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A relatively advanced type of expository essay<\/a>, an analytical essay is in-depth, asking you to pick apart, dissect, and discuss anything from a work of art or literature to a public policy initiative or a historical event.<\/p>\n Analytical essays ask you to put your thinking caps on. The best analytical essays are thoughtful and insightful.<\/p>\n Instead of summarizing the text, you critique it.<\/p>\n Instead of just saying what caused an event, you say why.<\/p>\n With an analytical essay, you are asked to read into everything with a critical eye.<\/p>\n Writing an analytical essay is your first step towards becoming a scholarly writer. This article will introduce you to how to write an analytical essay from start to finish.<\/p>\n There are many types of analytical essays, depending on the class. The most common include:<\/p>\n All analytical essays should follow the basic structure of a five-paragraph essay format. The five-paragraph essay format follows the following outline:<\/p>\n I. Introduction<\/p>\n II. First Body Section<\/p>\n III. Second Body Section<\/p>\n IV. Third Body Section<\/p>\n V. Conclusion<\/p>\n Remember, even if your essay does not have exactly five paragraphs, you can still create a format with an introduction, body, and conclusion.<\/p>\n A rhetorical analysis<\/a> asks you to analyze someone else\u2019s argument, speech, or essay. You can also do a rhetorical analysis on an advertising campaign or a work of literature.<\/p>\n Rhetoric refers to the tools of argument or persuasion.<\/p>\n When you write a rhetorical analysis essay, you are analyzing someone else\u2019s argument to determine its overall effectiveness, or the types of rhetorical strategies being used.<\/p>\n For example:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Analyze the effectiveness of Dr. Martin Luther King\u2019s<\/a> \u201cLetter From a Birmingham Jail\u201d<\/p>\n Analyze how Jonathan Swift uses irony and satire in \u201cA Modest Proposal\u201d<\/p>\n Analyze the use of gender stereotypes in a car commercial.<\/p>\n In a rhetorical analysis, you are focusing on the primary source: the original work of art or literature, the advertisement, or the political speech.<\/p>\n Questions to ask yourself will be:<\/p>\n What rhetorical strategies or techniques does the author use?<\/p>\n How effective are those strategies and techniques, and why?<\/p>\n The three main rhetorical strategies or techniques include pathos, ethos, and logos<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n Pathos <\/em>refers to emotional appeals:<\/p>\n \u201cAll the children are dying\u2014your donation will help save them now!\u201d<\/p>\n Ethos<\/em> refers to appeals to ethical credibility, which often entails celebrity:<\/p>\n A basketball player is the marketing spokesperson for a Big and Tall store.<\/p>\n Logos<\/em> refers to facts, logic, and statistics:<\/p>\n Although they comprise only 9% of the population of Los Angeles, African Americans comprise 39% of the city\u2019s homeless population.<\/p>\n The trickiest part to writing a rhetorical analysis is remembering that you are analyzing the primary source.<\/p>\n You are not using the primary source as a springboard to discuss your own opinions. That approach would be more like an argumentative essay<\/a> or a persuasive essay.<\/a><\/p>\n A rhetorical analysis is a type of analytical essay that asks you to critique a primary source.<\/p>\n The thesis statement<\/a> for a rhetorical analysis will be your strong stance on how effective the author was, or what tools the authors used to achieve his or her goals.<\/p>\n If you ever take an English literature class, you will be asked to write a literary analysis<\/a> at some point.<\/p>\n A literary analysis asks you to critically engage a work of literature\u2014the primary source text.<\/p>\n However, you may also be asked to include secondary sources in your literary analysis. Secondary sources<\/a> are scholarly articles that analyze the same primary source text. In the field of literature, secondary sources are referred to as literary criticism.<\/p>\n In a literary analysis, you will look for things like:<\/p>\n With a literary analysis, you come up with a strong argument about the primary source.<\/p>\n For example:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Because her female protagonist in \u201cThe Yellow Wallpaper<\/a>\u201d is trapped in a children\u2019s nursery, Charlotte Perkins Gilman overtly critiques not just patriarchy but the social institution of marriage.<\/p>\n With this thesis, you are letting the reader know that you are going to discuss the way Gilman uses the motif of the nursery and the symbol of a prison as a means of critiquing patriarchal norms and institutions.<\/p>\n A formal analysis<\/a> is commonly assigned in an art, architecture, theater, or music classes.<\/p>\n The term \u201cformal\u201d in this case refers to the form the object takes: which will of course be mainly visual in the visual arts and mainly sonic in music.