TEACHER SAMPLE Analyzing Literature and Evaluating Sources [A Sample Worksheet to Use in Conjunction with the Critical Thinking Assignment PowerPoint] Student Name: Jane Doe Title of the Story: “The Yellow Wallpaper” Author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman STEP ONE: Below, write a clear and detailed analytical thesis on the theme(s) of your story. This thesis must include the author’s name, the title of the story, an argument on the underlying message (theme) of the work, and a reference to at least one literary element that was crucial in getting that message across (e.g. symbolism). THESIS: In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman uses symbolism and unreliable first person narration to explore the impacts of the destructive relationship between a patriarchal society and the treatment of mental illness. STEP TWO: Review course lessons on literary criticism / critical perspectives. Read your story once again and choose one critical perspective that best applies to your specific story. Below, write a minimum of 100 words on which critical perspective you are using to analyze the text, justifying your choice. In your reflection on your critical perspective, you should include specific examples from the text to support your choice. JUSTIFICATION OF CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE: To analyze this story, the best critical perspective to use is gender criticism, which also allows for a look into historical context. Gilman’s story is told from the perspective of a woman who, most likely suffering from postpartum depression, is confined to a nursery by her husband, John. As John takes on the role of both head of the household and Jane’s physician, he is in an immense position of power over her. The narrator clearly engages with this power imbalance, mentioning early on this characteristic of their marriage: “John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in marriage” (1). Using the gender perspective will aid an analysis of this couple’s dynamic, as well as the several symbols in the story that suggest the confining nature of the overwhelmingly patriarchal society in which the story is set. For instance, the narrator is confined to a nursery with bars on the window, indicating the pressure to be, first and foremost, a mother. There, she begins to envision a woman trapped behind her wallpaper, ultimately identifying herself with this captive and descending further into madness in order to break free (16). These moments, along with the critique of the rest cure for “a slight hysterical tendency,” support the use of the gender perspective, and research will help demonstrate the links to the story’s theme and the historical context. WORD COUNT: 228 STEP THREE: The Annotated Bibliography Augmented with Critical Thinking 1. Find three peer-reviewed academic sources that you could use to support your interpretation. Possible databases to search include jStor, ProQuest, Literature Resource Center, etc. 2. For EACH of your three sources, you must provide: A) An MLA-style bibl ...

1. TEACHER SAMPLE
Analyzing Literature and Evaluating Sources
[A Sample Worksheet to Use in Conjunction with the Critical
Thinking Assignment PowerPoint]
Student Name: Jane Doe
Title of the Story: “The Yellow Wallpaper”
Author: Charlotte Perkins Gilman
STEP ONE: Below, write a clear and detailed analytical thesis
on the theme(s) of your story. This thesis must include the
author’s name, the title of the story, an argument on the
underlying message (theme) of the work, and a reference to at
least one literary element that was crucial in getting that
message across (e.g. symbolism).
THESIS:
In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Gilman uses symbolism and
unreliable first person narration to explore the impacts of the
destructive relationship between a patriarchal soci ety and the
treatment of mental illness.
STEP TWO: Review course lessons on literary criticism /
critical perspectives. Read your story once again and choose
one critical perspective that best applies to your specific story.
Below, write a minimum of 100 words on which critical
perspective you are using to analyze the text, justifying your
choice. In your reflection on your critical perspective, you
should include specific examples from the text to support your
choice.
JUSTIFICATION OF CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE:
To analyze this story, the best critical perspective to use is
gender criticism, which also allows for a look into historical
context. Gilman’s story is told from the perspective of a woman
who, most likely suffering from postpartum depression, is
confined to a nursery by her husband, John. As John takes on
the role of both head of the household and Jane’s physician, he

2. is in an immense position of power over her. The narrator
clearly engages with this power imbalance, mentioning early on
this characteristic of their marriage: “John laughs at me, of
course, but one expects that in marriage” (1). Using the gender
perspective will aid an analysis of this couple’s dynamic, as
well as the several symbols in the story that suggest the
confining nature of the overwhelmingly patriarchal society in
which the story is set. For instance, the narrator is confined to a
nursery with bars on the window, indicating the pressure to be,
first and foremost, a mother. There, she begins to envision a
woman trapped behind her wallpaper, ultimately identifying
herself with this captive and descending further into madness in
order to break free (16). These moments, along with the critique
of the rest cure for “a slight hysterical tendency,” support the
use of the gender perspective, and research will help
demonstrate the links to the story’s theme and the historical
context.
WORD COUNT: 228
STEP THREE: The Annotated Bibliography Augmented with
Critical Thinking
1. Find three peer-reviewed academic sources that you could use
to support your interpretation. Possible databases to search
include jStor, ProQuest, Literature Resource Center, etc.
2. For EACH of your three sources, you must provide:
A) An MLA-style bibliographical entry
B) A 200-word minimum evaluation and analysis of the source
that answer the following questions:
3. Evaluation: Is the source peer-reviewed? Are there any
factual errors? Is it relevant to your chosen text? What is a
particularly strong quote from the source, and why would it be
helpful to your research?
4. Analysis: How does the source relate to the critical
perspective you chose in step 2? How does the source support
your thesis on the theme(s) of the work of literature? What are
some quotes from your work of literature that link to the

