Checklist for Literary Analysis Paper

Name: __________________________________ Section: ________ Date: _________________

Tick off to indicate Yes; otherwise, provide what is asked of you.

1. Do you have
a. A title? ___ (not the title of the short story!)
b. A thesis statement? ___ Where is it? last sentence of 1st somewhere in 2nd
Underline your thesis statement or put it in boldface. FORMULATE A THESIS IF THERE IS NONE.
c. Page numbers on the bottom right of page? ____ A word count below the date? ____
2. Did you put the title of the short story within quotation marks? ____
3. Did you use the present tense throughout your paper? ____ Usually, a literary analysis is written in
the present tense according to convention because a short story/film/novel/poem/play exists up
to the present even if it was written/created many years ago.
4. Analyze your paragraphs and examine them one by one. Does each paragraph
a. Discuss only one topic? ____ [This refers to paragraph UNITY.]
b. Link ideas from one sentence to another? ____ [This refers to paragraph COHESION; in other
words, the ideas FLOW SMOOTHLY from one sentence to the next. If reading your essay feels
like a bumpy ride over rough roads, revise your sentences. Put coherence markers
(however, besides, moreover, also, on the contrary, etc.) to indicate whether you are
contrasting, adding, elaborating, etc.
c. Employ concrete and specific words? ____ As you review what you have written, can you
see, feel, touch, smell, hear the details that you wrote?
d. Support your arguments/claims/assertions? ____ Although the literary analysis is not an
argumentative paper in the strict sense, you must still provide adequate supports to your
claims or whatever it is you want to assert it your analysis. For example, if you claim that
the story is anti-women or sexist, then you must provide specific instances taken from the
story and refer to specific paragraphs and pages. [This refers to textual evidence.]
e. Employ a consistent point of view? ____ If you begin with the 3rd person POV, use this all
throughout your paper. Do not shift from the 3rd to the 1st person POV and vice-versa.
5. Review your paper for
a. Subject-verb agreement. Are there any lapses or mistakes? ____
b. Pronoun reference. Did you use masculine/feminine pronouns for male/female nouns? ____
c. Sentence structure. No sentence fragments, run-on sentences, or comma splices. [The
previous sentence is a sentence fragment.] If you have forgotten what these terms mean,
refer to any grammar lesson online. Simply type in the term and you will find the rules and
examples. ERRORS IN SENTENCE STRUCTURE WILL EARN CORRESPONDING DEDUCTIONS!
6. Do you have a definite conclusion for the entire paper? _____ Make sure your conclusion has a
sense of finality. It should feel like the right ending for all the points you wanted to make. You
can also restate the thesis using different words. The conclusion should not introduce a new idea.
THE CONCLUSION FOR A LITERARY ANALYSIS SHOULD NEVER LEAVE THE READER HANGING.
7. Have fun and good luck!

Based on checklist prepared by C.A. Nunez, DOE, SOH, ADMU