research paper on literary criticism

ENG 102 / ENG 108: Research Papers, Literary Criticism & Annotated Bibliographies

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When searching for literary analysis on a particular work or author, here are some tips that will help you get better results:

Using Quotes

If you are searching for criticism or analysis on a particular literary work, put the title in quotes.

For example:

"The Time Machine"

"The Road Not Taken"

Include the author's name in your search

To help narrow your results, try including the author's name in your search.

"Crime and Punishment" and Dostoevsky

Emma and Austen

Identifying criticism and analysis

When searching for criticism or analysis, specify what you are looking for in your search.

"Tell-tale Heart" and (criticism or analysis)

"The Yellow Wallpaper" and (criticism or review)

What is Literary Criticism?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), literary criticism is defined as "the art or practice of judging and commenting on the qualities and character of a literary work". Literary criticism is written in a variety of formats including reviews, essays, research papers, and even dissertations. Literary criticism goes beyond just reading a text; you interpret and analyze what is written.

Databases for Literary Criticism

The following databases are great resources for researching literature including criticism, analysis and reviews. See the 'Search Tips' box on this page for further help in searching these databases:

• Literature Resource Center Search this database for literary analysis and criticism on literary works including short stories, poetry, general literature and more!
• JStor An extensive database of scholarly journals. Literary content available back to the late 1800s.
• Academic Search Premier
• Academic OneFile
• MasterFILE Premier

Print Literary Criticism Sources

In addition to a variety of library databases (eResources), the MCC Library collections contain a variety of print resources that provide literary criticism and analysis. Be sure to ask for help at the Reference Desk if you need help locating or using these resources.  Search the  library catalog  for additional resources.

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literary criticism

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• Internet Archive - "Literary Criticism"
• Academia - Literary Criticism and Literary Theory: A Study
• Humanities LibreTexts - About Literary Criticism
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literary criticism , the reasoned consideration of literary works and issues. It applies, as a term, to any argumentation about literature , whether or not specific works are analyzed. Plato ’s cautions against the risky consequences of poetic inspiration in general in his Republic are thus often taken as the earliest important example of literary criticism .

More strictly construed, the term covers only what has been called “practical criticism,” the interpretation of meaning and the judgment of quality. Criticism in this narrow sense can be distinguished not only from aesthetics (the philosophy of artistic value) but also from other matters that may concern the student of literature: biographical questions, bibliography , historical knowledge, sources and influences, and problems of method. Thus, especially in academic studies, “criticism” is often considered to be separate from “scholarship.” In practice, however, this distinction often proves artificial, and even the most single-minded concentration on a text may be informed by outside knowledge, while many notable works of criticism combine discussion of texts with broad arguments about the nature of literature and the principles of assessing it.

Criticism will here be taken to cover all phases of literary understanding, though the emphasis will be on the evaluation of literary works and of their authors’ places in literary history. For another particular aspect of literary criticism, see textual criticism .

The functions of literary criticism vary widely, ranging from the reviewing of books as they are published to systematic theoretical discussion. Though reviews may sometimes determine whether a given book will be widely sold, many works succeed commercially despite negative reviews, and many classic works, including Herman Melville’s Moby Dick (1851), have acquired appreciative publics long after being unfavourably reviewed and at first neglected. One of criticism’s principal functions is to express the shifts in sensibility that make such revaluations possible. The minimal condition for such a new appraisal is, of course, that the original text survive. The literary critic is sometimes cast in the role of scholarly detective, unearthing, authenticating, and editing unknown manuscripts. Thus, even rarefied scholarly skills may be put to criticism’s most elementary use, the bringing of literary works to a public’s attention.

The variety of criticism’s functions is reflected in the range of publications in which it appears. Criticism in the daily press rarely displays sustained acts of analysis and may sometimes do little more than summarize a publisher’s claims for a book’s interest. Weekly and biweekly magazines serve to introduce new books but are often more discriminating in their judgments, and some of these magazines, such as The (London) Times Literary Supplement and The New York Review of Books , are far from indulgent toward popular works. Sustained criticism can also be found in monthlies and quarterlies with a broad circulation, in “little magazines” for specialized audiences, and in scholarly journals and books.

Because critics often try to be lawgivers, declaring which works deserve respect and presuming to say what they are “really” about, criticism is a perennial target of resentment. Misguided or malicious critics can discourage an author who has been feeling his way toward a new mode that offends received taste. Pedantic critics can obstruct a serious engagement with literature by deflecting attention toward inessential matters. As the French philosopher-critic Jean-Paul Sartre observed, the critic may announce that French thought is a perpetual colloquy between Pascal and Montaigne not in order to make those thinkers more alive but to make thinkers of his own time more dead. Criticism can antagonize authors even when it performs its function well. Authors who regard literature as needing no advocates or investigators are less than grateful when told that their works possess unintended meaning or are imitative or incomplete.

What such authors may tend to forget is that their works, once published, belong to them only in a legal sense. The true owner of their works is the public, which will appropriate them for its own concerns regardless of the critic. The critic’s responsibility is not to the author’s self-esteem but to the public and to his own standards of judgment, which are usually more exacting than the public’s. Justification for his role rests on the premise that literary works are not in fact self-explanatory. A critic is socially useful to the extent that society wants, and receives, a fuller understanding of literature than it could have achieved without him. In filling this appetite, the critic whets it further, helping to create a public that cares about artistic quality. Without sensing the presence of such a public, an author may either prostitute his talent or squander it in sterile acts of defiance. In this sense, the critic is not a parasite but, potentially, someone who is responsible in part for the existence of good writing in his own time and afterward.

