This book is a superb all-in-one guide to success GCSE English Language and English Literature - GCSE English 2003

Making Your Analysis Sound Good
Section Six — Arguing and Analysing

Here are the tricks for sounding authoritative and impartial. They're easy to learn — and once you've got it, you can set about making people believe pretty much anything. Politicians do it all the time.

Never Use “I” or "You”

1) While the first person ("I...") is useful for making fiction sound believable, it's useless for trying to make your own real opinions sound credible.

2) Using "I" sounds like it's just your personal, unimportant opinion.

3) Using the third person (normally "It") sounds more detached, professional and authoritative.

Keep it Simple

1) On no account get carried away in an analysis essay.

2) They're not the same as arguing essays — they have to be detached and impartial.

3) Don't use analogies and emotional pleas. They won't sound believable.

4) Just write your points simply and clearly, e.g. 'Vegetarians are not universally respected' NOT 'Vegetarians get laughed at in butchers' shops on a daily basis'.

Your Essay Could Be About the Pros and Cons

Structuring your essay around good and bad points of the topic keeps it focused.

There are 2 different ways of writing about pros and cons:

Keep focused when writing your essays — don’t lose your thread

It's a shame when someone's got a great argument that starts off making you think "hang on, they might be onto something" — then they spoil it by going off on one and losing the thread of the whole thing.