Writing a Literary Analysis Essay
Assignment
Your assignment is to write a passage analysis of a key coming-of-age scene
from To Kill a Mockingbird. After annotating the text to analyze Harper Lee’s use
of literary elements in your selected passage, write an essay explaining how the
literary elements in this passage help develop a theme of the novel.
embedded
­assessment 2
My Notes
Planning and Prewriting: Take time to select and annotate a passage.
• Which passage from the novel will you choose to illustrate a significant
coming-of-age moment?
• How will you be sure you understand all the literary elements that you have
studied in this unit? (See the list you created in Activity 3.23.)
• How can you be sure readers know what passage you have chosen to mark and
annotate to analyze literary elements?
• How will you use your annotations to generate a working thesis that shows the
significance of the passage to a theme of the book?
Drafting: Determine the structure of your essay and how to incorporate
necessary elements.
• How will you organize your essay? What tools will you use to help you organize?
• What is your thesis? Do your topic sentences support your thesis?
• What textual evidence do you need to support your thesis and topic sentences?
• What elements do you need to include in your introduction and conclusion?
Evaluating and Revising: Create opportunities to review and gain feedback
for revisions.
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• How will you ask for feedback on your draft? Whom will you ask?
• How will you revise your draft for seamless integration of quotations using the
TLQC method (transition, lead in, quote, and commentary)?
Editing for Publication: Confirm that the final draft is ready for publication.
• How will you proofread and edit your draft to demonstrate command of the
conventions of standard English (capitalization, punctuation, spelling, grammar,
and usage)?
• How will you use the Scoring Guide to be sure you have met all of the criteria for
this assignment?
Reflection
After completing this Embedded Assessment, think about how you went about
accomplishing this task, and respond to the following question: What have you
learned about the significance of individual passages to a novel as a whole?
Unit 3 • Coming of Age in Changing Times 249
Writing a Literary Analysis Essay
EMBEDDED
­ASSESSMENT 2
continued
Scoring
Criteria
Exemplary
Proficient
Emerging
Incomplete
Ideas
The essay
•includes a wellchosen passage that
reveals the complex
relationship between
the literary elements
and the major ideas
and concepts of the
entire work
•provides supporting
details to enhance
understanding of the
writer’s position
•relates commentary
directly to the thesis.
The essay
•reflects a careful
choice of passage to
show the relationship
between a scene and
the major ideas and
concepts of the novel
•provides relevant
details to explain the
writer’s position
•uses approprate
commentary.
The essay
•attempts to link a
passage to a major
theme of the novel
•presents supporting
details that may
be fully developed
or provide an
understanding of the
writer’s position
•has commentary
that may not relate
directly to the thesis
or may be a plot
summary.
The essay
•has a passage that
does not represent
a major theme of
the novel
•is missing supporting
details or presents
undeveloped ideas
•is missing
commentary or
includes commentary
that does not relate
directly to the thesis.
Structure
The essay
•has multiple
paragraphs and a
clear and precise
thesis that directs
the organization of
the body
•uses transitions to
clarify and connect
ideas
•provides relevant
and insightful
commentary; the
conclusion follows
from the ideas
presented.
The essay
•has multiple
paragraphs and is
organized with an
introduction, detailed
body paragraphs, and
a conclusion
•uses transitions to
establish connections
between ideas.
The essay
The essay
•attempts to organize •does not have a
ideas but key pieces
focus with a clear
are lacking
organization of
•may be missing an
introduction, body
introduction, detailed
paragraphs, and
body paragraphs,
conclusion
and/or a conclusion
•does not use
•uses few or no
transitions to connect
transitions to connect
paragraphs and/or
ideas.
ideas.
Use of
Language
The essay
•uses a formal style
•seamlessly
incorporates literary
analysis vocabulary
•is mostly errorfree, with proper
punctuation and
capitalization to
embed quotations
into the text.
The essay
•uses diction that is
appropriate for an
academic topic
•incorporates some
literary analysis
vocabulary
•has few errors.
The essay
•uses simple
language that is not
appropriate for an
academic topic
•includes little literary
analysis vocabulary
•has errors that
interfere with
meaning.
250 SpringBoard® English Language Arts Grade 9
The essay
•uses slang or
informal words that
are not appropriate
for an academic topic
•includes little or
no literary analysis
vocabulary
•has numerous errors
that interfere with
meaning.
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SCORING GUIDE