Although some critics believe that literature should be discussed in isolation from other matters, criticism usually seems to be openly or covertly involved with social and political debate. Since literature itself is often partisan, is always rooted to some degree in local circumstances, and has a way of calling forth affirmations of ultimate values, it is not surprising that the finest critics have never paid much attention to the alleged boundaries between criticism and other types of discourse. Especially in modern Europe, literary criticism has occupied a central place in debate about cultural and political issues. Sartre’s own What Is Literature? (1947) is typical in its wide-ranging attempt to prescribe the literary intellectual’s ideal relation to the development of his society and to literature as a manifestation of human freedom. Similarly, some prominent American critics, including Alfred Kazin , Lionel Trilling , Kenneth Burke , Philip Rahv , and Irving Howe , began as political radicals in the 1930s and sharpened their concern for literature on the dilemmas and disillusionments of that era. Trilling’s influential The Liberal Imagination (1950) is simultaneously a collection of literary essays and an attempt to reconcile the claims of politics and art.

Such a reconciliation is bound to be tentative and problematic if the critic believes, as Trilling does, that literature possesses an independent value and a deeper faithfulness to reality than is contained in any political formula. In Marxist states, however, literature has usually been considered a means to social ends and, therefore, criticism has been cast in forthrightly partisan terms. Dialectical materialism does not necessarily turn the critic into a mere guardian of party doctrine, but it does forbid him to treat literature as a cause in itself, apart from the working class’s needs as interpreted by the party. Where this utilitarian view prevails, the function of criticism is taken to be continuous with that of the state itself, namely, furtherance of the social revolution. The critic’s main obligation is not to his texts but rather to the masses of people whose consciousness must be advanced in the designated direction. In periods of severe orthodoxy, the practice of literary criticism has not always been distinguishable from that of censorship.

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Literary Research: General Literary Theory & Criticism Resources

Theory vs. criticism.

From: Stevens, Anne H.  Literary Theory and Criticism: An Introduction . Second edition., Broadview Press, 2021.

"In general, literary theory refers to writings that deal with the underlying principles associated with the study of literature, language, interpretation, culture, and all sorts of related issues. Many of the thinkers who have shaped major theoretical approaches to literature come from areas outside the boundaries of traditional literary studies, especially in fields such as philosophy and the social sciences. Literary criticism usually refers to analysis of a particular work or works: studies of individual authors, genres, literary movements, and the like.

The two terms are closely related, however, since both literary theorists and literary critics study literary texts using a theoretical framework. One way of conceiving of the difference between the two relates to the underlying aims of the writing. A work of literary theory might use literary texts as examples or illustrations that serve to develop a larger theoretical point, while a literary critic might use a theoretical perspective as a means of better understanding a literary text. The distinction is quite subtle and subjective, though, because these two sides -- theory and criticism -- constantly reinforce each other."

Bibliographies

• Oxford Bibliographies: Literary and Critical Theory Scholarly, annotated summaries and listings of the significant sources in Literary and Critical Theory.

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Literary Criticism for Students (and anyone else)

Getting started, research strategies, online encyclopedias, literary criticism databases, author biography, defining terms and concepts.

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What is Literary Criticism?

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, literary criticism is "The art or practice of judging and commenting on the qualities and character of a literary work; consideration or analysis of a text in relation to language, structure, biography, history, etc., or (in later use, freq. with modifying word) by a particular philosophical, political, or linguistic method; (also) an instance of this, esp. in a written form; a school or method of criticizing literature.

• Library research, reading, and note-taking are time consuming.  When planning your time, make sure to take this into account and leave sufficient time for writing, reviewing, and proofreading your paper.
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• Plan a visit to the Research Library at Copley Square to use in-library-use-only material.
• Use Gale Virtual Reference Library (GVRL) to obtain an overview essay on your author, title, or topic and use that as the starting point for creating a tentative outline and thesis statement for your paper.   Note: When searching GVRL consider not limiting your search to the literature sources.  An unrestricted search returns results from a wide variety of sources some of which could prove useful to your research.   Note: GVRL has a translate feature which should facilitate use of the database for those who do not speak English as a first language. Watch the tutorial .
• Use the literary criticism databases on this page to explore your topic further. This will help to determine whether there is sufficient material to support your thesis or perhaps lead you in a different direction.   Note: Literature Criticism Online can be browsed by topic, which can be useful in suggesting new topics connected to your original search.  Note: Literature Resource Center also has a translate feature.
• Use the bibliographies found in relevant articles to expand your range of sources.
• When taking notes, make sure to put quotation marks around any words that are not your own and take down all the necessary publication information that you will need for your works-cited list, including page numbers and date of access if you are using a website.   Note: You do not need to document material that is common knowledge.
• Credo Reference This link opens in a new window Credo Reference is a giant online reference library that provides access to as many as 162 reference books, including encyclopedias, dictionaries, thesauri, books of quotations, as well as a range of subject-specific titles all cross-referenced throughout the collection. Special features include a crossword solver and conversion calculators.
• Gale eBooks This link opens in a new window Gale Virtual Reference Library includes more than 90 encyclopedias, plus numerous specialized reference sources covering a diversity of subject including Arts, Biography, Business, Education, Environment, History, Law, Literature, Medicine, Multicultural Studies, Nation & World, Religion, Science, and Social Science. The Literature collection includes the popular literary criticism sets Drama for Students, Novels for Students, Poetry for Students, Shakespeare for Students, Short Stories for Students, and more. more... less... Includes more than 90 encyclopedias, plus numerous specialized reference sources covering a diversity of subjects including Arts, Biography, Business, Education, Environment, History, Law, Literature, Medicine, Multicultural Studies, Nation & World, Religion, Science, and Social Science. Some "Junior" sources included as well.
• Gale Literature Resource Center This link opens in a new window Literature Resource Center pulls together materials from many different print and online sources, including scholarly journals, literary reviews, reference books, authoritative websites, and more. The Research Guide walks you through the process of writing a research paper on a literature topic, from choosing a topic to gathering information, from formulating a thesis statement to writing, revising, and preparing a Works Cited page.
• Gale Literature This link opens in a new window An integrated search for Literature Criticism Online, Literature Resource Center, and Modern Language Association (MLA) International Bibliography.
• Gale Literature Criticism This link opens in a new window Literature Criticism Online provides tens of thousands of hard-to-find essays on books and plays by the scholars of today and from the past. This resource includes full-text criticism from ten different sources: Contemporary Literary Criticism, Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism, Shakespeare Criticism, Literature Criticism 1400-1800, Classical and Medieval Literature Criticism, Poetry Criticism, Short Story Criticism, Drama Criticism, Children's Literature Review
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Literary Criticism Research