3. arguments found in your source, and in what ways do they relate
to each other?
Source 1:
Work Citation Entry:
Korb, Rena. "An overview of 'The Yellow Wallpaper'." Gale
Online Encyclopedia, Gale, 2018.
Literature Resource Center,
http://link.galegroup.com.gmclibrary.idm.oclc.org/apps/doc/H14
20008873/LitRC?u=mill30389&sid=LitRC&xid=9cd5cbdd.
Accessed 12 July 2018.
Evaluation and Analysis (200 Words Minimum):
It’s not clear if this source is peer-reviewed, but it is located in
a recommended database and written by an author with an
advanced degree. Korb’s article is accurate, giving information
on the historical and autobiographical contexts of the story.
Gilman herself underwent the “rest cure,” a treatment
popularized by S. Weir Mitchell: “The symptoms of
depression—fatigue, hysteria, crying fits—were thought to stem
from the body, and thus were treated through care of the body.
Mitchell's treatment for breakdowns of the nervous system, and
the treatment he prescribed for Gilman, included total bed rest
and isolating the patient from family and familiar surroundings”
(Korb). Mitchell is actually alluded to in “The Yellow
Wallpaper” as a veiled threat should John’s treatment not
succeed, so the information on the history of treatment for
depression will help me better analyze John’s characterization
and motivations. Korb goes on to explain that Gilman sent
Mitchell a copy of her story in the hopes that he’d change his
practice. The dangerous disconnect between male doctor and
female patient can add to an interpretation of the gender issues
at work in this story. Korb’s interpretation of its themes also
supports my thesis, as she claims “Gilman's narrator is trapped
in the home, in her maternal body, and in the text she has
created for herself, which is the only escape she can find.” This

4. argument can aid my interpretation of the symbolism used
throughout the story, particularly in describing the environment
in which the narrator is confined and the language she uses to
describe the damage that the room’s previous occupants left
behind: “I never saw such ravages as the children have made
here” (6). This is not an idealized portrayal of motherhood that
might have been expected from a woman in Gilman’s time. The
link between this attitude towards children and the men’s
perception of the narrator’s mental state can also be explored in
a gender reading of the story.
WORD COUNT: 280
Source 2:
Work Citation Entry:
Treichler, Paula A. “Escaping the Sentence: Diagnosis and
Discourse in ‘The Yellow
Wallpaper.’” Tulsa Studies in Women's Literature, vol. 3, no.
1/2, 1984, pp. 61–77. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/463825.
Accessed 12 July 2018.
Evaluation and Analysis (200 Words Minimum):
In this factually accurate peer-reviewed article, Treichler
focuses particularly on one aspect of the rest cure prescribed to
the narrator: she is forced to give up her writing. “Learning to
monitor her own speech, she develops an artificial feminine self
who reinforces the terms of her husband's expert diagnosis: this
self attempts to speak reasonably and in ‘a very quiet voice,’
refrains from crying in his presence, and hides the fact that she
is keeping a journal. This male- identified self disguises the
true underground narrative: a confrontation with language”
(61). This observation will aid an analysis of the power
imbalance between the married couple and the way the narrator
and author challenge this. Writing is not only a key form of
self-expression (the denial of which seems at odds with the
communication needed in an effective doctor/patient
relationship and marriage), but is also one of the limited

5. socially acceptable professions for women at that time. The
narrator even refers to her writing as “work,” and places that
word in quotation marks as if to suggest a mocking tone from
her husband (Gilman 1). The control John has over her is key to
a gender reading of the story. Treichler does, however, present
an interpretation I disagree with, which could be used in an
essay to introduce my own critical argument. Treichler
“interpret[s] the wallpaper to be women's writing or women's
discourse, and the woman in the wallpaper to be the
representation of women that becomes possible only after
women obtain the right to speak. In this reading, the yellow
wallpaper stands for a new vision of women -one which is
constructed differently from the representation of women in
patriarchal language” (64). Although I understand the spirit of
this interpretation, the language is troublesome when you
consider that the narrator rips the wallpaper to shreds. It may be
that the wallpaper stands for the domestic sphere women were
pressured to confine themselves in, and the destruction of the
wallpaper is part of the birth of the new woman.
WORD COUNT: 338
Source 3:
Work Citation Entry:
Dock, Julie Bates, et al. “‘But One Expects That’: Charlotte
Perkins Gilman's ‘The Yellow Wallpaper’ and
the Shifting Light of Scholarship.” PMLA, vol. 111, no. 1,
1996, pp. 52–65. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/463133.
Accessed 12 July 2018.
Evaluation and Analysis (200 Words Minimum):
In this factually accurate peer-reviewed article, Julie Bates
Dock, Daphne Ryan Allen, Jennifer Palais and Kristen Tracy
primarily give an overview of the history of gender criticism
written on “The Yellow Wallpaper.” This is an important source
to review as it casts light on potential critical biases in feminist
readings of the story since the 1970s. As they explain, “a study
of the textual, publication, and reception histories of ‘The

