Catcher in the Rye Name ___________________________

Essay Outline Worksheet Date ________________ Period _____

Your essay should be made up of at least five (5) paragraphs. The first and last paragraphs
should be the introduction and conclusion to your essay.

The introduction should make a clear statement about WHAT the novel Catcher in the Rye
means to you. The introduction should also say WHY your point about the book is interesting –
either to you, or to the reader.

The conclusion should remind readers of what your main point about the novel is. It should
also offer a “so what.” By “so what,” I mean that your conclusion should explain to the reader how
they should be thinking after reading your paper.

The body paragraphs for your Catcher in the Rye essay are where you show and explain your
evidence for what the novel is about. Quotes are a great way to “prove” what a novel is about.
Your essay needs to have at least three quotes from the novel.

When writing a literature paper it is important to quote from the book. When using quotes
it is important to follow the pattern of 1) introducing a quote 2) quoting the quote (with citation) 3)
explaining the significance of the quote. All quotes are followed by a parenthetical citation in
the abbreviated format (###). Examples are as follow:
If you are writing a short quote you can just introduce it “inline.” Holden Caufield ends
Catcher in the Rye saying, “Don’t ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody”
(214). This is the narrator’s way of saying that by the end of the story he has realized that he
is lonely and isolated. This is the main point of the novel Catcher in the Rye.
Notice that the title of the novel is always in italics. Notice that the parenthetical citation is
in parenthesis (), and INSIDE the period.

Longer quotes need to be block indented. A block indented quote looks like the following.
Holden Caufield begins the novel with an introduction. He explains that he is not going to give the
reader what he thinks we want:

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was
born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all
before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going
into it, if you want to know the truth. (1)

This introduction serves to put the reader on notice. Holden is a difficult character. He
won’t give you what you want, he will do what he wants, when he wants to do it. It also
implies that something has gone wrong in his life. Notice a couple of important things about a
block indented quote. At the end of the introduction to the quote is a colon ( : ). The entire quote is
block indented one tab (in Word, select the whole quote, then push the “tab” button. The block
indent should be single spaced; the rest of the paper should be double spaced. There is an extra line
break before and after the block indent. Notice that the parenthetical citation is in parenthesis (), and
after the block indented quote.
Title: ____________________________

I. Introduction (Don’t write this word. Briefly write what your introduction will say.)
A. General background information (2-3 sentences)
1.
2.
B. Thesis statement (Don’t write this word. Write your statement of what the novel is about.)
1. First Main Point
2. Second Main Point
3. Third Main Point

II. Proving first main point (Write a topic sentence here.)

A. Evidence for first main point (quote, example, etc.)
B. Evidence for first main point (quote, example, etc.)
C. You may have multiple pieces of evidence, use as many letters as you need.
D. Conclusion of section and transition to next section

III. Proving second main point (Write a topic sentence here.)

A. Evidence for second main point (quote, example, etc.)
B. Evidence for second main point (quote, example, etc.)
C. You may have multiple pieces of evidence, use as many letters as you need.
D. Conclusion of section and transition to next section

IV. Proving third main point (Write a topic sentence here.)

A. Evidence for second main point (quote, example, etc.)
B. Evidence for second main point (quote, example, etc.)
C. You may have multiple pieces of evidence, use as many letters as you need.
D. Conclusion of section and transition to next section

V. Conclusion (Don’t write this word, restate what you proved and relate it to a big question!)
Title ________________________________________________
I. ___________________________________________________

A.
B.
C.
D.

II. ____________________________________________________

A.
B.
C.
D.

III. ____________________________________________________

A.
B.
C.
D.

IV. ____________________________________________________

A.
B.
C.
D.

V. ____________________________________________________
A.
B.