The 4 Most Important Qualities of an Analytical Essay Writing

An analytical essay is not as easy to do as it seems to. All of your teachers will tell you that it is “an analysis of a text.” That sounds great – if you know what you’re supposed to be “analyzing.” Here’s a more useful explanation of an analytical essay. These 4 points will help you understand what an analytical essay should and should NOT contain in order to get you a good grade.

It’s Not a Summary

First of all, when you want to learn how to write any type of essays, you need to know that one of the most important qualities of an analytical essay is that it is NOT a summary. While this theory may seem obvious, many students make the mistake of summarizing the whole book so that they can reach the word count. So, if you read your ‘analysis’ again after you finished it and you feel like you’re reading a book report, you’ve probably done it wrong.

So how do you know if you’ve ended up summarizing instead of doing an analysis? Well, look back to your support. Are you relating to the point of your essay, or are you just stating what had happened in the book? If you did the latter, you’re doing it wrong.

An analytical essay should generally talk about how the book was written, the theme it presents, the metaphors it uses. It requires you to look at the smaller aspects of the text so that you can shed some light on the bigger picture. So if you ended up summarizing, then you no longer have analytical essay writing.

It Needs a Thesis Statement

Each and every analytical essay begins with a strong statement that tells every reader what to expect from your essay. It will tell your reader exactly what you’re trying to accomplish and what point you want to prove. This way, the audience will be able to follow the main points that you’re trying to prove in your essay, without the risks of being confused. If you do not include a thesis, your reader will have to search for the purpose throughout your essay, which can be rather tiresome and won’t bring you any points. If you do not carefully choose your statement, you’re dooming your essay from the start.

Usually, the thesis is found at the end of your introduction, where you may also want to include relevant background which will be necessary for your readers to understand where you’re coming from. If you have a good thesis, then you’re on the right track to writing a qualitative analytical essay.

It Needs to Be Backed Up By Research

Since it’s “analytical,” it will have to be backed up by strong critical background. In order to convince your audience of what you want to prove, you need to bring evidence that can support your statement. If you relate to some facts and research that was previously done on the subject, it will bring more credibility to your analytical essay writing.

In other words, don’t just state things like “Pigs fly.” Say instead that “According to a research posted in a certain number of a journal, it was discovered that some hidden areas of some countries have pig-like creatures that grew wings.” Bring details and discuss every factor that you’ve highlighted in your subject, and back it up by research. Students that know how to write good essays are aware that they need to take notes, question everything, and find answers. A well researched analytical essay is a well-graded essay.

It Needs to Be Well Structured

An analytical essay will need to be properly outlined and organized. No matter what you choose to write about, this type of essay will need to have three parts: an introduction, a body, and a conclusion. Afterwards, your analytical analysis essay will be broken down like this:

• Introduction: This should contain the “hook” that grabs your reader’s attention, your thesis statement and how you plan on proving that statement.
• Body: This part of your essay will be formed out of three topic sentences (three paragraphs where you express three different points), each paragraph being supported by claims, evidence, and a tie.
• Conclusion: The conclusion should be like a brief copy (or a rephrase) of your thesis statement. The rule of the conclusion is that it needs to mirror your statement, giving the reader a sense of closure and relating to what you have managed to prove.

Good analytical essay writing will need to be well researched, well structured, with a strong thesis statement and most of all, it needs to talk about the metaphorical side of the book (analysis) rather than the physical one (summary). If you’ve managed to do that, then you were successful in your analytical analysis essay.