Quote Sandwich

  1. Introduce the quotation p. 46
  2. Quote, relevant
  3. Explain Quotation p. 47

quotation sandwich

Sample Essay

American Identity: From Inception to Declaration

Creating Structure

Creating Structure. The structure of an analysis of literature can head in various directions. You can present a string of evidence to support a claim. You can examine similarities and differences. You can ask a question and explore ideas rather than a single point. In all these, you need to support a claim with reasons and evidence from the text.

You can think of these as the “chips and salsa” of a paragraph. The chips can be the reason supporting the claim and the salsa can be the textual evidence, quotes, lines, ideas, paraphrases, chapters, etc that support the reason.

  • Introduction leading to claim
  • First supporting reason + textual evidence
  • Supporting reason + evidence
  • 3rd, 4th, 5th supporting reasons + evidence for each
  • Conclusion connecting the parts and making the argument clear. Answer the “So what?” question and give the significance. Why does this matter? Why should we care? What should we take away from your analysis? How does it help us understand the literary work better?

This is just one sample structure. You decide what the reasons and evidence are and how to organize the argument best. What do you need to so to prove your reading of the text?

Use a formal style.

Cite your evidence using MLA citations.

Intro to American Lit since 1945

1069 – 1086

  • Intro
  • New Readers, New Writers, New Heroes
  • Literature and American Media
  • Experiment and Play in Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Literature
  • Literature Now