HOW TO WRITE AN ANALYTICAL ESSAY

UNDERSTAND THE OBJECTIVE OF AN ANALYTICAL ESSAY

• Generally, an analytical essay explores an issue, or presents an opinion based on fact. Most often you will have to analyze another piece of writing or a film, but you could also be asked to analyze an issue, or an idea.

• To do this, you must break the topic down into parts and provide evidence, either from the text/film or from your own research, that supports your claim

DECIDE WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT

• If you are writing this for a class, your teacher will generally assign you a topic (or topics) to write about. Read the prompt carefully. What is the prompt asking you to do? However, sometimes you will have to come up with your own topic.

• If you're writing an analytical essay about a work of fiction, you could focus your argument on what motivates a specific character or group of characters. Or, you could argue why a certain line or paragraph is central to the work as a whole. Example of a literary analysis topic: Explore the concept of vengeance in the epic poem Beowulf.

• If you're writing about a historical event, try focusing on the forces that contributed to what happened.

• If you're writing about scientific research or findings, follow the scientific method to analyze your results.

COME UP WITH A THESIS STATEMENT

• The thesis statement is a sentence or two that summarizes the claim you will make in your paper. It tells the reader what your essay will be about.[2]

• Example of a thesis statement: A comparison of the female Grendel’s vengeance versus the vengeful acts of the dragon shows both the belief in retribution then was an essential part of the early Medieval age and that the dragon was more honorable in his act of revenge.

FIND SUPPORTING EVIDENCE

• Look through the material you are working with, be it a book, film, or other scholarly articles that support the claim you make in your thesis statement. List out the supporting evidence, noting where you found it, and how it supports your claim.

• Example of supporting evidence: To support a claim that the dragon’s vengeance was more righteous than the female Grendel’s, look at the passages in the poem that discuss the events leading up to each monster’s attack, the attacks themselves, as well as the reactions to those attacks.

MAKE AN OUTLINE

• An outline will help structure your essay and make writing it easier. Generally analytical essays contain an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

• In your outline, decide which three key points of evidence you would like to discuss in each body paragraph. List the actual evidence from the text, film, or article under each body paragraph header.

Example outline:

• Intro• BP1: Reasons for attack• BP2: The actual attacks• BP3: Beowulf’s reactions to the attacks• Conclusion