Would you like to write a good paper for your literature class?

The first step is to read the literary work you are analyzing. Your thoughts and reactions as a reader will be key to your paper.

The next step is to find outside information that will help you understand the work. This information can help you make sense of the literature you are reading, and contribute to a more informed analysis.

This guide highlights useful outside information sources for students writing literary criticism.

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University of Houston Libraries

Literary studies research guide.

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What is literary criticism?

Dickinson College Waidner-Spahr Library  

Literary criticism can be found most often in critical books and scholarly articles. Critical books provide in-depth, scholarly, expert analysis of your topic. Scholarly articles also provide expert analysis, and are usually peer-reviewed, a process by which articles are reviewed by other scholars in the same field of study before being published. Peer review is an important step in the scholarly publishing process. To learn more about peer review, watch the video below. 

What is peer review?

Video transcript

Find Literary Criticism

Find literary criticism in both books and journals using the resources below. A complete list of literary criticism databases can be found on the UH Libraries website . 

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ENGL 126 Research Writing: Humanities

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Tutorial on Gale Literature

Source: "Gale Literature Resource Center - Literary Analysis" by Gale, A Cengage Company , is licensed under a Standard YouTube License.

Extend your Research

• Interlibrary Loan (ILL) Request books and articles from other libraries using ILL

Find Scholarly Literary Criticism

• The Scholarly Conversation
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• The Explicator

Scholarly Books

Step into the scholarly conversation on literature.

For sustained and deeper literary criticism, find relevant scholarly articles and books in library databases.

• Think of scholarship as a conversation - a conversation between critic, text, and other critics.
• Build your own conversation, integrating sources and voices that participate in your original analysis.
• Use the Works Cited in articles and books you like to track down the sources engaged by that critic.

What is Literary Criticism?

Literary criticism is analysis, interpretation and evaluation of authors and their works of literature, which can include novels, short stories, essays, plays and poetry.

Literary "criticism" is not necessarily negative; "criticism" means a thoughtful critique of an author's work or an author's style in order to better understand the meaning, symbolism or influences of a particular piece or a body of literature.

Literary criticism is written for an academic audience.

Introductory articles, such as the Topic Overviews found in the database, Gale Literature, are written for students.

Scholarly literary criticism is generally found in scholarly literary journals, such as Critique or The Journal of Ethnic Fiction, as well as in academic books. A scholarly journal is peer-reviewed if articles that are published in it go through a rigorous review process by other experts in the field.

Book reviews are written for the general public, and they may be a good source of introductory analysis, as well. Local newspapers, such as the Seattle Times, and magazines, such as Entertainment Weekly or O, contain book reviews.

Characteristics of Scholarly Criticism

Scholarly literary criticism offers an original interpretation of a literary text, and engages with that written work in a thoughtful, sophisticated and sustained manner. While literary criticism from a reference book provides you with introductory terminology, context, interpretation and more, scholarly criticism goes deeper.

Scholarly literary criticism analyzes and builds on specific passages, characters, themes, language, etc. from a written work.

Scholarly literary criticism brings the critic's particular theoretical framework, biases, questions, etc to bear upon the text.

Articles are written by scholars in a subject area for an academic or professional audience. Check for author affiliations or credentials in the database record or at the beginning or end of an article.

Scholarly literary criticism may be extensively cited, if the author references the work of other thinkers. Some scholarly literary criticism engages primarily and closely with the text itself, rather than with other the ideas of other scholars. (Scholarly articles in the sciences and social sciences are, as a rule, extensively and thoroughly cited.)

There is no one correct scholarly reading of a text. That said, be sure to build your own analysis with examples and support from the written work you're analyzing as well as the scholarly article with which you are "conversing."

Finding Scholarly Articles

The databases below all contain scholarly literary criticism. If an option, limit to scholarly peer-reviewed journals. 

See the image below for more details. 

Sample Search

• Remember to try different keywords, subject terms, and multiple databases.

Tips: How to Use the Holman Library One Search

You can limit your One Search to scholarly (peer-reviewed) journal articles. Just select Peer Reviewed Journals from the results page.  

• You can also refine your search to include sources that are not full text, by date, and more.  
• Google Scholar Google Scholar allows you to search the web for peer-reviewed article and book citations. You can use these citations to track down the items at Green River or request them by Interlibrary Loan.
• WorldCat A great resource for InterLibrary Loan that searches collections from libraries worldwide.

Featured Journal

The Explicator provides brief, pee-reviewed, close Readings of texts

• The Explicator Find models of explication and critics with whom to engage in the literary criticism journal, The Explicator . Full Text from 1985-Current

Books can be scholarly too! How can you tell? 

