MB ELA 40S cheat sheet

MB ELA 40S: Core Reference

• Thesis test: a defensible claim must be arguable (a reasonable reader could disagree), specific (names the text and the interpretive angle), and provable from textual evidence rather than personal opinion alone.

• Integration rule: quoted evidence must be framed by a signal phrase, quoted exactly, cited, and then explained in a sentence that states what the quotation reveals and why it supports the claim; a dropped quotation without commentary weakens the argument.

• Literary analysis vocabulary: theme is a central idea developed across a whole text, motif is a recurring element that reinforces theme, symbol is a concrete object carrying abstract meaning, and allusion is an indirect reference to another text or cultural touchstone.

• Narrative point of view: first person uses I/we with limited access; third-person limited stays inside one character's perceptions; third-person omniscient moves among characters' minds; second person addresses you and is common in persuasive or experimental prose.

• Poetry sound devices: alliteration repeats initial consonant sounds, assonance repeats vowel sounds within words, consonance repeats final or internal consonants, and onomatopoeia imitates sound; meter is the recurring stress pattern measured in feet.

• Drama conventions: soliloquy is spoken alone on stage revealing inner thought, aside is a brief remark to the audience unheard by other characters, dramatic irony occurs when the audience knows what a character does not, and stage directions govern movement and tone.

• Rhetorical appeals: ethos establishes credibility and shared values, pathos evokes emotion, logos uses reasoning and evidence; identify the appeal plus the specific technique (anecdote, statistic, rhetorical question, repetition, concession) rather than labeling alone.

• Persuasive fallacies to name precisely: ad hominem attacks the speaker, straw man misrepresents an opponent, false dilemma limits options to two, slippery slope predicts an extreme chain, and hasty generalization overreaches from thin evidence.

• Essay coherence: each body paragraph should serve one claim tied to the thesis, and transitions should show the logical relation (contrast, cause, concession, sequence) rather than merely announcing a new topic.