6. Yellow Wallpaper’ demonstrates how shifts in criticism from
one era to another cast different light on the evidence sur-
rounding the story” (53). The article also indicates variants in
different publications, such as omissions of words, sentences,
breaks, etc., that could have an impact on an analysis of the
story depending on which variant I’ve read. Here is an example
from the article:
The first important variant, and the one most resonant with
meaning, comes in the fifth paragraph. After declaring that
there is "something queer" about the house, the narrator
remarks, "John laughs at me, of course, but one expects that in
marriage." Texts that follow Lane's, which reproduces the 1933
Golden Book version, print the following: "John laughs at me,
of course, but one expects that." Omitting "in marriage"
radically transforms the line. Why would one "expect that"?
Does John laugh at the narrator because she is genuinely funny?
because he thinks her a silly little woman? because she feels the
house is creepy? because John is a jerk? The reader cannot
know. (56)
While this passage would likely not make it into my essay, it
does add weight to my earlier use of that Gilman quote in an in-
depth interpretation of the way the narrator views and
characterizes her marriage, and marriage in general. This
article also highlights an issue of accuracy that could influence
further research on this story, and that has to do with critics’
claims about the initial reader reaction to “The Yellow
Wallpaper”: “Jean E. Kennard contends that a feminist reading
could not emerge until audiences grasped certain literary
conventions-particularly those associated with ‘patriarchy,
madness, space, [and] quest’ (78)-but her premise that ‘no
earlier reader saw the story as in any way positive’ (75)
obscures the tensions and complexities in Gilman's text,
particularly the gender constructions in play between the story
and its original readers” (60). If other critical sources using a
gender approach provide similar misrepresentations or
generalizations about the original reception of the story, that

7. could skew an argument on society’s views towards early
feminist ideas around the time of composition and publication,
so I’d want to keep this article in mind.
WORD COUNT: 431
Analyzing Literature and Evaluating Sources
Student Name:
Title of the Story:
Author:
STEP ONE: Below, write a clear and detailed analytical thesis
on the theme(s) of your story. This thesis must include the
author’s name, the title of the story, an argument on the
underlying message (theme) of the work, and a reference to at
least one literary element that was crucial in getting that
message across (e.g. symbolism).
THESIS:
STEP TWO: Review course lessons on literary criticism /
critical perspectives. Read your story once again and choose
one critical perspective that best applies to your specific story.
Below, write a minimum of 100 words on which critical
perspective you are using to analyze the text, justifying your
choice. In your reflection on your critical perspective, you
should include specific examples from the text to support your
choice.
JUSTIFICATION OF CRITICAL PERSPECTIVE:
WORD COUNT:
STEP THREE: The Annotated Bibliography Augmented with
Critical Thinking
1. Find three peer-reviewed academic sources that you could use
to support your interpretation. Possible databases to search
include jStor, ProQuest, Literature Resource Center, etc.
2. For EACH of your three sources, you must provide:

8. A) An MLA-style bibliographical entry
B) A 200-word minimum evaluation and analysis of the source
that answer the following questions:
3. Evaluation: Is the source peer-reviewed? Are there any
factual errors? Is it relevant to your chosen text? What is a
particularly strong quote from the source, and why would it be
helpful to your research?
4. Analysis: How does the source relate to the critical
perspective you chose in step 2? How does the source support
your thesis on the theme(s) of the work of literature? What are
some quotes from your work of literature that link to the
arguments found in your source, and in what ways do they relate
to each other?
Source 1:
Work Citation Entry:
Evaluation and Analysis (200 Words Minimum):
WORD COUNT:
Source 2:
Work Citation Entry:
Evaluation and Analysis (200 Words Minimum):
WORD COUNT:
Source 3:
Work Citation Entry:
Evaluation and Analysis (200 Words Minimum):
WORD COUNT:
Quality Enhancement Plan – Critical Thinking Assignment –
Lesson Plan Template
Subject/Course:
Composition II/English 102
Lesson Topic:
Analyzing Literature and Evaluating Scholarly Sources
Lesson Title:
Annotated Bibliography Enhanced with Critical Thinking