A scholarly book will: 

• Be written by an expert or experts in the field (PH.D., M.D., etc)
• Offer an original interpretation or discussion that brings new insight and knowledge to the field
• Offer sustained, sophisticated, and in-depth analysis and discussion
• Often be printed by a University Press
• Be written for an academic audience
• Include references to the other scholarly works the book is "in conversation" with

NOTE: While you can limit a search for articles to scholarly (peer reviewed) journals, you cannot do the same with books. Use the list above to assess if a book is scholarly. That's particularly easy to do with ebooks

Searching for books and ebooks

Holman Library has books on authors, literary movements, themes in literature, and more. Search for essay collections, as well as for works on a specific author, work of literature, or idea.

To find scholarly criticism, try adding the keyword: criticism or the subject term: literary criticism.

As always, try a range of search terms to find the best results for your purpose.

Searching Tips

Here is a scholarly electronic book found in the Holman Library catalog with the search terms:

"Langston Hughes" AND criticism

• View the Book Record

Clues this is a scholarly work: This is an edited work by an academic press. The Subject is: Criticism and Interpretation. It includes a bibliography.

(click on image to enlarge)

Clues this is a scholarly work: The author(s) has academic credentials.

• Clues this is a scholarly work: The author engages substantively with the text and with the ideas of other scholars. 

Article databases

Video tutorial - literary criticism 2: step into the scholarly conversation.

Source: "Literary Criticism 2: Step into the Scholarly Conversation" by Holman Library is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Thinking Outside the Box

Uh oh not finding enough, what to do when you cannot find much written about your story or author.

When you do research on current authors and works, sometimes there has not yet been a lot written about them. That's okay!

Scholarship represents  your  original thinking about a text or theme in literature. As part of your analysis you can integrate relevant sources, even if they are not about your specific text. Think about:

• larger themes or issues, such as refugees, terrorism, identity, nation, or colonialism
• other works by your author
• analysis of the work of another author that you can apply to your interpretation of your short story or novel
• a literary movement, genre or body of literature, such as Pakistani literature, Southeast Asian authors, literature of the diaspora, post-colonial literature
• a literary theory, such as queer theory, gender theory, feminist theory, critical race theory, psychoanalytic theory, etc.
• Below is an example of ideas and analysis about Minaret by Leila Aboulela. This would be a source to use if I were writing about the same ideas in a different work by a different author. 

Example: The highlighted sections of this article abstract (I would then read the whole article) might support an analysis of another novel or short story that explores how women navigate different spaces of religion, nation, and identity by claiming the veil as a symbol that simultaneously excludes them and allows them to define a new space.

Words to Consider

Sample subject terms.

• (Look for other terms relevant to your text)
• (Also please note that subject terms may use old fashioned and out of date terminology!)
• Literary Criticism
• Criticism and Interpretation
• Criticism -- Political Aspects -- United States
• Criticism -- United States -- History - Twentieth Century
• Psychoanalysis and literature -- United States -- History -- 19th century
• Psychological Fiction, American -- History and Criticism
• Television Criticism
• Literary Criticism/ Poetry
• Literature -- Black Authors -- History and Criticism
• Literary Criticism / American / African American 
• Feminist Literary Criticism
• Feminist Criticism
• Queer Literary Criticism
• Homosexuality in Literature 
• Art Criticism
• Film Criticism

Sample Keyword Search:

"literary analysis" OR "literary criticism" OR "criticism AND interpretation"

• AND queer* 
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• Knowledge Base
• How to write a literary analysis essay | A step-by-step guide

How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay | A Step-by-Step Guide

Published on January 30, 2020 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on August 14, 2023.

Literary analysis means closely studying a text, interpreting its meanings, and exploring why the author made certain choices. It can be applied to novels, short stories, plays, poems, or any other form of literary writing.

A literary analysis essay is not a rhetorical analysis , nor is it just a summary of the plot or a book review. Instead, it is a type of argumentative essay where you need to analyze elements such as the language, perspective, and structure of the text, and explain how the author uses literary devices to create effects and convey ideas.

Before beginning a literary analysis essay, it’s essential to carefully read the text and c ome up with a thesis statement to keep your essay focused. As you write, follow the standard structure of an academic essay :

• An introduction that tells the reader what your essay will focus on.
• A main body, divided into paragraphs , that builds an argument using evidence from the text.
• A conclusion that clearly states the main point that you have shown with your analysis.

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Table of contents

Step 1: reading the text and identifying literary devices, step 2: coming up with a thesis, step 3: writing a title and introduction, step 4: writing the body of the essay, step 5: writing a conclusion, other interesting articles.

The first step is to carefully read the text(s) and take initial notes. As you read, pay attention to the things that are most intriguing, surprising, or even confusing in the writing—these are things you can dig into in your analysis.

Your goal in literary analysis is not simply to explain the events described in the text, but to analyze the writing itself and discuss how the text works on a deeper level. Primarily, you’re looking out for literary devices —textual elements that writers use to convey meaning and create effects. If you’re comparing and contrasting multiple texts, you can also look for connections between different texts.

To get started with your analysis, there are several key areas that you can focus on. As you analyze each aspect of the text, try to think about how they all relate to each other. You can use highlights or notes to keep track of important passages and quotes.

Language choices

Consider what style of language the author uses. Are the sentences short and simple or more complex and poetic?

What word choices stand out as interesting or unusual? Are words used figuratively to mean something other than their literal definition? Figurative language includes things like metaphor (e.g. “her eyes were oceans”) and simile (e.g. “her eyes were like oceans”).

