis,” what comes to mind?

Objective:Plan/Prewrite a literary analysis essay.

TASK: Apply one or more concepts from How to Read Literature Like a Professor

to Grendel.

RATIONALE: Developing analytical essay skills Establishing expectations for future essays

NOTE: We will first workshop your ESSAY CONTENT. Then we will work on polishing your writing style (grammar, usage, etc.).

Create a writing prompt for your essay: Example: How might Foster’s explanation of quests in How to Read Literature Like a

Professor apply to the title character of John Gardner’s novel Grendel?

This will make writing your thesis a little easier! Example: The eponymous monster in John Gardner’s novel Grendel might be considered

a quester who is ultimately, according to Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, in search of self-knowledge.

How to Read Literature Like a Professor Purpose: to explain the tenets of your chapter of choice (relevant to your thesis)

Grendel Purpose: show through example how Foster’s ideas apply to Grendel

Chronologically: Show change/development from beginning to end

By Character: If your topic(s) involves multiple characters

By Idea: If you are discussing two or three related ideas Be sure to draw connections between the related ideas rather than just discussing

each one in isolation

Example Body Paragraph Outline: Topic Sentence

Context + Textual Evidence

Commentary x2

Context + Textual Evidence

Commentary x2

Context + Textual Evidence

Commentary x2

Summary Sentence

Argument for this paragraph (aspect of thesis)

Explain concept from HTRLLP

An example from Grendel showing concept from HTRLLP

Another example from Grendel showing concept from HTRLLP

Conclude the Paragraph /Transition to Next Idea

Context + Speaker (if necessary) + Textual Evidence Use paraphrasing along with direct textual evidence Break down the quote; keep only the most relevant/necessary bits Use ellipsis and brackets

EXAMPLES: After George kills Lennie, Slim comes “directly to George” and says, “‘A guy’s got to

sometimes’” as they leave the river’s edge, suggesting that Slim thinks George did the right thing (Steinbeck 107).

After the murder of the king, as Macbeth experiences the initial pangs of guilt, he wonders if “all great Neptune’s ocean” could “wash this blood clean from [his] hands” (II, ii, 59-60).

Because his emotions are swirling as a result of leaving the bedside of his dying friend, Paul experiences “the earth streaming with forces which pour into [him] through the soles of his feet” (Remarque 33).

I expect you to make an attempt at intro/conclusion with this first draft. I do not expect polish with the intro/conclusion I care MUCH MORE about your thesis and body paragraphs for this draft Documents on intro/conclusion (which should be familiar to you) are available

on my website

Keep in Mind: Incomplete essays damage the effectiveness of a writing conference!

All good writers write them. This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts… I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal of money, and not one of them writes elegant first drafts…

Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something—anything—down on paper. A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft—you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft—you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if it’s loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy.

-Ann Lamott, from Bird by Bird: Instructions on Writing and Life