In the excerpt from Speak provided in our textbook, Laurie Halse Anderson makes a number of choices that affect how the protagonist is characterized and how her situation is dramatized. You may consider devices such as hyperbole, dialogue, simple sentences, asides, metaphors, similes, or something else of your choice. In your response, be sure to:

1. Begin with a strong topic sentence.

   1. It should express a connection between an observation you have made and an effect that observation has on the characters or story.

   2. It should not just summarize the plot

2. Support the topic sentence with a series of ideas that make the connection between observation and effect clear.

   1. Use specific details from the text (summarized or quoted directly)

   2. Show how each detail from the text is important and connected to the point being made.

   3. Explain any details from the text that a reader might not understanding having not read the Speak excerpt.

3. Conclude with a closing statement (1-2 sentences) that makes your overall point (from your topic sentence) clear. You should have expressed the “So What?” of your analysis - why does this matter or create meaning?

Goals are to demonstrate an understanding of the selecting of detail and the construction of a well-supported literary analysis paragraph.

Exemplary Work will be grammatically accurate, syntactically varied and rely on thoughtful observations to create an engaging read.