Rules for writers, Tenth edition - Diana Hacker, Nancy Sommers 2021
Sample student writing: Analysis of an article
Reading and writing critically
Academic Reading and Writing
Following is Emilia Sanchez’s analysis of the article by Betsy Taylor (see 4a). Sanchez used MLA (Modern Language Association) style to format her paper and cite the source.
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WRITING GUIDE
How to write an analytical essay
An analysis of a text allows you to examine the parts of a text to understand what it means and how it makes its meaning. Your goal is to offer your judgment of the text and to persuade readers to see it through your analytical perspective. You explain to your readers your observations and insights about the text, what you have discovered about what it means, and why it matters. Sample analytical essays appear in 4e and 5d.
Key features
✵ A careful and critical reading of a text reveals what the text says, how it works, and what it means. In an analytical essay, you pay attention to the details of the text, especially its thesis and evidence, and — in the case of a multimodal text — its visual or audio presentation.
✵ A thesis that offers a clear judgment of the text anchors your analysis. Your thesis might be the answer to a question you have posed about the text or the resolution of a problem you have identified in the text.
✵ Support for the thesis comes from evidence in the text. You summarize, paraphrase, and quote passages that support the claims you make about the text.
✵ A balance of summary and analysis helps readers who are not familiar with the text you are analyzing. Summary answers the question of what a text says; analysis looks at how a text makes its point.
Thinking ahead: Presenting and publishing
You may have the opportunity to present or publish your analysis in the form of a multimodal text such as a slide show or a video. Consider how adding images or sound might strengthen your analysis or help you to better reach your audience. (See section 5.)
Writing your analytical essay
✵ 1 Explore
Generate ideas for your analysis by responding to questions such as the following:
o What is the text about?
o What do you find interesting, surprising, or puzzling about this text?
o What do you see as the strengths of the text? How does the text clarify or add to your understanding of the subject?
o What is the author’s purpose, thesis, or central idea? Put the author’s thesis to the “So what?” test.
o What do your annotations of the text reveal about your response to it?
✵ 2 Draft
o Draft a working thesis to focus your analysis. Remember that your thesis is not the same as the author’s thesis or message. Your thesis presents your judgment of the text.
o Draft a plan to organize your paragraphs. Your introductory paragraph will briefly summarize the text and offer your thesis. Your body paragraphs will support your thesis with evidence from the text. Your conclusion will pull together the major points and show the significance of your analysis. (See 1d.)
o Identify specific words, phrases, and sentences from the text as evidence to support your thesis.
✵ 3 Revise
Ask your reviewers to give you specific comments. You can use the following questions both to guide their feedback and to guide your own revision plan.
o Is the introduction effective and engaging?
o Is summary balanced with analysis?
o Does the thesis offer a clear judgment of the text?
o What objections might your readers have to your analysis?
o Is the analysis well organized? Are there clear topic sentences and transitions?
o Have you provided sufficient evidence? Have you analyzed the evidence?
o Have you cited words, phrases, or sentences that are summarized or quoted?