9. Level (select one):
Beginner Intermediate Advanced
1. Lesson Objective. State clearly and specifically the purpose
of the lesson and ensure that the specific SLO is written at the
intro of the lesson. Identify course content-specific examples
of CT. Explain how the assignment encourages group or partner
work and dispels any misunderstanding of the reasoning skill(s)
before the assignment is given.
Purpose of the Assignment:
The purpose of the assignment is to teach students how to
analyze a piece of literature, how to choose sources that could
act as support for their interpretations, and how to evaluate the
quality and usefulness of those sources. Students will write an
annotated bibliography on 3 academic sources, altered to
incorporate both analysis and evaluation. This assignment meets
student learning objectives 2 and 4 of English 102. A
PowerPoint presentation of the reasoning skills, analysis and
evaluate, will be presented by the faculty member, which
includes group work and peer review.
2. Student Learning Objectives. Which SLO is this assignment
tied to?
ENG 102 Student Learning Objectives: This assignment meets
these objective.
1. to incorporate factual evidence using relevant, credible and
reliable, literary and non-literary sources to develop and support
arguments while utilizing proper MLA format.
2. to distinguish and integrate the context of the writing task,
the intended audience, and the purpose for writing following
the conventions of academic writing—including the
development and support of a thesis.
3. Reasoning Skills. Which reasoning skill(s) (metacognition,
inference, induction, deduction, evaluation, or analysis) is/are
addressed in this assignment? Describe how and when these

10. skills will be used during the lesson.
Students will be required to analyze and do research for write a
minimum of 200 words on each of the three critical sources, and
this material will incorporate evaluation and analysis. Faculty
members can choose to modify the assignment to allow students
to analyze any work of literature covered in their course.
Evaluation – Students will find and evaluate three articles,
focusing on the credibility and relevance of each source.
Analysis – Students will write their own thesis statement stating
their overall analysis of literary text. They will choose a
specific critical approach from literary theory and write a
paragraph justifying that approach. The three articles referenced
above must support their own thesis and their critical approach,
and they will be required to analyze the way the source does so.
Their analysis must be supported with MLA-documented
quotations from the source and the piece of literature being
analyzed.
Assignment to Students:
1) Select a text that you’ve read for this course and create a
strong, detailed analytical thesis on the theme of the work.
2) Write a minimum of 100 words on which critical perspective
you are using to analyze the text. For example, why would you
think it is valuable to use the gender perspective to analyze
“The Yellow Wall Paper”? You should include specific
examples from the text to support your choice.
3) Find three peer-reviewed academic sources that you could
use to support your interpretation. Possible databases to searc h
include jStor, ProQuest, Literature Resource Center, etc.
4) For EACH of your three sources, you must provide:
A) An MLA-style Works Cited entry
B) A 200-word minimum evaluation and analysis of the source
that answer the following questions:
Evaluation: Is the source peer-reviewed? Are there any factual
errors? Is it relevant to your chosen text? What is a particularly
strong quote from the source, and why would it be helpful to

11. your research?
Analysis: How does the source relate to the critical perspecti ve
you chose in step 2? How does the source support your thesis on
the theme(s) of the work of literature? What are some quotes
from your work of literature that link to the arguments found in
your source, and in what ways do they relate to each other?
5) You will bring a copy of this assignment to class for peer
review and will revise and edit before turning it in.
5. Assessment. This assignment will be assessed using the
AAC&U Critical Thinking VALUE Rubric. Explain how this
assignment is aligned with each dimension of the rubric.
A. Explanation of Issues (require students to state the
issue/problem): Students will write a thesis statement
explaining their analysis of the short story. They will then find
three critical sources and reflect, through evaluation and
analysis, how their ideas might be supported by evidence.
B. Evidence (require students to collect evidence): Students will
incorporate quotes from outside sources and the work of
literature and demonstrate the links to their own interpretation.
C. Influence of context and assumptions (required students to
analyze their own and others' assumptions and evaluate the
relevance of the context): Students will evaluate the context and
assumptions of the authors of the sources they are using to
support their thesis statement.
D. Student's position (required students to state their
perspective and provide their thesis/hypothesis): Students will
write a thesis statement that takes into account the three sources
read and analyzed and the piece of literature analyzed.
E. Conclusions and related outcomes (require students to
present their argument logically and to place evidence in
priority order): Students are asked to make a logical analysis of
the piece of literature by presenting their case in logical order

12. to reach a solid conclusion based on their own analysis of the
short story and the analysis of other reliable sources. (
6. Required materials. Identify the necessary equipment, tools,
resources required for completion of this lesson.
Students will also need a copy of the AAC&U Critical Thinking
rubric and will need:
To know how to find reliable sources in the library databases.
To know how to cite sources in-text and in on a Works Cited
page.
To know how to incorporate sources into a paper through
paraphrasing or quoting.