Style analysis is one of those skills students need but rarely get directly taught at the high school level. This mini-unit teaches it with four public domain SF excerpts — Shelley, Wells (twice), and Burroughs — spanning 110 years of the genre and chosen specifically because their styles are dramatically different from each other. The 14-element Literary Style Checklist gives students a consistent analytical vocabulary to apply across any text: sentence structure, pace, diction, vocabulary level, figures of speech, dialogue, point of view, character development, tone, word sound, paragraph structure, time sequencing, allusions, and experimental language.
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Students complete the checklist for each excerpt, then use the comparative analysis worksheet to put any two writers side by side. All four excerpts are fully reproducible — 100% public domain, no permissions needed. What's Included: Four annotated public domain excerpts:
Mary Shelley, H.G. Wells (two selections), and Edgar Rice Burroughs 14-element Literary Style Checklist Comparative analysis worksheet Style formative assessment with rubric — new excerpt, short response, three performance levels Teacher guide with context notes and discussion questions for each text How to Use It: Runs in three to four class periods. Works as the opening move in a style analysis unit, as a close reading skill-builder before students tackle longer SF texts, or alongside any SF course where author's craft is part of the analysis.
The 14-element checklist transfers to any genre — once students have the vocabulary, they can apply it to whatever text comes next. About This Resource: The four excerpts were chosen because the contrast does the teaching. Shelley and Wells write from the same era of the genre but sound nothing alike.
The two Wells selections show how much his style shifted across two decades. Burroughs reads like a different planet entirely. Students don't need to be told that style matters — they can hear it once they have a framework for listening. This resource is part of the Complete SF Literature Unit — 9 Resources Grades 9–12 ELA, which builds a full science fiction literature course from genre introduction through essay writing.
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Designed for grades 9–12.
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