The handouts below have been distributed as students have prepared to complete their drafts of the literary analysis essay.  Additional handouts will be posted here as this process moves forward.

Literary Analysis Essay Assignment
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Prewriting Graphic Organizer.
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ABCs of Written Responses to Literature

Lorax Model Essay - Color Coded

Lorax Essay Plan - Color Coded

Connecting the Plan to the Paper
Shows the relationship between
the plan and the paper itself.

A Deeper Look
Students use this handout to examine the author's use of several literary elements and their contribution to the reflection of the main theme of the story.

Introductions and Conclusions
Activity designed to help get you
started and finished with the
necessary content. 

Thesis Statement Activity
How does the most important sentence in
in the paper look, and how does it establish
the organization of the rest of the paper.

Rough Draft Checklist -  Color Coded
This is useful in making sure you are addressing
all of the necessary elements of each part of the essay.

Literary Analysis Essay Evaluation Rubric
Reflects an assimilation between the State Writing Rubric and the Online Essay scoring evaluation rubrics.

Peer Evaluation and Self Assessment
Students will use these documents to assess a partner's paper and to reflect upon their own before writing their 2nd drafts.

Babysitter Model

Printable copies of the short stories from this unit.
Stories may be downloaded in either Word or PDF format.

Students should download and print their own copy of the story of their choice so they can highlight and annotate the story in preparation for their essay.

"The Three Century Woman" by Richard Peck

"Papa's Parrot" by Cynthia Reliant

from An American Childhood by Annie Dillard

from Barrio Boy by Ernesto Galarza

"A Day's Wait" by Ernest Hemingway

"All Summer in a Day" by Ray Bradbury

"Suzi and Leah" by Jane Yolen

Student Models Written on Under the Rice Moon

This story was used in class to model the OnLine Essay scoring process.  The examples below demonstrate student responses to the story representing three different scoring levels for revisions written in response to the feedback generated by the model "2" paper.  Students may find that examining the evolution of this paper towards a score of "4" may help them revise their own papers on The Dinner Party.

Read Under the Rice Moon by Rhiannon Puck.

Model Responses will be posted as they read in class.

Student Model Response - Score 2
Paper lacks a thesis statement or a focus on the topic.  Body of the paper simply summarizes the story rather than focusing on the topic.  Student needs to go back and plan the paper.

Student Model Response - Score 3
Paper reflects a plan and and an increased focus on the writing topic.  Thesis statement continues to be weak, and body paragraphs do not have topic sentences which focus on how the author is using the characters to make her point.  Body paragraphs need stronger topic sentences and content that focuses on them.

Student Model Response - Score 4
Paper represents a strong revised focus on the prompt including an opening strategy for the introduction introducing the thematic focus of the story.  Development is improved throughout including a stronger thesis statement and topic sentences that directly support it as well as establish a focus for each paragraph.  Concluding paragraph is leaves reader with a message to think further about.

Students attempting to improve their papers from one holistic scoring level to another may find that comparing the papers above helpful in identifying revision strategies that they might successfully apply to their own papers.