Are you stuck with your narrative analysis? Follow this guide step by step and appropriately structure your narrative analysis. So, the question arises, what is a narrative analysis? A group of analytical techniques known as “narrative analysis” is used to analyse texts or visual data that take in a storied form. People tell tales to help them organise and make sense of their life, and their narratives are useful and purposeful, according to a frequent presumption of narrative approaches.
Narrative Analysis Types
- Structural
- Functional
- Thematic
- Dialogic/performance
These four common narrative forms of analysis may be utilised unitedly in a specific study, even though narrative analysis is a genre of interpretation encompassing various frameworks.
Using Narrative Analysis as a Tool
A potent tool for qualitative research is narrative analysis. Using narrative research can reveal actions, emotions, and motives that are not verbally conveyed. It also has a lot of information about the language that could shed light on many parts of cultural or social phenomena.
Narrative Analysis Benefits
It is simple to encourage individuals to share their stories. It gathers in-depth data, and while participants are eager to reveal themselves and reflect on their accounts, the truth is revealed and gives participants a voice.
Narrative Forms
- Descriptive Narrative
- Viewpoint Narrative
- Historical Narrative
- Linear Narrative
- Nonlinear Narrative
Descriptive Narrative
They are typically employed in student creative writing exercises. In a descriptive essay, a specific individual, an item, or a setting is described.
Viewpoint Narrative
The viewpoint you take when telling a story is called a narrative point of view. It resembles a camera. A story can be written from just one character’s perspective, allowing the reader to experience the action from that character’s perspective.
Historical Narrative
Writing history in the form of a story is known as historical narrative or narrative history. The classic narrative and the modern narrative are two subfields.
Linear Narrative
With linear narratives, you can draw a straight line from the story’s start to its conclusion. These stories start at the beginning and tell one thing that happened after another until the end.
Nonlinear Narrative
In a nonlinear story, the events are not told in the order they happened, so the connections between them don’t follow the original order of how things happened.
Structure of Narrative Analysis-Important Components
- Plot Structure
- Narrative Organisation
- Narrative Structure
- Theme
- Assessment of the Narrative
When we understand how these elements work, we can better look at stories and figure out what they mean. Analysing and explaining a roller coaster’s loops, drops, and curves to other riders are similar to writing about narrative structure. Breaking down plot points, organising the order of events, and identifying how the author’s voice and point of view affect the storytelling are all necessary steps in the narrative analysis. You may show your readers the route the author chose to take them through the novel by looking at these features.
Plot Structure
The narrative’s plot elements serve as its foundation. Decide on the characters and conflicts that will occur in the narrative’s exposition early in the writing process. Report on the plot’s development through the initiating and intensifying action, including any turns and hiccups that arise before the climax, the moment of greatest suspense in the narrative. As you write, keep your attention on the important events and avoid making this part of your essay into a lengthy synopsis. Discuss how the writer resolves the primary problems to bring the story to a close as you wrap up this part.
Narrative Organisation
A narrative structure can be broken down by describing the author’s method for arranging the events in the story. Authors may use a linear framework where events happen in chronological sequence. Alternatively, the author could interrupt the timeline by flashing back and forth. The story may contain parallel plot lines, and you must explain how they are connected. A complex work of literature could be non-linearly organised and have numerous vignettes of events from diverse viewpoints. Include important side stories and discuss how they help or hurt the main story.
Narrative Format
Be sure to address the narration in a piece you are deconstructing since the voice narrating the story determines what the reader sees and controls the knowledge about events taking place in the story. Consider whether the author switches between first-person narrators or transitions from first to third person in a composition. Examine how the author has handled other literary components like place and characterisation to see how they have impacted the narrative structure. Also, keep an eye out for the author’s use of plot elements, common or odd motifs, and unique examples of the story’s uniqueness.
Theme
The author’s thoughts or messages referred to as the theme, drive the story’s plot. The main concept of writing should be clear to you, and you should be able to explain how the author developed those topics through the narrative components. Consider, for instance, how the author handles the conflicts in the narrative and what drives them. These critical periods in the narrative framework are also where writers frequently disclose themes.
Assessment of the Narrative
You should discuss how well the author manages the narrative elements in the text in the last section of your narrative structure essay. Look for a clear progression of events that make sense to the reader at the story’s conclusion. Think and talk about any false leads the author might use to lead the reader down to dead ends or present twists that depend too much on irony, coincidence, or other unlikely events. An interesting story should not be easy to guess, but it should not make sense.
Read: Differences and Similarities Between Discourse and Narrative Analysis
Final Thoughts
We conclude that narrative analysis is a type of qualitative research. Keeping the types and structure of narrative analysis in focus, the researcher concentrates on a topic and examines the information acquired from case studies, surveys, observations, and other comparable techniques. The literature mentioned above is a complete guide to understanding the types and structure of narrative analysis.
Author Bio:
Millie Harper is the author of this article. She is working as Digital Marketer, working with Affordable Dissertation UK, a best dissertation help service in the UK. She has experience of more than 5 years, but due to her interest in learning new skills, she loves to write on different tech issues.
