Analysis is an absolutely vital technique that helps explore everything in our world. It’s a useful skill if a person is able to split a complex concept into smaller pieces and scrutinize them carefully. When this needs to be done in a form of an academic paper, you might feel intimidated because you don’t know the proper way how to write an analysis paper. That’s why we want to help you with the following tips.
Getting Started
The structure of an analysis paper is nothing if an oddity, it follows the standard division – introduction, body part, and conclusion. However, it might be questioning what exactly you should put in these paragraphs. The first thing you need to have is a general topic. Let’s say you’re writing about a movie. The subject of your research will be all the problematic issues the movie touches.
Structure
Once you already have a general picture of what you’re going to write about, it’s time to start with an outline. Take a piece of paper, divide it into 3 parts (introduction, body, and conclusion) and write down all things you need to mention in each of them.
- Introduction: a hook that will grip the reader’s attention and convince them that your paper is worth reading; the topic sentence that will quickly describe the subject; smooth transition sentence that ends the introduction and prepares the reader for the body part.
- Body: the appropriate number of paragraphs, one for each idea; thesis statement at the beginning of each new paragraph; strong evidences that prove your points – quotes, statistics, facts; transitions that connect all ideas into a whole.
- Conclusion: repetition of the idea expressed in the thesis statement but with different words; the best arguments from the body paragraph; hint of the topic being complex and needing further research.
Finishing up
After you’ve written the text of your analysis paper, it still doesn’t mean that the job is done. There are a few more things you need to do to make your research reach perfection. First of all, read through it a few times. Proofreading is absolutely essential because you can’t create a flawless text in one go. You’ll come across many things you’d like to change so don’t skip this step. Another thing to pay attention to is quotes. If you use them, double check how you cited them and correct if there are mistakes.
Finally, get a third party to read it. You might be completely oblivious to weak spots in your paper and unable to judge it clearly, but a person who sees it for the first time will notice them immediately. Just make sure the person whose opinion you seek is well-educated and can understand the style of academic writing.
Sometimes you might feel utterly lost at the beginning. The topic might be confusing, you might be lacking in inspiration or you might not know how to formulate a good analysis essay. We hope these tips will help you in your writing adventures.