Literary research is often qualitative, though it can also be quantitative when analyzing repetitive motifs, thematic patterns, or recurring concepts. This tutorial specifically discusses the analysis of literary texts under theoretical frameworks in academic research and provides a step-by-step guide to conducting it effectively.
Preparation for Analysis
As discussed in earlier tutorials in this guide, if you have already selected a theoretical framework to study a literary work, you will need:
- Command of academic language and its rules.
- Techniques of underpinning to link citations, background, and theoretical constructs with textual evidence.
- Mastery of cohesive devices to connect sentences and paragraphs seamlessly while avoiding monotony.
- Effective signposting to guide the reader through the analysis.
- Strong logical reasoning in close reading.
- Skill in logical argumentation and inductive/deductive reasoning.
Key Principles of Argumentation
In academic research, your premises must be derived from credible sources, textual evidence, and theoretical underpinnings. Personal opinions should not be presented as conclusions. Instead, arrange premises logically to produce conclusions that align with your research objectives. When your arguments are based on strong premises and logical reasoning, they become difficult to refute. Negating your conclusions would require identifying logical fallacies, biases, or disputing your sources.
Step-by-Step Guide to Analysis
- Outline the Analysis: Form an outline for your analysis chapter and determine the number of pages required. Collect a sufficient number of textual lines and underpinnings based on your institutional requirements.
- Develop the Theoretical Framework: Develop your theoretical framework. Refer to this tutorial for guidance.
- Search for Keywords: Use tools like Zotero and NotebookLM to search for relevant keywords in the literary text under analysis.
- Collect Textual Evidence: Identify useful textual lines and copy them into a document labeled Draft 1 Analysis. Once all relevant lines are gathered, move to the next step.
- Organize Textual Evidence: Create a new document labeled Draft 2 Analysis and organize or regroup the textual lines with their corresponding page numbers. This arrangement should support the formulation of arguments.
- Add Underpinnings: Bold each textual line in Draft 2 Analysis. Below each line, add 4–6 underpinnings, including citations, background information, and theoretical constructs.
- Formulate Arguments: Open a new document labeled Draft 3 Analysis. Using the textual evidence and its underpinnings, formulate arguments by syllogizing and applying inductive or deductive reasoning. Refer to this guide for more details on logical reasoning.
- Write and Refine the Analysis: Repeat the process for all textual evidence. Use subheadings to organize sections and follow the outline. Fill each subheading with paragraphs that formulate coherent arguments and support the research objective.
Conclusion
By following these steps, you can effectively analyze literary texts under theoretical frameworks and produce a structured, logical, and academically rigorous analysis.
