Grade 6 · Reading · Lesson 16

Write a short literary analysis

A literary analysis is a piece of writing that makes a claim about a text — about a character, theme, setting, or author\u2019s craft — and then proves that claim using evidence from the story. Unlike a summary, which retells what happened, a literary analysis answers the question: "What does this text mean, and how does the author create that meaning?"

What this lesson teaches

1Identify the claim, evidence, and analysis structure in a literary analysis paragraph
2Write a literary claim (thesis) about a character, theme, or author’s choice
3Select textual evidence that directly supports a literary claim
4Explain how evidence proves a claim using the CEA analytical frame

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