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1. A summary of the author's point of view, including
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a brief statement of the author's main idea (i.e., thesis or theme)
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an outline of the important "facts" and lines of reasoning the author used to
support the main idea
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a summary of the author's explicit or implied values
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a presentation of the author's conclusion or suggestions for action
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2. An evaluation of the author's work, including
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an assessment of the "facts" presented on the basis of correctness, relevance,
and whether or not pertinent facts were omitted
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an evaluation or judgment of the logical consistency of the author's argument
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an appraisal of the author's values in terms of how you feel or by an accepted
standard
Once the analysis is completed, check your work! Ask yourself, "Have I read all
the relevant (or assigned) material?" "Do I have complete citations?" If not,
complete the work! The following steps are how this is done.
Now you can start to write the first draft of your expository essay/literature
review. Outline the conflicting arguments, if any; this will be part of the body
of your expository essay/literature review.
Ask yourself, "Are there other possible positions on this matter?" If so,
briefly outline them. Decide on your own position (it may agree with one of the
competing arguments) and state explicitly the reason(s) why you hold that
position by outlining the consistent facts and showing the relative
insignificance of contrary facts. Coherently state your position by integrating
your evaluations of the works you read. This becomes your conclusions section.
Briefly state your position, state why the problem you are working on is
important, and indicate the important questions that need to be answered; this
is your "Introduction." Push quickly through this draft--don't worry about
spelling, don't search for exactly the right word, don't hassle yourself with
grammar, don't worry overmuch about sequence--that's why this is called a "rough
draft." Deal with these during your revisions. The point of a rough draft is to
get your ideas on paper. Once they are there, you can deal with the superficial
(though very important) problems.
Consider this while writing:
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The critical essay is informative; it emphasizes the literary work being studied
rather than the feelings and opinions of the person writing about the literary
work; in this kind of writing, all claims made about the work need to be backed
up with evidence.
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The difference between feelings and facts is simple--it does not matter what you
believe about a book or play or poem; what matters is what you can prove about
it, drawing upon evidence found in the text itself, in biographies of the
author, in critical discussions of the literary work, etc.
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Criticism does not mean you have to attack the work or the author; it simply
means you are thinking critically about it, exploring it and discussing your
findings.
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In many cases, you are teaching your audience something new about the text.
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The literary essay usually employs a serious and objective tone. (Sometimes,
depending on your audience, it is all right to use a lighter or even humorous
tone, but this is not usually the case).
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Use a "claims and evidence" approach. Be specific about the points you are
making about the novel, play, poem, or essay you are discussing and back up
those points with evidence that your audience will find credible and
appropriate. If you want to say, "The War of the Worlds is a novel about how men
and women react in the face of annihilation, and most of them do not behave in a
particularly courageous or noble manner," say it, and then find evidence that
supports your claim.
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Using evidence from the text itself is often your best option. If you want to
argue, "isolation drives Frankenstein's creature to become evil," back it up
with events and speeches from the novel itself.
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Another form of evidence you can rely on is criticism, what other writers have
claimed about the work of literature you are examining. You may treat these
critics as "expert witnesses," whose ideas provide support for claims you are
making about the book. In most cases, you should not simply provide a summary of
what critics have said about the literary work.
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In fact, one starting point might be to look at what a critic has said about one
book or poem or story and then a) ask if the same thing is true of another book
or poem or story and 2) ask what it means that it is or is not true.
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Do not try to do everything. Try to do one thing well. And beware of subjects
that are too broad; focus your discussion on a particular aspect of a work
rather than trying to say everything that could possibly be said about it.
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Be sure your discussion is well organized. Each section should support the main
idea. Each section should logically follow and lead into the sections that come
before it and after it. Within each paragraph, sentences should be logically
connected to one another.
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Remember that in most cases you want to keep your tone serious and objective.
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Be sure your essay is free of mechanical and stylistic errors.
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If you quote or summarize (and you will probably have to do this) be sure you
follow an appropriate format (MLA format is the most common one when examining
literature) and be sure you provide a properly formatted list of works cited at
the end of your essay.
It is easy to choose the topics for critical essay type. For example, you can
choose a novel or a movie to discuss. It is important to choose the topic you
are interested and familiar with. Here are the examples of popular critical
essay topics:
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The Politics of Obama
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The Educational System of US
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My Favorite Movie
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Home Scholl
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“The Match Point” by Woody Allen
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Shakespeare “The Merchant of Venice”
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