How to Write an Analytical Essay – Guidelines and Examples

Introduction.

Are you thinking about writing an analytical essay and you don’t know where to start or where to end? If your answer is yes, then you have arrived at the right place because today we are going to share some essential guidelines that everyone needs to take into account when writing analytical essays. Not just that, but we are also going to provide readers with a couple of examples that can be easily modified.

What is the Essay Structure?

The biggest difference between a normal essay and an analytical one is that for the latter, you will have a different structure. With that said, here is a quick rundown on how the essay structure should look like:

  1. Introduction

The first thing that you want to start writing when composing an analytical essay is the introduction part. This part is going to give readers an insight into the topic and also provide them with basic information about what are the matters that you are going to discuss in the essay. Make sure to always finish the introduction with a thesis statement that should showcase the main goal of the entire essay.

  1. Main Paragraphs

After writing the introduction, it’s time to move on to the main paragraphs. Our advice here is to start all paragraphs with a topic sentence that needs to contain the main argument. After doing that, simply start supporting the main argument with evidence and collected data. Don’t forget to back all sentence with quotes and citing where it’s needed.

  1. Conclusion

The last part of an analytical essay is the conclusion. This is where all the arguments that you made in the main paragraphs will finish and you can restate your thesis and explain how and why you have received certain results.

Examples

Now that we have presented what are the guidelines that everyone needs to follow when writing an analytical essay, let’s go ahead and check out some examples. Keep in mind that if you want to use some of these examples, you will need to modify anything you can in order to make them more unique.

 #1: The Ways of Meeting Oppression (by Martin Luther King, Jr.)

“The third way open to oppressed people in their quest for freedom is the way of nonviolent resistance. Like the synthesis in Hegelian philosophy, the principle of nonviolent resistance seeks to reconcile the truths of two opposites—the acquiescence and violence—while avoiding the extremes and immoralities of both. The nonviolent resister agrees with the person who acquiesces that one should not be physically aggressive toward his opponent, but he balances the equation by agreeing with the person of violence that evil must be resisted. He avoids the nonresistance of the former and the violent resistance of the latter. With nonviolent resistance, no individual or group need submit to any wrong, nor need anyone to resort to violence in order to right a wrong.”

#2 Freedom (by Joyce M. Jarett)

“On the first day of school, I was escorted by hordes of national guardsmen. Like a funeral procession, the steady stream of official-looking cars followed me to the campus. Some patrolmen were parked near campus gates, while others, with guns strapped to their sides, stood near building entrances. Though many of my escorts had given me smiles of support, still I was not prepared for what I encountered upon entering my new school.”

#3 Liposuction: The Key to Energy Independence (by Barbara Ehrenreich)

“I say to my fellow humans: It’s time to stop feeding off the dead and grow up! I don’t know about food, but I have a plan for achieving fuel self-sufficiency in less time than it takes to say ‘Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.’ The idea came to me from reports of the growing crime of French fry oil theft: Certain desperate individuals are stealing restaurants’ discarded cooking oil, which can then be used to fuel cars. So the idea is: why not skip the French fry phase and harvest high-energy hydrocarbons right from ourselves?”

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