1. 1. Write a 2.5-3-page essay (double-spaced) detailing a close reading and literary analysis of your book. Analyze the entire book or a few chapters (100 pages minimum). The essay should be structured around a central thesis or argument you introduce at the beginning of the paper. Explore how you're processing a piece of text to arrive at the thesis or argument. 
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3. 2. Choose only one analysis. Your thesis might center on a feminist or gender criticism reading, an historical perspective, a Marxist criticism (power and socioeconomic levels) or a psychological criticism. Or you might write about how the piece does or does not fit with post-modernist writing theory. Or you could look at how the text deals with an overall theme, such as marginality or social stigma, race, spirituality, identity, etc. 
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5. 3. Pay close attention to the use of symbolism and metaphor, to language choices, set, to characterization, to style, and how these support your thesis. 
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7. 4. Keep your writing in a style and voice that feels natural to you. Have fun and be playful in your writing. Include a variety of sentence styles and structures. First person is allowed. 
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9. 5. Assume the reader of your paper has not read the text you're talking about and briefly summarize the plot inside your introduction or immediately after it. Literary analysis isn't a book report, however. Use literary terminology to help you write effectively about what an author is doing - keep your paper focused on analysis. 
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11. 6. Use MLA parenthetical documentation (page number in parenthesis) throughout the essay. 
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13. 7. If you use outside research be sure to include a Works Cited page.
14. (The Book: To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee)