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Writing Prompt: Literary Paper Tutorial

Note: I've designed this prompt to help you with both your AA's and your literary paper. For the Aesthetic analysis, simply answer the questions which do not require extensive research. If you send this to me I will receive a copy at my e-mail account. When you have sent the document to me, you will see a black and white submit form. If you would like to save your answers for your own use, simply go to the edit prompt on your ruler bar, select "select all" then select "copy." Then minimize the page by clicking on the "-" box in the upper right-hand corner. Do not close the page (that way if you make a mistake, you still have it). At this point you can open up microsoft word or word perfect and paste the document to a word document by selecting "paste" from the ruler bar. Do not exit the page while in the middle of your prompt or you will lose your work. If you wish to look at other web documents while working on this one, open up a separate window through the internet explorer or netscape communicator.

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Prompt #1: Why does this text interest / appeal to you?

Prompt #2: Which of the Reading Assumptions or Strategies most closely relates to this interest? Read the Text with the appropriate strategies in mind.

Prompt #3: Focus on Context. Is there anything about the production of the text that gives helpful
context for your understanding of it? History? Biography?
Literary Movement? Philosophy? Psychology? Why is it helpful?

Prompt #4: Write down what you know about the philosophical outlook of the author as it relates to
his or her time, literary movement, position on social issues, assessment of human nature,
the workings of the human mind, etc.

Prompt #5: Write down the name of a philosopher, philosophy, literary theorist, or literary theory that might
Help you to understand this text. Why do you think so?

Prompt #6: Write a sentence that tells me what you think the text is about. It should relate to the assumptions and strategies you've employed and the context you have developed in prompts 2-5.

Prompt #7: Rewrite that sentence in the form of a question that you could answer with evidence from the text.

Prompt #8: Write down 3 related assertions about the text that will help to answer that question .

Prompt #9: Do an aesthetic analysis of the text. Write down three formal elements of the text that might support your assertion.

Prompt #10: Write down 5 quotations from the text--at least one related to each formal element you have
mentioned that might support your assertion

Prompt #11: Explain why each of these quotations and elements supports an assertion or answers your thesis question

Prompt #12: Name 3 scholars who support your position or parts of your position .

Prompt #13: Write down a quote from each of them that supports your overall reading or a portion of it.
Explain how each quote supports your position or that part of your argument. .

Prompt #14: Name a scholar who would disagree with your position. Explain why.

Prompt #15: Explain how your position either successfully contradicts, agrees with, or moves beyond
The ideas of these scholars.

Prompt #16: Explain how your close reading, your knowledge of the work's context and the arguments
of noted scholars answers your original question