Understanding Analysis Essays

First, a few notes on the essay. An academic essay is a genre typically found in schools (high school, colleges, and universities). Depending on the type of essay (argumentative, analytical, comparative, to name a few) it may be structured differently and have a different purpose. 

Like all writing, it’s important to know what the purpose is behind your writing. Are you trying to analyze something? Are you trying to make an argument? The purpose will often determine how the genre is written and, in the case of essays, may even change the organization/structure of the essay. 

Analytical Essay

For Paper 1, you will be asked to write an Analysis Essay. Analytical essays have much in common with all academic essays in their structure. For example, they have introductions, body paragraphs and conclusions. 

The purpose of an analysis essay is generally to analyze or explore an idea. You need to break up the topic into sub-topics in order to analyze the topic in-depth. For example, if you were analyzing resumes, you might spend one paragraph discussing the content that resumes tend to include, using examples from your samples and your own centerpiece. Then, you might spend another paragraph discussing the layout and design of resumes. 

Parts of an Analytical Essay

Introduction

The introduction typically gives an overview of the topic, perhaps some background information and an idea of what is going to be discussed in the essay.

Body paragraphs

Each body paragraph should have one main sub-topic that is being explored/analyzed. Typically, a topic sentence will be the first sentence of each paragraph. The topic sentence summarizes the main idea of the paragraph. Then, use explanations, examples and support to explore the concept of that idea.

Depending on the prompts for each essay, you may have some additional concepts that need to be explored in body paragraphs (such as “What is important to know about writing in new genres” from Project 2). 

Conclusion

Finally, the conclusion should summarize the main points of the essay and wrap up any final points you would like to make on the topic. 

Formatting an Academic Essay

Generally, an academic essay should be formatted as follows:

Font: 12 point font, Times New Roman

Spacing: Double spaced, with no additional spaces between paragraphs. Indent the first line of each paragraph.

Unless specified that the essay should be formatted in MLA or APA, it’s usually a safe bet to format the top of your paper as follows:

Note: The title generally will be something more specific that explains what the essay will be about, for example: “Understanding Cover Letters” or “Street Parking in Berkley.”

CC LICENCED CONTENT

“Understanding Analysis Essays” by Sarah Karlis is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0