What is a “literary analysis”?

What is a “literary analysis”?
Literary analysis papers ask you to consider how and why a literary text was written and conveys some kind of message. The ability to take apart a text and break it down into its separate parts enables you to judge how effective an author’s argument is, what symbols or motifs are important throughout the novel, and ultimately, to understand the text in a more holistic way. Therefore, knowing how to craft a good argument and defend it well using textual evidence is an important skill to learn in preparing for your college career.
The most important things to consider when writing a literary analysis paper are: what is your argument? Are you expressing it correctly via a well-placed thesis statement? Do you support your argument well throughout your essay? Support for an argument typically involves using lots of evidence from the text in the form of quotations from a close reading of a passage.
Unlike ordinary conversation and classroom discussion, writing must stick to the specific point of development. This kind of writing demands tight organization and control. Therefore, your essay must have a central idea (thesis), it must have several paragraphs that grow systematically out of the central idea, and everything in it must be directly related to the central idea and must contribute to the reader’s understanding of that central idea. These three principles are listed again below:
1. Your essay must cover the topic you are writing about.
2. Your essay must have a central idea (stated in your thesis) that governs its development.
3. Your essay must be organized so that every part contributes something to the reader’s understanding of the central idea

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