Imagine you’re relaxing at home one day, texting with a friend, when suddenly you feel the ground move beneath your feet. It’s an earthquake! You dash outside and wait anxiously as things rock and roll for five whole minutes. When everything calms down, you realize your home has been damaged.

The next day, your parents call the insurance company to submit a claim. Besides stating that your home has been damaged and needs the kinds of repairs that the insurance company has agreed to fix, your parents will describe what they experienced and observed during and after the earthquake. Then they will need to verify this statement with evidence, such as photographs and building inspection reports.

Because they have to be backed up by evidence, insurance claims are similar to another kind of claim--the kind that you make when you share your analysis of a novel with another reader. If you write a literary analysis essay, its claim statement will describe your experience as you read the book, including what you observed and what you thought it meant. And, like insurance claims, your claim statement will need to be supported by proof.

Do you remember anything about the claim statement in the essay about The Outsiders? Reread that sentence below.