Also keep an eye out for imagery in the text—recurring images that create a certain atmosphere or symbolize something important. Remember that language is used in literary texts to say more than it means on the surface.

Narrative voice

Ask yourself:

• Who is telling the story?
• How are they telling it?

Is it a first-person narrator (“I”) who is personally involved in the story, or a third-person narrator who tells us about the characters from a distance?

Consider the narrator’s perspective . Is the narrator omniscient (where they know everything about all the characters and events), or do they only have partial knowledge? Are they an unreliable narrator who we are not supposed to take at face value? Authors often hint that their narrator might be giving us a distorted or dishonest version of events.

The tone of the text is also worth considering. Is the story intended to be comic, tragic, or something else? Are usually serious topics treated as funny, or vice versa ? Is the story realistic or fantastical (or somewhere in between)?

Consider how the text is structured, and how the structure relates to the story being told.

• Novels are often divided into chapters and parts.
• Poems are divided into lines, stanzas, and sometime cantos.
• Plays are divided into scenes and acts.

Think about why the author chose to divide the different parts of the text in the way they did.

There are also less formal structural elements to take into account. Does the story unfold in chronological order, or does it jump back and forth in time? Does it begin in medias res —in the middle of the action? Does the plot advance towards a clearly defined climax?

With poetry, consider how the rhyme and meter shape your understanding of the text and your impression of the tone. Try reading the poem aloud to get a sense of this.

In a play, you might consider how relationships between characters are built up through different scenes, and how the setting relates to the action. Watch out for  dramatic irony , where the audience knows some detail that the characters don’t, creating a double meaning in their words, thoughts, or actions.

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See an example

Your thesis in a literary analysis essay is the point you want to make about the text. It’s the core argument that gives your essay direction and prevents it from just being a collection of random observations about a text.

If you’re given a prompt for your essay, your thesis must answer or relate to the prompt. For example:

Essay question example

Is Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” a religious parable?

Your thesis statement should be an answer to this question—not a simple yes or no, but a statement of why this is or isn’t the case:

Thesis statement example

Franz Kafka’s “Before the Law” is not a religious parable, but a story about bureaucratic alienation.

Sometimes you’ll be given freedom to choose your own topic; in this case, you’ll have to come up with an original thesis. Consider what stood out to you in the text; ask yourself questions about the elements that interested you, and consider how you might answer them.

Your thesis should be something arguable—that is, something that you think is true about the text, but which is not a simple matter of fact. It must be complex enough to develop through evidence and arguments across the course of your essay.

Say you’re analyzing the novel Frankenstein . You could start by asking yourself:

Your initial answer might be a surface-level description:

The character Frankenstein is portrayed negatively in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein .

However, this statement is too simple to be an interesting thesis. After reading the text and analyzing its narrative voice and structure, you can develop the answer into a more nuanced and arguable thesis statement:

Mary Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as.

Remember that you can revise your thesis statement throughout the writing process , so it doesn’t need to be perfectly formulated at this stage. The aim is to keep you focused as you analyze the text.

Finding textual evidence

To support your thesis statement, your essay will build an argument using textual evidence —specific parts of the text that demonstrate your point. This evidence is quoted and analyzed throughout your essay to explain your argument to the reader.

It can be useful to comb through the text in search of relevant quotations before you start writing. You might not end up using everything you find, and you may have to return to the text for more evidence as you write, but collecting textual evidence from the beginning will help you to structure your arguments and assess whether they’re convincing.

To start your literary analysis paper, you’ll need two things: a good title, and an introduction.

Your title should clearly indicate what your analysis will focus on. It usually contains the name of the author and text(s) you’re analyzing. Keep it as concise and engaging as possible.

A common approach to the title is to use a relevant quote from the text, followed by a colon and then the rest of your title.

If you struggle to come up with a good title at first, don’t worry—this will be easier once you’ve begun writing the essay and have a better sense of your arguments.

“Fearful symmetry” : The violence of creation in William Blake’s “The Tyger”

The introduction

The essay introduction provides a quick overview of where your argument is going. It should include your thesis statement and a summary of the essay’s structure.

A typical structure for an introduction is to begin with a general statement about the text and author, using this to lead into your thesis statement. You might refer to a commonly held idea about the text and show how your thesis will contradict it, or zoom in on a particular device you intend to focus on.

Then you can end with a brief indication of what’s coming up in the main body of the essay. This is called signposting. It will be more elaborate in longer essays, but in a short five-paragraph essay structure, it shouldn’t be more than one sentence.

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein is often read as a crude cautionary tale about the dangers of scientific advancement unrestrained by ethical considerations. In this reading, protagonist Victor Frankenstein is a stable representation of the callous ambition of modern science throughout the novel. This essay, however, argues that far from providing a stable image of the character, Shelley uses shifting narrative perspectives to portray Frankenstein in an increasingly negative light as the novel goes on. While he initially appears to be a naive but sympathetic idealist, after the creature’s narrative Frankenstein begins to resemble—even in his own telling—the thoughtlessly cruel figure the creature represents him as. This essay begins by exploring the positive portrayal of Frankenstein in the first volume, then moves on to the creature’s perception of him, and finally discusses the third volume’s narrative shift toward viewing Frankenstein as the creature views him.

Some students prefer to write the introduction later in the process, and it’s not a bad idea. After all, you’ll have a clearer idea of the overall shape of your arguments once you’ve begun writing them!

If you do write the introduction first, you should still return to it later to make sure it lines up with what you ended up writing, and edit as necessary.

The body of your essay is everything between the introduction and conclusion. It contains your arguments and the textual evidence that supports them.

