What is an analytical essay?
Often, during your time in school or college, you will be required to write an analytical essay. What is an analytical essay and what goes into it? Many students have a hard time knowing what to write when assigned this type of essay. But do not worry, we are here to help you learn how to write it.
What is an analytical essay?
An analytical essay is a type of essay that requires you to dive deep into a piece of work like an article, a poem, a film, or a book and analyze it using any of the tools provided. You will read the article provided or watch a movie, then write an essay analyzing that film or book.
There are several topics that can be used to write an analytical essay. However, be careful to follow what your professor has said. For example, your professor may ask you to use the “sociological perspective” to analyze a film like "Goodbye Lenin.”
From that example, the sociological perspective represents several critical tools that can be used to analyze a film.
You can also read an article then use various rhetorical tools to analyze the article. For example, what is the author’s use of pathos, logos, and ethos in an article and are the rhetorical tools used effectively? In essence, an analytical essay allows you to take a deep dive into a particular book, article, or film.
A good example is using queer theory to analyze Banana Yoshimoto’s The Kitchen.
Analytical essay format
Introduction
Begin your analytical essay with a hook which is meant to capture your readers’ attention. Write a brief background of the work you will be analyzing, then conclude with a thesis statement and how you will go about analyzing it.
Body
In each of the body paragraphs of an analytical essay, make sure you make a claim then support it with evidence from the work you are analyzing. The claim you make will form part of the topic sentence. Make sure you use signposts and connectives.
Conclusion
Restate your thesis with different words then summarize the main points you discussed in your essay.