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How to Write an Analytical Essay

How to Write an Analytical Essay

Published by on 2021-05-24 20:37:57

Usually, students are willing to find out how to write an analytical essay on an article, event, study, or anything only when they get such an assignment for the very first time in their life. That’s the point to prove that this type of academic paper is much less challenging to complete than it might seem.

For starters, it must be admitted that an analytical essay should be a paper where a student shares their ideas and thoughts on a literary work, someone else’s research, a history episode, a movie, a theater play, etc. In fact, as you might understand already, analytical essays can touch any topic you or your professor want to use as a basis.

What Is an Analytical Essay?

Before you find out how to write analytical papers, it is more than wise to understand the definition and idea of an assignment itself. Let’s take that step back right here and now.

So, what is an analytical essay? It is an assignment supposing a student comes up with a thorough and grounded analysis of the given topic. As the variety of topics is almost endless, this type of assignment is among the most common papers for students used to teach them how to look for necessary data, perceive and analyze it critically. Additionally, students find out how to express their thoughts and opinions in a concise and structured writing manner.

What Is an Analytical Paper: Purpose & Features Explained

Any analytical essay has two main goals:

  • to improve a writer’s qualification;
  • to explain something to potential readers.

Obviously, college professors and high school teachers pursue the first purpose. They want their students to improve their thinking and writing skills and abilities. As it was said already, an analytical assignment makes a student significantly better within a certain topic or subject.

The second goal given on the list above is for the reader. It is not that common for college assignments (your professor is doubtfully less competent about the given topic than you are), but magazines and newspapers frequently use this form of writing. If there are topics that their audience might want to explore in more detail, periodicals publish expert analyses to satisfy that need for knowledge about political issues, cultural phenomena, tech education, etc.

What should you do when writing an analytical essay to avoid turning it into a descriptive one? The primary difference between these two papers is in the right to express your viewpoint. A descriptive paper is focused mainly on summing up things without actually going beyond the description. An analytical paper is obviously concentrated more on arguments and evidence sources.

Simply put, a worthy descriptive assignment is a set of summarized facts. In turn, an analytical essay is about the interpretation of those facts, ideas, and concepts.  

How to Write an Analytical Paper: Professional Tips

To craft an analytical essay worth the top grade, you need to make sure your paper is built around a strong thesis, able to discuss the arguments and concepts of the “other side”, and backed up with trustworthy sources, both primary and secondary ones. The following list of tips will help you in creating your best analytical essay. Keep up with them, and your chances of getting a high grade will increase a lot.

Viewpoint

Your stand should be defined before you actually start to write an essay. Regardless of the focus point chosen, you’ll build the entire assignment around that thesis.

Correct Intro

How to start an analytical essay correctly? Well, although that question is the first one coming to your mind after you feel ready to begin writing, it should be rephrased a bit. A more suitable question comes next.

How to write a good introduction for an analytical essay? It is critical to come up with a strong, intriguing hook here. It can be a rhetorical question followed by contextual descriptions and subjects you are going to analyze in the body. Though, the key moment is to finish your intro by putting a clearly understandable thesis statement at the very end. As we already know, a thesis is the fundamental pillar of the entire assignment.

Know How to Structure an Analytical Essay Body

It is crucial to know how to organize the essay’s body properly. The point is, the intro contains a clear thesis statement, and the body, in turn, is dedicated to present backup arguments. Each paragraph of the body should support your opinion with some essential info, interesting details, or the discussion of opposing thoughts.

Usually, three body parts are enough to build an analytical essay, but everything depends on the topic and specific academic requirements. So, it is always good to spend enough time planning your paragraphs, as well as arguments and evidence pieces you are going to include in them.

Topic Explored and Explained

Your topic sentences should be clearly understandable. As every paragraph of the body should contain one subtopic supporting your thesis, it is a good idea to define that subtopic right in the first sentence of the paragraph. Make sure you connect your proofs to the thesis logically and that the tie is visible to your professor or anyone reading the paper.

Add Proofs

Arguments and supportive thoughts in the body must be backed up by reasonable and trustworthy proofs. Find proper primary and secondary literature sources to include in your bibliography. Don’t forget to use footnotes and quotes by field experts: that will make every argument sound confident.

Discuss Opposing Thoughts

Providing some space for thoughts that are contrary to your opinion is not only common courtesy but a part of the scientific approach. Adding the opposing viewpoint and discussing it can strengthen your proofs a lot by direct comparison. Don’t be afraid to deny the thoughts you included, but make sure your counterarguments are strong enough to prove you’re right.  

Make a Summary

This is the only way to explain how to end an analytical essay effectively. The last paragraph of every essay is always a conclusion. In fact, knowing how to write an analytical summary is equally important to coming up with a strong thesis. Restate your thesis and wrap it up with another repetition of key arguments. Make sure you don’t introduce new information in an essay conclusion. Arguments that remained out of sight in the body don’t belong here as well.

How Do You Write an Analytical Essay?

So, the process of analytical paper writing consists of the following steps:

  • know the definition and the key points of an analytical essay;
  • define the goal that your paper needs to reach (a top grade can be one of those);
  • know your topic;
  • keep in mind the difference between analytical and descriptive assignments;
  • define your point of view;
  • write a good hooking intro with a clear thesis;
  • structure the body correctly: one argument with proofs per paragraph;
  • make sure your proofs connect with the thesis logically;
  • give credit to opposing thoughts and discuss them;
  • sum up an essay in a conclusion.

Keeping up with these simple but effective recommendations will help you write a worthy paper. Receive top grades on your own or consider the opportunity to ask pro writers for qualified help.