CHR 1.A (Character) Identify and describe what specific textual details reveal

about a character, that character’s perspective, and that

character’s motives.

Questions to consider:

1. How does the character think, speak, and act? What words

does he or she use? How does the character reveal his or her

motives and values based on thoughts, speech, action, or

inaction?

2. How is the character described by the narrator, himself or

herself, or other characters?

3. What’s the character’s background? What’s his or her

personality like? Does he or she have biases?

4. How do the plot events affect the character?

5. How does the environment affect the character?

6. What expectations of the character does the reader have?

7. Does the character’s perspective shift over the course of the

narrative?

8. Does the narrator compare the character to other

characters? Does the character compare himself or herself to

other characters?

CHR 1.B (Character)

Explain the function of a character changing

or remaining unchanged.

Questions to consider:

1. Does the character change or remained unchanged in response to

the events in the narrative?

2. How does a dynamic character’s choices lead to the climax or

resolution of a story?

3. How does the character change externally (health, wealth)?

Internally (psychological, emotional)? How does external influence

internal and vice versa?

4. Do the character’s circumstances change? Does that bring about a

change in him or her?

5. How does conflict affect or change the character?

6. Does the character have an epiphany, or does he or she change

gradually? What meaning does this change reveal?

CHR 1.C (Character)

Explain the function of contrasting characters.

Questions to consider:

1. The “antagonist” doesn’t have to be a character. It can

also be society, nature, or the protagonist’s internal

conflict. With that in mind, is there a clear “antagonist” in

the story?

2. What traits or values does the protagonist reveal? The

antagonist?

CHR 1.D (Character)

Describe how textual details reveal nuances and

complexities in characters’ relationships with one another.

Questions to consider:

1. How do the characters’ value systems interact? What

tensions are created?

2. Does some group or force function as a “character”? How

does this “character” interact with the protagonist or

other characters?

3. Is the character included or excluded from a group? What

does this show about his or her attitude toward the

group or vice versa?

CHR 1.E (Character)

Explain how a character’s own choices, actions, and speech

reveal complexities in that character, and explain the

function of those complexities.

Questions to consider:

1. Are the thoughts and actions of the character consistent or

inconsistent?

2. How does the character’s lack of change affect the story

and its meaning?

3. How do the character’s competing, conflicting, or inconsistent

choices or actions affect the complexity of the text?

4. How does the character respond to the resolution of the

narrative? Is this response similar to or different from his

or her previously established way of thinking and/or acting?

5. How do the inconsistencies or unexpected developments in a

character affect the reader’s understanding of that

character?

SET 2.A (Setting)

Identify and describe specific textual details that convey

or reveal a setting

Questions to consider:

1. When and where does the story take place?

2. What is the social situation in which the events in the

text occur? The cultural situation? The historical

situation?

SET 2.B (Setting)

Explain the function of setting in a narrative.

Questions to consider:

1. Does the setting influence the mood/atmosphere of the

narrative?

2. Does the setting change? How does this affect the

narrative?

3. Are settings in the narrative contrasted? How does this

show a conflict of values or ideas?

SET 2.C (Setting)

Describe the relationship between a character and a

setting.

Questions to consider:

1. What’s the character’s attitude toward his or her

environment?

2. What information does the environment provide about the

character?

3. What insights about the character are shown through his

or her interaction with the environment?

STR 3.A (Structure)

Identify and describe how plot orders events in a

narrative.

Questions to consider:

1. How do the events in a plot build upon one another?

2. What series of conflicts does the character face? How do

these influence his or her choices and actions?

3. Does the pattern in a dramatic situation seem

typical/predictable? What effect does this have on the

reader?

4. What chronology does the plot follow? Does the author

make use of flashbacks, foreshadowing, in medias res, or

stream of consciousness?

5. What’s the pace of the narrative? How frequently do

events occur? How quickly does each event transpire?

6. Does the tense stay the same? If not, what was the

reason for the change?

STR 3.B (Structure)

Explain the function of a particular sequence of events in a

plot.

Questions to consider:

1. How does the author draw attention to the importance of

an event or a series of events in the narrative?

2. How do the narrative structures (flashbacks, etc.) build

anticipation or suspense for the reader?

3. How might the reader be emotionally influenced by the

order in which the author reveals information? The pace

at which he or she reveals information?

STR 3.C (Structure)

Explain the function of structure in a text (poetry)

Questions to consider:

1. How do the line or stanza breaks influence the

development of ideas in the poem?

