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Interpretative Essay. A Process of identifying and explaining contextual evidence working to support a thesis statement regarding a specific topic present in a given piece of literature. - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Interpretative Essay
A Process of identifying and explaining contextual evidence working to support a thesis statement
regarding a specific topic present in a given piece of literature.
An attempt to explain an idea by citing (sighting) instances from the text, explaining it significance and relating what the evidence reveals about the
topic in focus.
Interpretative Essay
•Purpose ~ identify and explain pieces of
contextual evidence working to support a
thesis statement regarding a specific topic
present in a given piece of literature
Plan of Attack1. Become familiar with the text—meaning read and
reread.
2. Explore potential topics—find one that “speaks to you”
3. Select a topic with a lot of evidence—if you cannot think of instances from the story to support a given topic, find another topic .
4. Make an extended list of evidence—generate a list of instances and page numbers where they are located
Plan of Attack
5. Select your evidence—be selective, which pieces can you easily understand, interpret and writing about
6. Write out a working thesis—start out with something simple; consider the evidence your have selected and make a statement about how they are similar, different and/or what they suggest about your topic
7. Interpret your evidence—make a claim, justify the claims importance, support claim with evidence and explain the implication of the evidence, or rather what does the evidence suggest about the claim being made
Plan of Attack
8. Organize your evidence—there are various ways of doing this: most obvious to least obvious, significant to profound,
9. Refine your thesis– after constructing all supporting paragraphs, revisit the thesis statement. In the course of writing the paper, has the focus of the paper change. Has some new insight into the topic revealed itself. Be sure the thesis statement reflects these changes in opinion and truly expresses the “conclusions” your paper will arrive at by the end.
Plan of Attack
10. Write the conclusion—restate thesis in a new way and provide insight gain once all things are considered
11. Revise and tighten—be sure things are explained thoroughly and you presents everything to the best of your ability
Of Mice and Men
by
John Steinbeck
Title / Author SentenceIntroduces the author and title of the work or works being
discussed in the course of the paper.
Examples of title/author sentences
• John Steinbeck wrote the novel, Of Mice and Men.
• Of Mice and Men was written by John Steinbeck.
• John Steinbeck is the author of the novel, Of Mice and Men.
****These sentences are boring and can express more.****
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee.***Incorrect***
***Correct***
To Kill a Mockingbird was written by Harper Lee.
Harper Lee wrote To Kill a Mockingbird.
Harper Lee wrote the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird.
The author of the novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is Harper Lee.
Possible Elements to Include: setting, character, conflict, theme, etc., can be Incorporated into the title/author sentence
Incorporate additional elements from the story to build interest and enhance the pace at which information about the story is conveyed.
Ways to give your first sentences depth . . .
Topic Sentence – identifies the title, author and makes some general comment about the overall
significance of the novel.
Setting the Stage
• John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, takes place during the Great Depression.
• The Great Depression and California's farming culture services as the backdrop to John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men.
• John Steinbeck’s novella, Of Mice and Men, relates the story of Lennie and George, two traveling companions searching for the American dream during the Great Depression.
Examples of a Topic Sentence
General Exposition Sentence – an overview of
the novel’s plot, subject matter and the principal
characters.
Summarize the book in a sentence: what is the story about?
• Brought together in a bond of friendship, Lennie and George have committed their services to a farming outfit located south of Soledad, California in the hopes of securing the funds to make their dreams possible.
• Lennie and George are friends with a common goal in mind. Working together, their hope is to save enough money to purchase a small piece of land and live the American dream.
Examples of a General Exposition Sentence
Narrow the Focus – establish the topic
or the range and scope of your essay.
Drawing attention to specifics: what is most important?
• Lennie’s actions continuously strains the friendship.
• George looks out for Lennie, but he is unable to keep his friend out of trouble periodically.
• Lennie is mentally challenged, and he is often confronted with situations he does not fully comprehend, getting him into trouble.
Examples of a Narrowing Focus Sentence
Things to remember right from the start:
• This paper is to been written assuming the reader is unfamiliar with the story TKMB.
• No 1st or 2nd person POV (rule # 13) . . . “I” “You”
• Be specific, give antecedents to all pronouns (rule # 20a)
• No contractions (rule #17)
Visit this website for valuable information concerning thesis statements.
http://www.cws.illinois.edu/workshop/writers/tips/thesis/
Note: This address came be found one my teacher page.
In order to write a successful thesis statement:
• Avoid burying a great thesis statement in the middle of a paragraph or late in the paper.
• Be as clear and as specific as possible; avoid vague words.
• Indicate the point , but avoid sentence structures like, “The point of my paper is…”
Normally the thesis will be refined as your argument develops and revisions are made.
Often times, a thesis is often a two part statement in nature.
• Are there two large statements connected loosely by a coordinating conjunction (i.e. "and," "but," "or," "for," "nor," "so," "yet")?
• Would a subordinating conjunction help (i.e. "through," "although," "because," "since") to signal a relationship between the two sentences?
• Or do the two statements imply a fuzzy unfocused thesis?
• If so, settle on one single focus and then proceed with further development.
Thesis Statement – conclude first paragraph with a
statement clearly outlining an original thought
concerning a specific topic to be analyzed and
supported in course of the paper.
A statement to support: what does selected evidence suggest about the topic?
• Although George is forced to scold and discipline Lennie repeatedly for his mistakes in action, George remains a faithful friend to the end, sacrificing his chance at happiness in the process.
• George warns Lennie about certain characters and situations to avoid; however, it is Lennie’s inability to either heed or remember these warning which result in his gradual demise achieved by the conclusion of the story.
Examples of a Thesis Statement
Examples of an Introductory Paragraph
John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, takes place during the Great
Depression. Lennie and George are friends with a common goal in
mind. Working together, their hope is to save enough money to
purchase a small piece of land and live the American dream. George
looks out for Lennie, but he is unable to keep his friend out of trouble
periodically. Though George warns Lennie about certain characters and
situations to avoid, it is Lennie’s inability to either heed or remember
these warning which result in his gradual demise achieved by the
conclusion of the story.
John Steinbeck’s novel, Of Mice and Men, relates the story of Lennie and
George, two traveling companions in search of their American dream during the
Great Depression. Brought together in a bond of friendship, Lennie and George
have committed their services to a farming outfit located south of Soledad,
California in the hopes of securing the funds to make their dreams possible.
Lennie is mentally challenged, and he is often confronted with situations he
does not fully comprehend, getting him into trouble. Although George is forced
to scold and discipline Lennie repeatedly for his mistakes in action, George
remains a faithful friend to end, sacrificing his chance at happiness.
Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is a flashback narrative of
her fictionalized self, Jean Louise “Scout” Finch. The story is centered
on events of Scout’s childhood in Maycomb County, Alabama during
the Great Depression. Atticus, Scout’s father, is major focal point in
her story. Although Atticus, as a father, directly imparts wisdom to
Scout, some of the most important lessons Atticus has to teach
come about when he is serving a role outside of being a father.
Here is a general guideline for how each supporting paragraph should be
structured:
1. Make a Claim2. Make a Justification
3. Offer Support4. Explain Implications
CLAIM ~ this will a be a statement which offers some sort of opinion, argument or
interpretation to be illustrated in the paragraph
Justification ~ this will “unpack” the claim being made, meaning you will
explain the claims’ significance
Support ~ Use contextual evidence, or rather, instances from the story to illustrate the
claim you are making in the given paragraph. You may need to use
more than one piece of evidence.
Implications ~ identify the significance of the cited evidence
and discuss how it works to illustrate the claim you are
attempting to make. Again, this statement will be a construct of
opinion and interpretation.