Final answer:
Literary analysis involves a close examination of a text's elements to understand its deeper meanings and is essential for writing a literary critique. Effective note-taking strategies are important to support the analysis.
Step-by-step explanation:
When students perform literary analysis, they closely examine a text's elements, like setting, plot, characters, and figurative language, to understand its deeper meanings and themes. This process involves a critical examination and interpretation of the work to support their analysis with textual evidence. Reading is the first step in this process, followed by note-taking and formulating questions that can lead to a deeper analysis. Ultimately, the goal is to craft an essay that examines one or more aspects of the literature in detail and presents a coherent argument about the text.
During a literary analysis, one might start with basic questions such as 'Who are the characters?' 'What is happening?', 'When and where is it taking place?' and 'How does it happen?'. Answering these questions builds a solid foundation for determining themes and helps to support or discard preliminary hypotheses about the text. Careful and effective note-taking strategies include highlighting quotations, using Post-it notes, and writing margin comments. These techniques foster a sort of conversation with the text, which is essential for a deeper understanding and for crafting a well-argued literary critique.