Instructions:
•    The main goal of the critical analysis: Present a principle argument for one interpretation against all other interpretations -­‐ supported, of course, by text evidence, and presented in a logical manner. State the text’s significance to society by raising a meaningful issue about contemporary patterns of thought, behavior, values, beliefs, or social mores.
•    Choose ONE text selection from the list below. Then, annotate and apply close reading to the selected text.
•    Create an outline that maps out essay plan (see below for suggested outline).
•    Propose a claim that reflects the theme/subject of the text selection. Then, offer a perspective with which to understand, comment, critique on this theme. You must “consider” the work, form opinions about what you have read, and think about how the ideas in the work connect to the world in a larger way.
•    The thesis must have a main topic or issue, claim, direction, qualifier, and a universal idea. See “Sample Thesis Templates” below.
•    Do close reading, annotate, analyze, and find support in the form of text evidence for the claim.

Model Critical Analysis Paragraph:
Well-­‐organized paragraphs have four components that work together to produce a coherent, unified product. Think of each paragraph as a mini-­‐essay endeavoring to prove one aspect of your thesis statement.  That is, each paragraph should:
•    make a debatable claim (the topic sentence)
•    provide proof for that claim (the evidence or support)
•    show how the evidence supports the claim (the analysis)
•    contain effective transitions both within the paragraph and between paragraphs so that the reader can follow the logic of the argument (transitions).

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MLA – 1 Reference