Literary analysis presumes the interpretation of a literary work with further formulation of the writer’s peculiar opinion about the subject of analysis. Such form of writing is frequently referred to as literary criticism. It is possible to formulate the essence of literary criticism (or literary analysis) as discussion, comparison and evaluation of literary works. Writer of the literary analysis essay should demonstrate creative and original style, impressing the reader with new ideas and fresh interpretation of the discussed work. Discussion of the new points using the professional and persuasive language demonstrates interest to the topic and involves the reader.



Literary analysis essay should begin with identification of the criticized work and its author. In case the writer chooses to compare several literary works, all authors and works should be specified. Introductory paragraph should also contain some transitional sentences that precede a clearly stated thesis. The thesis statement should reflect the attitude of a writer logically and clearly. It is highly preferable to formulate the thesis in the form of an affirmative sentence.

Usually the main point of a literary analysis essay is to develop certain themes and ideas, so the writer should state, what ideas and issues does the story deal with, and what thoughts it provokes. All in all, literary analysis essays should include the following information: the title of the literary work, its author and genre (for instance, realistic, romance, sci-fi, murder mystery, adventure, gothic, fantasy, horror, detective, etc.).

In some cases it is necessary to incorporate certain elements of the plot (story line) into the report, especially if these elements are connected with the main ideas the writer develops in his essay. The writer may need to retell the content of the described work in brief. In case the essay is short, it is preferable to state the information about content of the book in one paragraph. In other cases it is possible to extend the description and incorporate it into the structure of other paragraphs of an essay. The same concerns main characters: the writer is free to describe them to whatever extent he thinks it is necessary if that does not make the text overloaded with unnecessary details and difficult to read.

The writer should carefully select the quotes and make sure that the quotes are included into the structure of an essay. The reader should understand where the action is taking place, and to this reason the writer should properly describe the situation and acting personages before putting a quote.

As well as with all other types of essays that presume statement of the personal opinion, it is essential for the writer to substantiate his point of view, support it by the sound and plausible arguments that is able to persuade the reader to accept the writer’s position. In case of the literary analysis essay, each argument or critical statement of the writer should be supported with properly referenced quotations from the criticized literary work. Again, it is important to make the essay look balanced and professional by using different techniques: long/short quotations, paraphrasing, retelling, etc. It is important that each quotation does not stand aside from the entire text. The writer should express his personal attitudes and criticize each quote in a deliberate way.

The writer should demonstrate clear organization and the maximum attention to specific details. Each sentence and word should be carefully considered and coordinated with the general context of the essay. Final proofreading is necessary to make sure that each paragraph promotes or supports the initially stated thesis and to avoid plagiarism/quoting/inconsistency with initial requirements. The writer should make sure that the essay contains no boring or uninteresting places with empty words and phrases.