Barbara P
Barbara P

Literary Analysis Essay Outline Guide with Samples

7 min read

Published on: Aug 22, 2020

Last updated on: Jul 21, 2023

literary analysis essay outline

When it comes to writing an essay, there are so many things that a writer has to take care of. An essay has multiple parts; all the parts are equally important and must be written appropriately.

An outline is an essential part of an essay. It helps to provide a proper structure to the essay and also guides the reader through the essay.

Being a student, you must know that there are so many types of essays. A literary analysis essay is a kind of essay that helps and makes the students analyze why a piece of literature was written. It can be written to analyze a poem, a short story, a novel, or even a play.

To write a literary analysis essay, the first thing to do is to create an outline. In this blog, you will find everything you need to know about a literary analysis essay outline.

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How to Write a Literary Analysis Outline?

Making a literary analysis outline is an essential part of the writing process. You should understand what you will start with, what you will write in the essay’s body, and what you will say in the conclusion.

Make sure that you spare enough time to create an outline for your literary analysis essay outline. It may take a little extra time since you have to explain your entire essay in the outline.

To write a literary analysis essay outline, a writer must understand the information required to be mentioned in the outline. To create an outline, there is a structure that needs to be followed. In the structure, certain elements need to be added.

Let us move forward and take a look into the main elements of an essay outline. There are three main elements of a literary analysis essay outline. They are as follows:

  1. Introduction
  2. Body Paragraphs
  3. Conclusion

Let us see how these elements are composed in a literary analysis essay outline.

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1. Literary Analysis Essay Introduction

The introduction of a literary analysis essay must be interesting and catchy. As it is the first part of an essay and the first thing that a reader comes across while reading the essay.

To make this part interesting, a writer uses different approaches and methods and includes elements that help attain the reader’s attention. The following are the elements that must be mentioned in the introduction.

  • One of the most common things used to start the introduction is the hook sentence.

The hook sentence is probably the first sentence of the introductory paragraph. A hook statement aims to engage the reader and develop their interest in reading the complete essay. A hook sentence can be a famous quotation, an interesting fact, or a verse that suits your literary analysis essay topic.

  • After starting the essay with a hook sentence, a writer must provide the reader with some background information. Providing background information allows the reader to understand the logic and purpose of your essay.

In the background information, the writer answers the question and explains why they have chosen that particular piece of literature for the analysis.

  • After providing the background information, the next thing to focus on is the thesis statement. A thesis statement is one of the essential elements of the essay structure. It is the essence of the entire essay, and the writer has to explain the whole idea in this statement.

A thesis statement is usually a one-liner, but it can also be a group of two to three sentences. This statement must be strong enough to support your thesis in all aspects. Keep in mind that a thesis statement is written before the last sentence of the introduction.

  • Lastly, to end the introductory section, a transition sentence is used to relate the introduction with the rest of the essay’s body.

2. Literary Analysis Essay Body Paragraphs

Once an essay writer is done writing the introduction, the next step is to start writing the body of the essay. The essay body comprises body paragraphs. Like many other essays, a literary analysis essay also has three body paragraphs.

  • In the body paragraphs, the writer is supposed to mention every bit of the information they have collected regarding the piece of the literature analyzed in the essay. In these paragraphs, all the collected evidence and factual data must be stated in order to support the claim.
  • While writing this part of the essay, make sure that you do not drag things out of proportion as unnecessary data makes an essay irrelevant. Stick to the point and only mention the required and meaningful information.
  • Talking about the structure of the body paragraph, you must know that the proper way to start a body paragraph is to start it with a topic sentence. A topic sentence is just like a short introduction to the respective paragraph. From that one sentence, the readers get to know what point you will be discussing in that paragraph.
  • You must know that each paragraph is written to discuss one key point at a time. This way, the reader will be able to understand what exactly you are trying to say. You can also use literary devices and make them more engaging.

Once you are done writing all the body paragraphs, make sure that you end this section with a transition sentence. This would give an idea to the reader what is going to be the next part of your essay.

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3. Literary Analysis Essay Conclusion

Now when you have learned how to write the body paragraphs of the literary analysis essay, it’s time to move towards the conclusion. The conclusion of a literary analysis essay should end dynamically and energetically. The conclusion of an essay should contain a review of all the elements you discussed in your analysis essay’s body.

Typically, an essay conclusion begins with a summary of the thesis statement but in a more compelling way. The following are some other significant points that must be a part of the conclusion.

  • Summary of the entire essay.
  • Comprehension of the thesis statement.
  • The purpose of the essay.
  • Some predictions, if any.
  • A connection of the conclusion with all other parts of the essay.

In order to understand what all the above-mentioned arrangement looks like, look at the example given below.

Literary Analysis Essay Examples

To understand anything in a better way, examples are a useful tool. If you are a naive writer, it is very important to look at some examples before you start writing a literary analysis essay.

Here are some good examples to help you write an impressive essay.

Students get to write a literary analysis essay at different academic levels. With the help of such essays, students aim to analyze different parts of the text. If you are a college student and looking for a good example of such an essay, you are in the right place.

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Barbara P

WRITTEN BY

Barbara P (Literature, Marketing)

Barbara is a highly educated and qualified author with a Ph.D. in public health from an Ivy League university. She has spent a significant amount of time working in the medical field, conducting a thorough study on a variety of health issues. Her work has been published in several major publications.

Barbara is a highly educated and qualified author with a Ph.D. in public health from an Ivy League university. She has spent a significant amount of time working in the medical field, conducting a thorough study on a variety of health issues. Her work has been published in several major publications.

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