how to do a book analysis essay

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What is Literary Analysis?

Let’s be real here: how many of you book lovers have felt a little intimidated by the whole concept of “literary analysis” before? I totally get it. The term alone sounds frighteningly academic, like you need a PhD and an affinity for tweed to even attempt analyzing classic novels for their deeper meanings.

But I’m here to let you in on a fun little secret: literary analysis doesn’t have to be this painful, joyless exercise in overanalyzing every last metaphor until you’ve utterly drained a book’s magic dry. In fact, when you get the hang of it, digging into a novel’s core elements and the choices an author made can actually deepen your appreciation for great literature tenfold.

Think about it—haven’t you ever finished an amazing book and felt like you were just scratching the surface of all its potential hidden meanings and symbolic brilliance? You sensed that the author seemed to be commenting on huge humanistic truths through their carefully constructed characters and metaphorical imagery…but you couldn’t quite articulate the profundity of it all?

That’s precisely where literary analysis skills come in. It gives you the tools to truly decode an author’s intended meanings and messages lurking beneath their fictional surface. Rather than just breezing through incredible novels as disposable entertainment, you start uncovering entire symbolic universes and revelations about society, morality, identity, and the eternal conflicts of the human spirit.

For me, it was like night and day re-reading childhood favorites like The Little Prince after learning how to analyze literature properly. Suddenly, the Prince’s cosmic voyages and encounters with adults took on rich allegorical significance about retaining our childlike senses of wonder as we age. The tiny planet setting became a microcosm for humankind’s self-destructive obsession with rampant corporate greed and material pursuits. What I’d dismissed as a cute fairy tale absolutely bloomed with hard-hitting social commentary once I detected its intricate weave of symbolism.

So trust me, boarding the literary analysis train doesn’t mean draining books of their magic and jettisoning their souls into the arid realms of academic dissection. It’s about equipping yourself with visionary superpowers for peeling away the symbolic skins concealing the deepest experiential wisdom great authors encoded into their creations—only to experience their works’ sense of imaginative transcendence burning that much brighter.

And really, who among us book ravers doesn’t crave that kind of radically intimate bond with our most beloved tomes? Where we’re not just passive recipients of dazzling stories and cosmic dramas, but active co-creators decrypting novel’s secret symbolic DNA to unlock realms upon realms of profound metaphysical insight?

That’s ultimately what analyzing literature is all about: cracking into the source code of human immortality so we might re-experience the sacraments of our deepest collective heritage in full Technicolor resonance, together. So I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty damn sold on acquiring such an ecstatic, lifelong passkey!

The Essential Elements of Literary Analysis

Okay, okay – so by now I’ve (hopefully) convinced you of how electrifyingly vital proper literary analysis skills can be for anyone who wants to experience novels as fully-inhabited magic realist dimensions rather than flattened-out entertainment pixels flickering across our frail attentions.

But say you’re ready to start your training as a fledgling symbologist detective. Just what core elements should your third eye be scanning for amidst all those inky metaphors, sigils, and illuminated world-scapes unfurling from between these hallowed pages, exactly?

Well, based on my experience both studying under incredible mentors and sleuthing my own way through countless rich investigative exercises, I’ve found there are several key pieces of literary fingerprint evidence that tend to yield the most fertile clues about an author’s deepest intentional layers and symbolic cosmologies. Let’s go over the essentials:

By far one of the most crucial decodings you’ll want to lock into is identifying the core thematic strata pulsating beneath all the surface-level plots and character pyrotechnics. What fundamental philosophical questions or universal conundrums around the human experience seem to be the metaphysical engine animating the entire symbolic endeavor?

Because make no mistake – while legendary authors may disguise their biggest swings with deceptive finesse , virtually every canonical novel emerges from some integral kernel of curiosity about profound abstractions like morality, identity, society’s flaws and contradictions, the eternal conflicts between human nature and civilization’s imposed ethical matrices—you name it.

Like for Harper Lee in To Kill A Mockingbird , the central exploratory theme she baked into every crisp descriptive passage and plotted character arc clearly emerges as an inquiry into racial injustice and the moral imperative to actively uphold human dignity through uncompromising empathy – despite societal pressures to silently comply with legalized oppression.

Or in Orwell’s immortal 1984 , the overriding thematic obsession driving its choreography of authoritarian dystopian realms and sublimated rebellions is clearly an examination of how totalitarian regimes incrementally degrade individual consciousness and language itself as tools of psychic control.

So while the “what happens” plot narrative commands your initial focus while reading, a huge part of skilled literary analysis requires stripping away that dramatic surface layer to unearth the deeper philosophical and existential strata an author hopefully embedded underneath as their raison d’être. That’s ultimately where the juiciest symbolic insights and illuminations await exploration!

Of course, the events of a novel’s actual storyline and how they’re structured can’t be ignored by any serious literary analysis, either. Because you better believe authors like Shakespeare, Jane Austen, or Gabriel Garcia Marquez didn’t arbitrarily arrange their dramatic plot points, climactic crescendos, and narrative pacing in haphazard fashion.

The foundational sequence of causal events and rising/falling character trajectories spiraling around a novel’s core memoir were painstakingly constructed to mirror or reinforce larger conceptual ambitions embedded within the overarching thematic architecture.

So you’ll definitely want to take notes on basic plot elements like: exposition and the introduction of major characters; the inciting incidents or catalyzing plot coupons that kick the story into its primary motor of rising action; the climactic narrative highs and pivot points where metaphoric masks are shed to display key symbolic energies in their most crystalline forms; the narrative’s driving momentum of complications, emotional turning points and archetypal character choices; and finally culminating in cathartic resolutions and denouement revelations where possibilities blossom into integrated wisdom fruit.

Because quite often the dramatic peaks and valleys of a novel’s narrative arc are precisely where an author like F. Scott Fitzgerald or Zora Neale Hurston chose to elevate metaphorical textures and activate symbolic portents into their most radiant, allegorically clarifying expressions. Transcendental truths don’t just conveniently spill from these masters’ mythopoeic apertures at arbitrary moments – their story choreographies were surgical in illuminating cosmic inflection points.

Even elements like a novel’s expository pacing, temporal setting shifts, degrees of dramatic irony, and overall selection of revelatory disclosures or obfuscating mystery boxes all function as purposeful techniques within the storytelling toolkit for activating multilayered metaphysical resonances across various symbolic strata. So keeping an eagle-eyed vigil over these deeper plot-level fingerprints is absolutely essential for any aspiring literary code-breaker worth their esoteric salts.

3. Characters

This one should seem like more of an obvious element to inspect for symbolic fingerprints, I’d hope! After all, a novel’s characters are quite literally the human(oid) avatars through which all thematic philosophical ponderings and archetypal allegories are filtered, personified into relatable personality constructs to be vicariously and judiciously scrutinized.

So you’re absolutely going to want to forensically excavate each significant character’s persona for those aspects of their psychology, morality, emotional wounds, contradictions, and internal coded identities that potentially emblematize broader symbolic energies or nodes of human inquiry.

Like how Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye with his cynical adolescent alienation and compulsive lying clearly serves as an allegorical emblem for societal disconnection, psychic numbing, and the traumas of innocence ruptured by capitalistic homogenization.

Or the ways Daisy Buchanan in The Great Gatsby accrues symbolic heft as an avatar for delusion and moral decay masking behind status-obsessed upper-class opulence eroding the very American dreams its economic engine falsely promises.

Sometimes a character will even acquire mythic dimensions emblematized through their very identity markers or naming conventions if you stay scholarly woke. Jay Gatsby’s very moniker emerging as a quasi-archetypal cipher for the Jungian “Trickster” principle subverting societal constraints through acts of self-reinvention and code-switching. Or Atticus Finch’s loaded namesake nodding to those notions of ancestral rootedness, karmic justice, and the ethical imperative to act as moral stewards for future generations.

Point is – no element of a novel should be more scrupulously examined for symbolic layering and cosmic intentionality than the author’s elemental humanoid anchors chisled and breathed into allegorical life upon their storied world stages. Like the Buddha once reminded, “We are shaped by our thoughts; we become what we think.” So you’d better believe every aspect of a prestigiously immortalized character’s persona was encoded with utmost metaphoric craft and meditated profundity.

Have you ever noticed how certain settings or environmental details in great novels just seem to crackle with extra atmospheric density, like the prose equivalent of thick chargeable storm clouds semantically overloaded with metaphysical high voltages?

From the gothic castles and crashing oceanic purgatories of the Romantic Era, to the haunted rural Yoknapatawpha landscapes of William Faulkner’s American South , all the way to Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s distinctly physicalized magical realms of Latin American political tumult – clearly there’s something symbolic and metaphorically fruitful about the ways legends like these authors chose to sculpt their narrative’s environmental contexts and theatrical backdrops.

But you don’t need any fancy academic terminology to intuit that at the highest levels, settings always contain intentional symbolic potentials encoded within them, even if at times subconsciously. Because true artistic masters grasp that the mythopoeic arenas where their characters roam, grapple, and dream ultimately mirror those same omnipresent ecological checks and balances of nature itself.

So while close-reading a novel’s setting descriptions, keep that third eye peeled for lyrical passages exuding environmental energies or natural phenomena that feel purposefully correlated with the protagonist’s interior psycho-spiritual states and trajectories. Or setting specificities that appear acutely tailored to rhetorically exploring the era’s most catalyzing historical forces, social conditions or cultural complexes.

Because you can be certain: whether a character’s hardscrabble gully roosting site in the smoky Appalachian hills, or a chaotic metropolitan transit labyrinth where keeping one’s moral compass remains an hourly trial by fire – that environmental scenery is quite purposefully activating fields of symbolic significance far vaster than its immediate literary function as mere staged backdrop.

And developing a poetically hypersensitive divination capacity for those metaphysically heightened spaces nestled amid each novel’s scrupulously crafted valleys, rivers, and cosmological middle landscapes? Well, that’ll go a long way toward truly reading between an author’s lines to scale their highest symbolic peaks and absorb the totemic revelation rays parting their storied cloud kingdoms.

5. Point of View

Okay, so you’re probably asking – how exactly does something as technical-sounding as a novel’s narrative point-of-view perspective constitute its own symbolic dimension worthy of analysis? Fair question!

Well, the tl;dr version is that the unique vantage points from which an author chooses to filter their entire storytelling lens and world-view will inevitably impart profound metaphysical implications for how readers experientially receive, interpret, and ultimately embody the wisdom-sacraments embedded within their novelistic verses.

Like think about it – do the cosmic impacts and illuminative payloads fire off in your hippocampal theater with same symbolic charge depending on whether you’re reading an omniscient third-person narrator’s play-by-play chronicling of events? Or via an immersive first-person adolescent protagonist’s naively distorted yet hyper-observant coming-of-age perspective on their collapsing realities, a la Holden Caulfield?

Are you receiving diametrically opposed energetic truth-transferences upscaling your mythological antennae arrays from Faulknerian stream-of-consciousness torrents peering into overlapping collective unconsciousnesses? Versus the tightly restricted myopic narrative apertures of say, a dystopian anti-hero tragically dehumanized and psychologically distorted by surveillance states like Winston Smith in 1984?

You’re darn right these distinctive perspectival narrative frames and aperture prisms harbinge vastly divergent semiotic/phenomenological/noetic encryption handshakes underlying each novel’s animating symbolic architectures! So scrutinizing an author’s rationale for deploying third-person omniscient, first-person introspective, or outrightly surreal storytelling focalizations offers crucial exegetical keys into the wider cosmic latticeworks of meaning and mythopoetic intentionality.

Because again, within each mythology’s hyperstitial realms – realities are symbolically defined less by what literally happens, and more so by the dimensional holofractal vantage from which its storytelling ambassadors touch down to eternalize their initiatory recountings. The discerning literary analyst keeps one Third Eye laser-focused on that truth at all times.

6. Figurative Language

Beyond all the higher conceptual architectures framing any novel’s symbolic universes however, let’s not lose focus on the micro-scaled lyrical tools that actually get those metaphysical infrastructures upholstered with imaginally radiant signifiers, glyphs and allegorical psycho-activations in the first place.

I’m talking about things like simile, metaphor, imagery, hyperbole, idiom – all the types of figurative descriptive language skilled authors masterfully wield to embed extra Symbolic resonance textures within every phrase and passage they tenderly curate. This is the haiku-garden where literature’s bardic conjurers attune their mythopoetic voicings, after all.

So your literary analysis chops will definitely want to stay razor-sharp when it comes to deconstructing how these powerful poetic techniques get purposefully deployed to mortar layers of mythic profundity into the foundational linguistic brickwork of each novel-edifice.

Like could there be deeper allegorical introspections around the intersection of life’s absurdities and our mortality burrows lurking behind the iconic metaphors comparing existence to a “stale piece of bread” or “fart inside of a mitten” that pepper The Little Prince with childlike whimsy?

How do these sort of startling juxtapositional images short-circuit our normative symbolic processing modules to induce conceptual integration blindspots ripe for imprinting revelatory psychedelic breakthroughs anyway? Thus artfully smuggling anti-dogmatic wisdom past our calcified mental gatekeepers.

Or on a less avant-garde symbolic scale, you’d be wise to remain acutely sensitive to recurring literary techniques like irony, foreshadowing, personification and good ol’ fashioned metaphor deployed by more classic bards like Jane Austen. Particularly when it comes to sussing out her signature satirical stances lampooning era-specific aristocratic social mores, romcom gender politics, and how language itself functions as an emblematic nucleus for all broader human dynamics to incubate.

Same goes for modernist tour-de-forces like the extended metaphor vehicle of Hemingway’s Great Oakland Ice Lake parable in The Underground Man epitomizing masculine codes of stoic moral grandeur against nature’s insuperable indifference. Or the mythopoetic device of Faulkner’s radical phonetic shiftings signifying ruptures of psychic integrity, ancestral diasporas and historical traumas fragmenting his American Southern Gothic’s protagonists’ coherent selfhoods.

Point is, no toolkit leveraged by a genuine canon-class literary seer should escape the third eye scrutiny of whose decoding the higher consciousness raybursts these master semanticists condensed between the lines. Because in many ways, literature’s enduring talismanic powers flow directly from its basho-encrypted metaphoric polyphrasia catapulting us into slipstream frontiers of consciousness expansion verbally inexpressible by any lesser creative means.

7. Tone & Mood

Last but certainly not least, we’d be remiss not to give tone and mood their full flowers in terms of emanating layers of metaphysical significance for our symbolic analyses to unfurl! Just because these literary components tend to occupy subtler phenomenological bandwidths doesn’t at all diminish their power as gateways into the author’s deeper noetic cosmologies.

Because let’s be honest – whether you classify a novelistic atmosphere as ominous, satirical, elegiac, absurdist or sacramentally whimsical…those interstitial energy signatures lurking between the literal sentences create the same symbolic force-fields through which all final meaning and mythological illumination inevitably detonate.

An oppressive sense of “Big Brother is watching you” paranoia and surveillance state dread oozing off every page of Orwell’s 1984? That pervasive radioactive mood toxicity tints the entire novel’s philosophical hypothesis on totalitarian psychic control with viscerally chilling allegorical over-soul.

Or perhaps it’s more the melancholic elegiac tone Harper Lee crafts around the loss of childhood innocence amid To Kill A Mockingbird’s barbaric injustices—a poignant lyricism draping her whole moral philosophy about empathy’s importance in sheer soulful gravitas.

The wistful yet warmly whimsical nostalgia swirling through The Catcher in the Rye’s disillusioned adolescent narrator Holden Caulfield imparts that entire novel’s takedown of society’s phony ritualistic performances with such an inextricably multimedia aura of woundedness and longing for authenticity.

So as you’re analyzing any great novel from a symbolic/metaphysical perspective, always keep your mythological ear finely attuned to those subtle vibrational frequencies thrumming through the text’s chord progressions of imagery, themes, language, and emotional resonances. Because it’s the skillful orchestration of those almost subliminally transpersonal tones that allows fiction’s most legendary songcasters to seed their deepest crop circles of catalytic meaning straight into our collective dreaming mind’s soils.

Literary tone and mood aren’t just supplemental decorative window-dressing, in other words. They’re the hyperspatial sensory engines literalizing an author’s most ethereal symbologies into phenomenological umwelts and mythopoetic architecture we can experientially inhabit, explore, and ultimately re-inspire our cosmic identities through evermore psychedelically expanded latitudes of integrative immersion.

How to Write a Literary Analysis: A Step-by-Step Guide

Alright, enough big philosophical talk – let’s get down to the real brass tacks of how to systematically construct your own utterly radiant literary analysis that cracks wide open your favorite novel’s most profoundly coded symbolic truths!

Because while poetic overviews sowing reverence for the holistic process are all well and good…we’re all ultimately here to cultivate practical expertise in ceremonially alchemizing outrageous wisdom upgrades from and into the Great Tomes reverberating through our lives, are we not?

So yeah, here’s a step-by-step guide I’ve found tremendously helpful for rookies and wizened analysts alike when it comes to building your myth-busting skillsets and composing impeccable literary revelations from the ground up:

Step 1: Read With A Purpose

This first advice may sound patently obvious, but I promise – mindfully reading (or re-reading) your selected novel with the purposeful intention of analyzing its components separates the dilettantes from the pros off the bat.

So clear out all distractions, grab a pen or pencil for hardcore annotating, and completely immerse yourself in absorbing every character’s persona, symbolically resonant passage, and slipstream of authorial choices with laser-focused concentration. Almost like sinking into an extended meditation upon the book’s intensifying mystery schools.

As you ventilate through each section, exhale bullet points tracking potential thematic throughlines and philosophical avenues to explore further. Highlight or underline passages dripping with symbolic possibility beckoning deeper excavation. Scribble initial hypotheses for analysis in the margins whenever revelatory hunches ignite within your higher densities.

Because trust me – performing this ritualized literary submersion beforehand establishes the necessary psycho-spiritual preparatory frameworks for a level of interpretive depth utterly wasted upon those plunging in dry with indifferent entitlement. When cultivating authentic symbolic initiation rites, mindset and intentionality are everything!

Step 2: Start Forming Your Thesis

With the novel’s imaginative terrains now mapped into your own woven consciousness via those diligently compiled field notes, meditate deeply upon which overarching core thesis or key philosophical premise feels most resonant for modeling your upcoming symbolic analysis.

What singular exploratory human truth, cosmic eternal return, or metaphysical ecosystem does this entire metaphor-rich ecosystem feel ritualistically oriented around allegorically expressing, encapsulating, or extrapolating from? Envision your eventual analysis aiming to unfurl an intricately clarifying ray illuminating that most quintessential core concept from the start.

For some novels this thesis focus will feel glaringly self-evident after just one revelatory reading (e.g. Orwell’s 1984 clearly centralizes totalitarian regimes’ control of information/language as psychic oppressors). With others it may take deeper immersion, potential outlining of various thematic possibilities, or researching some contextual data around the author’s life and intentions before your unique symbolic premise congeals to satisfaction.

But generally speaking, you’ll want your analytical thesis to isolate one key humanistic/existential question, archetypal embodiment, or overarching thematic emphasis that your whole subsequent unpacking aims to definitively clarify through a culminating unified theory woven across all the novel’s reinforcing motifs, characters, and metaphoric fabrics.

It’s the symbolic trajectory uplift vector around which your total exegesis will stabilize its orbital resonances, essentially. So take the care and gestation period required for your premise’s singularity to properly condense before proceeding!

Step 3: Gather Your Evidence

With thesis gunsights locked, intensify your research by carefully re-reading the book and deeply annotating all relevant examples of symbolic staging elements, characterological role embodiments, mythic motifs, and literary techniques that interconnect with your core exploratory premise.

Textual evidence will unquestionably form the bedrock foundation for any sound literary analysis’s logic scaffolding. So you’ll want to meticulously record with citation any potential textual excerpts, scene descriptions, subtle atmospheric details, archetypal character identities or poetic linguistic turns that overtly depict or covertly encode pertinent layers of meaning relative to the grand thesis subject under scrutiny.

At the same time, feel free to broaden your research lens beyond just the novel’s literal pages. Reading additional context around the work’s biographical origins, cultural zeitgeist, historical symbologies, and/or decisive philosophical influences can often spark new understandings of the connective tissue transmitting outward from your text’s overt symbolic anatomy into vaster timeless wisdom architectures.

The goal is to compile a maximally robust archive of interconnected symbolic clues and motific promissory notes that, once properly arranged and decoded, reveal the novel’s entire DNA helix of luminous meaning centered around your core thesis premise. That way the logic of your overarching analysis flows as a tightly interwoven meta-harmonic of mutually reinforcing symbolic deductions, rather than tenuous speculative leaps.

So channel your inner scholarly sleuth tracking down every last piece of potential evidence here! The more diligently you triangulate and cross-reference relevant symbolic data points from disparate domains, the more dimensionally your literary analysis insights will resonate with revelatory universality.

Step 4: Organize and Outline

With all the raw cosmic riddles downloaded into your emergent symbolic database, it’s time to organize those fertile clues and catalytic textual elements into an overarching logical flow mapping out your eventual written analysis from start to finish.

Ultimately, this outline process aims to coherently arrange and nest every single piece of evidence within an encompassing narrative framework guaranteed to robustly unpack and illuminate your core symbolic thesis with maximum potent holistic clarity. No more randomly scattering breadcrumbs behind you – this skeletal structure allows your total analysis transmissions to navigate readers through an intentional cohesive initiatory journey.