2. Each text is a “structure”? The structure has “pieces”?

How do the relationships between these “pieces” create

reactions and expectations in the reader?

3. Does the poem convey a predictable pattern based on its

lines, stanzas, meter, and/or rhyme?

4. How do structures combine to emphasize certain ideas?

5. Does an idea or image in the poem extend beyond one

stanza? What effect does this have?

6. How does the poem’s punctuation help the reader

understand the text?

7. Is there a shift in the poem’s structure? What point does

this emphasize? How is the shift signaled (word or

phrase, structural convention or disruption, punctuation)?

STR 3.D (Structure)

Explain the function of contrasts within a text.

Questions to consider:

1. Is there a contrast in the text? How is it shown (via tone,

point of view, characters, speaker, time, place, imagery)?

a. What does the contrast reveal about the things being

compared?

b. Does the contrast establish ambiguity or a

contradiction? What effect does this have?

2. Does the text show situational or verbal irony? Is this

created via the relationship between the reader’s

expectations and the text or by the text itself?

3. Is there a paradox in the text? Is it reconciled? What

meaning does it convey?

STR 3.E (Structure)

Explain the function of a significant event or related set of

significant events in a plot.

Questions to consider:

1. How do the primary conflict and the story’s events work

together to create a wholeness?

2. To what extent does a significant event develop

characters?

3. Does the significant event reveal competing value

systems?

4. How do the plot’s events build to create suspense and/or

anticipation?

STR 3.F (Structure)

Explain the function of conflict in a text.

Questions to consider:

1. How do the character’s internal conflicts (psychological,

emotional) and/or external conflicts (nature/environment,

society, another character) obstruct him or her?

2. Does the character have a primary conflict that is

heightened by other conflicts?

3. What’s the resolution like? Is there a moment of

catharsis (emotional release)? How does this influence the

reader?

4. Is there an unseen character or preceding action that

results in conflict for the character?

NAR 4.A (Narration)

Identify and describe the narrator or speaker of a text.

Questions to consider:

1. Who is the narrator (or speaker) of the text?

2. What is the narrator’s perspective (how he or she sees

his or her circumstances)? What is his or her point of view

(first person, etc.)?

3. Is the narrator also the author?

4. Does the narrator directly address the reader?

5. Does the narrator recall events or describe them as they

occur?

NAR 4.B (Narration)

Identify and explain the function of point of view in a

narrative.

Questions to consider:

1. How does the narrator’s point of view influence his or her

level of involvement and intimacy with details, events, or

characters?

2. Is the narrator also a character? How does his or her role

influence his or her perspective?

3. How distant is the narrator (chronologically, physically,

emotionally)?

NAR 4.C (Narration)

Identify and describe details, diction, or syntax in a text

that reveal a narrator’s or speaker’s perspective.

Questions to consider:

1. How does the narrator’s background and perspective shape

his or her attitude (tone) toward characters and events?

How does the character’s background and perspective shape

his or her attitude toward other characters and events?

What effect does this have on the reader?

2. How do descriptive words, such as adjectives and adverbs,

convey a perspective toward the things they describe?

3. Do the syntactical arrangements emphasize certain details

and/or ideas? What does this show about the narrator’s or

character’s tone?

4. What information does the narrator leave out? What does

this reveal about him or her?

5. How do the narrator’s perspective and choices about details

reveal his or her biases, motivations, or understandings?

6. Does the narrator (who functions as a character) change over

the course of the text based on his or her actions and

interactions?

NAR 4.D (Narration)

Explain how a narrator’s reliability affects a narrative.

Questions to consider:

1. Does the narrator’s bias make him or her unreliable?

2. How does the narrator’s reliability contribute to the

reader’s understanding of the characters’ motives?

3. Are there multiple narrator’s? Do they provide

contradictory information?

FIG 5.A

(Figurative Language – word choice,

imagery, and symbols)

Distinguish between the literal and figurative meanings of

words and phrases.

Questions to consider:

1. Are there any words with multiple meanings? How does

that influence the reader’s interpretation of the text?

FIG 5.B

(Figurative Language – word choice,

imagery, and symbols)

Explain the function of specific words and phrases in a text.

Questions to consider:

1. Are any referents ambiguous? How does this affect the

reader’s interpretation?

2. Are any words or phrases repeated? What idea(s) does

this emphasize?

3. Is there any alliteration? What association does this

convey?