Paragraph structure

A typical structure for a high school literary analysis essay consists of five paragraphs : the three paragraphs of the body, plus the introduction and conclusion.

Each paragraph in the main body should focus on one topic. In the five-paragraph model, try to divide your argument into three main areas of analysis, all linked to your thesis. Don’t try to include everything you can think of to say about the text—only analysis that drives your argument.

In longer essays, the same principle applies on a broader scale. For example, you might have two or three sections in your main body, each with multiple paragraphs. Within these sections, you still want to begin new paragraphs at logical moments—a turn in the argument or the introduction of a new idea.

Robert’s first encounter with Gil-Martin suggests something of his sinister power. Robert feels “a sort of invisible power that drew me towards him.” He identifies the moment of their meeting as “the beginning of a series of adventures which has puzzled myself, and will puzzle the world when I am no more in it” (p. 89). Gil-Martin’s “invisible power” seems to be at work even at this distance from the moment described; before continuing the story, Robert feels compelled to anticipate at length what readers will make of his narrative after his approaching death. With this interjection, Hogg emphasizes the fatal influence Gil-Martin exercises from his first appearance.

Topic sentences

To keep your points focused, it’s important to use a topic sentence at the beginning of each paragraph.

A good topic sentence allows a reader to see at a glance what the paragraph is about. It can introduce a new line of argument and connect or contrast it with the previous paragraph. Transition words like “however” or “moreover” are useful for creating smooth transitions:

… The story’s focus, therefore, is not upon the divine revelation that may be waiting beyond the door, but upon the mundane process of aging undergone by the man as he waits.

Nevertheless, the “radiance” that appears to stream from the door is typically treated as religious symbolism.

This topic sentence signals that the paragraph will address the question of religious symbolism, while the linking word “nevertheless” points out a contrast with the previous paragraph’s conclusion.

Using textual evidence

A key part of literary analysis is backing up your arguments with relevant evidence from the text. This involves introducing quotes from the text and explaining their significance to your point.

It’s important to contextualize quotes and explain why you’re using them; they should be properly introduced and analyzed, not treated as self-explanatory:

It isn’t always necessary to use a quote. Quoting is useful when you’re discussing the author’s language, but sometimes you’ll have to refer to plot points or structural elements that can’t be captured in a short quote.

In these cases, it’s more appropriate to paraphrase or summarize parts of the text—that is, to describe the relevant part in your own words:

The conclusion of your analysis shouldn’t introduce any new quotations or arguments. Instead, it’s about wrapping up the essay. Here, you summarize your key points and try to emphasize their significance to the reader.

A good way to approach this is to briefly summarize your key arguments, and then stress the conclusion they’ve led you to, highlighting the new perspective your thesis provides on the text as a whole:

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

• Ad hominem fallacy
• Post hoc fallacy
• Appeal to authority fallacy
• False cause fallacy
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By tracing the depiction of Frankenstein through the novel’s three volumes, I have demonstrated how the narrative structure shifts our perception of the character. While the Frankenstein of the first volume is depicted as having innocent intentions, the second and third volumes—first in the creature’s accusatory voice, and then in his own voice—increasingly undermine him, causing him to appear alternately ridiculous and vindictive. Far from the one-dimensional villain he is often taken to be, the character of Frankenstein is compelling because of the dynamic narrative frame in which he is placed. In this frame, Frankenstein’s narrative self-presentation responds to the images of him we see from others’ perspectives. This conclusion sheds new light on the novel, foregrounding Shelley’s unique layering of narrative perspectives and its importance for the depiction of character.

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LITERARY THEORY AND CRITICISM LITERARY CRITICISM: Its Nature and importance

2019, The Import of Literary Criticism

Abstract With the present global inclination to science, technology, and agriculture, criticism seems to have been tilted in that direction. The flame of reading literature seems to be going out gradually but steadily and with it, the reading and mastery of its prescriptive theories and their application to literary texts. If we consider that literature is concerned with life’s affairs which are more pressing than the reading black and white symbols of a text and their abstract interpretation, if we consider that literature is a vortex where distant and usually seemingly unrelated areas of human knowledge meet and interact, that war, the environment, the economy and even politics are involved in literary studies, then we would try to value the text more, and its criticism which is the decoding of the message of the text, which sometimes has a problem solving perspective, would be given its due import, since literature is in fact, a pattern of infinite potentialities, proffered by an absence presence, which have to be investigated through the right procedures. Because this domain is involved with every sphere of life, the import of getting its message cannot be overrated. However, the shade of meanings got without the use of literary theories would be highly informal, judgmental, and oftentimes superficial. Literary criticism is meant to throw light into the text through theories, and to assess the public comprehension of the text. In this vein, criticism is more important than the text, for it says in several ways what the text says. The main thrust of this paper is its attempt at encouraging literary criticism by showing how beneficial it is to the reader, writer and critic as individuals and to the society as a whole. Keyword: Criticism

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Sathish Kumar

Nebbou Abdelkader

Diversity of opinion is a positive human conduct standing for man’s mental progress and his civilisation growth. It is one of the aspects of multiplicity and cultural wealth. It is a human right that helps to tackle the world’s unipolarity, as well as to give way to several visions and readings. It also aims at encouraging free opinions and releasing creative initiatives in different domains. Diversity is the recognition of the other and the acceptance of plurality. Reading is the manifestation of human communication, which, in fact, is a sort of dialogue between the self and the other. The efficiency can only be achieved through highly creative texts which challenge time and reading patterns because of their various and deep meanings. Works that generate eagerness, fear and pleasure thanks to the creative potentials, a concise structure and the use of a multifunctional language. In fact, it is this array of meaning that transforms the process of reading into an adventure full of probability, diversity and constructive divergence. This article is to focus on the need to learn the art of criticism in order to widen the learner’s knowledge on artistic works.

Shailendra Chauhan

Literary theory and criticism is in many ways linked to the humanities, some of which (philosophy, aesthetics) serve as its methodological basis; other branches of the humanities resemble literary theory and criticism in their goals and subject of investigation (folklore studies, art studies) or are related by a general humanistic orientation (history, psychology, sociology). The many links between literary theory and criticism and linguistics are based not only on common material (language as a means of communication and as the raw material of literature) but also on the contiguity of the epistemological functions of words and images and on an analogy between the structure of words and images.

Vikki Gaikwad

Charles Palermo

To define the domain of literary criticism would require some contentious choices and some contended definitions—about what the “literary” is and about what kinds of interventions can be included as “criticism.” The aim of this entry is not to trace the whole history of literary criticism. Nor should it be assumed that modern literary criticism is naturally or necessarily academic. The following discussion will address such matters and operate with such definitions and omissions, always mindful that doing so does not necessarily settle anything.https://scholarworks.wm.edu/asbookchapters/1007/thumbnail.jp

Marko Juvan, Literary Studies in Reconstruction

Marko Juvan

In post-modernity, literary theory has become pluralistic, perspectivized, and – in parallel with the weakened autonomy of belletristic writing and the deconstruction of the concept “literature” – intertwined with the transdisciplinary, eclectic, and critical discourse of “Theory,” which is directed towards cultural studies rather than towards explorations of the artistic field. Hermeneutic and neo-pragmatist self-reflection has made literary theory aware of its own contingency and of being merely one among several (discursive) practices. As one of the “sciences of the subject,” it has also come to realize that knowledge is subject-dependent and that the field of research (i.e., literature) changes together with and under the influence of its scholarly observation. The answer of literary theory to these challenges proposed here is its disciplinary reconstruction into a theory of literary discourse. Such a theory accounts for the fact that literary texts are part of historical becoming and cultural changes in human life-worlds. This is why it must choose new objectives: first, with its ability for apt descriptions of literary devices (i.e., as a descriptive poetics), it may also contribute to a better critical understanding of the rhetorical powers of other discourses and language in general. Second, it may provide strong arguments to legitimize the indispensable anthropological values of the literary – including and primarily in the present time, marked by the triumph of the new media and globalized economization of all knowledge.

rasol jamali

Bharat Gugane

Since its emergence, critical faculty has been following literature. The major concerns of critical enquiry have been focused upon the interpretation, evaluation and appreciation. Moreover it was engaged in affirming the canons of literary studies. Literature and literary studies are two different enterprises. The first one is concerned with creativity whereas the second one is related to learning. The faculty of critical study belongs to the second category. It is about the science of literature. Critical study analyses literature in terms of its nature and function. In all attempts defining literature, critics deal with contemporary instances of literature. While doing so critics focus on the content, and the biography of author. In other words he/she tries to decipher the text in terms of its social, economic and cultural underpinnings. This scholarly endeavour went through several transformations over a long period of time. It is interesting to see the evolution of critical stud...

Usman Anwar

Adrian-Ioan Popovici

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Literature and Literary Criticism

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Finding Literary Criticism Tutorial: I. What is Literary Criticism?

• I. What is Literary Criticism?
• II. Literary Criticism in Books
• III. Literary Criticism in Databases
• IV. Literary Criticism on the Web
• V. Finding Author Information
• VI. Citing Literary Criticism
• VII. Test Your Knowledge

Encyclopedia Britannica defines Literary Criticism as "the reasoned consideration of literary works and issues."   In other words, it is the act of studying, evaluating, discussing, and/or interpreting a work of literature.  

• an in-depth analysis
• can be about a poem, play, novel, or short story
• can help you understand the main ideas of a work of literature and identify the significant parts 
• is usually found in books and academic journals in the form of an essay
• has references
• can be written from different perspectives, such as historical, sociological, or psychological
• can compare & contrast works by the same author or works by different authors
• does not have one "right" answer

Uses for Literary Criticism

There are many reasons for engaging in Literary Criticism.  For example:

• Understanding literature can help us better understand similar situations in real life.
• Analyzing a complex issue in literature from multiple viewpoints  can make us more empathetic.
• Learning about the views of other critical readers can help you develop your own interpretations of literature.
• Considering all the possible meanings of a work of literature can help you appreciate it on a deeper level.
• It provides the opportunity to practice developing and defending an argument.

Professional Organizations

The following organizations promote Literary Criticism:

Modern Humanities Research Association

"The Modern Humanities Research Association (UK) encourages and promotes advanced study and research in the field of the modern humanities... The Association fulfils this purpose through the publication of journals, bibliographies, monographs, critical editions, and the MHRA Style Guide, and by making grants in support of research."

Society for the Study of the Multi-Ethnic Literature of the United States

"MELUS endeavors to expand the definition of new, more broadly conceived US literature through the study and teaching of Latino, Native American, African American, Asian and Pacific American, and ethnically specific Euro-American literary works, their authors, and their cultural contexts."

Association of Literary Scholars, Critics, and Writers

"The ALSCW seeks to promote excellence in literary criticism and scholarship, and works to ensure that literature thrives in both scholarly and creative environments... publishers of  Literary Imagination  (an acclaimed review, issued three times per year),  Literary Matters  (an online journal), and  Forum  (an imprint on literary advocacy and public policy)."

Terminology

Websites with Dictionaries of Literary Terms:

• LitCharts Dictionary of Literary Devices & Terms
• Purdue OWL Literary Terms

These Things are NOT Literary Criticism

Literary Criticism is not the same thing as:

• a summary.   When you write a summary, you are merely retelling the plot of a story.  Literary Criticism is written  about the events in the story;  it is not the events themselves.
• a book review.  Book reviews attempt to determine the quality of a work of literature, i.e. "How good is it?"  They can be found in such places as the New York Times or on websites like Goodreads, and are intended for the casual reader.  Literary Criticism, however, attempts to understand and explain the work, i.e. "What does it mean?"  It is intended for an academic audience.
• finding fault.   This is certainly one definition of being "critical," but in literary criticism you are actually trying to "critique" all of the qualities of a work, not just the negative ones.
• a primary source.   In literature, a primary source would be the actual poem, play, novel, or short story you are analyzing.  Literary Criticism is a  secondary  source, because it is written  about  a primary source.  It might take the form of an article in a journal, or a book of essays about an author or work.

Check Your Knowledge

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Literary Criticism

• Introduction
• Literary Theories
• Steps to Literary Criticism
• Find Resources
• Cite Sources
• thesis examples

Step 1 :: READ

As you read the work, ask yourself questions, such as:

Why did the author write this?

What is the theme or themes?

How is the style relevant to the content?

How are the characters developed?

What do the characters learn?

How are the characters connected to the themes?

What does the format and style suggest about the story?

Step 2 :: THESIS

The thesis is a road map for the paper—it tells the reader what to expect.  A good thesis is specific, limited in scope, and offers a perspective or interpretation on a subject. 

Focus on specific attribute(s) of the text(s).

Make a specific, arguable point (thesis) about these attributes.

Defend this point with reasons and evidence drawn from the text and secondary sources.

As you do research and your paper evolves, don't hesitate to revamp your original thesis statement.

THESIS STATEMENT EXAMPLES

Step 3 :: RESEARCH

Find evidence that supports your thesis. This evidence may include:

Opinions of other critics.​

Discussion of the text's historical and social context.

Discussions in books or articles about your text.

Discussions in books and articles about theories related to your argument.

RESOURCES TO USE  IN YOUR RESEARCH 

Step 4 :: SUPPORT

In addition to support for your thesis in sources you have located in your research, you will use support directly from the text, such as:

Direct quotations

Summaries of scenes

Paraphrases

Reminder: Do not summarize the plot. You are writing an analysis; not a review or summary.

For more information about paraphrasing:

OWL Purdue  

Writer's Handbook - University of Wisconsin

Step 5 :: EDIT

The final step is to edit and polish the paper:

Check for spelling and grammar mistakes.

Ask a friend to review it for you. Since you have read it so many times, you may overlook obvious mistakes.

Make sure you follow all formatting guidelines.

Some questions to consider as you review your paper:

Do you get the reader's attention in the introductory paragraph?

Do you vary the sentence structure?

Do your paragraphs transition well?

Do your quotes and research clearly support your thesis?

Does your conclusion tie up all the loose ends?

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Water insecurity and rights erosion: a comprehensive analysis of rohingya refugee camps in new delhi.

1. Introduction

Objectives of the study.

• Highlight the connection between access to clean and safe water and sanitation among the Rohingya refugees in Delhi, providing valuable insights that can inform policymakers in developing robust water-related policies that ensure equitable access to proper water and sanitation facilities for all.
• Fill the existing knowledge gap by examining the water security challenges faced by Rohingya refugees, with a specific focus on refugee camps in New Delhi, India.
• Comprehensively analyse the factors influencing water security in these camps, shedding light on the multifaceted nature of the problem.

2. Literature Review

2.1. linking wash with human rights and the right to water, 2.2. wash as a multidimensional concept, 2.3. gender disparities in wash and their impact on women’s well-being, 2.4. wash, malnutrition, and economic impact, 2.5. refugee and water crisis, 2.6. examples: case studies illustrating the interlinkage between refugees, human rights, and wash, 3. method and data, 3.1. study area.

Click here to enlarge figure

3.2. Data and Methods

• Focused Group Discussions (FGDs)
• One-on-One Household Interviews
• Literature Surveys and Document Archival Research

4. Findings and Discussions

4.1. inadequate water supply, 4.2. impact on daily life, 4.3. health consequences.

4.4. Gender Disparities in Water Consumption

4.5. economic and social impact, 4.6. environmental impact, 5. conceptual framework of water, sanitation, and hygiene (wash) and its association with different dimensions of human rights, including refugee rights, 6. conclusions, 6.1. addressing the complex nexus of water, sanitation, and human rights in refugee camps, 6.2. a dire water crisis, 6.3. health implications, 6.4. gender disparities and economic struggles, 6.5. environmental impact, 6.6. human rights and dignity, 7. recommendations for comprehensive intervention, author contributions, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Dasgupta, A.; Kar, S.; Sundberg, T.; Gautam, A.; Mukherjee, S. Water Insecurity and Rights Erosion: A Comprehensive Analysis of Rohingya Refugee Camps in New Delhi. Water 2024 , 16 , 2268. https://doi.org/10.3390/w16162268

Dasgupta A, Kar S, Sundberg T, Gautam A, Mukherjee S. Water Insecurity and Rights Erosion: A Comprehensive Analysis of Rohingya Refugee Camps in New Delhi. Water . 2024; 16(16):2268. https://doi.org/10.3390/w16162268

Dasgupta, Abesh, Surajit Kar, Trude Sundberg, Atul Gautam, and Subham Mukherjee. 2024. "Water Insecurity and Rights Erosion: A Comprehensive Analysis of Rohingya Refugee Camps in New Delhi" Water 16, no. 16: 2268. https://doi.org/10.3390/w16162268

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