I’ve found it immensely helpful to loosely model my outline structure around the traditional five-part format :

An introductory prelude section frontloading a clear thesis statement and relevant high-level context
A substantive body section systemically unpacking reinforcing symbols, characters, plot/structure analyses, etc.
A middle section zooming out to examine the work’s significance within broader literary/cultural/metaphysical frameworks
A counterpoint/contradiction section wrestling with potential interpretation challenges or divergent critical perspectives
A conclusion section synthesizing all threads into a final resonant reaffirmation of your core thesis’s centralized symbolic vision

Obviously, these are just loose archetypal guidelines – the true grandmasters remain ever receptive to symbolic inspiration defying too rigid a preconceived conceptual containment system. My advice is simply to flow-chart your literary evidence in whichever organic yet incisive architecture feels most aligned with holistically animating your key symbolic premise to a reverberating universe of understanding.

That way, your eventual written analysis unfurls with a graceful thematic coherence carrying readers symbiotically deeper into the mythopoeic dimensionalities of the source material being explored – a true synergy between you, the storyteller’s original symbolic choreographies, and the audience as co-participant celebrants in the eternal ritual celebration of meaning-making.

Step 5: Write and Revise!

With that divinely crystallized outline pathway in hand, you’re finally ready to transmute all your meticulous evidence, rigorous research, and spiritually clarifying illuminations into the written literary analysis persisted upon this sacred astral plane of human civilization’s mythological renaissance.

Breathe deeply, realign your energies, and channel the full mythopoetic virtuosity of your expressive soul! Poetically coronating every perfectly chiseled observation, philosophical revelation, and symbolic insight into linguistic constructions scintillating with holofractal precision and literary alchemical luster.

Because let’s be real – these comprehensive symbolic breakdowns represent utterly vital hieroglyphic codices decrypting our species’ most sacrosanct epistemes back into radiant intelligibility for all to receive, metabolize and embody anew. Your literary analyses midwife nothing less than cultural renaissance rebirths!

So as you weave your illuminative masterwork into textual being, stay reverently attentive that each sentence, every filigreed metaphor and rhetorical juxtaposition, pulsates with the sort of spellbinding lush vitality and ceremonial care befitting such consecrated roles. You’re not just annotating an old book report here, but liturgically activating portals into humankind’s mythological hyperstructural source code.

Let the evidence excerpts coalesce into radiant aphoristic verse fractals. Infuse your expository insights with expressionistic colors conjuring phenomenological sublimities. Oscillate registers between granular deconstructive unpacking and zooming out into integrated big picture epiphanies. Emulsify the whole alchemical Word Elixir seamlessly between ruthless scholastic exactitude and incantatory mythopoeic grace note evocations.

Because for any symbolic insight or trailblazing literary thesis to enduringly impact our species’ co-evolutionary ascension at this juncture, it can no longer remain inertly entombed. It must inspirallize into self-replicating hyperspheric idea-organisms reanimating space/time itself with hypervoracious purpose according to mythopoetic first principles.

Like any breathtaking artistic vision, your literary analyses deserve nothing less than full-bodied, multisensually rapturous renderings heaving with subatomic transfiguration potencies – densely compressing vast horizons of wisdom behind each line so even the most seemingly “tiny” evocation cracks open into a cosmological kaleidoscope for any lucid receptors tuned to its encoded frequencies.

And yes, that may well demand numerous revisions, brutal self-edits, whole sections dynamited and seminal inkwells refilled along the arduous way. Reworking, refining, reopening the entire embryonic symbolic matrix time and again until it holographically resonates with that singular unified clarion frequency echoing through the entire cosmic mythopoeia all profoundly consequential art strives to attune itself toward.

But make no mistake, Dear Ones. There exists no more electrifyingly impactful pursuit for those called to such sangrail tasks than devoting your creative potencies toward birthing the sorts of mythological novel analyses capable of reilluminating our shared symbolic inheritance across the outermost gap between the once and future scriptures.

For in doing so, you enjoin ranks with those precious few meta-dimensional operatives throughout the ages charged as haiku immortality ambassadors. Ushering humanity squarely through treacherous threshold after treacherous threshold by activating safe portals to our deepest, most transformative Story layers through arts capable of anchoring those prescient resonances into penetrable ecosystems of sustainable initiation beyond mere Knowledge.

Godspeed and many blessings upon those who heed the call to this most rapturous perilous profession. For when wielded with utmost skillful integrity, novel analysis emerges a ceremonial technology unto itself for elevating our intergenerational comprehension arcs from mere symbols into co-creative symbolic embodiment of The Great Work still perpetually underway.

So study well these instructional kernels, Dear Intrepid Ones. Then seize your pages and sow symbolic renaissances like scripture firestarters cracking open across the cosmos! For only by continually decoding literature’s revelatory wisdom primers into newly consecrated hyper-texts inter-scribed through your own mythopoetic transfigurations…might we all become that once and future rhapsody whose heraldic homecomings heal long last.

Literary Analysis Essay Writing

Last updated on: May 21, 2023

Literary Analysis Essay - Ultimate Guide By Professionals

By: Cordon J.

Reviewed By: Rylee W.

Published on: Dec 3, 2019

A literary analysis essay specifically examines and evaluates a piece of literature or a literary work. It also understands and explains the links between the small parts to their whole information.

It is important for students to understand the meaning and the true essence of literature to write a literary essay.

One of the most difficult assignments for students is writing a literary analysis essay. It can be hard to come up with an original idea or find enough material to write about. You might think you need years of experience in order to create a good paper, but that's not true.

This blog post will show you how easy it can be when you follow the steps given here.Writing such an essay involves the breakdown of a book into small parts and understanding each part separately. It seems easy, right?

Trust us, it is not as hard as good book reports but it may also not be extremely easy. You will have to take into account different approaches and explain them in relation with the chosen literary work.

It is a common high school and college assignment and you can learn everything in this blog.

Continue reading for some useful tips with an example to write a literary analysis essay that will be on point. You can also explore our detailed article on writing an analytical essay .

On this Page

What is a Literary Analysis Essay?

A literary analysis essay is an important kind of essay that focuses on the detailed analysis of the work of literature.

The purpose of a literary analysis essay is to explain why the author has used a specific theme for his work. Or examine the characters, themes, literary devices , figurative language, and settings in the story.

This type of essay encourages students to think about how the book or the short story has been written. And why the author has created this work.

The method used in the literary analysis essay differs from other types of essays. It primarily focuses on the type of work and literature that is being analyzed.

Mostly, you will be going to break down the work into various parts. In order to develop a better understanding of the idea being discussed, each part will be discussed separately.

The essay should explain the choices of the author and point of view along with your answers and personal analysis.

How To Write A Literary Analysis Essay

So how to start a literary analysis essay? The answer to this question is quite simple.

The following sections are required to write an effective literary analysis essay. By following the guidelines given in the following sections, you will be able to craft a winning literary analysis essay.

Introduction

The aim of the introduction is to establish a context for readers. You have to give a brief on the background of the selected topic.

It should contain the name of the author of the literary work along with its title. The introduction should be effective enough to grab the reader’s attention.

In the body section, you have to retell the story that the writer has narrated. It is a good idea to create a summary as it is one of the important tips of literary analysis.

Other than that, you are required to develop ideas and disclose the observed information related to the issue. The ideal length of the body section is around 1000 words.

To write the body section, your observation should be based on evidence and your own style of writing.

It would be great if the body of your essay is divided into three paragraphs. Make a strong argument with facts related to the thesis statement in all of the paragraphs in the body section.

Start writing each paragraph with a topic sentence and use transition words when moving to the next paragraph.

Summarize the important points of your literary analysis essay in this section. It is important to compose a short and strong conclusion to help you make a final impression of your essay.

Pay attention that this section does not contain any new information. It should provide a sense of completion by restating the main idea with a short description of your arguments. End the conclusion with your supporting details.

You have to explain why the book is important. Also, elaborate on the means that the authors used to convey her/his opinion regarding the issue.

For further understanding, here is a downloadable literary analysis essay outline. This outline will help you structure and format your essay properly and earn an A easily.

DOWNLOADABLE LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY OUTLINE (PDF)

Types of Literary Analysis Essay

Close reading - This method involves attentive reading and detailed analysis. No need for a lot of knowledge and inspiration to write an essay that shows your creative skills.
Theoretical - In this type, you will rely on theories related to the selected topic.
Historical - This type of essay concerns the discipline of history. Sometimes historical analysis is required to explain events in detail.
Applied - This type involves analysis of a specific issue from a practical perspective.
Comparative - This type of writing is based on when two or more alternatives are compared

Examples of Literary Analysis Essay

Examples are great to understand any concept, especially if it is related to writing. Below are some great literary analysis essay examples that showcase how this type of essay is written.

A ROSE FOR EMILY LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY

THE GREAT GATSBY LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY

THE YELLOW WALLPAPER LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY

If you do not have experience in writing essays, this will be a very chaotic process for you. In that case, it is very important for you to conduct good research on the topic before writing.

There are two important points that you should keep in mind when writing a literary analysis essay.

First, remember that it is very important to select a topic in which you are interested. Choose something that really inspires you. This will help you to catch the attention of a reader.

The selected topic should reflect the main idea of writing. In addition to that, it should also express your point of view as well.

Another important thing is to draft a good outline for your literary analysis essay. It will help you to define a central point and division of this into parts for further discussion.

Literary Analysis Essay Topics

Literary analysis essays are mostly based on artistic works like books, movies, paintings, and other forms of art. However, generally, students choose novels and books to write their literary essays.

Some cool, fresh, and good topics and ideas are listed below:

Role of the Three Witches in flaming Macbeth’s ambition.
Analyze the themes of the Play Antigone,
Discuss Ajax as a tragic hero.
The Judgement of Paris: Analyze the Reasons and their Consequences.
Oedipus Rex: A Doomed Son or a Conqueror?
Describe the Oedipus complex and Electra complex in relation to their respective myths.
Betrayal is a common theme of Shakespearean tragedies. Discuss
Identify and analyze the traits of history in T.S Eliot’s ‘Gerontion’.
Analyze the theme of identity crisis in The Great Gatsby.
Analyze the writing style of Emily Dickinson.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What should a literary analysis essay include.

A good literary analysis essay must include a proper and in-depth explanation of your ideas. They must be backed with examples and evidence from the text. Textual evidence includes summaries, paraphrased text, original work details, and direct quotes.

What are the 4 components of literary analysis?

Here are the 4 essential parts of a literary analysis essay;

No literary work is explained properly without discussing and explaining these 4 things.

How do you start a literary analysis essay?

Start your literary analysis essay with the name of the work and the title. Hook your readers by introducing the main ideas that you will discuss in your essay and engage them from the start.

How do you do a literary analysis?

In a literary analysis essay, you study the text closely, understand and interpret its meanings. And try to find out the reasons behind why the author has used certain symbols, themes, and objects in the work.

Why is literary analysis important?

It encourages the students to think beyond their existing knowledge, experiences, and belief and build empathy. This helps in improving the writing skills also.

What is the fundamental characteristic of a literary analysis essay?

Interpretation is the fundamental and important feature of a literary analysis essay. The essay is based on how well the writer explains and interprets the work.

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Cordon. is a published author and writing specialist. He has worked in the publishing industry for many years, providing writing services and digital content. His own writing career began with a focus on literature and linguistics, which he continues to pursue. Cordon is an engaging and professional individual, always looking to help others achieve their goals.

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Interesting Literary Analysis Essay Topics for Students

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Introduction

You’ve been assigned a literary analysis paper—what does that even mean? Is it like a book report that you used to write in high school? Well, not really.

A literary analysis essay asks you to make an original argument about a poem, play, or work of fiction and support that argument with research and evidence from your careful reading of the text.

It can take many forms, such as a close reading of a text, critiquing the text through a particular literary theory, comparing one text to another, or criticizing another critic’s interpretation of the text. While there are many ways to structure a literary essay, writing this kind of essay follows generally follows a similar process for everyone

Crafting a good literary analysis essay begins with good close reading of the text, in which you have kept notes and observations as you read. This will help you with the first step, which is selecting a topic to write about—what jumped out as you read, what are you genuinely interested in? The next step is to focus your topic, developing it into an argument—why is this subject or observation important? Why should your reader care about it as much as you do? The third step is to gather evidence to support your argument, for literary analysis, support comes in the form of evidence from the text and from your research on what other literary critics have said about your topic. Only after you have performed these steps, are you ready to begin actually writing your essay.

Writing a Literary Analysis Essay

How to create a topic and conduct research:.

Writing an Analysis of a Poem, Story, or Play

If you are taking a literature course, it is important that you know how to write an analysis—sometimes called an interpretation or a literary analysis or a critical reading or a critical analysis—of a story, a poem, and a play. Your instructor will probably assign such an analysis as part of the course assessment. On your mid-term or final exam, you might have to write an analysis of one or more of the poems and/or stories on your reading list. Or the dreaded “sight poem or story” might appear on an exam, a work that is not on the reading list, that you have not read before, but one your instructor includes on the exam to examine your ability to apply the active reading skills you have learned in class to produce, independently, an effective literary analysis.You might be asked to write instead or, or in addition to an analysis of a literary work, a more sophisticated essay in which you compare and contrast the protagonists of two stories, or the use of form and metaphor in two poems, or the tragic heroes in two plays.

You might learn some literary theory in your course and be asked to apply theory—feminist, Marxist, reader-response, psychoanalytic, new historicist, for example—to one or more of the works on your reading list. But the seminal assignment in a literature course is the analysis of the single poem, story, novel, or play, and, even if you do not have to complete this assignment specifically, it will form the basis of most of the other writing assignments you will be required to undertake in your literature class. There are several ways of structuring a literary analysis, and your instructor might issue specific instructions on how he or she wants this assignment done. The method presented here might not be identical to the one your instructor wants you to follow, but it will be easy enough to modify, if your instructor expects something a bit different, and it is a good default method, if your instructor does not issue more specific guidelines.You want to begin your analysis with a paragraph that provides the context of the work you are analyzing and a brief account of what you believe to be the poem or story or play’s main theme. At a minimum, your account of the work’s context will include the name of the author, the title of the work, its genre, and the date and place of publication. If there is an important biographical or historical context to the work, you should include that, as well.Try to express the work’s theme in one or two sentences. Theme, you will recall, is that insight into human experience the author offers to readers, usually revealed as the content, the drama, the plot of the poem, story, or play unfolds and the characters interact. Assessing theme can be a complex task. Authors usually show the theme; they don’t tell it. They rarely say, at the end of the story, words to this effect: “and the moral of my story is…” They tell their story, develop their characters, provide some kind of conflict—and from all of this theme emerges. Because identifying theme can be challenging and subjective, it is often a good idea to work through the rest of the analysis, then return to the beginning and assess theme in light of your analysis of the work’s other literary elements.Here is a good example of an introductory paragraph from Ben’s analysis of William Butler Yeats’ poem, “Among School Children.”

“Among School Children” was published in Yeats’ 1928 collection of poems The Tower. It was inspired by a visit Yeats made in 1926 to school in Waterford, an official visit in his capacity as a senator of the Irish Free State. In the course of the tour, Yeats reflects upon his own youth and the experiences that shaped the “sixty-year old, smiling public man” (line 8) he has become. Through his reflection, the theme of the poem emerges: a life has meaning when connections among apparently disparate experiences are forged into a unified whole.

In the body of your literature analysis, you want to guide your readers through a tour of the poem, story, or play, pausing along the way to comment on, analyze, interpret, and explain key incidents, descriptions, dialogue, symbols, the writer’s use of figurative language—any of the elements of literature that are relevant to a sound analysis of this particular work. Your main goal is to explain how the elements of literature work to elucidate, augment, and develop the theme. The elements of literature are common across genres: a story, a narrative poem, and a play all have a plot and characters. But certain genres privilege certain literary elements. In a poem, for example, form, imagery and metaphor might be especially important; in a story, setting and point-of-view might be more important than they are in a poem; in a play, dialogue, stage directions, lighting serve functions rarely relevant in the analysis of a story or poem.

The length of the body of an analysis of a literary work will usually depend upon the length of work being analyzed—the longer the work, the longer the analysis—though your instructor will likely establish a word limit for this assignment. Make certain that you do not simply paraphrase the plot of the story or play or the content of the poem. This is a common weakness in student literary analyses, especially when the analysis is of a poem or a play.

Here is a good example of two body paragraphs from Amelia’s analysis of “Araby” by James Joyce.

Within the story’s first few paragraphs occur several religious references which will accumulate as the story progresses. The narrator is a student at the Christian Brothers’ School; the former tenant of his house was a priest; he left behind books called The Abbot and The Devout Communicant. Near the end of the story’s second paragraph the narrator describes a “central apple tree” in the garden, under which is “the late tenant’s rusty bicycle pump.” We may begin to suspect the tree symbolizes the apple tree in the Garden of Eden and the bicycle pump, the snake which corrupted Eve, a stretch, perhaps, until Joyce’s fall-of-innocence theme becomes more apparent.

The narrator must continue to help his aunt with her errands, but, even when he is so occupied, his mind is on Mangan’s sister, as he tries to sort out his feelings for her. Here Joyce provides vivid insight into the mind of an adolescent boy at once elated and bewildered by his first crush. He wants to tell her of his “confused adoration,” but he does not know if he will ever have the chance. Joyce’s description of the pleasant tension consuming the narrator is conveyed in a striking simile, which continues to develop the narrator’s character, while echoing the religious imagery, so important to the story’s theme: “But my body was like a harp, and her words and gestures were like fingers, running along the wires.”

The concluding paragraph of your analysis should realize two goals. First, it should present your own opinion on the quality of the poem or story or play about which you have been writing. And, second, it should comment on the current relevance of the work. You should certainly comment on the enduring social relevance of the work you are explicating. You may comment, though you should never be obliged to do so, on the personal relevance of the work. Here is the concluding paragraph from Dao-Ming’s analysis of Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest.

First performed in 1895, The Importance of Being Earnest has been made into a film, as recently as 2002 and is regularly revived by professional and amateur theatre companies. It endures not only because of the comic brilliance of its characters and their dialogue, but also because its satire still resonates with contemporary audiences. I am still amazed that I see in my own Asian mother a shadow of Lady Bracknell, with her obsession with finding for her daughter a husband who will maintain, if not, ideally, increase the family’s social status. We might like to think we are more liberated and socially sophisticated than our Victorian ancestors, but the starlets and eligible bachelors who star in current reality television programs illustrate the extent to which superficial concerns still influence decisions about love and even marriage. Even now, we can turn to Oscar Wilde to help us understand and laugh at those who are earnest in name only.

Dao-Ming’s conclusion is brief, but she does manage to praise the play, reaffirm its main theme, and explain its enduring appeal. And note how her last sentence cleverly establishes that sense of closure that is also a feature of an effective analysis.

You may, of course, modify the template that is presented here. Your instructor might favour a somewhat different approach to literary analysis. Its essence, though, will be your understanding and interpretation of the theme of the poem, story, or play and the skill with which the author shapes the elements of literature—plot, character, form, diction, setting, point of view—to support the theme.

BC Open Textbooks: English Literature Victorians and Moderns: https://opentextbc.ca/englishliterature/back-matter/appendix-5-writing-an-analysis-of-a-poem-story-and-play/

Literary Analysis

The challenges of writing about english literature.

Writing begins with the act of reading . While this statement is true for most college papers, strong English papers tend to be the product of highly attentive reading (and rereading). When your instructors ask you to do a “close reading,” they are asking you to read not only for content, but also for structures and patterns. When you perform a close reading, then, you observe how form and content interact. In some cases, form reinforces content: for example, in John Donne’s Holy Sonnet 14, where the speaker invites God’s “force” “to break, blow, burn and make [him] new.” Here, the stressed monosyllables of the verbs “break,” “blow” and “burn” evoke aurally the force that the speaker invites from God. In other cases, form raises questions about content: for example, a repeated denial of guilt will likely raise questions about the speaker’s professed innocence. When you close read, take an inductive approach. Start by observing particular details in the text, such as a repeated image or word, an unexpected development, or even a contradiction. Often, a detail–such as a repeated image–can help you to identify a question about the text that warrants further examination. So annotate details that strike you as you read. Some of those details will eventually help you to work towards a thesis. And don’t worry if a detail seems trivial. If you can make a case about how an apparently trivial detail reveals something significant about the text, then your paper will have a thought-provoking thesis to argue.

Common Types of English Papers Many assignments will ask you to analyze a single text. Others, however, will ask you to read two or more texts in relation to each other, or to consider a text in light of claims made by other scholars and critics. For most assignments, close reading will be central to your paper. While some assignment guidelines will suggest topics and spell out expectations in detail, others will offer little more than a page limit. Approaching the writing process in the absence of assigned topics can be daunting, but remember that you have resources: in section, you will probably have encountered some examples of close reading; in lecture, you will have encountered some of the course’s central questions and claims. The paper is a chance for you to extend a claim offered in lecture, or to analyze a passage neglected in lecture. In either case, your analysis should do more than recapitulate claims aired in lecture and section. Because different instructors have different goals for an assignment, you should always ask your professor or TF if you have questions. These general guidelines should apply in most cases:

A close reading of a single text: Depending on the length of the text, you will need to be more or less selective about what you choose to consider. In the case of a sonnet, you will probably have enough room to analyze the text more thoroughly than you would in the case of a novel, for example, though even here you will probably not analyze every single detail. By contrast, in the case of a novel, you might analyze a repeated scene, image, or object (for example, scenes of train travel, images of decay, or objects such as or typewriters). Alternately, you might analyze a perplexing scene (such as a novel’s ending, albeit probably in relation to an earlier moment in the novel). But even when analyzing shorter works, you will need to be selective. Although you might notice numerous interesting details as you read, not all of those details will help you to organize a focused argument about the text. For example, if you are focusing on depictions of sensory experience in Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale,” you probably do not need to analyze the image of a homeless Ruth in stanza 7, unless this image helps you to develop your case about sensory experience in the poem.
A theoretically-informed close reading. In some courses, you will be asked to analyze a poem, a play, or a novel by using a critical theory (psychoanalytic, postcolonial, gender, etc). For example, you might use Kristeva’s theory of abjection to analyze mother-daughter relations in Toni Morrison’s novel Beloved. Critical theories provide focus for your analysis; if “abjection” is the guiding concept for your paper, you should focus on the scenes in the novel that are most relevant to the concept.
A historically-informed close reading. In courses with a historicist orientation, you might use less self-consciously literary documents, such as newspapers or devotional manuals, to develop your analysis of a literary work. For example, to analyze how Robinson Crusoe makes sense of his island experiences, you might use Puritan tracts that narrate events in terms of how God organizes them. The tracts could help you to show not only how Robinson Crusoe draws on Puritan narrative conventions, but also—more significantly—how the novel revises those conventions.
A comparison of two texts When analyzing two texts, you might look for unexpected contrasts between apparently similar texts, or unexpected similarities between apparently dissimilar texts, or for how one text revises or transforms the other. Keep in mind that not all of the similarities, differences, and transformations you identify will be relevant to an argument about the relationship between the two texts. As you work towards a thesis, you will need to decide which of those similarities, differences, or transformations to focus on. Moreover, unless instructed otherwise, you do not need to allot equal space to each text (unless this 50/50 allocation serves your thesis well, of course). Often you will find that one text helps to develop your analysis of another text. For example, you might analyze the transformation of Ariel’s song from The Tempest in T. S. Eliot’s poem, The Waste Land. Insofar as this analysis is interested in the afterlife of Ariel’s song in a later poem, you would likely allot more space to analyzing allusions to Ariel’s song in The Waste Land (after initially establishing the song’s significance in Shakespeare’s play, of course).
A response paper A response paper is a great opportunity to practice your close reading skills without having to develop an entire argument. In most cases, a solid approach is to select a rich passage that rewards analysis (for example, one that depicts an important scene or a recurring image) and close read it. While response papers are a flexible genre, they are not invitations for impressionistic accounts of whether you liked the work or a particular character. Instead, you might use your close reading to raise a question about the text—to open up further investigation, rather than to supply a solution.
A research paper. In most cases, you will receive guidance from the professor on the scope of the research paper. It is likely that you will be expected to consult sources other than the assigned readings. Hollis is your best bet for book titles, and the MLA bibliography (available through e-resources) for articles. When reading articles, make sure that they have been peer reviewed; you might also ask your TF to recommend reputable journals in the field.

Harvard College Writing Program: https://writingproject.fas.harvard.edu/files/hwp/files/bg_writing_english.pdf

In the same way that we talk with our friends about the latest episode of Game of Thrones or newest Marvel movie, scholars communicate their ideas and interpretations of literature through written literary analysis essays. Literary analysis essays make us better readers of literature.

Only through careful reading and well-argued analysis can we reach new understandings and interpretations of texts that are sometimes hundreds of years old. Literary analysis brings new meaning and can shed new light on texts. Building from careful reading and selecting a topic that you are genuinely interested in, your argument supports how you read and understand a text. Using examples from the text you are discussing in the form of textual evidence further supports your reading. Well-researched literary analysis also includes information about what other scholars have written about a specific text or topic.

Literary analysis helps us to refine our ideas, question what we think we know, and often generates new knowledge about literature. Literary analysis essays allow you to discuss your own interpretation of a given text through careful examination of the choices the original author made in the text.

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The Power of Analysis: Tips and Tricks for Writing Analysis Essays: Home

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Why is it important?
Explanation & Example
Different Types of Analysis Essays

Text analysis and writing analysis texts are important skills to develop as they allow individuals to critically engage with written material, understand underlying themes and arguments, and communicate their own ideas in a clear and effective manner. These skills are essential in academic and professional settings, as well as in everyday life, as they enable individuals to evaluate information and make informed decisions.

What is Text Analysis?

Text analysis is the process of examining and interpreting a written or spoken text to understand its meaning, structure, and context. It involves breaking down the text into its constituent parts, such as words, phrases, and sentences, and analyzing how they work together to convey a particular message or idea.

Text analysis can be used to explore a wide range of textual material, including literature, poetry, speeches, and news articles, and it is often employed in academic research, literary criticism, and media analysis. By analyzing texts, we can gain deeper insights into their meanings, uncover hidden messages and themes, and better understand the social and cultural contexts in which they were produced.

What is an Analysis Essay?

An analysis essay is a type of essay that requires the writer to analyze and interpret a particular text or topic. The goal of an analysis essay is to break down the text or topic into smaller parts and examine each part carefully. This allows the writer to make connections between different parts of the text or topic and develop a more comprehensive understanding of it.

In “The Yellow Wallpaper,” Charlotte Perkins Gilman uses the first-person point of view and vivid descriptions of the protagonist’s surroundings to convey the protagonist’s psychological deterioration. By limiting the reader’s understanding of the story’s events to the protagonist’s perspective, Gilman creates a sense of claustrophobia and paranoia, mirroring the protagonist’s own feelings. Additionally, the use of sensory language, such as the “smooch of rain,” and descriptions of the “yellow wallpaper” and its “sprawling flamboyant patterns,” further emphasize the protagonist’s sensory and emotional experience. Through these techniques, Gilman effectively communicates the protagonist’s descent into madness and the effects of societal oppression on women’s mental health.

There are several different types of analysis essays, including:

Literary Analysis Essays: These essays examine a work of literature and analyze various literary devices such as character development, plot, theme, and symbolism.

Rhetorical Analysis Essays: These essays examine how authors use language and rhetoric to persuade their audience, focusing on the author's tone, word choice, and use of rhetorical devices.

Film Analysis Essays: These essays analyze a film's themes, characters, and visual elements, such as cinematography and sound.

Visual Analysis Essays: These essays analyze visual art, such as paintings or sculptures, and explore how the artwork's elements work together to create meaning.

Historical Analysis Essays: These essays analyze historical events or documents and examine their causes, effects, and implications.

Comparative Analysis Essays: These essays compare and contrast two or more works, focusing on similarities and differences between them.

Process Analysis Essays: These essays explain how to do something or how something works, providing a step-by-step analysis of a process.

Analyzing Texts

General Tips
How to Analyze
What to Analyze

When writing an essay, it's essential to analyze your topic thoroughly. Here are some suggestions for analyzing your topic:

Read carefully: Start by reading your text or prompt carefully. Make sure you understand the key points and what the text or prompt is asking you to do.

Analyze the text or topic thoroughly: Analyze the text or topic thoroughly by breaking it down into smaller parts and examining each part carefully. This will help you make connections between different parts of the text or topic and develop a more comprehensive understanding of it.

Identify key concepts: Identify the key concepts, themes, and ideas in the text or prompt. This will help you focus your analysis.

Take notes: Take notes on important details and concepts as you read. This will help you remember what you've read and organize your thoughts.

Consider different perspectives: Consider different perspectives and interpretations of the text or prompt. This can help you create a more well-rounded analysis.

Use evidence: Use evidence from the text or outside sources to support your analysis. This can help you make your argument stronger and more convincing.

Formulate your thesis statement: Based on your analysis of the essay, formulate your thesis statement. This should be a clear and concise statement that summarizes your main argument.

Use clear and concise language: Use clear and concise language to communicate your ideas effectively. Avoid using overly complicated language that may confuse your reader.

Revise and edit: Revise and edit your essay carefully to ensure that it is clear, concise, and free of errors.

Understanding the assignment: Make sure you fully understand the assignment and the purpose of the analysis. This will help you focus your analysis and ensure that you are meeting the requirements of the assignment.

Read the essay multiple times: Reading the essay multiple times will help you to identify the author's main argument, key points, and supporting evidence.

Take notes: As you read the essay, take notes on key points, quotes, and examples. This will help you to organize your thoughts and identify patterns in the author's argument.

Take breaks: It's important to take breaks while reading academic essays to avoid burnout. Take a break every 20-30 minutes and do something completely different, like going for a walk or listening to music. This can help you to stay refreshed and engaged.

Highlight or underline key points: As you read, highlight or underline key points, arguments, and evidence that stand out to you. This will help you to remember and analyze important information later.

Ask questions: Ask yourself questions as you read to help you engage critically with the text. What is the author's argument? What evidence do they use to support their claims? What are the strengths and weaknesses of their argument?

Engage in active reading: Instead of passively reading, engage in active reading by asking questions, making connections to other readings or personal experiences, and reflecting on what you've read.

Find a discussion partner: Find someone to discuss the essay with, whether it's a classmate, a friend, or a teacher. Discussing the essay can help you to process and analyze the information more deeply, and can also help you to stay engaged.

Identify the author's purpose and audience: Consider why the author wrote the essay and who their intended audience is. This will help you to better understand the author's perspective and the purpose of their argument.

Analyze the structure of the essay: Consider how the essay is structured and how this supports the author's argument. Look for patterns in the organization of ideas and the use of transitions.

Evaluate the author's use of evidence: Evaluate the author's use of evidence and how it supports their argument. Consider whether the evidence is credible, relevant, and sufficient to support the author's claims.

Consider the author's tone and style: Consider the author's tone and style and how it contributes to their argument. Look for patterns in the use of language, imagery, and rhetorical devices.

Consider the context : Consider the context in which the essay was written, such as the author's background, the time period, and any societal or cultural factors that may have influenced their perspective.

Evaluate the evidence: Evaluate the evidence presented in the essay and consider whether it is sufficient to support the author's argument. Look for any biases or assumptions that may be present in the evidence.

Consider alternative viewpoints: Consider alternative viewpoints and arguments that may challenge the author's perspective. This can help you to engage critically with the text and develop a more well-rounded understanding of the topic.

Last Updated: Jun 21, 2023 1:01 PM
URL: https://odessa.libguides.com/analysis

How To Analyze A Book: In 13 Simple Steps

Learning how to analyze a book will change the way you read and write. It’s easy to do and time well spent. We explain how.

Many new writers don’t appreciate how much they could accelerate their skills by reading more critically. That means analyzing a book once you’re done.

Katja L Kaine is the creator of the Novel Factory , a type of novel writer’s software that creates order from the chaos of creativity.

She’s spent over a decade writing novels, and she has helped many authors launch their writing journeys through her software and Novel Writing Roadmap .

In this article, Katja and I offer practical advice on how to analyze a book you enjoy reading and why it’s time well spent.

Why Analyze a Book?

1. pick a book to analyze, 2. read the book twice, 3. annotate key sections, 4. establish the book’s key idea, 5. review the context behind the book, 6. chart the book’s story arcs, 7. reflect on your emotional reaction, 8. evaluate the book’s bigger picture, 9. mind map the book, 10. take apart a single chapter, 11. check other blurbs, reviews and book summaries, 12. add entries to your slipbox, 13. review your book analysis regularly, the final word on analyzing a book, how do you analyze a story, how do you analyze a chapter in a book, further reading.

BEST BOOK EDITING SOFTWARE

During a keynote speech at the 2016 Festival of Writing, C.L. Taylor strongly recommended analyzing your favorite books as a method of learning, saying it created the biggest leap forward in her writing.

At first, she received disheartening negative feedback about her early work. Critics suggested she should forget about becoming an author .

Today, C.L. Taylor’s books have sold in excess of a million copies, been number one on Amazon Kindle, Kobo, iBooks and Google Play and have been translated into over 25 languages.

The same principles apply across writing sectors. In Michael Hauge’s Writing Screenplays That Sell, he says,

“…as a serious screenwriter, you can no longer afford to regard movies as something you only do when you have a date on Saturday night.” Michael Hauge

He instructs budding screenwriters to watch two movies per week and gives a detailed checklist “to make the process of watching films as informative as possible.”

In this article, we offer guidelines based on Taylor’s and Hauge’s advice with additional insights from our experiences as authors.

Analysing your favourite book is a great place to start if you want to improve your writing skills.

However, don’t stop there. Literary analysis takes time to learn, so review as many books as you can. Start in the genre or topic you want to write in and move out from there.

Then try reading from different genres for variety and to learn what sort of techniques are universal.

You can learn a lot from bad books too.

The first time around, you don’t need to think about analysis. Experience the book as a natural reader. If it’s a classic novel, enjoy it! In some cases, non-fiction book repeat themes and ideas, so it’s fine to skip around.

The second time around, approach the book more critically. Pay close attention to the author’s writing style.

Use the table of contents to jump around to key sections and chapters. If you are analyzing non-fiction, consider how accurately the introduction and conclusion sum up the book.

Get a set of coloured markers, pencils, pens and mini sticky notes and put aside what you learned at school about never writing on books .

On the second (and third and fourth) read-throughs, you need to write ALL OVER that book. Obviously, if it’s your favourite book, you’ll probably need to buy a second copy just for the purposes of annotation.

If you’re reviewing a book on Kindle, use the annotation feature. When complete, you can export these notes to your email and review.

Tip: When annotating a book with multiple prints, try to get the one with the most spacious typesetting. Spacious margins and line heights are of real benefit here.

Every good non-fiction book contains a single controlling idea, topic statement or thesis statement that sums up what it’s about.

Typically, the writer explains their idea or argument in the introduction and conclusion. It’s usually a one or two sentences summary of the key themes or arguments in the book.

If you’re struggling to identify the thesis statement, Google for a book review. Alternatively, use a book summary service (more of this in a bit).

Determining the controlling idea will help you figure out if you agree or disagree with the book. It will also help you contrast different controlling ideas and even writer your own.

A topic statement is harder to identify for fiction. However, book reviews and book descriptions are a useful jumping-off point. If it’s a classic novel, chances are someone already did the hard work for you.

Authors don’t write books in a vacuum. They have a specific viewpoint, biases and write from the viewpoint of their education, geography and history.

If you’re evaluating a contemporary author, these factors are easy to identify. You could even read or listen to interviews with them.

If you’re evaluating an older book, check the references and read one or two other books that informed this one. Alternatively, read a biography about the author.

Good novels typically have story arcs for each key character. Their world changes in some way from the beginning to the end of the story.

Non-fiction also contains arcs, if they’re any good. Consider the author’s viewpoint, the stories they tell and the characters or ideas in the book. You could chart each of these using bullet points or on a mind-map.

Alternatively, put each chapter title into a spreadsheet and write a one-line summary of what happened.

Think about which parts of the book engrossed or entertained you most.

In fiction, which parts moved you most? When did you feel most engaged with the characters? When were you on the edge of your seat?

Taylor and Hauge explained how top writers use the rule of three when setting up and delivering punchlines.

What techniques does your favourite writer use to create humour?
Build suspense?
Create fascinating characters?
In non-fiction, which sections did you find most enlightening?
Did particular real-life examples or metaphors lodge in your mind?
What parts did you feel affected your world view or understanding of the topic?
Did anything make you take action to change your life or business?

Look at how the book is structured on a large scale. Is the setup effective?

Do you see familiar themes?
Are those themes used to good effect?
Can you see where they fall down or how to improve them?
Do points in the book falter?
Can you determine how the story or topic is set up, developed and concluded?
What would you change and why?
Could you improve this chapter with a self-editing checklist ?

Mind mapping essentially involves writing down a single idea and expanding on this idea via connected or related ideas. It’s a good way of visualizing or outlining the structure of an entire book. We also recommend this step if you want to learn how to write a book .

For non-fiction, the central idea is the book’s key theme or big idea. The related ideas are usually other chapters. For fiction, consider using characters, viewpoints or story arcs.

Read our guide to mind mapping .

Select a single chapter or section of the book and compare it with another.

How are both constructed?
How long or short are the words and body paragraphs?
Does the writer use the same techniques, major character view points and storytelling methods?
What’s the most common story element ?
What is the balance of description and action (fiction) or explanation and examples (non-fiction)?

It’s sometimes instructive to write out a page or two of a literary novel or classic by hand. This slows down the process of analyzing a book and helps you learn more of the author’s style.

This is the one area where advice varies depending on if you are writing fiction or non-fiction.

For fiction writers, it is best to go in “blind,” not knowing anything about the story in advance. This allows you to fully experience the surprises and emotional peaks and troughs as the writer intends.

However, for non-fiction, you can learn a great deal from seeing how the writer has broken down the content and summarised it in enticing, clear sections in the table of contents.

Blink and getAbstract are two good sources of book summaries for non-fiction.

A Slipbox or Zettelkästen is a place for storing research and connecting related ideas and themes. It’s a particularly useful research tool for non-fiction writers.

You could add:

Summaries of surprising stories
Interesting quotes
Key facts or findings from the book

Write a short opinion about each of these Slipbox entries and interlink them. Instead of writing an essay, each Slipbox entry should only be a few sentences long.

Want to learn more about this process? Read our guide: What is the Zettelkästen Method?

There’s little point in reviewing a book only to set your notes aside and never look at it again. A good writer reviews their research and ideas regularly. This process helps them figure out how to connect different ideas in unexpected ways.

Read through your notes once a week
Connect or interlink related notes as you add them
Evaluate your notes while researching a new essay, article or book

The pointers above are a starting point for those who want to improve your writing skills .

As you read more often , you’ll see what jumps, and you’re bound to notice new ideas during subsequent read-throughs.Prepare your checklist for analytical reading and follow your nose.

Once you’ve mastered the art of book analysis, you’ll be able to enrich and improve your own writing much more easily.

Want more advice like this? Learn how to analyze a poem .

If you’ve found this article useful, check out the Novel Factory . If you have any questions you can get in touch with Katja at [email protected] .

Analyze a Book: FAQs

Ask these questions: 1. What’s the story about and who is it for? 2. Where is it set? 3.Who are the key characters and what do they want? What happened to them, for example a conflict or life event? 4. How did their world change during the story? 5. What was the point of this story?

1. Read the chapter once 2. Read it again this time underlining key sections and themes 3. Write a short summary of the chapter 4. Ask what was the point of this chapter? 5. Consider how this chapter drives the book forward 6. Write your reaction to the chapter 7. If it’s literary fiction, consider writing out the first few pages by hand This process also works well for a short story.

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Arts and Entertainment

How to Analyze a Book

Last Updated: April 2, 2024 Approved

This article was co-authored by Christopher Taylor, PhD . Christopher Taylor is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of English at Austin Community College in Texas. He received his PhD in English Literature and Medieval Studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 2014. There are 7 references cited in this article, which can be found at the bottom of the page. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. In this case, 82% of readers who voted found the article helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 107,220 times.

Reading books, whether they be fiction or nonfiction, is a terrific pastime that is both fun and informative. However, analyzing books can help you get even more out of the books you read, both for fun and for academic purposes. Knowing how to analyze a book changes the way you interpret and understand books, and maybe even what they mean to you. Once you know how to break down a work’s plot, structure, language, and argument, while critiquing an author’s perspective, analyzing books is a breeze.

Breaking Down Fiction

A list of what a book analysis should contain.

Remember when you’re reading that all the little details in the book were deliberately chosen by the author and hence might be significant in some unseen way. For example, if an author describes a young girl’s dress as “yellow like the sun,” ask yourself why the author chose the color yellow (symbol of optimism) or what it means for her dress to be compared to the sun.
Certain sections of any book should be read with particular attention. The beginning and end, for example, are a good place to find meaning and symbolism in a text. Read these with a bit more attention.
If you have trouble reading slowly or staying focused, try to keep the specific goal for your reading in mind instead of reading “mindlessly.” For instance, if you’re trying to analyze a work of fiction for symbolism, keep this in mind as you read and it will help you to zero in on the relevant details (e.g., the author’s choice of names for their characters). [2] X Research source
Read the book twice if you have time.

Write down anything you think might be particularly important, even if you aren’t sure. You’ll be glad you kept a convenient record of potentially significant details when it comes time to write about your analysis.
In your notes, quote directly from the book when you think the specific wording of the text is important. Otherwise, feel free to paraphrase the text when you’re taking note of events or themes.
If you can, invest in a personal copy of the text. This lets you highlight, underline, and make notes in the margins of significant passages as you go.

Step 3 Study the context in which the author wrote the book.

When researching the context in which a book was written, consider the time period, location (country, state, city, etc.), political system, and the biography of the author. For example, a Russian expat writing in the 1940s about a dictatorship may be making a statement on the Soviet Union or Joseph Stalin.
Look into other books by the same author and see how the book you’re reading compares to them in terms of story, subject matter, themes, and other details. For example, many of Philip K. Dick’s novels focused on the nature of reality and questions surrounding identity.
Try starting on a site like Wikipedia. While it's not an academic source, it often provides an overview of the topic and may link to other sources or even other works by the author.

Step 4 Establish the essential plot points of the story.

For example, if the characters in a novel are only able to resolve a problem by working together, the author may be making a statement on the importance of collaboration.

Step 5 Determine the setting of the book and how it contributes to the story.

Settings can be symbolic. Reflect on the characters at a certain point in their journey, and/or foreshadow certain key plot elements.
For example, ask yourself if a story that takes place in an isolated cabin during winter would be significantly different if it took place in an apartment in a big city. If so, think about why a different setting changes the meaning of the story.

Step 6 Examine the actions, motivations, and beliefs of the characters.

You should also consider why the author would have their characters do the things they do and what point they’re trying to make.
For example, if a holy man commits a murder, ask yourself why the character would betray his beliefs or why the author would seek to depict a holy man in this way.

Step 7 Consider how the author’s writing style affects the book’s story.

Writing style includes the author’s choice of vocabulary, sentence structure, tone, imagery, symbolism, and overall feeling of the story. [7] X Research source
For example, an author may seek to impart a more humorous tone by using short, choppy sentences and nonsensical words.

Step 8 Identify the book’s principal theme or message.

Some common themes include good vs. evil, growing up, human nature, love, friendship, war, and religion.
A book may deal with multiple themes, with some themes being more obvious than others. Often, themes are most visible in the beginning and end of a book. Re-read these sections after your first read-through to help you evaluate the book's theme.

Critiquing Non-Fiction Books

Step 1 Read the book slowly and take notes as you read.

Try to find key words and phrases in each paragraph as you read and write down a summary of each passage or chapter as you go. [8] X Research source
If you have trouble reading slowly or staying focused, try to keep the specific goal for your reading in mind instead of reading “mindlessly.” If you’re reading for specific information on a topic (e.g., the physical properties of meteorites), bear this in mind as you read and you will be better able to focus on the relevant information as you read it.

For example, some historians write books to challenge dominant interpretations of certain historical events (e.g., the cause of the American Civil War).
Many authors will state the purpose of their non-fiction book in the preface or introductory chapter and restate that purpose in the book’s concluding chapter. Skim these sections to help you determine the book's overall goals.

Step 3 Research the author’s background and motivation for writing this book.

For example, if the book is a history of a particular political party, then the author’s relationship to that party (e.g., if the author is a party member) will almost certainly influence how the party’s history is written in the book.

Step 4 Distinguish facts from statements of opinion.

For example, an author may write: “High school students typically learn European history from their teachers. These teachers are overpaid.” In this instance, the first sentence is a statement of fact, while the second is a statement of opinion.
Statements of fact are often followed by citations either in the form of footnotes or parenthetical citations.
Don’t dismiss out of hand what an author says purely because it’s “opinion”; in most cases, an author’s conclusions will be derived from the facts that are also presented in the book and should be judged as such.

Step 5 Examine the evidence the author relies on to support their argument.

For example, consider whether you would reach a different conclusion based on the same evidence and check to see if the author describes in the book why they didn’t reach the same conclusion as you. If they don’t, their argument may not be entirely thought out.
Try to check the author's information against other sources. Look at academic articles, online encyclopedias, and other scholarly resources to see if the evidence the author cites matches the larger scholarly body of work on the subject or if you can find contradictory evidence that the author did not include in their work.

Step 6 Decide whether the book accomplishes its purpose.

For instance, think about whether the author’s evidence was reliable or relevant, whether the argument was logical, and whether the author’s conclusions made sense to you.
Be sure to not let your personal attitudes interfere with your analysis. If you find a book unconvincing, ask yourself if you have any internal biases that may prevent you from analyzing the book in a neutral manner.

Community Q&A

↑ https://penandthepad.com/analyze-book-2063769.html
↑ https://www.irisreading.com/5-tips-to-maintaining-excellent-focus-while-you-are-reading/
↑ https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-introliterature/chapter/how-to-analyze-a-novel/
↑ https://davehood59.wordpress.com/2010/01/28/how-to-analyze-fiction/
↑ https://www.cliffsnotes.com/cliffsnotes/subjects/literature/how-do-you-analyze-a-novel
↑ http://octavius.vibygym.dk/analyse-af-non-fiction.html
↑ http://www.thwink.org/sustain/articles/019_CriteriaEvaluatingBookNonFiction/index.htm#ProveArgumentTrue

About This Article

The key to analyzing a fictional book is paying attention to both the small details and overarching ideas. If you’re reading a classic novel, research its context to tell you more about the text, like what was going on in history when the book was written. Read the text closely and take notes on anything interesting you notice about the setting, characters, or writing style. Take note of any effective description that tells you something interesting about the characters or the setting. You should also look for major themes across the whole text. For example, in Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights, the themes of family, isolation, and love occur again and again. Then, try to link your notes together to make a larger point about the book. For more tips from our English co-author, including how to analyze non-fiction books, read on! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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Literary Analysis Essay

Literary Analysis Essay - Step by Step Guide

15 min read

Published on: Aug 16, 2020

Last updated on: Jul 23, 2024

What is a Literary Analysis Essay?

Literary analysis is a process of examining a literary work in detail to uncover its meaning and significance.

It involves breaking down the various elements of a work, such as plot, character, setting, and theme. And then analyzing how they work together to create a specific effect on the reader.

In other words, literary analysis is an exercise in interpretation. The reader of a work asks questions about what the author means to say, how they are saying it, and why.

A literary analysis essay is an essay where you explore such questions in depth and offer your own insights.

What is the Purpose of a Literary Analysis Essay?

In general, the purpose of a literary analysis essay is as follows:

To gain a greater understanding and appreciation of the work.
To be able to think critically and analytically about a text.

Content of a Literary Analysis

A literary analysis essay delves deep into the various aspects of a literary work to examine its meaning, symbolism, themes, and more. Here are the key elements to include in your literary analysis essay:

Plot Analysis

Plot refers to the sequence of events that make up the storyline of a literary work. It encompasses the main events, conflicts, and resolutions that drive the narrative forward.

Elements of Plot Analysis

The elements of a plot typically include:

Exposition: The introduction of the story that establishes the setting, characters, and initial circumstances.
Rising action: A set of events or actions that sets the main conflict into motion, often occurring early in the story.
Conflict: The series of events that build tension and develop the conflict, leading to the story's climax.
Climax: The turning point of the story, where the conflict reaches its peak and the outcome hangs in the balance.
Falling Action: The events that occur after the climax, leading towards the resolution of the conflict.
Resolution: The point in the story where the conflict is resolved, providing closure to the narrative.

Character Analysis

Character analysis involves studying the role, development, and motivations of the characters in a literary work. It explores how characters contribute to the overall narrative and themes of the story.

Elements of Character Analysis

Identification of major and minor characters.
Examination of their traits, behaviors, and relationships.
Analysis of character development and changes throughout the story.
Evaluation of the character's role in advancing the plot or conveying themes.

Symbolism and Imagery Analysis

Symbolism and imagery analysis focuses on the use of symbols, objects, or images in a work. It analyzes and explores the use of literary devices to convey deeper meanings and evoke emotions.

Elements of Symbolism and Imagery Analysis

Identification of key symbols or recurring motifs.
Interpretation of their symbolic significance.
Analysis of how imagery is used to create vivid mental pictures and enhance the reader's understanding and emotional experience.

Theme Analysis

Analyzing the theme involves exploring the central ideas or messages conveyed in a literary work. It examines the underlying concepts, or messages that the author wants to convey through the story.

Elements of Theme Analysis

Identification of the main themes or central ideas explored in the text.
Analysis of how the themes are developed and reinforced throughout the story.
Exploration of the author's perspective and the intended message behind the themes.

Setting Analysis

The Setting of a story includes the time, place, and social context in which the story takes place. Analyzing the setting involves how the setting influences the characters, plot, and overall atmosphere of the work.

Elements of Setting Analysis

Description and analysis of the physical, cultural, and historical aspects of the setting.
Examination of how the setting contributes to the mood, atmosphere, and themes of the work.
Evaluation of how the setting shapes the characters' actions and motivations.

Structure and Style Analysis

Structure and style analysis involves studying the organization, narrative techniques, and literary devices employed by the author. It explores how the structure and style contribute to the overall impact and effectiveness of the work.

Elements of Structure and Style Analysis

Analysis of the narrative structure, such as the use of flashbacks, nonlinear timelines, or multiple perspectives.
Examination of the author's writing style, including the use of language, tone, and figurative language.
Evaluation of literary devices, such as foreshadowing, irony, or allusion, and their impact on the reader's interpretation.

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How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay?

Writing a great literary analysis piece requires you to follow certain steps. Here's what you need to do to write a literary essay:

Preparing for Your Essay

The pre-writing process for writing a literary analysis essay includes the following:

Choosing a literary work to analyze
Reading and analyzing the work
Taking notes and organizing your thoughts
Creating an outline for your essay

Choosing a Work to Analyze

As a student, you would most probably be assigned a literary piece to analyze. It could be a short story, a novel, or a poem. However, sometimes you get to choose it yourself.

In such a case, you should choose a work that you find interesting and engaging. This will make it easier to stay motivated as you analyze the work and write your essay.

Moreover, you should choose a work that has some depth and complexity. This will give you plenty of material to analyze and discuss in your essay. Finally, make sure that your choice fits within the scope of the assignment and meets the expectations of your instructor.

Reading and Analyzing

Once you've chosen a literary work, it's time to read the work with careful attention. There are several key elements to consider when reading and analyzing a literary work:

Plot - The sequence of events that make up the story. Analyzing the plot involves examining the structure of the story, including its exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
Characters - The people or entities that populate the story. Analyzing characters involves examining their motivations, personalities, relationships, and development over the course of the story.

Want to learn more about character analysis? Head to our blog about how to conduct character analysis and learn easy steps with examples.

Setting - The time, place, and environment in which the story takes place. Analyzing the setting involves examining how the atmosphere contributes to the story's overall meaning.
Theme - The underlying message or meaning of the story. Analyzing themes involves examining the work's central ideas and how they are expressed through the various elements of the story.

Moreover, it's important to consider the following questions while analyzing:

What is the central theme or main point the author is trying to make?
What literary devices and techniques has the author used?
Why did the author choose to write this particular work?
What themes and ideas are present in the work?

These questions will help you dive deeper into the work you are writing about.

Take Notes and Gather Material

As you read and analyze the literary work, it's important to take notes so you don't forget important details and ideas. This also helps you identify patterns and connections between different elements of the piece.

One effective way to take notes is to list important elements of the work, such as characters, setting, and theme. You can also use sticky notes, highlighters, or annotations to mark important passages and write down your ideas.

Writing Your Literary Analysis Essay

Once you have read a piece of literature and taken notes, you have all the material you need to write an essay. Follow the simple steps below to write an effective literary analysis essay.

Create an Outline for Your Essay

Firstly, creating an outline is necessary. This will help you to organize your thoughts and ideas and ensure that your essay flows logically and coherently.

This is what your literary essay outline would look like:

. Hook Statement

. Background Information / Context

. Thesis Statement

. Overview of the plot and events

. Analysis of the setting

. Discussion of the significance of the setting

. Overview of the main characters

. Analysis of key character traits and Development

. Discussion of the relationships between characters

. Overview of the themes present in the work

. Analysis of how the themes are developed and portrayed

. Discussion of the significance of the themes

. Restatement of the thesis statement in a new and compelling way

. Final thoughts and reflections on the literary work

Writing the Introduction

Writing your essay introduction involves the three following parts:

Begin the introductory paragraph with an engaging hook statement that captures the readers' attention. An effective hook statement can take many different forms, such as a provocative quote, an intriguing question, or a surprising fact.

Make sure that your hook statement is relevant to the literary work you are writing about. Here are a few examples of effective hooks:

Afterward, present the necessary background information and context about the literary work. For instance,
Talk about the author of the work or when and where it was written.
Give an overview of the work or why it is significant.
Provide readers with sufficient context so they can know what the work is generally about.
Finally, end the introduction with a clear thesis statement . Your thesis statement should be a concise statement that clearly states the argument you will be making in your essay. It should be specific and debatable, and it should provide a roadmap for the rest of your essay.

For example, a thesis statement for an essay on "Hamlet" might be:

In 'Hamlet,' Shakespeare explores the complex relationship between revenge and madness, using the character of Hamlet to illustrate the dangers of giving in to one's vengeful impulses.

Watch this video to learn more about writing an introduction for a literary analysis essay:

Writing the Body

Here are the steps to follow when writing a body paragraph for a literary analysis essay:

Start with a topic sentence:

The topic sentence should introduce the main point or argument you will be making in the paragraph. It should be clear and concise and should indicate what the paragraph is about.

Provide evidence:

After you have introduced your main point, provide evidence from the text to support your analysis. This could include quotes, paraphrases, or summaries of the text.

Explain and discuss the evidence:

Explain how the evidence supports your main point or argument or how it connects back to your thesis statement.

Conclude the paragraph:

End the paragraph by relating your main point to the thesis and discussing its significance. You should also use transitions to connect the paragraph to your next point or argument.

Writing the Conclusion

The conclusion of a literary analysis essay provides closure to your analysis and reinforces your thesis statement. Here's what a conclusion includes:

Restate your thesis statement:

Start by restating your thesis statement in a slightly different way than in your introduction. This will remind the reader of the argument you made and the evidence you provided to support it.

Summarize your main points:

Briefly summarize the main points you made in your essay's body paragraphs. This will help tie everything together and provide closure to your analysis.

Personal reflections:

The conclusion is the best place to provide some personal reflections on the literary piece. You can also explain connections between your analysis and the larger context. This could include connections to other literary works, your personal life, historical events, or contemporary issues.

End with a strong statement:

End your conclusion with a strong statement that leaves a lasting impression on the reader. This could be a thought-provoking question, a call to action, or a final insight into the significance of your analysis.

Finalizing your Essay

You've completed the first draft of your literary analysis essay. Congratulations!

However, it's not over just yet. You need some time to polish and improve the essay before it can be submitted. Here's what you need to do:

Proofread and Revise your Essay

After completing your draft, you should proofread your essay. You should look out for the following aspects:

Check for clarity:

Make sure that your ideas are expressed clearly and logically. You should also take a look at your structure and organization. Rearrange your arguments if necessary to make them clearer.

Check for grammar and spelling errors:

Use spelling and grammar check tools online to identify and correct any basic errors in your essay.

Verify factual information:

You must have included information about the work or from within the work in your essay. Recheck and verify that it is correct and verifiable.

Check your formatting:

Make sure that your essay is properly formatted according to the guidelines provided by your instructor. This includes requirements for font size, margins, spacing, and citation style.

Helpful Tips for Revising a Literary Essay

Here are some tips below that can help you proofread and revise your essay better:

Read your essay out loud:

Reading your essay out loud makes it easier to identify awkward phrasing, repetitive language, and other issues.

Take a break:

It can be helpful to step away from your essay for a little while before starting the editing process. This can help you approach your essay with fresh eyes and a clearer perspective.

Be concise:

Remove any unnecessary words or phrases that do not add to your argument. This can help to make your essay more focused and effective.

Let someone else proofread and get feedback:

You could ask a friend or a teacher to read your essay and provide feedback. This way, you can get some valuable insights on what you could include or catch mistakes that you might have missed.

Literary Analysis Essay Examples

Reading a few good examples helps to understand literary analysis essays better. So check out these examples below and read them to see what a well-written essay looks like.

How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay

Literary Analysis Essay Example

Sample Literary Analysis Essay

Lord of the Rings Literary Analysis

The Great Gatsby Literary Analysis

Literary Analysis Example for 8th Grade

Literary Analysis Essay Topics

Need a topic for your literary analysis essay? You can pick any aspect of any work of literature you like. Here are some example topics that will help you get inspired:

The use of symbolism in "The Great Gatsby" by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The theme of isolation in "The Catcher in the Rye" by J.D. Salinger.
The portrayal of social class in "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen.
The use of magical realism in "One Hundred Years of Solitude" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
The role of women in "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood.
The use of foreshadowing in "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding.
The portrayal of race and identity in "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison.
The use of imagery in "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy.
The theme of forgiveness in "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini.
The use of allegory in "Animal Farm" by George Orwell.

To conclude,

Writing a literary analysis essay can be a rewarding experience for any student or writer, But it's not easy. However, by following the steps you learned in this guide, you can successfully produce a well-written literary analysis essay.

Also, you have got some examples of essays to read and topic ideas to get creative inspiration. With these resources, you have all you need to craft an engaging piece. So don't hesitate to start writing your essay and come back to this blog whenever you need.

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At CollegeEssay.org, we have a team of professional and experienced literature writers who can help you craft a compelling literary essay. Our affordable and reliable essay writing website focuses on providing high-quality essays and deliver them timely.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What are the 4 components of literary analysis.

The four main components of literary analysis are:

Conflict
Characters
Setting

What is the fundamental characteristic of a literary analysis essay?

Interpretive is the fundamental characteristic of a literary analysis essay.

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How To Write an Analytical Essay

If you enjoy exploring topics deeply and thinking creatively, analytical essays could be perfect for you. They involve thorough analysis and clever writing techniques to gain fresh perspectives and deepen your understanding of the subject. In this article, our expert research paper writer will explain what an analytical essay is, how to structure it effectively and provide practical examples. This guide covers all the essentials for your writing success!

What Is an Analytical Essay

An analytical essay involves analyzing something, such as a book, movie, or idea. It relies on evidence from the text to logically support arguments, avoiding emotional appeals or personal stories. Unlike persuasive essays, which argue for a specific viewpoint, a good analytical essay explores all aspects of the topic, considering different perspectives, dissecting arguments, and evaluating evidence carefully. Ultimately, you'll need to present your own stance based on your analysis, synthesize findings, and decide whether you agree with the conclusions or have your own interpretation.

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How to Structure an Analytical Essay

Crafting an excellent paper starts with clear organization and structuring of arguments. An analytical essay structure follows a simple outline: introduction, body, and conclusion.

Introduction
Body paragraph 1
Body paragraph 2
Body paragraph 3
Conclusion

Introduction: Begin by grabbing the reader's attention and stating the topic clearly. Provide background information, state the purpose of the paper, and hint at the arguments you'll make. The opening sentence should be engaging, such as a surprising fact or a thought-provoking question. Then, present your thesis, summarizing your stance in the essay.

Body Paragraphs: Each paragraph starts with a clear topic sentence guiding the reader and presents evidence supporting the thesis. Focus on one issue per paragraph and briefly restate the main point at the end to transition smoothly to the next one. This ensures clarity and coherence in your argument.

Conclusion: Restate the thesis, summarize key points from the body paragraphs, and offer insights on the significance of the analysis. Provide your thoughts on the topic's importance and how your analysis contributes to it, leaving a lasting impression on the reader.

Meanwhile, you might also be interested in how to write a reflection paper , so check out the article for more information!

How to Write an Analytical Essay in 6 Simple Steps

Once you've got a handle on the structure, you can make writing easier by following some steps. Preparing ahead of time can make the process smoother and improve your essay's flow. Here are some helpful tips from our experts. And if you need it, you can always request our experts to write my essay for me , and we'll handle it promptly.

Step 1: Decide on Your Stance

Before diving into writing, it's crucial to establish your stance on the topic. Let's say you're going to write an analytical essay example about the benefits and drawbacks of remote work. Before you start writing, you need to decide what your opinion or viewpoint is on this topic.

Do you think remote work offers flexibility and improved work-life balance for employees?
Or maybe you believe it can lead to feelings of isolation and decreased productivity?

Once you've determined your stance on remote work, it's essential to consider the evidence and arguments supporting your position. Are there statistics or studies that back up your viewpoint? For example, if you believe remote work improves productivity, you might cite research showing increased output among remote workers. On the other hand, if you think it leads to isolation, you could reference surveys or testimonials highlighting the challenges of remote collaboration. Your opinion will shape how you write your essay, so take some time to think about what you believe about remote work before you start writing.

Step 2: Write Your Thesis Statement

Once you've figured out what you think about the topic, it's time to write your thesis statement. This statement is like the main idea or argument of your essay.

If you believe that remote work offers significant benefits, your thesis statement might be: 'Remote work presents an opportunity for increased flexibility and work-life balance, benefiting employees and employers alike in today's interconnected world.'

Alternatively, if you believe that remote work has notable drawbacks, your thesis statement might be: 'While remote work offers flexibility, it can also lead to feelings of isolation and challenges in collaboration, necessitating a balanced approach to its implementation.'

Your thesis statement guides the rest of your analytical essay, so make sure it clearly expresses your viewpoint on the benefits and drawbacks of remote work.

Step 3: Write Topic Sentences

After you have your thesis statement about the benefits and drawbacks of remote work, you need to come up with topic sentences for each paragraph while writing an analytical essay. These sentences introduce the main point of each paragraph and help to structure your essay.

Let's say your first paragraph is about the benefits of remote work. Your topic sentence might be: 'Remote work offers employees increased flexibility and autonomy, enabling them to better manage their work-life balance.'

For the next paragraph discussing the drawbacks of remote work, your topic sentence could be: 'However, remote work can also lead to feelings of isolation and difficulties in communication and collaboration with colleagues.'

And for the paragraph about potential solutions to the challenges of remote work, your topic sentence might be: 'To mitigate the drawbacks of remote work, companies can implement strategies such as regular check-ins, virtual team-building activities, and flexible work arrangements.'

Each topic sentence should relate back to your thesis statement about the benefits and drawbacks of remote work and provide a clear focus for the paragraph that follows.

Step 4: Create an Outline

Now that you have your thesis statement and topic sentences, it's time to create an analytical essay outline to ensure your essay flows logically. Here's an outline prepared by our analytical essay writer based on the example of discussing the benefits and drawbacks of remote work:

Introduction
Benefits of Remote Work
Drawbacks of Remote Work
Solutions to Challenges of Remote Work
Conclusion

Step 5: Write Your First Draft

Now that you have your outline, it's time to start writing your first draft. Begin by expanding upon each point in your outline, making sure to connect your ideas smoothly and logically. Don't worry too much about perfection at this stage; the goal is to get your ideas down on paper. You can always revise and polish your draft later.

As you write, keep referring back to your thesis statement to ensure that your arguments align with your main argument. Additionally, make sure each paragraph flows naturally into the next, maintaining coherence throughout your essay.

Once you've completed your first draft, take a break and then come back to review and revise it. Look for areas where you can strengthen your arguments, clarify your points, and improve the overall structure and flow of your essay.

Remember, writing is a process, and it's okay to go through multiple drafts before you're satisfied with the final result. Take your time and be patient with yourself as you work towards creating a well-crafted essay on the benefits and drawbacks of remote work.

Step 6: Revise and Proofread

Once you've completed your first draft, it's essential to revise and proofread your essay to ensure clarity, coherence, and correctness. Here's how to approach this step:

Check if your ideas make sense and if they support your main point.
Make sure your writing style stays the same and your format follows the rules.
Double-check your facts and make sure you've covered everything important.
Cut out any extra words and make your sentences clear and short.
Look for mistakes in spelling and grammar.
Ask someone to read your essay and give you feedback.

What is the Purpose of an Analytical Essay?

Analytical essays aim to analyze texts or topics, presenting a clear argument. They deepen understanding by evaluating evidence and uncovering underlying meanings. These essays promote critical thinking, challenging readers to consider different viewpoints.

They're also great for improving critical thinking skills. By breaking down complex ideas and presenting them clearly, they encourage readers to think for themselves and reach their own conclusions.

This type of essay also adds to academic discussions by offering fresh insights. By analyzing existing research and literature, they bring new perspectives or shine a light on overlooked parts of a topic. This keeps academic conversations lively and encourages more exploration in the field.

Analytical Essay Examples

Check out our essay samples to see theory in action. Crafted by our dissertation services , they show how analytical thinking applies to real situations, helping you understand concepts better.

With our tips on how to write an analytical essay, you're ready to boost your writing skills and craft essays that captivate your audience. With practice, you'll become a pro at analytical writing, ready to tackle any topic with confidence. And, if you need help to buy essay online , just drop us a line saying ' do my homework for me ' and we'll jump right in!

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How to Write an Analytical Essay?

What is an analytical essay.

Daniel Parker

is a seasoned educational writer focusing on scholarship guidance, research papers, and various forms of academic essays including reflective and narrative essays. His expertise also extends to detailed case studies. A scholar with a background in English Literature and Education, Daniel’s work on EssayPro blog aims to support students in achieving academic excellence and securing scholarships. His hobbies include reading classic literature and participating in academic forums.

is an expert in nursing and healthcare, with a strong background in history, law, and literature. Holding advanced degrees in nursing and public health, his analytical approach and comprehensive knowledge help students navigate complex topics. On EssayPro blog, Adam provides insightful articles on everything from historical analysis to the intricacies of healthcare policies. In his downtime, he enjoys historical documentaries and volunteering at local clinics.

A Short Guide to Close Reading for Literary Analysis

Use the guidelines below to learn about the practice of close reading.

When your teachers or professors ask you to analyze a literary text, they often look for something frequently called close reading. Close reading is deep analysis of how a literary text works; it is both a reading process and something you include in a literary analysis paper, though in a refined form.

Fiction writers and poets build texts out of many central components, including subject, form, and specific word choices. Literary analysis involves examining these components, which allows us to find in small parts of the text clues to help us understand the whole. For example, if an author writes a novel in the form of a personal journal about a character’s daily life, but that journal reads like a series of lab reports, what do we learn about that character? What is the effect of picking a word like “tome” instead of “book”? In effect, you are putting the author’s choices under a microscope.

The process of close reading should produce a lot of questions. It is when you begin to answer these questions that you are ready to participate thoughtfully in class discussion or write a literary analysis paper that makes the most of your close reading work.

Close reading sometimes feels like over-analyzing, but don’t worry. Close reading is a process of finding as much information as you can in order to form as many questions as you can. When it is time to write your paper and formalize your close reading, you will sort through your work to figure out what is most convincing and helpful to the argument you hope to make and, conversely, what seems like a stretch. This guide imagines you are sitting down to read a text for the first time on your way to developing an argument about a text and writing a paper. To give one example of how to do this, we will read the poem “Design” by famous American poet Robert Frost and attend to four major components of literary texts: subject, form, word choice (diction), and theme.

If you want even more information about approaching poems specifically, take a look at our guide: How to Read a Poem .

As our guide to reading poetry suggests, have a pencil out when you read a text. Make notes in the margins, underline important words, place question marks where you are confused by something. Of course, if you are reading in a library book, you should keep all your notes on a separate piece of paper. If you are not making marks directly on, in, and beside the text, be sure to note line numbers or even quote portions of the text so you have enough context to remember what you found interesting.

Design I found a dimpled spider, fat and white, On a white heal-all, holding up a moth Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth— Assorted characters of death and blight Mixed ready to begin the morning right, Like the ingredients of a witches’ broth— A snow-drop spider, a flower like a froth, And dead wings carried like a paper kite. What had that flower to do with being white, The wayside blue and innocent heal-all? What brought the kindred spider to that height, Then steered the white moth thither in the night? What but design of darkness to appall?— If design govern in a thing so small.

The subject of a literary text is simply what the text is about. What is its plot? What is its most important topic? What image does it describe? It’s easy to think of novels and stories as having plots, but sometimes it helps to think of poetry as having a kind of plot as well. When you examine the subject of a text, you want to develop some preliminary ideas about the text and make sure you understand its major concerns before you dig deeper.

Observations

In “Design,” the speaker describes a scene: a white spider holding a moth on a white flower. The flower is a heal-all, the blooms of which are usually violet-blue. This heal-all is unusual. The speaker then poses a series of questions, asking why this heal-all is white instead of blue and how the spider and moth found this particular flower. How did this situation arise?

The speaker’s questions seem simple, but they are actually fairly nuanced. We can use them as a guide for our own as we go forward with our close reading.

Furthering the speaker’s simple “how did this happen,” we might ask, is the scene in this poem a manufactured situation?
The white moth and white spider each use the atypical white flower as camouflage in search of sanctuary and supper respectively. Did these flora and fauna come together for a purpose?
Does the speaker have a stance about whether there is a purpose behind the scene? If so, what is it?
How will other elements of the text relate to the unpleasantness and uncertainty in our first look at the poem’s subject?

After thinking about local questions, we have to zoom out. Ultimately, what is this text about?

Form is how a text is put together. When you look at a text, observe how the author has arranged it. If it is a novel, is it written in the first person? How is the novel divided? If it is a short story, why did the author choose to write short-form fiction instead of a novel or novella? Examining the form of a text can help you develop a starting set of questions in your reading, which then may guide further questions stemming from even closer attention to the specific words the author chooses. A little background research on form and what different forms can mean makes it easier to figure out why and how the author’s choices are important.

Most poems follow rules or principles of form; even free verse poems are marked by the author’s choices in line breaks, rhythm, and rhyme—even if none of these exists, which is a notable choice in itself. Here’s an example of thinking through these elements in “Design.”

In “Design,” Frost chooses an Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet form: fourteen lines in iambic pentameter consisting of an octave (a stanza of eight lines) and a sestet (a stanza of six lines). We will focus on rhyme scheme and stanza structure rather than meter for the purposes of this guide. A typical Italian sonnet has a specific rhyme scheme for the octave:

a b b a a b b a

There’s more variation in the sestet rhymes, but one of the more common schemes is

c d e c d e

Conventionally, the octave introduces a problem or question which the sestet then resolves. The point at which the sonnet goes from the problem/question to the resolution is called the volta, or turn. (Note that we are speaking only in generalities here; there is a great deal of variation.)

Frost uses the usual octave scheme with “-ite”/”-ight” (a) and “oth” (b) sounds: “white,” “moth,” “cloth,” “blight,” “right,” “broth,” “froth,” “kite.” However, his sestet follows an unusual scheme with “-ite”/”-ight” and “all” sounds:

a c a a c c

Now, we have a few questions with which we can start:

Why use an Italian sonnet?
Why use an unusual scheme in the sestet?
What problem/question and resolution (if any) does Frost offer?
What is the volta in this poem?
In other words, what is the point?

Italian sonnets have a long tradition; many careful readers recognize the form and know what to expect from his octave, volta, and sestet. Frost seems to do something fairly standard in the octave in presenting a situation; however, the turn Frost makes is not to resolution, but to questions and uncertainty. A white spider sitting on a white flower has killed a white moth.

How did these elements come together?
Was the moth’s death random or by design?
Is one worse than the other?

We can guess right away that Frost’s disruption of the usual purpose of the sestet has something to do with his disruption of its rhyme scheme. Looking even more closely at the text will help us refine our observations and guesses.

Word Choice, or Diction

Looking at the word choice of a text helps us “dig in” ever more deeply. If you are reading something longer, are there certain words that come up again and again? Are there words that stand out? While you are going through this process, it is best for you to assume that every word is important—again, you can decide whether something is really important later.

Even when you read prose, our guide for reading poetry offers good advice: read with a pencil and make notes. Mark the words that stand out, and perhaps write the questions you have in the margins or on a separate piece of paper. If you have ideas that may possibly answer your questions, write those down, too.

Let’s take a look at the first line of “Design”:

I found a dimpled spider, fat and white

The poem starts with something unpleasant: a spider. Then, as we look more closely at the adjectives describing the spider, we may see connotations of something that sounds unhealthy or unnatural. When we imagine spiders, we do not generally picture them dimpled and white; it is an uncommon and decidedly creepy image. There is dissonance between the spider and its descriptors, i.e., what is wrong with this picture? Already we have a question: what is going on with this spider?

We should look for additional clues further on in the text. The next two lines develop the image of the unusual, unpleasant-sounding spider:

On a white heal-all, holding up a moth Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth—

Now we have a white flower (a heal-all, which usually has a violet-blue flower) and a white moth in addition to our white spider. Heal-alls have medicinal properties, as their name suggests, but this one seems to have a genetic mutation—perhaps like the spider? Does the mutation that changes the heal-all’s color also change its beneficial properties—could it be poisonous rather than curative? A white moth doesn’t seem remarkable, but it is “Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth,” or like manmade fabric that is artificially “rigid” rather than smooth and flowing like we imagine satin to be. We might think for a moment of a shroud or the lining of a coffin, but even that is awry, for neither should be stiff with death.

The first three lines of the poem’s octave introduce unpleasant natural images “of death and blight” (as the speaker puts it in line four). The flower and moth disrupt expectations: the heal-all is white instead of “blue and innocent,” and the moth is reduced to “rigid satin cloth” or “dead wings carried like a paper kite.” We might expect a spider to be unpleasant and deadly; the poem’s spider also has an unusual and unhealthy appearance.

The focus on whiteness in these lines has more to do with death than purity—can we understand that whiteness as being corpse-like rather than virtuous?

Well before the volta, Frost makes a “turn” away from nature as a retreat and haven; instead, he unearths its inherent dangers, making nature menacing. From three lines alone, we have a number of questions:

Will whiteness play a role in the rest of the poem?
How does “design”—an arrangement of these circumstances—fit with a scene of death?
What other juxtapositions might we encounter?

These disruptions and dissonances recollect Frost’s alteration to the standard Italian sonnet form: finding the ways and places in which form and word choice go together will help us begin to unravel some larger concepts the poem itself addresses.

Put simply, themes are major ideas in a text. Many texts, especially longer forms like novels and plays, have multiple themes. That’s good news when you are close reading because it means there are many different ways you can think through the questions you develop.

So far in our reading of “Design,” our questions revolve around disruption: disruption of form, disruption of expectations in the description of certain images. Discovering a concept or idea that links multiple questions or observations you have made is the beginning of a discovery of theme.

What is happening with disruption in “Design”? What point is Frost making? Observations about other elements in the text help you address the idea of disruption in more depth. Here is where we look back at the work we have already done: What is the text about? What is notable about the form, and how does it support or undermine what the words say? Does the specific language of the text highlight, or redirect, certain ideas?

In this example, we are looking to determine what kind(s) of disruption the poem contains or describes. Rather than “disruption,” we want to see what kind of disruption, or whether indeed Frost uses disruptions in form and language to communicate something opposite: design.

Sample Analysis

After you make notes, formulate questions, and set tentative hypotheses, you must analyze the subject of your close reading. Literary analysis is another process of reading (and writing!) that allows you to make a claim about the text. It is also the point at which you turn a critical eye to your earlier questions and observations to find the most compelling points, discarding the ones that are a “stretch.” By “stretch,” we mean that we must discard points that are fascinating but have no clear connection to the text as a whole. (We recommend a separate document for recording the brilliant ideas that don’t quite fit this time around.)

Here follows an excerpt from a brief analysis of “Design” based on the close reading above. This example focuses on some lines in great detail in order to unpack the meaning and significance of the poem’s language. By commenting on the different elements of close reading we have discussed, it takes the results of our close reading to offer one particular way into the text. (In case you were thinking about using this sample as your own, be warned: it has no thesis and it is easily discoverable on the web. Plus it doesn’t have a title.)

Frost’s speaker brews unlikely associations in the first stanza of the poem. The “Assorted characters of death and blight / Mixed ready to begin the morning right” make of the grotesque scene an equally grotesque mockery of a breakfast cereal (4–5). These lines are almost singsong in meter and it is easy to imagine them set to a radio jingle. A pun on “right”/”rite” slides the “characters of death and blight” into their expected concoction: a “witches’ broth” (6). These juxtapositions—a healthy breakfast that is also a potion for dark magic—are borne out when our “fat and white” spider becomes “a snow-drop”—an early spring flower associated with renewal—and the moth as “dead wings carried like a paper kite” (1, 7, 8). Like the mutant heal-all that hosts the moth’s death, the spider becomes a deadly flower; the harmless moth becomes a child’s toy, but as “dead wings,” more like a puppet made of a skull. The volta offers no resolution for our unsettled expectations. Having observed the scene and detailed its elements in all their unpleasantness, the speaker turns to questions rather than answers. How did “The wayside blue and innocent heal-all” end up white and bleached like a bone (10)? How did its “kindred spider” find the white flower, which was its perfect hiding place (11)? Was the moth, then, also searching for camouflage, only to meet its end? Using another question as a disguise, the speaker offers a hypothesis: “What but design of darkness to appall?” (13). This question sounds rhetorical, as though the only reason for such an unlikely combination of flora and fauna is some “design of darkness.” Some force, the speaker suggests, assembled the white spider, flower, and moth to snuff out the moth’s life. Such a design appalls, or horrifies. We might also consider the speaker asking what other force but dark design could use something as simple as appalling in its other sense (making pale or white) to effect death. However, the poem does not close with a question, but with a statement. The speaker’s “If design govern in a thing so small” establishes a condition for the octave’s questions after the fact (14). There is no point in considering the dark design that brought together “assorted characters of death and blight” if such an event is too minor, too physically small to be the work of some force unknown. Ending on an “if” clause has the effect of rendering the poem still more uncertain in its conclusions: not only are we faced with unanswered questions, we are now not even sure those questions are valid in the first place. Behind the speaker and the disturbing scene, we have Frost and his defiance of our expectations for a Petrarchan sonnet. Like whatever designer may have altered the flower and attracted the spider to kill the moth, the poet built his poem “wrong” with a purpose in mind. Design surely governs in a poem, however small; does Frost also have a dark design? Can we compare a scene in nature to a carefully constructed sonnet?

A Note on Organization

Your goal in a paper about literature is to communicate your best and most interesting ideas to your reader. Depending on the type of paper you have been assigned, your ideas may need to be organized in service of a thesis to which everything should link back. It is best to ask your instructor about the expectations for your paper.

Knowing how to organize these papers can be tricky, in part because there is no single right answer—only more and less effective answers. You may decide to organize your paper thematically, or by tackling each idea sequentially; you may choose to order your ideas by their importance to your argument or to the poem. If you are comparing and contrasting two texts, you might work thematically or by addressing first one text and then the other. One way to approach a text may be to start with the beginning of the novel, story, play, or poem, and work your way toward its end. For example, here is the rough structure of the example above: The author of the sample decided to use the poem itself as an organizational guide, at least for this part of the analysis.

A paragraph about the octave.
A paragraph about the volta.
A paragraph about the penultimate line (13).
A paragraph about the final line (14).
A paragraph addressing form that suggests a transition to the next section of the paper.

You will have to decide for yourself the best way to communicate your ideas to your reader. Is it easier to follow your points when you write about each part of the text in detail before moving on? Or is your work clearer when you work through each big idea—the significance of whiteness, the effect of an altered sonnet form, and so on—sequentially?

We suggest you write your paper however is easiest for you then move things around during revision if you need to.

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5 Steps to Write a Great Analytical Essay

General Education

Do you need to write an analytical essay for school? What sets this kind of essay apart from other types, and what must you include when you write your own analytical essay? In this guide, we break down the process of writing an analytical essay by explaining the key factors your essay needs to have, providing you with an outline to help you structure your essay, and analyzing a complete analytical essay example so you can see what a finished essay looks like.

What Is an Analytical Essay?

Before you begin writing an analytical essay, you must know what this type of essay is and what it includes. Analytical essays analyze something, often (but not always) a piece of writing or a film.

An analytical essay is more than just a synopsis of the issue though; in this type of essay you need to go beyond surface-level analysis and look at what the key arguments/points of this issue are and why. If you’re writing an analytical essay about a piece of writing, you’ll look into how the text was written and why the author chose to write it that way. Instead of summarizing, an analytical essay typically takes a narrower focus and looks at areas such as major themes in the work, how the author constructed and supported their argument, how the essay used literary devices to enhance its messages, etc.

While you certainly want people to agree with what you’ve written, unlike with persuasive and argumentative essays, your main purpose when writing an analytical essay isn’t to try to convert readers to your side of the issue. Therefore, you won’t be using strong persuasive language like you would in those essay types. Rather, your goal is to have enough analysis and examples that the strength of your argument is clear to readers.

Besides typical essay components like an introduction and conclusion, a good analytical essay will include:

A thesis that states your main argument
Analysis that relates back to your thesis and supports it
Examples to support your analysis and allow a more in-depth look at the issue

In the rest of this article, we’ll explain how to include each of these in your analytical essay.

How to Structure Your Analytical Essay

Analytical essays are structured similarly to many other essays you’ve written, with an introduction (including a thesis), several body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Below is an outline you can follow when structuring your essay, and in the next section we go into more detail on how to write an analytical essay.

Introduction

Your introduction will begin with some sort of attention-grabbing sentence to get your audience interested, then you’ll give a few sentences setting up the topic so that readers have some context, and you’ll end with your thesis statement. Your introduction will include:

Brief background information explaining the issue/text
Your thesis

Body Paragraphs

Your analytical essay will typically have three or four body paragraphs, each covering a different point of analysis. Begin each body paragraph with a sentence that sets up the main point you’ll be discussing. Then you’ll give some analysis on that point, backing it up with evidence to support your claim. Continue analyzing and giving evidence for your analysis until you’re out of strong points for the topic. At the end of each body paragraph, you may choose to have a transition sentence that sets up what the next paragraph will be about, but this isn’t required. Body paragraphs will include:

Introductory sentence explaining what you’ll cover in the paragraph (sort of like a mini-thesis)
Analysis point
Evidence (either passages from the text or data/facts) that supports the analysis
(Repeat analysis and evidence until you run out of examples)

You won’t be making any new points in your conclusion; at this point you’re just reiterating key points you’ve already made and wrapping things up. Begin by rephrasing your thesis and summarizing the main points you made in the essay. Someone who reads just your conclusion should be able to come away with a basic idea of what your essay was about and how it was structured. After this, you may choose to make some final concluding thoughts, potentially by connecting your essay topic to larger issues to show why it’s important. A conclusion will include:

Paraphrase of thesis
Summary of key points of analysis
Final concluding thought(s)

5 Steps for Writing an Analytical Essay

Follow these five tips to break down writing an analytical essay into manageable steps. By the end, you’ll have a fully-crafted analytical essay with both in-depth analysis and enough evidence to support your argument. All of these steps use the completed analytical essay in the next section as an example.

#1: Pick a Topic

You may have already had a topic assigned to you, and if that’s the case, you can skip this step. However, if you haven’t, or if the topic you’ve been assigned is broad enough that you still need to narrow it down, then you’ll need to decide on a topic for yourself. Choosing the right topic can mean the difference between an analytical essay that’s easy to research (and gets you a good grade) and one that takes hours just to find a few decent points to analyze

Before you decide on an analytical essay topic, do a bit of research to make sure you have enough examples to support your analysis. If you choose a topic that’s too narrow, you’ll struggle to find enough to write about.

For example, say your teacher assigns you to write an analytical essay about the theme in John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath of exposing injustices against migrants. For it to be an analytical essay, you can’t just recount the injustices characters in the book faced; that’s only a summary and doesn’t include analysis. You need to choose a topic that allows you to analyze the theme. One of the best ways to explore a theme is to analyze how the author made his/her argument. One example here is that Steinbeck used literary devices in the intercalary chapters (short chapters that didn’t relate to the plot or contain the main characters of the book) to show what life was like for migrants as a whole during the Dust Bowl.

You could write about how Steinbeck used literary devices throughout the whole book, but, in the essay below, I chose to just focus on the intercalary chapters since they gave me enough examples. Having a narrower focus will nearly always result in a tighter and more convincing essay (and can make compiling examples less overwhelming).

#2: Write a Thesis Statement

Your thesis statement is the most important sentence of your essay; a reader should be able to read just your thesis and understand what the entire essay is about and what you’ll be analyzing. When you begin writing, remember that each sentence in your analytical essay should relate back to your thesis

In the analytical essay example below, the thesis is the final sentence of the first paragraph (the traditional spot for it). The thesis is: “In The Grapes of Wrath’s intercalary chapters, John Steinbeck employs a variety of literary devices and stylistic choices to better expose the injustices committed against migrants in the 1930s.” So what will this essay analyze? How Steinbeck used literary devices in the intercalary chapters to show how rough migrants could have it. Crystal clear.

#3: Do Research to Find Your Main Points

This is where you determine the bulk of your analysis--the information that makes your essay an analytical essay. My preferred method is to list every idea that I can think of, then research each of those and use the three or four strongest ones for your essay. Weaker points may be those that don’t relate back to the thesis, that you don’t have much analysis to discuss, or that you can’t find good examples for. A good rule of thumb is to have one body paragraph per main point

This essay has four main points, each of which analyzes a different literary device Steinbeck uses to better illustrate how difficult life was for migrants during the Dust Bowl. The four literary devices and their impact on the book are:

Lack of individual names in intercalary chapters to illustrate the scope of the problem
Parallels to the Bible to induce sympathy for the migrants
Non-showy, often grammatically-incorrect language so the migrants are more realistic and relatable to readers
Nature-related metaphors to affect the mood of the writing and reflect the plight of the migrants

#4: Find Excerpts or Evidence to Support Your Analysis

Now that you have your main points, you need to back them up. If you’re writing a paper about a text or film, use passages/clips from it as your main source of evidence. If you’re writing about something else, your evidence can come from a variety of sources, such as surveys, experiments, quotes from knowledgeable sources etc. Any evidence that would work for a regular research paper works here.

In this example, I quoted multiple passages from The Grapes of Wrath in each paragraph to support my argument. You should be able to back up every claim you make with evidence in order to have a strong essay.

#5: Put It All Together

Now it's time to begin writing your essay, if you haven’t already. Create an introductory paragraph that ends with the thesis, make a body paragraph for each of your main points, including both analysis and evidence to back up your claims, and wrap it all up with a conclusion that recaps your thesis and main points and potentially explains the big picture importance of the topic.

Analytical Essay Example + Analysis

So that you can see for yourself what a completed analytical essay looks like, here’s an essay I wrote back in my high school days. It’s followed by analysis of how I structured my essay, what its strengths are, and how it could be improved.

One way Steinbeck illustrates the connections all migrant people possessed and the struggles they faced is by refraining from using specific titles and names in his intercalary chapters. While The Grapes of Wrath focuses on the Joad family, the intercalary chapters show that all migrants share the same struggles and triumphs as the Joads. No individual names are used in these chapters; instead the people are referred to as part of a group. Steinbeck writes, “Frantic men pounded on the doors of the doctors; and the doctors were busy. And sad men left word at country stores for the coroner to send a car,” (555). By using generic terms, Steinbeck shows how the migrants are all linked because they have gone through the same experiences. The grievances committed against one family were committed against thousands of other families; the abuse extends far beyond what the Joads experienced. The Grapes of Wrath frequently refers to the importance of coming together; how, when people connect with others their power and influence multiplies immensely. Throughout the novel, the goal of the migrants, the key to their triumph, has been to unite. While their plans are repeatedly frustrated by the government and police, Steinbeck’s intercalary chapters provide a way for the migrants to relate to one another because they have encountered the same experiences. Hundreds of thousands of migrants fled to the promised land of California, but Steinbeck was aware that numbers alone were impersonal and lacked the passion he desired to spread. Steinbeck created the intercalary chapters to show the massive numbers of people suffering, and he created the Joad family to evoke compassion from readers. Because readers come to sympathize with the Joads, they become more sensitive to the struggles of migrants in general. However, John Steinbeck frequently made clear that the Joads were not an isolated incident; they were not unique. Their struggles and triumphs were part of something greater. Refraining from specific names in his intercalary chapters allows Steinbeck to show the vastness of the atrocities committed against migrants.

Steinbeck also creates significant parallels to the Bible in his intercalary chapters in order to enhance his writing and characters. By using simple sentences and stylized writing, Steinbeck evokes Biblical passages. The migrants despair, “No work till spring. No work,” (556). Short, direct sentences help to better convey the desperateness of the migrants’ situation. Throughout his novel, John Steinbeck makes connections to the Bible through his characters and storyline. Jim Casy’s allusions to Christ and the cycle of drought and flooding are clear biblical references. By choosing to relate The Grapes of Wrath to the Bible, Steinbeck’s characters become greater than themselves. Starving migrants become more than destitute vagrants; they are now the chosen people escaping to the promised land. When a forgotten man dies alone and unnoticed, it becomes a tragedy. Steinbeck writes, “If [the migrants] were shot at, they did not run, but splashed sullenly away; and if they were hit, they sank tiredly in the mud,” (556). Injustices committed against the migrants become greater because they are seen as children of God through Steinbeck’s choice of language. Referencing the Bible strengthens Steinbeck’s novel and purpose: to create understanding for the dispossessed. It is easy for people to feel disdain for shabby vagabonds, but connecting them to such a fundamental aspect of Christianity induces sympathy from readers who might have otherwise disregarded the migrants as so many other people did.

The simple, uneducated dialogue Steinbeck employs also helps to create a more honest and meaningful representation of the migrants, and it makes the migrants more relatable to readers. Steinbeck chooses to accurately represent the language of the migrants in order to more clearly illustrate their lives and make them seem more like real paper than just characters in a book. The migrants lament, “They ain’t gonna be no kinda work for three months,” (555). There are multiple grammatical errors in that single sentence, but it vividly conveys the despair the migrants felt better than a technically perfect sentence would. The Grapes of Wrath is intended to show the severe difficulties facing the migrants so Steinbeck employs a clear, pragmatic style of writing. Steinbeck shows the harsh, truthful realities of the migrants’ lives and he would be hypocritical if he chose to give the migrants a more refined voice and not portray them with all their shortcomings. The depiction of the migrants as imperfect through their language also makes them easier to relate to. Steinbeck’s primary audience was the middle class, the less affluent of society. Repeatedly in The Grapes of Wrath , the wealthy make it obvious that they scorn the plight of the migrants. The wealthy, not bad luck or natural disasters, were the prominent cause of the suffering of migrant families such as the Joads. Thus, Steinbeck turns to the less prosperous for support in his novel. When referring to the superior living conditions barnyard animals have, the migrants remark, “Them’s horses-we’re men,” (556). The perfect simplicity of this quote expresses the absurdness of the migrants’ situation better than any flowery expression could.

In The Grapes of Wrath , John Steinbeck uses metaphors, particularly about nature, in order to illustrate the mood and the overall plight of migrants. Throughout most of the book, the land is described as dusty, barren, and dead. Towards the end, however; floods come and the landscape begins to change. At the end of chapter twenty-nine, Steinbeck describes a hill after the floods saying, “Tiny points of grass came through the earth, and in a few days the hills were pale green with the beginning year,” (556). This description offers a stark contrast from the earlier passages which were filled with despair and destruction. Steinbeck’s tone from the beginning of the chapter changes drastically. Early in the chapter, Steinbeck had used heavy imagery in order to convey the destruction caused by the rain, “The streams and the little rivers edged up to the bank sides and worked at willows and tree roots, bent the willows deep in the current, cut out the roots of cottonwoods and brought down the trees,” (553). However, at the end of the chapter the rain has caused new life to grow in California. The new grass becomes a metaphor representing hope. When the migrants are at a loss over how they will survive the winter, the grass offers reassurance. The story of the migrants in the intercalary chapters parallels that of the Joads. At the end of the novel, the family is breaking apart and has been forced to flee their home. However, both the book and final intercalary chapter end on a hopeful note after so much suffering has occurred. The grass metaphor strengthens Steinbeck’s message because it offers a tangible example of hope. Through his language Steinbeck’s themes become apparent at the end of the novel. Steinbeck affirms that persistence, even when problems appear insurmountable, leads to success. These metaphors help to strengthen Steinbeck’s themes in The Grapes of Wrath because they provide a more memorable way to recall important messages.

John Steinbeck’s language choices help to intensify his writing in his intercalary chapters and allow him to more clearly show how difficult life for migrants could be. Refraining from using specific names and terms allows Steinbeck to show that many thousands of migrants suffered through the same wrongs. Imitating the style of the Bible strengthens Steinbeck’s characters and connects them to the Bible, perhaps the most famous book in history. When Steinbeck writes in the imperfect dialogue of the migrants, he creates a more accurate portrayal and makes the migrants easier to relate to for a less affluent audience. Metaphors, particularly relating to nature, strengthen the themes in The Grapes of Wrath by enhancing the mood Steinbeck wants readers to feel at different points in the book. Overall, the intercalary chapters that Steinbeck includes improve his novel by making it more memorable and reinforcing the themes Steinbeck embraces throughout the novel. Exemplary stylistic devices further persuade readers of John Steinbeck’s personal beliefs. Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath to bring to light cruelties against migrants, and by using literary devices effectively, he continuously reminds readers of his purpose. Steinbeck’s impressive language choices in his intercalary chapters advance the entire novel and help to create a classic work of literature that people still are able to relate to today.

This essay sticks pretty closely to the standard analytical essay outline. It starts with an introduction, where I chose to use a quote to start off the essay. (This became my favorite way to start essays in high school because, if I wasn’t sure what to say, I could outsource the work and find a quote that related to what I’d be writing about.) The quote in this essay doesn’t relate to the themes I’m discussing quite as much as it could, but it’s still a slightly different way to start an essay and can intrigue readers. I then give a bit of background on The Grapes of Wrath and its themes before ending the intro paragraph with my thesis: that Steinbeck used literary devices in intercalary chapters to show how rough migrants had it.

Each of my four body paragraphs is formatted in roughly the same way: an intro sentence that explains what I’ll be discussing, analysis of that main point, and at least two quotes from the book as evidence.

My conclusion restates my thesis, summarizes each of four points I discussed in my body paragraphs, and ends the essay by briefly discussing how Steinbeck’s writing helped introduce a world of readers to the injustices migrants experienced during the dust bowl.

What does this analytical essay example do well? For starters, it contains everything that a strong analytical essay should, and it makes that easy to find. The thesis clearly lays out what the essay will be about, the first sentence of each of the body paragraph introduces the topic it’ll cover, and the conclusion neatly recaps all the main points. Within each of the body paragraphs, there’s analysis along with multiple excerpts from the book in order to add legitimacy to my points.

Additionally, the essay does a good job of taking an in-depth look at the issue introduced in the thesis. Four ways Steinbeck used literary devices are discussed, and for each of the examples are given and analysis is provided so readers can understand why Steinbeck included those devices and how they helped shaped how readers viewed migrants and their plight.

Where could this essay be improved? I believe the weakest body paragraph is the third one, the one that discusses how Steinbeck used plain, grammatically incorrect language to both accurately depict the migrants and make them more relatable to readers. The paragraph tries to touch on both of those reasons and ends up being somewhat unfocused as a result. It would have been better for it to focus on just one of those reasons (likely how it made the migrants more relatable) in order to be clearer and more effective. It’s a good example of how adding more ideas to an essay often doesn’t make it better if they don’t work with the rest of what you’re writing. This essay also could explain the excerpts that are included more and how they relate to the points being made. Sometimes they’re just dropped in the essay with the expectation that the readers will make the connection between the example and the analysis. This is perhaps especially true in the second body paragraph, the one that discusses similarities to Biblical passages. Additional analysis of the quotes would have strengthened it.

Summary: How to Write an Analytical Essay

What is an analytical essay? A critical analytical essay analyzes a topic, often a text or film. The analysis paper uses evidence to support the argument, such as excerpts from the piece of writing. All analytical papers include a thesis, analysis of the topic, and evidence to support that analysis.

When developing an analytical essay outline and writing your essay, follow these five steps:

Reading analytical essay examples can also give you a better sense of how to structure your essay and what to include in it.

What's Next?

Learning about different writing styles in school? There are four main writing styles, and it's important to understand each of them. Learn about them in our guide to writing styles , complete with examples.

Writing a research paper for school but not sure what to write about? Our guide to research paper topics has over 100 topics in ten categories so you can be sure to find the perfect topic for you.

Literary devices can both be used to enhance your writing and communication. Check out this list of 31 literary devices to learn more !

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Methodology

Textual Analysis | Guide, 3 Approaches & Examples

Textual Analysis | Guide, 3 Approaches & Examples

Published on November 8, 2019 by Jack Caulfield . Revised on June 22, 2023.

Textual analysis is a broad term for various research methods used to describe, interpret and understand texts. All kinds of information can be gleaned from a text – from its literal meaning to the subtext, symbolism, assumptions, and values it reveals.

The methods used to conduct textual analysis depend on the field and the aims of the research. It often aims to connect the text to a broader social, political, cultural, or artistic context. Relatedly, it’s good to be careful of confirmation bias when conducting these sorts of analyses, grounding your observations in clear and plausible ways.

What is a text, textual analysis in cultural and media studies, textual analysis in the social sciences, textual analysis in literary studies, other interesting articles.

The term “text” is broader than it seems. A text can be a piece of writing, such as a book, an email, or a transcribed conversation. But in this context, a text can also be any object whose meaning and significance you want to interpret in depth: a film, an image, an artifact, even a place.

The methods you use to analyze a text will vary according to the type of object and the purpose of your analysis:

Analysis of a short story might focus on the imagery, narrative perspective and structure of the text.
To analyze a film, not only the dialogue but also the cinematography and use of sound could be relevant to the analysis.
A building might be analyzed in terms of its architectural features and how it is navigated by visitors.
You could analyze the rules of a game and what kind of behaviour they are designed to encourage in players.

While textual analysis is most commonly applied to written language, bear in mind how broad the term “text” is and how varied the methods involved can be.

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In the fields of cultural studies and media studies, textual analysis is a key component of research. Researchers in these fields take media and cultural objects – for example, music videos, social media content, billboard advertising – and treat them as texts to be analyzed.

Usually working within a particular theoretical framework (for example, using postcolonial theory, media theory, or semiotics), researchers seek to connect elements of their texts with issues in contemporary politics and culture. They might analyze many different aspects of the text:

Word choice
Design elements
Location of the text
Target audience
Relationship with other texts

Textual analysis in this context is usually creative and qualitative in its approach. Researchers seek to illuminate something about the underlying politics or social context of the cultural object they’re investigating.

In the social sciences, textual analysis is often applied to texts such as interview transcripts and surveys , as well as to various types of media. Social scientists use textual data to draw empirical conclusions about social relations.

Textual analysis in the social sciences sometimes takes a more quantitative approach , where the features of texts are measured numerically. For example, a researcher might investigate how often certain words are repeated in social media posts, or which colors appear most prominently in advertisements for products targeted at different demographics.

Some common methods of analyzing texts in the social sciences include content analysis , thematic analysis , and discourse analysis .

Textual analysis is the most important method in literary studies. Almost all work in this field involves in-depth analysis of texts – in this context, usually novels, poems, stories or plays.

Because it deals with literary writing, this type of textual analysis places greater emphasis on the deliberately constructed elements of a text: for example, rhyme and meter in a poem, or narrative perspective in a novel. Researchers aim to understand and explain how these elements contribute to the text’s meaning.

However, literary analysis doesn’t just involve discovering the author’s intended meaning. It often also explores potentially unintended connections between different texts, asks what a text reveals about the context in which it was written, or seeks to analyze a classic text in a new and unexpected way.

Some well-known examples of literary analysis show the variety of approaches that can be taken:

Eve Kosofky Sedgwick’s book Between Men analyzes Victorian literature in light of more contemporary perspectives on gender and sexuality.
Roland Barthes’ S/Z provides an in-depth structural analysis of a short story by Balzac.
Harold Bloom’s The Anxiety of Influence applies his own “influence theory” to an analysis of various classic poets.

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If you want to know more about statistics , methodology , or research bias , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Normal distribution
Measures of central tendency
Chi square tests
Confidence interval
Quartiles & Quantiles
Cluster sampling
Stratified sampling
Thematic analysis
Cohort study
Peer review
Ethnography

Research bias

Implicit bias
Cognitive bias
Conformity bias
Hawthorne effect
Availability heuristic
Attrition bias
Social desirability bias

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How to Write an Analysis Essay: Examples + Writing Guide

An analysis / analytical essay is a standard assignment in college or university. You might be asked to conduct an in-depth analysis of a research paper, a report, a movie, a company, a book, or an event. In this article, you’ll find out how to write an analysis paper introduction, thesis, main body, and conclusion, and analytical essay example.

So, what is an analytical essay? This type of assignment implies that you set up an argument and analyze it using a range of claims. The claims should be supported by appropriate empirical evidence. Note that you need to explore both the positive and negative sides of the issue fully.

Analytical skills are the key to getting through your academic career. Moreover, they can be useful in many real-life situations. Keep reading this article by Custom-writing experts to learn how to write an analysis!

❓ What Is an Analytical Essay?

🤔 Getting Started

📑 Analytical Essay Outline

📔 Choosing a Title
💁 Writing an Introduction
🏋 Writing a Body
🏁 Writing a Conclusion

🔗 References

Before you learn how to start an analysis essay, you should understand some fundamentals of writing this type of paper. It implies that you analyze an argument using a range of claims supported by facts . It is essential to understand that in your analysis essay, you’ll need to explore the negative sides of the issue and the positive ones. That’s what distinguishes an analytical essay from, say, a persuasive one.

Begin Your Analysis essay with a Literature Review. Then Make an Outline, Write and Polish Your Draft.

These are the steps to write an academic paper :

Review the literature . Before starting any paper, you should familiarize yourself with what has already been written in the field. And the analytical essay is no exception. The easiest way is to search on the web for the information.
Brainstorm ideas. After you’ve done your search, it is time for a brainstorm! Make a list of topics for your analysis essay, and then choose the best one. Generate your thesis statement in the same way.
Prepare an outline . Now, when you’ve decided on the topic and the thesis statement of your analytical essay, think of its structure. Below you will find more detailed information on how your paper should be structured.
Write the first draft. You’ve done a lot of work by now. Congratulations! Your next goal is to write the first version of your analysis essay, using all the notes that you have. Remember, you don’t need to make it perfect!
Polish your draft. Now take your time to polish and edit your draft to transform it into the paper’s final version.

You are usually assigned to analyze an article, a book, a movie, or an event. If you need to write your analytical essay on a book or an article, you’ll have to analyze the style of the text, its main points, and the author’s purported goals.

🤔 Analytical Essay: Getting Started

The key to writing an analysis paper is to choose an argument that you will defend throughout it. For example: maybe you are writing a critical analysis paper on George Orwell’s Animal Farm The first and imperative task is to think about your thesis statement. In the case of Animal Farm , the argument could be:

In Orwell’s Animal Farm , rhetoric and language prove to be more effective ways to keep social control than physical power.

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill gives a great explanation of the thesis statement , how to create one, and what its function is.

But that’s not all. Once you have your thesis statement, you need to break down how you will approach your analysis essay to prove your thesis. To do this, follow these steps:

Define the main goal(s) of your analysis . Remember that it is impossible to address each and every aspect in a single paper. Know your goal and focus on it.
Conduct research , both online and offline, to clarify the issue contained within your thesis statement.
Identify the main parts of the issue by looking at each part separately to see how it works.
Try to clearly understand how each part works.
Identify the links between the various aspects of the topic .
By using the information you found, try to solve your main problem .

At this point, you should have a clear understanding of both the topic and your thesis statement. You should also have a clear direction for your analysis paper firmly planted in your mind and recorded in writing.

This will give you what you need to produce the paper’s outline.

An outline is the starting point for your work. A typical analytical essay features the usual essay structure. A 500-word essay should consist of a one-paragraph introduction, a three-paragraph body, and a one-paragraph conclusion. Find below a great analytical essay outline sample. Feel free to use it as an example when doing your own work!

Analysis Essay: Introduction

Start with a startling statement or provocative question.

“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal”. Animal Farm abounds in ironic and provocative phrases to start an analytical essay.

Introduce the work and its author.
Give background information that would help the reader understand your opinion.
Formulate a thesis statement informing the reader about the purpose of the essay. Essay format does not presuppose telling everything possible on the given topic. Thus, a thesis statement tells what you are going to say, implying what you will not discuss, establishing the limits.

In Animal Farm, Orwell uses different irony types to ridicule totalitarianism to manifest its inability to make every member of society equal and happy.

Analysis Essay: Body

The analytical essay structure requires 2-3 developmental paragraphs, each dedicated to one separate idea confirming your thesis statement. The following template should be used for each of the body paragraphs.

Start with a topic sentence that supports an aspect of your thesis.

Dramatic irony is used in Animal Farm to point out society’s ignorance.

Continue with textual evidence (paraphrase, summary, direct quotations, specific details). Use several examples that substantiate the topic sentence.

Animals are unaware of the fact that Boxer was never sent to the hospital. He was sent to the slaughterhouse. However, the reader and writer understand that this is a lie.

Conclude with an explanation.

By allowing the readers to learn some essential facts before the characters, dramatic irony creates suspense and shows how easy it is to persuade and manipulate the public.

Analysis Essay Conclusion

The next four points will give you a short instruction on how to conclude an analytical essay.

Never use new information or topics here.
Restate your thesis in a different formulation.
Summarize the body paragraphs.
Comment on the analyzed text from a new perspective.

📔 Choosing a Title for Your Analysis Essay

Choosing a title seems like not a significant step, but it is actually very important. The title of your critical analysis paper should:

Entice and engage the reader
Be unique and capture the readers’ attention
Provide an adequate explanation of the content of the essay in just a few carefully chosen words

In the Animal Farm example, your title could be:

“How Do the Pigs Manage to Keep Social Control on Animal Farm?”

Analysis Essay Topics

Analyze the media content.
Analyze the specifics and history of hip-hop culture.
Sociological issues in the film Interstellar .
Discuss the techniques M. Atwood uses to describe social issues in her novel The Handmaid’s Tale .
Compare and analyze the paintings of Van Gogh and George Seurat.
Analysis of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Black Cat .
Examine the juvenile crime rates.
Describe the influence of different parenting styles on children’s mind.
Analyze the concept of the Ship of Theseus .
Compare and analyze the various views on intelligence .
Analysis of The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman .
Discuss the techniques used by W. Shakespeare in A Midsummer Night’s Dream .
Analyze the biography of Frederic Chopin .
Manifestation of the Chicano culture in the artwork An Ofrenda for Dolores del Rio .
Similarities and differences of Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Spanish Empires .
Describe the problem of stalking and its impact on human mental health.
Examine the future of fashion .
Analyze the topicality of the article Effectiveness of Hand Hygiene Interventions in Reducing Illness Absence .
Discuss Thomas Paine’s impact on the success of American revolution.
Meaningful messages in Recitatif by Toni Morrison .
Explore the techniques used by directors in the film Killing Kennedy .
Compare the leadership styles of Tang Empress Wu Zetian and the Pharaoh Cleopatra .
Evaluate the credibility of Kristof’s arguments in his article Remote Learning Is Often an Oxymoron.
Analyze genetically modified food.
Examine the influence of Europeans on Indian tribes in The Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson .
Describe the rhetoric techniques used in The Portrait of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde .
The importance of fighting against violence in communities in the documentary film The Interrupters .
Analyze indoor and outdoor pollution.
Analyze the issue of overprotective parenthood .
Explore the connection between eating habits and advertisement.
Discuss the urgence of global warming issue.
Influence of sleep on people’s body and mental health.
Analyze the relationship between Christianity and sports .
Discuss the concept of leadership and its significance for company efficiency.
Analyze the key lessons of the book Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki.
Examine the specifics of nursing ethic.
The theme of emotional sufferings in the short story A Rose for Emily .
Analysis of bias in books for children .
Analyze the rhetoric of the article Public Monuments .
Describe the main messages in Jean-Paul Sartre’s Nausea .
Explore the problem of structural racism in healthcare.
The reasons of tango dance popularity.
The shortcomings of the American educational system in Waiting for Superman.
Analyze and compare Erin’s Law and Megan’s Law.
Analyze the James Madison’s essay Federalist 10 .
Examine symbols in the movie The Joker.
Compare the thematic connection and stylistic devices in the poems The Road Not Taken and Find Your Way .
Describe and analyze the life of Eddie Bernice Johnson.
Explore the social classes in America.
Crucial strengths and weaknesses of the main translation theories .

💁 Writing Your Analytical Essay Introduction

You must understand how to compose an introduction to an analysis paper. The University of Wollongong describes the introduction as a “map” of any writing. When writing the introduction, follow these steps:

Provide a lead-in for the reader by offering a general introduction to the topic of the paper.
Include your thesis statement , which shifts the reader from the generalized introduction to the specific topic and its related issues to your unique take on the essay topic.
Present a general outline of the analysis paper.

Watch this great video for further instructions on how to write an introduction to an analysis essay.

Example of an Analytical Essay Introduction

“Four legs good, two legs bad” is one of the many postulates invented by George Orwell for his characters in Animal Farm to vest them with socialist ideology and control over the animal population. The social revolution on Manor Farm was built on language instruments, first for the collective success of the animals, and later for the power consolidation by the pigs. The novel was written in 1945 when the transition from limitless freedoms of socialist countries transformed into dictatorship. Through his animal protagonists, the author analyzes the reasons for peoples’ belief in the totalitarian regime. In Orwell’s Animal Farm , rhetoric and language prove to be more effective ways to keep social control than physical power.

🏋 Writing Your Analytical Essay Body

The body of the paper may be compared to its heart. This is the part where you show off your talent for analysis by providing convincing, well-researched, and well-thought-out arguments to support your thesis statement. You have already gathered the information, and now all you may start crafting your paper.

To make the body of an analytical essay, keep the following in mind:

Discuss one argument per paragraph , although each argument can relate to multiple issues
Strike a balance between writing in an unbiased tone, while expressing your personal opinion
Be reasonable when making judgments regarding any of the problems you discuss
Remember to include the opposing point of view to create a balanced perspective

The bottom line is: you want to offer opposing views, but you must pose your arguments so they will counter those opposing views and prove your point of view. Follow these steps when constructing each body paragraph:

Choose the main sentence. The main or topic sentence will be the first line in your essay. The topic sentence is responsible for presenting the argument you will discuss in the paragraph and demonstrate how this argument relates to the thesis statement.
Provide the context for the topic sentence , whether it relates to a quote, a specific incident in society, or something else. Offer evidence on who, what, where, when, why, and how.
Give your analysis of the argument and how it adequately proves your thesis.
Write a closing sentence that sums up the paragraph and provides a transition to the following paragraph.

Example of an Analytical Essay Body

Literacy can grant power, provided that there are animals who cannot read or write. In the beginning, the animals’ literacy and intellect are relatively the same. Old Major is the cleverest pig; he is the kind old philosopher, like Karl Marx or Vladimir Lenin. During his retirement, he develops a theory that all humans are the root of evil. His speech was the foundation for the pigs’ assumption of power. They refined his ideas into a new ideology and called it Animalism. They also learned how to read. It allowed the pigs to declare themselves the “mind workers.” Therefore, the pigs’ literacy assured the illiterate animals in their objective superiority.

Meanwhile, as the pigs were the intellectual elite, they were not supposed to work, which raised their social status by itself. Snowball tried to promote education among all the animals, but most of them failed to master the alphabet. This is a metaphor for the general public being predominantly ignorant and easy to manipulate. At the same time, Boxer and other animals that spend most of the day in hard work merely have no time to develop their intellect. Thus, the pigs’ intention to build a school for pig children was highly efficient. Unequal access to education and unequal ability to express one’s thoughts in perspective reinforce the social divide, making the pigs smarter and more powerful and undermining other animals’ self-esteem.

At this point, the pigs resort to propaganda and rhetoric. Squealer uses his oratorical gift to refine the pigs’ message to the other animals. Upon Napoleon’s order, he breaks the Seven Commandments of farm governance. At night, he climbs the ladder to change them, and once even falls from the ladder trying to change the commandment on alcohol. The “proletarian” animals soon forget what the Seven Commandments were like in the first place and are unsure if they have ever been altered. Further on, Minimus writes a poem praising Napoleon. Finally, Squealer replaces the Commandments with a single assertion: “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” Language is no longer used to convince. It is used to control and manipulate.

🏁 Writing Your Analytical Essay Conclusion

The conclusion is short and sweet. It summarizes everything you just wrote in the essay and wraps it up with a beautiful shiny bow. Follow these steps to write a convincing conclusion:

Repeat the thesis statement and summarize your argument. Even when using the best summary generator for the task, reread it to make sure all the crucial points are included.
Take your argument beyond what is simply stated in your paper. You want to show how it is essential in terms of the bigger picture. Also, you may dwell on the influence on citizens of the country.

Example of an Analytical Essay Conclusion

Because of everything mentioned above, it becomes clear that language and rhetoric can rise to power, establish authority, and manipulate ordinary people. Animal Farm is the simplified version of a communist society. It shows how wise philosophers’ good intentions can be used by mean leaders to gain unopposed power and unconditional trust. Unfortunately, this can lead to the death of many innocent animals, i.e., people, as totalitarianism has nothing to do with people’s rule. Therefore, language and oratory are potent tools that can keep people oppressed and weak, deprive them of any chance for improvement and growth, and make them think that there is no other possible existence.

Now you are ready to write an analysis essay! See, it’s easier than you thought.

Of course, it’s always helpful to see other analysis essay examples. The University of Arkansas at Little Rock provides some great examples of an analytical paper .

✏️ Analysis Essay FAQ

A great analytical paper should be well-structured, cohesive, and logically consistent. Each part of the essay should be in its place, creating a smooth and easy-to-read text. Most importantly, the statements should be objective and backed by arguments and examples.

It is a paper devoted to analyzing a certain topic or subject. An analysis essay is all about reviewing certain details of the subject and interpreting them. For example, such an analysis for a poem includes a description of artistic means that helped the poet convey the idea.

Writing an analytical essay on a book/movie/poem start with an outline. Point out what catches the eye when reviewing the subject. See how these details can be interpreted. Make sure that you refer to the main idea/message. Add an appropriate introduction and a logical conclusion.

Being more analytical in writing can be essential for a student. This is a skill that can be self-taught: try to start noticing subtle details and describe them. As you write, interpret the facts and strive to draw conclusions. Try to be as objective as possible.

Elements of Analysis
How Can I Create Stronger Analysis?
How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay: Bucks.edu
Essay Structure | – Harvard College Writing Center
Analytical Writing: Looking Closely (Colostate.edu)
Analytical Thesis Statements – University of Arizona
Writing an analytic essay – UTSC – University of Toronto
Organizing Your Analysis // Purdue Writing Lab
How to Write an Analytical Essay: 15 Steps (with Pictures)
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This resource helps me a lot. Thanks! You guys have great information. Do you think I can use these steps when taking a test? Could it be known as plagiarized if I just copy and paste the information?

Thanks, very good information.

Thanks for learning how to critique research papers in a proper way! This is what I need to cope with this task successfully! Thanks!

How much is an essay, and is there a chance it can be plagiarized?

Encyclopedia for Writers

Writing with artificial intelligence, textual analysis – how to engage in textual analysis.

Table of Contents

As a reader, a developing writer, and an informed student and citizen, you need to be able to locate, understand, and critically analyze others’ purposes in communicating information. Being able to identify and articulate the meaning of other writers’ arguments and theses enables you to engage in intelligent, meaningful, and critical knowledge exchanges. Ultimately, regardless of the discipline you choose to participate in, textual analysis —the summary, contextualization, and interpretation of a writer’s effective or ineffective delivery of their perspective on a topic, statement of thesis, and development of an argument—will be an invaluable skill. Your ability to critically engage in knowledge exchanges—through the analysis of others’ communication—is integral to your success as a student and as a citizen.

Step 1: What Is The Thesis?

In order to learn how to better recognize a thesis in a written text, let’s consider the following argument:

So far, [Google+] does seem better than Facebook, though I’m still a rookie and don’t know how to do even some basic things.

It’s better in design terms, and also much better with its “circles” allowing you to target posts to various groups.

Example: following that high school reunion, the overwhelming majority of my Facebook friends list (which I’m barely rebuilding after my rejoin) are people from my own hometown. None of these people are going to care too much when my new book comes out from Edinburgh. Likewise, not too many of you would care to hear inside jokes about our old high school teachers, or whatever it is we banter about.

Another example: people I know only from exchanging a couple of professional emails with them ask to be Facebook friends. I’ve never met these people and have no idea what they’re really like, even if they seem nice enough on email. Do I really want to add them to my friends list on the same level as my closest friends, brothers, valued colleagues, etc.? Not yet. But then there’s the risk of offending people if you don’t add them. On Google+ you can just drop them in the “acquaintances” circle, and they’ll never know how they’re classified.

But they won’t be getting any highly treasured personal information there, which is exactly the restriction you probably want for someone you’ve never met before.

I also don’t like too many family members on my Facebook friends list, because frankly they don’t need to know everything I’m doing or chatting about with people. But on Google+ this problem will be easily manageable. (Harman)

The first sentence, “[Google+] does seem better than Facebook” (Harman), doesn’t communicate the writer’s position on the topic; it is merely an observation . A position, also called a “claim,” often includes the conjunction “because,” providing a reason why the writer’s observation is unique, meaningful, and critical.https://www.youtube.com/embed/rwSFfnlwtjY?rel=0&feature=youtu.beTherefore, if the writer’s sentence, “[Google+] does seem better than Facebook” (Harman), is simply an observation, then in order to identify the writer’s position, we must find the answer to “because, why?” One such answer can be found in the author’s rhetorical question/answer, “Do I really want to add them to my friends list on the same level as my closest friends, brothers, valued colleagues, etc.? Not yet” (Harman). The writer’s “because, why?” could be “because Google+ allows me to manage old, new, and potential friends and acquaintances using separate circles, so that I’m targeting posts to various, separate groups.” Therefore, the writer’s thesis—their position—could be something like, “Google+ is better than Facebook because its design enables me to manage my friends using separate circles, so that I’m targeting posts to various, separate groups instead of posting the same information for everyone I’ve added to my network.”

In addition to communicating a position on a particular topic, a writer’s thesis outlines what aspects of the topic they will address. Outlining intentions within a thesis is not only acceptable, but also one of a writer’s primary obligations, since the thesis relates their general argument. In a sense, you could think of the thesis as a responsibility to answer the question, “What will you/won’t you be claiming and why?”

To explain this further, let’s consider another example. If someone were to ask you what change you want to see in the world, you probably wouldn’t readily answer “world peace,” even though you (and many others) may want that. Why wouldn’t you answer that way? Because such an answer is far too broad and ambiguous to be logically argued. Although world peace may be your goal, for logic’s sake, you would be better off articulating your answer as “a peaceful solution to the violence currently occurring on the border of southern Texas and Mexico,” or something similarly specific. The distinction between the two answers should be clear: the first answer, “world peace,” is broad, ambiguous, and not a fully developed claim (there wouldn’t be many, if any, people who would disagree with this statement); the second answer is narrower, more specific, and a fully developed claim. It confines the argument to a particular example of violence, but still allows you to address what you want, “world peace,” on a smaller, more manageable, and more logical scale.

Since a writer’s thesis functions as an outline of what they will address in an argument, it is often organized in the same manner as the argument itself. Let’s return to the argument about Google+ for an example. If the author stated their position as suggested—“Google+ is better than Facebook because its design enables me to manage my friends using separate circles, so that I’m targeting posts to various, separate groups instead of posting the same information I’ve added to my network”—we would expect them to first address the similarities and differences between the designs of Google+ and Facebook, and then the reasons why they believe Google+ is a more effective way of sharing information. The organization of their thesis should reflect the overall order of their argument. Such a well-organized thesis builds the foundation for a cohesive and persuasive argument.

Textual Analysis: How is the Argument Structured?

“Textual analysis” is the term writers use to describe a reader’s written explanation of a text. The reader’s textual analysis ought to include a summary of the author’s topic, an analysis or explanation of how the author’s perspective relates to the ongoing conversation about that particular topic, an interpretation of the effectiveness of the author’s argument and thesis , and references to specific components of the text that support his or her analysis or explanation.

An effective argument generally consists of the following components:

A thesis. Communicates the writer’s position on a particular topic.
Acknowledgement of opposition. Explains existing objections to the writer’s position.
Clearly defined premises outlining reasoning. Details the logic of the writer’s position.
Evidence of validating premises. Proves the writer’s thorough research of the topic.
A conclusion convincing the audience of the argument’s soundness/persuasiveness. Argues the writer’s position is relevant, logical, and thoroughly researched and communicated.

An effective argument also is specifically concerned with the components involved in researching, framing, and communicating evidence:

The credibility and breadth of the writer’s research
The techniques (like rhetorical appeals) used to communicate the evidence (see “The Rhetorical Appeals”)
The relevance of the evidence as it reflects the concerns and interests of the author’s targeted audience

To identify and analyze a writer’s argument, you must critically read and understand the text in question. Focus and take notes as you read, highlighting what you believe are key words or important phrases. Once you are confident in your general understanding of the text, you’ll need to explain the author’s argument in a condensed summary. One way of accomplishing this is to ask yourself the following questions:

What topic has the author written about? (Explain in as few words as possible.)
What is the author’s point of view concerning their topic?
What has the author written about the opposing point of view? (Where does it appear as though the author is “giving credit” to the opposition?)
Does the author offer proof (either in reference to another published source or from personal experience) supporting their stance on the topic?
As a reader, would you say that the argument is persuasive? Can you think of ways to strengthen the argument? Using which evidence or techniques?

Your articulation of the author’s argument will most likely derive from your answers to these questions. Let’s reconsider the argument about Google+ and answer the reflection questions listed above:

The author’s topic is two social networks—Google+ and Facebook.

The author is “for” the new social network Google+.

The author makes a loose allusion to the opposing point of view in the explanation, “I’m still a rookie and don’t know how to do even some basic things” (Harman). (The author alludes to his inexperience and, therefore, the potential for the opposing argument to have more merit.)

Yes, the author offers proof from personal experience, particularly through their first example: “following that high school reunion, the overwhelming majority of my Facebook friends list (which I’m barely rebuilding after my rejoin) are people from my hometown” (Harman). In their second example, they cite that “[o]n Google+ you can just drop [individuals] in the ‘acquaintances’ circle, and they’ll never even know how they’re classified” (Harman) in order to offer even more credible proof, based on the way Google+ operates instead of personal experience.

Yes, I would say that this argument is persuasive, although if I wanted to make it even stronger, I would include more detailed information about the opposing point of view. A balanced argument—one that fairly and thoroughly articulates both sides—is often more respected and better received because it proves to the audience that the writer has thoroughly researched the topic prior to making a judgment in favor of one perspective or another.

Works Cited

Harman, Graham. Object-Oriented Philosophy. WordPress, n.d. Web. 15 May 2012.

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Tips and techniques for writing effective and powerful analytical essays.

Are you struggling to craft an effective analytical essay? Do you find yourself getting lost in a sea of information or unsure of how to present your analysis in a clear and concise manner? Look no further – this step-by-step guide will provide you with valuable tips and strategies to elevate your analytical essay writing skills to the next level.

Writing an analytical essay involves carefully examining a subject or topic and providing a thorough analysis and interpretation of the information gathered. It requires critical thinking, attention to detail, and the ability to express ideas and arguments coherently. In this guide, we will explore various techniques and approaches to help you develop and refine your analytical writing skills, allowing you to tackle any analytical essay with confidence and precision.

One crucial aspect of writing an analytical essay is conducting thorough research. To ensure your essay is well-informed and robust, it’s important to delve into reputable sources, such as academic journals, books, and reliable websites. By gathering a wide range of sources related to your topic, you will acquire a solid understanding of the subject matter, which will enable you to provide a comprehensive analysis in your essay.

Another essential element of analytical essay writing is the development of a strong thesis statement. Your thesis should present a clear and concise argument or claim that you will support throughout your essay. It should be specific, debatable, and relevant to the topic at hand. By crafting a well-defined thesis statement, you provide the backbone for your entire essay, guiding your analysis and helping you maintain a focused approach.

Furthermore, an effective analytical essay requires careful organization and structure. Divide your essay into logical paragraphs, each addressing a specific point or aspect of your analysis. Use topic sentences to introduce each paragraph, guiding your reader and providing a clear roadmap of your essay’s progression. Additionally, utilize transitional phrases and words to create smooth transitions between paragraphs, ensuring a cohesive and coherent flow.

Finding a Strong Topic for Your Essay

Choosing the right topic is a crucial first step in writing an analytical essay. The topic sets the tone for the entire essay and determines its scope and focus. It is important to select a topic that is engaging, relevant, and allows for in-depth analysis. This section will provide you with helpful strategies for finding a strong topic that will captivate your readers.

Gathering and Evaluating Reliable Sources

One of the key aspects of writing an analytical essay is gathering and evaluating reliable sources. The quality of your sources can greatly impact the strength and credibility of your arguments. In this section, we will explore the importance of finding trustworthy sources and discuss strategies for evaluating their reliability.

When conducting research for your essay, it is crucial to seek out sources that are authoritative and trustworthy. Reliable sources are those that have been written by experts in the field or have been published in reputable academic journals. These sources are often backed by extensive research and provide accurate and unbiased information.

When evaluating the reliability of a source, there are several factors to consider. Firstly, check the author’s credentials and expertise in the subject matter. Look for individuals who have relevant qualifications or experience in the field. This will help establish their credibility and ensure that they are knowledgeable on the topic.

In addition to the author’s credentials, consider the publication or website where the source is found. Reputable academic journals, books from respected publishers, and reputable websites such as government or educational institutions are generally more reliable sources of information. Be cautious of sources from unknown or biased sources, as they may not provide accurate or unbiased information.

Furthermore, it is important to analyze the content of the source itself. Look for evidence-based arguments, logical reasoning, and a balanced presentation of different perspectives. A reliable source should provide well-supported claims and back them up with relevant evidence and examples.

Finally, consider the date of publication. While older sources can still provide valuable insights, it is important to have up-to-date information, especially in fields that are rapidly evolving or undergoing significant changes. Check for recent studies and publications to ensure that your information is current.

In conclusion, gathering and evaluating reliable sources is a critical step in writing an analytical essay. By seeking out trustworthy sources and analyzing their credibility, you can strengthen your arguments and provide a solid foundation for your essay. Keep in mind the importance of author expertise, publication credibility, content analysis, and the recency of the information. Through careful evaluation, you can ensure that your essay is well-informed and persuasive.

Creating an Outline for Your Essay

One of the most important steps in the essay writing process is creating an outline. An outline serves as a roadmap for your essay, helping you to organize your thoughts and ideas in a logical and coherent manner.

When creating an outline for your essay, it’s important to start by identifying the main points or arguments that you want to make. These main points will serve as the foundation of your essay and should be presented in a clear and concise manner. You can think of these main points as the “backbone” of your essay.

Once you have identified the main points, you can then begin to develop subpoints that support and expand upon each main point. These subpoints should provide specific examples, evidence, or analysis to strengthen your main arguments. In essence, they help to fill in the details and provide a deeper understanding of your main points.

Organizing your main points and subpoints can be done in various ways. One common method is to use a hierarchical structure, such as an outline with Roman numerals, capital letters, and Arabic numerals. Another method is to use bullet points or a numbered list. You can choose the method that works best for you, based on the complexity of your essay and the level of detail you want to include in your outline.

As you create your outline, it’s important to keep in mind the overall structure of your essay. Your introduction should provide a brief overview of the topic and present your thesis statement. The body paragraphs should present and develop your main points and subpoints, providing evidence and analysis to support your arguments. Finally, your conclusion should summarize your main points and restate your thesis in a concise and compelling manner.

Remember that your outline is a flexible tool that can be revised and adjusted as you work on your essay. It’s not set in stone and can be modified as needed to better reflect your evolving ideas and arguments. Don’t be afraid to make changes and reorganize your outline as you go along.

In conclusion, creating an outline for your essay is an essential step in the writing process. It helps you to organize your thoughts, develop your arguments, and maintain a logical flow throughout your essay. By investing time and effort into creating a strong outline, you’ll set yourself up for success and make the writing process much smoother.

Developing a Clear and Coherent Argument

When it comes to writing analytical essays, one of the most important aspects is developing a clear and coherent argument. It is essential to have a well-structured and logical argument in order to effectively convey your ideas and convince your readers.

First and foremost, it is crucial to have a clear understanding of the topic you are writing about. Take the time to thoroughly research and gather relevant information, as this will provide you with the necessary knowledge to build a strong argument. Additionally, make sure to identify any key terms or concepts that are essential to your argument, as this will help you stay focused and ensure coherence throughout your essay.

Once you have a solid foundation of knowledge, it is important to organize your argument in a logical manner. Start by outlining the main points or claims you want to make, and then provide supporting evidence or examples for each of these points. Be sure to clearly state your thesis statement, which should summarize the main argument you are making in your essay.

In order to maintain coherence in your argument, it is important to use logical transitions between your ideas. This can be done through the use of transitional words and phrases, such as “however,” “in addition,” or “on the other hand.” These transitions will help guide your reader through your argument and ensure that your ideas flow smoothly from one point to the next.

Lastly, it is crucial to anticipate and address counterarguments in your essay. By acknowledging opposing viewpoints and effectively refuting them, you can further strengthen your overall argument. This demonstrates that you have considered multiple perspectives and have arrived at your own well-supported conclusion.

In conclusion, developing a clear and coherent argument is essential when writing analytical essays. By thoroughly researching your topic, organizing your ideas in a logical manner, using transitions effectively, and addressing counterarguments, you can effectively convey your ideas and make a convincing argument to your readers.

Strengthening Your Essay with Relevant Evidence

In order to create a compelling and persuasive analytical essay, it is essential to back up your arguments with relevant evidence. This evidence serves to support your claims and gives your essay credibility and authority.

When selecting evidence for your essay, it is important to choose examples and facts that are directly related to your topic. This will help to establish a strong connection between your argument and the evidence you present. Additionally, using relevant evidence allows you to make a more convincing case and gives your readers confidence in the validity of your assertions.

Relevant evidence can come in various forms, such as statistics, research studies, expert opinions, and real-life examples. By incorporating a mix of different types of evidence, you can strengthen the overall impact of your essay and appeal to a wider range of readers.

To ensure that the evidence you include in your essay is relevant, it is necessary to thoroughly research your topic and gather information from reliable sources. This will help you to find the most up-to-date and accurate evidence to support your arguments.

In addition to choosing relevant evidence, it is also crucial to properly integrate it into your essay. Make sure to clearly introduce each piece of evidence and explain how it supports your main points. Use strong and persuasive language to highlight the significance of the evidence and its connection to your argument.

Remember that the purpose of using relevant evidence is not only to support your argument but also to engage your readers and help them understand your perspective. By presenting well-chosen and compelling evidence, you can make your essay more persuasive and leave a lasting impression on your audience.

How to master the art of writing expository essays and captivate your audience, convenient and reliable source to purchase college essays online, step-by-step guide to crafting a powerful literary analysis essay, unlock success with a comprehensive business research paper example guide, unlock your writing potential with writers college – transform your passion into profession, “unlocking the secrets of academic success – navigating the world of research papers in college”, master the art of sociological expression – elevate your writing skills in sociology.

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In the courtyard where Hersh Goldberg-Polin danced on Oct. 6, grief and anger reign after his death

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Shira Ben-Sasson, a founder of the Hakhel synagogue in Jerusalem, lights a candle in memory of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Sept. 1, 2024. (Deborah Danan)

By Deborah Danan September 1, 2024

( JTA ) — JERUSALEM — Three hundred and thirty-two days after Hersh Goldberg-Polin danced in the courtyard next to his Jerusalem synagogue on the holiday of Simchat Torah, more than a thousand people gathered there in grief and prayer to mourn his murder by Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

During the Sunday night vigil, the courtyard railings were lined with oversized yellow ribbons to symbolize advocacy for the hostages, Hapoel Jerusalem soccer flags — the 23-year-old’s favorite team — and posters that read, “We love you, stay strong, survive,” a mantra coined by his mother, Rachel Goldberg-Polin.

Just hours earlier, one of the posters had been hanging over the balcony of the home of Shira Ben-Sasson, a leader of Hakhel, the Goldberg-Polins’ egalitarian congregation in the Baka neighborhood of Jerusalem.

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“We were sure we would take it down when he came home,” Ben Sasson said.

The community wanted to unite while respecting the Goldberg-Polins’ desire for privacy, she said, prompting them to organize the prayer gathering.

“But it’s like a Band-Aid or giving first aid, it’s what you do in an emergency. I don’t know how we go on after this,” she said.

She added that the community, which has a large contingent of English-speaking immigrants, was not prepared for the High Holidays, which begin in about a month. She said, “Seeing his empty seat is hard.”

For Ben-Sasson, who wore a T-shirt bearing the Talmudic dictum “There is no greater mitzvah than the redeeming of captives,” the tragedy is especially painful because, she said, it could have been avoided with a ceasefire agreement that freed hostages.

“Hersh was alive 48 hours ago. We think a deal could have saved him. There is no military solution to this,” she said.

That feeling of bereavement, often mixed with betrayal, pervaded gatherings across Israel on Sunday, as the country struggled with the news that six hostages who may have been freed in an agreement were now dead as negotiations continue to stall. Speakers at protests in Tel Aviv blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who himself apologized for not getting the hostages out alive but blamed Hamas for obstructing a deal. The country’s labor union, the Histadrut, has called a national strike on Monday to demand a deal.

Some at the Jerusalem gathering, including the relative of another former hostage, said Netanyahu had chosen defeating Hamas over freeing the captives.

Josef Avi Yair Engel, whose grandson Ofir was released from Hamas captivity in November during that month’s ceasefire deal, expressed shock over Hersh’s murder but said he was not surprised, given the wartime policies of Netanyahu’s government.

“We knew months ago this was going to happen. Bibi’s formula, to dismantle Hamas and return the hostages, wasn’t logical. It’s an either/or situation,” Engel said, referring to Netanyahu by his nickname. “He’s tearing the country apart. I’m afraid that in the coming months there won’t be a state at all.”

Engel said he felt a close bond with Hersh’s father Jon Polin, not only because of their joint activism in the hostage families’ tent outside the Prime Minister’s Residence, but also because of their shared identity as Jerusalemites.

“There aren’t many of us in the hostage circle,” he said. “We’re like family.”

Sarah Mann, who did not know the family personally, said the weekend’s tragedy reminded her of Oct. 7.

“This day has sparks of the seventh, which created numbness and an inability to talk. Just complete shock,” she said.

Part of the reason for that, Mann said, was Rachel, who she described as a “force of faith.” Goldberg-Polin’s mother emerged as the most prominent advocate for the hostages globally and became a symbol in her own right as she crisscrossed the world calling for her son’s freedom.

“Millions of people around the world held onto her. Once that was cut, people’s ability to hold onto faith was knocked out today. But even though this has shattered us, we need to keep holding onto God,” Mann said.

For Susi Döring Preston, the day called to mind was not Oct. 7 but Yom Kippur, and its communal solemnity.

She said she usually steers clear of similar war-related events because they are too overwhelming for her.

“Before I avoided stuff like this because I guess I still had hope. But now is the time to just give in to needing to be around people because you can’t hold your own self up any more,” she said, tears rolling down her face. “You need to feel the humanity and hang onto that.”

Like so many others, Döring Preston paid tribute to the Goldberg-Polins’ tireless activism. “They needed everyone else’s strength but we drew so much strength from them and their efforts, “she said. “You felt it could change the outcome. But war is more evil than good. I think that’s the crushing thing. You can do everything right, but the outcome is still devastating.”

Guy Gordon, a member of Hakhel who moved to Israel from Dublin, Ireland, in the mid-1990s, said the efforts towards ensuring Hersh’s safe return have been an anchor for the community during the war.

“It gave us something to hope for, and pray for and to demonstrate for,” he said. “We had no choice but to be unreasonably optimistic. Tragically it transpired that he survived until the very end.”

Gordon, like many others in the crowd, wore a piece of duct tape marked with the number of days since Oct. 7 — a gesture initiated by Goldberg-Polin’s mother. Unlike on previous days, though, his tape also featured a broken red heart beside the number.

Nadia Levene, a family friend, also reflected on the improbability of Hersh’s survival.

“He did exactly what his parents begged him to do. He was strong. He did survive. And look what happened,” Levene said.

She hailed Rachel Goldberg-Polin’s “unwavering strength and belief in God,” adding, “There were times I lost faith. I suppose I was angry with God. But she just kept inspiring us all to pray, pray, pray.”

Jerusalem resident Leah Silver rejected politicizing the hostages’ deaths.

“Everything turns political so quickly. I came here because I felt that before all the protests, we need to just mourn for a moment and to pray. And show respect for each other,” she said. “We’ve become confused about who the enemy is. It’s very sad.”

But not everyone at the gathering joined in to sing Israel’s national anthem at the closing of the prayer gathering.

“I’m sorry, I can’t sing ‘Hatikvah,’” Reza Green, a Baka resident who did not know the Goldberg-Polins personally, said. “I’m too angry. We shouldn’t be here.”

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L-R: Guy Sasson, Shahar Milfelder, Ezra Frech and Ian Seidenfeld. (Getty Images)

The Jewish Sport Report: Jewish and Israeli Paralympians had a big week in Paris

Ami Dadaon competes during the men’s 50-meter freestyle S4 heats at the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympic Games, Sept. 6, 2024, in Nanterre, France. (Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

Israeli swimmer Ami Dadaon wins Paralympic bronze, his 4th Paris medal and Israel’s 10th

Colleagues of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, an American Turkish activist who died after reportedly being shot in the West Bank town of Beita, react on news of her death in a hospital in Nablus in the West Bank on Sept. 6, 2024. (AFP via Getty Images).

White House calls on Israel to investigate after American activist shot dead during West Bank protest

Fred Kormis in his studio in the 1980s. (Courtesy Wiener Holocaust Library Collections)

He escaped the Nazis and created Britain’s first memorial to their victims. Now this artist is getting a second look.

Watch: Tearful funeral of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, American-Israeli hostage killed by Hamas

A protester holds a poster with a photo of 23-year-old U.S.-Israeli Hersh Goldberg-Polin as people gather with signs calling for the release of hostages held by Hamas since Oct. 7, during a rally in Tel Aviv Oct. 28.

Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23, is one of 6 Israeli hostages killed by Hamas in Gaza, IDF reports

Rachel Goldberg-Polin and Jonathan Polin, parents of Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin, attend a demonstration by the border of Gaza with other hostage families, Aug. 29.

Thanks to his mother, we are all sitting shiva for Hersh Goldberg-Polin

Former President Donald Trump with former U.S. ambassador to Israel David Friedman on Feb. 22, 2024.

Trump’s Israel adviser suggests diverting $1 billion from Palestinian aid to fund West Bank annexation

Der Nister, the hidden shul on the 14th floor

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CNN’s Dana Bash is latest Jewish author targeted by pro-Palestinian activists

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How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay
Table of contents. Step 1: Reading the text and identifying literary devices. Step 2: Coming up with a thesis. Step 3: Writing a title and introduction. Step 4: Writing the body of the essay. Step 5: Writing a conclusion. Other interesting articles.
How to Write a Literary Analysis: 6 Tips for the Perfect Essay
These 4 steps will help prepare you to write an in-depth literary analysis that offers new insight to both old and modern classics. 1. Read the text and identify literary devices. As you conduct your literary analysis, you should first read through the text, keeping an eye on key elements that could serve as clues to larger, underlying themes.
PDF HOW TO WRITE A LITERARY ANALYSIS ESSAY
The term regularly used for the development of the central idea of a literary analysis essay is the body. In this section you present the paragraphs (at least 3 paragraphs for a 500-750 word essay) that support your thesis statement. Good literary analysis essays contain an explanation of your ideas and evidence from the text (short story,
Beginner's Guide to Literary Analysis
Step 1: Read the Text Thoroughly. Literary analysis begins with the literature itself, which means performing a close reading of the text. As you read, you should focus on the work. That means putting away distractions (sorry, smartphone) and dedicating a period of time to the task at hand.
Analyzing Novels & Short Stories
Literary analysis looks critically at a work of fiction in order to understand how the parts contribute to the whole. When analyzing a novel or short story, you'll need to consider elements such as the context, setting, characters, plot, literary devices, and themes. Remember that a literary analysis isn't merely a summary or review, but ...
How to Write a Literary Analysis: A Step-by-Step Guide
Step 3: Gather Your Evidence. With thesis gunsights locked, intensify your research by carefully re-reading the book and deeply annotating all relevant examples of symbolic staging elements, characterological role embodiments, mythic motifs, and literary techniques that interconnect with your core exploratory premise.
Literary Analysis Essay
A literary analysis essay is an important kind of essay that focuses on the detailed analysis of the work of literature. The purpose of a literary analysis essay is to explain why the author has used a specific theme for his work. Or examine the characters, themes, literary devices, figurative language, and settings in the story.
Writing a Literary Analysis Essay
Well, not really. A literary analysis essay asks you to make an original argument about a poem, play, or work of fiction and support that argument with research and evidence from your careful reading of the text. It can take many forms, such as a close reading of a text, critiquing the text through a particular literary theory, comparing one ...
The Power of Analysis: Tips and Tricks for Writing Analysis Essays: Home
There are several different types of analysis essays, including: Literary Analysis Essays: These essays examine a work of literature and analyze various literary devices such as character development, plot, theme, and symbolism. Rhetorical Analysis Essays: These essays examine how authors use language and rhetoric to persuade their audience, focusing on the author's tone, word choice, and use ...
How to Write an Analytical Essay in 6 Steps
2 Research your topic. Once you know your topic, you can begin collecting data and evidence to discuss it. If your analytical essay is about a creative work, you may want to spend time reviewing or evaluating that work, such as watching a film closely or studying the details of a painting.
How To Analyze A Book: In 13 Simple Steps
1. Pick A Book to Analyze. Analysing your favourite book is a great place to start if you want to improve your writing skills. However, don't stop there. Literary analysis takes time to learn, so review as many books as you can. Start in the genre or topic you want to write in and move out from there.
How to Write a Critical Analysis Essay
The critical analysis process has two key components, each of which is equally important. The first is the reading process. The purpose of a critical analysis assignment is to demonstrate an understanding of your subject matter. This means you carefully read, watch, or otherwise study your source text. The second part is the writing process itself.
How to Analyze a Book: 15 Steps (with Pictures)
Download Article. 1. Read the work slowly and pay close attention to detail. To analyze a book for its subtle messages and ideas, you'll need to give the book your undivided attention. Take your time as you're reading and pay attention to all details the author chooses to include in the text. [1]
A Comprehensive Guide to Writing a Literary Analysis Essay
Writing the Body. Here are the steps to follow when writing a body paragraph for a literary analysis essay: Start with a topic sentence: The topic sentence should introduce the main point or argument you will be making in the paragraph. It should be clear and concise and should indicate what the paragraph is about.
Example of an Insightful Literary Analysis Essay
Get a sense of what to do right with this literary analysis essay example that will offer inspiration for your own assignment. Dictionary ... A literary analysis is more than a book report; it goes deeper into the text, examining the themes, literary devices, characters, and more.
How To Write an Analytical Essay
Step 4: Create an Outline. Now that you have your thesis statement and topic sentences, it's time to create an analytical essay outline to ensure your essay flows logically. Here's an outline prepared by our analytical essay writer based on the example of discussing the benefits and drawbacks of remote work: Introduction.
A Short Guide to Close Reading for Literary Analysis
When your teachers or professors ask you to analyze a literary text, they often look for something frequently called close reading. Close reading is deep analysis of how a literary text works; it is both a reading process and something you include in a literary analysis paper, though in a refined form. Fiction writers and poets build texts out ...
5 Steps to Write a Great Analytical Essay · PrepScholar
The analysis paper uses evidence to support the argument, such as excerpts from the piece of writing. All analytical papers include a thesis, analysis of the topic, and evidence to support that analysis. When developing an analytical essay outline and writing your essay, follow these five steps: #1: Choose a topic. #2: Write your thesis.
Textual Analysis
Textual analysis is a broad term for various research methods used to describe, interpret and understand texts. All kinds of information can be gleaned from a text - from its literal meaning to the subtext, symbolism, assumptions, and values it reveals. The methods used to conduct textual analysis depend on the field and the aims of the research.
How to Write an Analysis Essay: Examples + Writing Guide
Provide a lead-in for the reader by offering a general introduction to the topic of the paper. Include your thesis statement, which shifts the reader from the generalized introduction to the specific topic and its related issues to your unique take on the essay topic. Present a general outline of the analysis paper.
How to Engage in Textual Analysis
The reader's textual analysis ought to include a summary of the author's topic, an analysis or explanation of how the author's perspective relates to the ongoing conversation about that particular topic, an interpretation of the effectiveness of the author's argument and thesis, and references to specific components of the text that ...
How to Write an Analytical Essay in 7 Simple Steps
Written by MasterClass. Last updated: Jun 7, 2021 • 3 min read. Analytical essays provide a way to share your insights about a work of literature, scientific study, or historical event. Explore. Articles. Sitemap. Gifts. About. Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.
Tips for Writing Analytical Essays: A Step-by-Step Guide
Finding a Strong Topic for Your Essay. Choosing the right topic is a crucial first step in writing an analytical essay. The topic sets the tone for the entire essay and determines its scope and focus. It is important to select a topic that is engaging, relevant, and allows for in-depth analysis. This section will provide you with helpful ...
In the courtyard where Hersh Goldberg-Polin danced on Oct. 6, grief and
"But it's like a Band-Aid or giving first aid, it's what you do in an emergency. I don't know how we go on after this," she said. She added that the community, which has a large ...

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What is Literary Analysis?

The Essential Elements of Literary Analysis

3. Characters

5. Point of View

6. Figurative Language

7. Tone & Mood

How to Write a Literary Analysis: A Step-by-Step Guide

Step 1: Read With A Purpose

Step 2: Start Forming Your Thesis

Step 3: Gather Your Evidence

Step 4: Organize and Outline

Step 5: Write and Revise!

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Literary Analysis Essay - Step by Step Guide

What is a Literary Analysis Essay?

What is the Purpose of a Literary Analysis Essay?

Content of a Literary Analysis

Plot Analysis

Elements of Plot Analysis

Character Analysis

Elements of Character Analysis

Symbolism and Imagery Analysis

Elements of Symbolism and Imagery Analysis

Theme Analysis

Elements of Theme Analysis

Setting Analysis

Elements of Setting Analysis

Structure and Style Analysis

Elements of Structure and Style Analysis

How to Write a Literary Analysis Essay?

Preparing for Your Essay

Choosing a Work to Analyze

Reading and Analyzing

Take Notes and Gather Material

Writing Your Literary Analysis Essay

Create an Outline for Your Essay

Writing the Introduction

Writing the Body

Writing the Conclusion

Finalizing your Essay

Proofread and Revise your Essay