If you have ever read an essay that walks through the plot of Little Women in order and calls it analysis, you are in good company. Summary is the default mode for students writing about a familiar story. It feels safe, and it looks like evidence.

The problem is that summary answers the question of what happens, while analysis answers why it matters. An essay that only tells us Beth visits the Hummels when they fall ill and later catches scarlet fever has not yet argued anything. The events need a claim to organize them.

Telling students to "analyze more" rarely helps, because many do not know what that means. They need concrete moves they can try. Good feedback names those moves and shows them in action.

It also helps to normalize some summary. A sentence of context before a quotation is fine. The issue arises when summary takes over the paragraph.

Three Moves That Change the Paragraph

The first move is to ask "so what?" after each piece of evidence. If the student cannot answer, the paragraph is probably summary. The second is to look for verbs like shows, suggests, or reveals, which signal interpretation, and the third is to name the effect on the reader or on the argument.

• Ask what the moment reveals about a character's values or choices.
• Replace "then" and "next" with words that signal reasoning, such as "because" or "which suggests."
• Cut the plot sentences that do not directly support the claim.
• Add a sentence explaining why the quotation matters to the argument.
• Connect each paragraph back to the thesis in the final sentence.

Showing Students the Difference

Use paired examples. Put a summary paragraph and an analytical paragraph about the same scene side by side and ask students to identify what changed. Doing this with the burning of Jo's manuscript works well because students know the scene and can quickly see how interpretation adds value.

Have students revise their own summary paragraphs in class. Ask them to circle each sentence that only retells and rewrite one of them into analysis. The exercise shows the difference in a way that comments alone rarely do.

Giving This Feedback Efficiently

Because summary is so common, a consistent set of comments is essential. A short, clear note that flags where a paragraph turns from summary to analysis and asks the student to extend the analysis is often enough. Repeat the same standard across every essay so students learn to look for it.

GraideMind can flag paragraphs that drift toward retelling, based on your rubric's analysis row, and draft comments asking for the missing interpretation. You review and adapt them before students see anything. That leaves your energy for the harder conversation about what a student's argument is really trying to say.