4. Does the author use hyperbole or understatement? How

does this capture the reader’s attention? What does this

convey about the author’s perspective?

FIG 5.C

(Figurative Language – word choice,

imagery, and symbols)

Identify and explain the function of a symbol.

Questions to consider:

1. Can any objects be considered symbolic? Why?

a. Does context help convey the symbol’s meaning? Is the

symbol common?

b. Does the symbol convey anything about the speaker’s or

a character’s attitude?

2. Do any characters stand for a particular idea? Can they be

considered a symbol?

3. Is the setting associated with particular emotions or

beliefs? Can it be considered a symbol?

FIG 5.D

(Figurative Language – word choice,

imagery, and symbols)

Identify and explain the function of an image or imagery.

Questions to consider:

1. What descriptive words in the text help create sensory

imagery?

2. Is the image literal, or does the sensory association reveal

something more about the text?

3. Is there a relationship between the series of images in

the text?

FIG 6.A

(Figurative Language – comparison)

Identify and explain the function of a simile.

Questions to consider:

1. Are there any similes (comparisons using “like” or “as”) in the

text?

a. What objects are being compared? What are the traits

of the objects? Why did the author make this

comparison?

FIG 6.B

(Figurative Language – comparison)

Identify and explain the function of a metaphor.

Questions to consider:

1. Are there any metaphors (implied comparisons) in the text?

a. How does the reader’s knowledge of the objects being

compared contribute to the metaphor’s meaning?

b. How does the metaphor’s context influence the reader’s

interpretation?

c. What are the traits or qualities of the objects being

compared?

d. Does the metaphor exist in one part of the text, or

does it persist through parts of or the entire text?

e. Is there a conceit (an extended and often surprising

comparison between two dissimilar things)? How is it

developed?

f. Are there multiple comparisons? How do they relate to

one another?

FIG 6.C

(Figurative Language – comparison)

Identify and explain the function of personification.

Questions to consider:

1. Does the author employ personification? How does this

enhance the theme?

2. Does the author assign qualities of a nonhuman object,

entity, or idea to a character? What does this communicate?

FIG 6.D

(Figurative Language – comparison)

Identify and explain the function of an allusion.

Questions to consider:

1. Are there any allusions?

a. Does the allusion refer to a myth, a sacred text,

another literary work, a work of art (painting, music), a

person, a place, or an event? What emotional or

intellectual connection does this stimulate?

LAN 7.A

(Literary Argumentation)

Develop textually substantiated

arguments about interpretations of

part or all of a text

Develop a paragraph that includes 1) a claim that requires

defense with evidence from the text and 2) the evidence

itself.

Questions to consider:

Do your paragraphs contain 1) a claim that requires defense with

evidence and 2) supporting evidence for that claim?

LAN 7.B

(Literary Argumentation)

Develop textually substantiated

arguments about interpretations of

part or all of a text

Develop a thesis statement that conveys a defensible

claim about an interpretation of literature and that may

establish a line of reasoning.

Questions to consider:

Does your thesis statement express an interpretation of a literary

text that requires defense?

LAN 7.C

(Literary Argumentation)

Develop textually substantiated

arguments about interpretations of

part or all of a text

Develop commentary that establishes and explains

relationships among textual evidence, the line of reasoning,

and the thesis.

Questions to consider:

1. Does your essay have a line of reasoning as well as

relevant and sufficient evidence?

2. Does each claim relate to the thesis?

3. Is there commentary that links evidence to each claim?

4. Does your literary argument explain the significance of the

work in a broader context, discuss alternative

interpretations, and/or use relevant analogies to help the

reader understand?

LAN 7.D

(Literary Argumentation)

Develop textually substantiated

arguments about interpretations of

part or all of a text

Select and use relevant and sufficient evidence to both

develop and support a line of reasoning.

Questions to consider:

Does the evidence illustrate, clarify, exemplify, emphasize, or

qualify a point?

LAN 7.E

(Literary Argumentation)

Develop textually substantiated

arguments about interpretations of

part or all of a text

Demonstrate control over the elements of composition to

communicate clearly.

Questions to consider:

1. Is there coherence among clauses and sentences? Are the

paragraphs linked logically?

2. Are transition words/phrases, repeated words/phrases,

synonyms, referents, and parallel structures used to help

show relationships among ideas?

3. Are coordination (for equal ideas) and subordination (for

unequal ideas) used effectively?

4. Has any intellectual property of others been properly cited?