Part 1: Text Analysis Essay Instructions

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Follow the instructions below:
1. Read any comments you have received on work submitted thus far andchoose
one of the articles from your Text Analysis Prewriting assignment.
2. Review the following in A Writer’s Reference:
o Analytical Essay writing guide (A1)
o Pay particular attention to the sections about the following, since you will
use all of these strategies in this paper and you will use these strategies
again, with more sources, in future modules:
 Analyzing texts
 Thinking critically
 Identifying rhetorical strategies
 Supporting claims with details and examples
 Citing sources
o Signal phrases (MLA-2 and -3)
o Sample MLA-formatted papers (WR C6, A1-e, and MLA-5)
3. Refer to the module resources and assignments you have completed thus far for
tips and strategies.
4. Consider this:
o Your classmates and instructor are your audience.
o Be respectful of others’ ideas, viewpoints, and backgrounds.
o Do not assume that everyone thinks the way you do.
o Keep a neutral, respectful tone, especially if you are discussing a
controversial issue.
5. Create word-processing document using the Document FormattingGuidelines
provided in the Introduction Module.
6. Write an 800-1000 word full draft of your Text Analysis Essay about the text
that was approved in the Text Analysis Essay: Prewriting. Convince the reader to
see your point of view about the meaning text and support it with evidence. To
do this:
a. First paragraph
i. Identify the title and author of the text you are analyzing, whichwas
approved in the Text Analysis Essay: Prewriting.
ii. Write an analytical thesis.
1. Explain the text’s main claim or primary purpose in your
own words.
2. Explain how the author achieves that purpose.
3. (Optional) Answer a question about the text.
b. Body Paragraphs
i. Provide a “careful and critical reading” of the text that explains
“what [it] says, how it works, and what it means.” Include “the
details of the text, especially its thesis and evidence.”
Part 1: Text Analysis Essay Instructions
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ii. Support your thesis with textual evidence. “You summarize,
paraphrase, and quote passages that support the claims you make
about the text.” Use MLA guidelines for in-text citations.
iii. Balance “summary and analysis” to help “readers who may not be
familiar with the text you are analyzing. Summary answers what a
text says; an analysis looks at how it makes its point.”
iv. Optional: Consider the text’s rhetorical situation as part of your
analysis. Include one or more of the following:
1. Analyze to what extent the author achieves a specific
purpose. Explain how you know.
2. Explain how the author addresses a particular audience. Be
specific.
3. Analyze how the text’s publication place, appearance,form,
and/or genre influences your understanding of the text.
Explain, using examples.
c. Conclusion Paragraph
i. Answer the question “So what?”
ii. Explain why the reader should care about the author’s mainthesis
and/or how the author makes the main claim.
iii. Explain what your analysis uncovers about the text.
d. Include an MLA Works Cited page.
i. Insert a page break at the end of your document. For instructions
on inserting a page break in Microsoft Word, see the Insert a Page
Break webpage.
ii. Create a “Works Cited” section header. For instructions on creating
section headers in Microsoft Word, see the Microsoft: Add a
Heading webpage.
iii. Enter the works cited in alphabetical order and MLA format.