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.