How to Write an Analytical Essay

This article was co-authored by Megan Morgan, PhD. Megan Morgan is a Graduate Program Academic Advisor in the School of Public & International Affairs at the University of Georgia. She earned her PhD in English from the University of Georgia in 2015.

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Writing an analytical essay can seem daunting, especially if you've never done it before. Don't worry! Take a deep breath, buy yourself a caffeinated beverage, and follow these steps to create a well-crafted analytical essay.

Prewriting for Your Essay

• For example, "Stanley Kubrick's The Shining uses a repeating motif of Native American culture and art to comment on America's history of colonizing Native Americans' lands" is an analytical thesis. It is analyzing a particular text and setting forth an argument about it in the form of a thesis statement.

• 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. For example: 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.

• Look for repeated imagery, metaphors, phrases, or ideas. Things that repeat are often important. See if you can decipher why these things are so crucial. Do they repeat in the same way each time, or differently?
• How does the text work? If you're writing a rhetorical analysis, for example, you might analyze how the author uses logical appeals to support her argument and decide whether you think the argument is effective. If you're analyzing a creative work, consider things like imagery, visuals in a film, etc. If you're analyzing research, you may want to consider the methods and results and analyze whether the experiment is a good design.
• A mind map can be helpful to some people. Start with your central topic, and arrange smaller ideas around it in bubbles. Connect the bubbles to identify patterns and how things are related.
• Good brainstorming can be all over the place. In fact, that can be a good way to start off! Don't discount any ideas just yet. Write down any element or fact that you think of as you examine your topic.

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. [4] X Research source

Don't: write a vague or obvious thesis such as "Revenge is a central theme in Beowulf."
Do: make a specific argument such as "Beowulf explores different styles of vengeance in the Anglo-Saxon age, contrasting the dragon's honorable retribution with the response of Grendel's mother."

• This is an analytical thesis because it examines a text and makes a particular claim.
• The claim is "arguable," meaning it's not a statement of pure fact that nobody could contest. An analytical essay takes a side and makes an argument.
• Make sure your thesis is narrow enough to fit the scope of your assignment. "Revenge in Beowulf could be a PhD dissertation, it's so broad. It's probably much too big for a student essay. However, arguing that one character's revenge is more honorable than another's is manageable within a shorter student essay.
• Unless instructed to write one, avoid the "three-prong" thesis that presents three points to be discussed later. These thesis statements usually limit your analysis too much and give your argument a formulaic feel. It's okay to state generally what your argument will be.

Example of supporting evidence: To support a claim that the dragon’s vengeance was more righteous than Grendel's mother'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.

Don't: ignore or twist evidence to fit your thesis.
Do: adjust your thesis to a more nuanced position as you learn more about the topic.

• If you're not quite sure how all your evidence fits together, don't worry! Making an outline can help you figure out how your argument should progress.
• You can also make a more informal outline that groups your ideas together in large groups. From there, you can decide what to talk about where.
• Your essay will be as long as it needs to be to adequately discuss your topic. A common mistake students make is to choose a large topic and then allow only 3 body paragraphs to discuss it. This makes essays feel shallow or rushed. Don't be afraid to spend enough time discussing each detail!

Writing Your Essay

• Example introduction: Revenge was a legally recognized right in ancient Anglo-Saxon culture. The many revenges in the epic poem Beowulf show that retribution was an essential part of the Anglo-Saxon age. However, not all revenges are created alike. The poet's portrayal of these revenges suggests that the dragon was more honorable in his act of revenge than Grendel's mother.
• This introduction gives your readers information they should know to understand your argument, and then presents an argument about the complexity of a general topic (revenge) in the poem. This type of argument can be interesting because it suggests that the reader needs to think about the text very carefully and not take it at face value.

Don't: include filler and fluff sentences beginning with "In modern society" or "Throughout time."
Do: briefly mention the title, author, and publication date of the text you're analyzing.

• Example topic sentence: The key to differentiating between the two attacks is the notion of excessive retribution.
• Example analysis: Grendel's mother does not simply want vengeance, as per the Medieval concept of ‘an eye for an eye.’ Instead, she wants to take a life for a life while also throwing Hrothgar’s kingdom into chaos.
• Example evidence: Instead of simply killing Aeschere, and thus enacting just revenge, she “quickly [snatches] up” that nobleman and, with him “tight in her clutches,” she leaves for the fen (1294). She does this to lure Beowulf away from Heorot so she can kill him as well.
• The formula "CEE" may help you remember: Claim-Evidence-Explanation. Whenever you present a claim, make sure you present evidence to support that claim and explain how the evidence relates to your claim.

Know when to quote or paraphrase. Quoting means that you take the exact text and, placing it in quotation marks, insert it into your essay. Quoting is good when you use the precise wording of something to support your claim. Make sure that you use the correct form of quotation, depending on if you are using MLA, APA or Chicago style. Paraphrasing, on the other hand, is when you summarize the text. Paraphrasing can be used to give background or compress a lot of details into a short space. It can be good if you have a lot of information or would need to quote a huge portion of text to convey something. [9] X Research source

Don't: quote from more than two passages per paragraph, as a rule of thumb.
Do: support all subtle or controversial claims with quotes or paraphrasing.

• Example of a quote: Instead of simply killing Aeschere, and thus enacting just revenge, she “quickly [snatches] up” that nobleman and, with him “tight in her clutches,” she leaves for the fen (1294).
• Example of a paraphrased sentence: The female Grendel enters Heorot, snatches up one of the men sleeping inside it, and runs away to the fen (1294).

Write your conclusion. Your conclusion is where you remind your reader of how you supported your argument. Some teachers also want you to make a broader connection in your conclusion. This means that they want you to make a ‘bigger world connection’. This could mean stating how your argument affects other claims about the text, or how your claim could change the view of someone reading the text you analyzed. [10] X Research source

Don't: introduce a completely new argument in your conclusion.
Do: expand beyond your thesis statement by discussing its implications or wider context.

• Example conclusion: The concept of an ‘eye for an eye’ was very present in the early Medieval world. However, by comparing the attacks of both Grendel's mother and the dragon, the medieval world’s perception of righteous vengeance versus unjust revenge is made clear. While the dragon acts out in the only way he knows how, Grendel's mother attacks with evil intent.
• Example conclusion with a ‘bigger world connection’: The concept of an ‘eye for an eye’ was very present in the early Medieval world. However, by comparing the attacks of both Grendel's mother and the dragon, the medieval world’s perception of righteous vengeance versus unjust revenge is made clear. While the dragon acts out in the only way he knows how, Grendel's mother attacks with evil intent. As we saw from the study of other characters, these portrayals may tie into an early Medieval perception that women had greater potential for evil.