<\/p>\n Examples of formal analysis <\/a>would be:<\/p>\n A formal analysis of a dance performance including its choreography and stage production<\/p>\n A formal analysis of a famous painting<\/p>\n A formal analysis of a classical composition<\/p>\n A formal analysis of a landmark cathedral<\/p>\n When you write a formal analysis, you will follow the five-paragraph essay format and take a strong stance in your thesis statement.<\/p>\n For example:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Van Gogh\u2019s vivid color palette and intense brush strokes contradict the otherwise peaceful nature of the still life scene, revealing the artist\u2019s conflicted mental state when he painted \u201cIrises.\u201d<\/p>\n With visual arts including architecture and performance art, you will take into account everything your eyes can see including line, composition, color, size, shape, and movement.<\/p>\n With music, you will take into account instrumentation, pauses, crescendo, intensity, harmony, and rhythm.<\/p>\n With most formal analyses, you can also take into account culture and history in addition to the manifest content of the work of art, music, or architecture. For example:<\/p>\n The flying buttresses, tall spires, and ribbed vaulting make the Chartres cathedral emblematic of French Gothic architecture.<\/p>\n [related essays]<\/p>\n A policy analysis <\/a>essay is common in political science courses. When you write a policy analysis, you will follow the basic elements of an argumentative essay including having a strong thesis statement.<\/p>\n The goal of a policy analysis exercise can be either to critique an existing policy and make recommendations for change, or to analyze a specific social or political issue and propose policy changes.<\/p>\n Topic examples for a policy analysis paper:<\/p>\n Analyze the Affordable Care Act and make recommendations for improvement.<\/p>\n Propose solutions to homelessness in your community.<\/p>\n Respond to arguments for and against gun control, making specific policy recommendations for your state.<\/p>\n History classes will invariably include writing assignments related to specific people, places, and events.<\/p>\n Sometimes when you write a historical analysis<\/a>, you may find it similar to the process of a cause and effect essay.<\/p>\n Topic examples:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Discuss how Hitler came to power.<\/p>\n How did the War of 1812 shape Canadian history, identity, and culture?<\/p>\n What role did the Ottoman Empire play in obfuscating the differences between Sunni and Shia communities?<\/p>\n A historical analysis can also be similar to a compare and contrast essay.<\/p>\n For example:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Some historians have suggested that the United States has been following a similar trajectory as ancient Rome; discuss.<\/p>\n Analyze the different effects of the War of Independence on the United States and Great Britain.<\/p>\n You start every analytical essay with either a prompt or a general subject area. Sometimes, coming up with the topic is the most difficult part of essay writing. When you are offered a particular essay prompt, it may be easier to get started on the next step of writing: brainstorming.<\/p>\n When you are already familiar with the subject area, you may be able to skip the brainstorming process altogether and skip straight to outlining or perhaps right to the rough draft.<\/p>\n Essay Prompt Examples:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n Analyze the function of magical realism in Gabriel Garcia Marquez\u2019s novel One Hundred Years of Solitude.<\/em><\/p>\n Compare and contrast the different fiscal or foreign policy strategies India and China have used over the past twenty years.<\/p>\n Especially when you are starting with nothing but a broad subject area, you will want to brainstorm some ideas first before you actually start composing your essay.<\/p>\n If your instructor asked you to choose your own topic, start with what you know or are interested in. Then, start with a Google search on various subjects to see how much information you can find.<\/p>\nWhat Is An Analytical Essay?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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Rhetorical Analysis Essay Format<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
Literary Analysis Essay Format<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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Formal Analysis Essay Format<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
Policy Analysis Essay Format<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
Historical Analysis Essay Format<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
How to Write an Analytical Essay<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
Come Up With a Topic\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n