While meeting a whole bunch of new people is great, it can be a mental challenge to try to remember people’s names, what they do, or even if they’re the people hosting what has now turned into a pretty awesome party.

Reading a novel filled with tons of characters can feel just like walking into a party of strangers.

In both instances, it can be hard to keep names and stories straight.

It’s probably not a big deal if you see Andria at the party later and call her Arianna. But it probably is a big deal (at least to your professor) if you’re analyzing a novel, such as The Handmaid’s Tale, and you refer to the protagonist as Ofglen rather than Offred.

If you’re still trying get to know everyone in The Handmaid’s Tale, let me be your host, and I’ll introduce you to four key characters.

(Need to write about themes in the novel? Head over to 3 The Handmaid’s Tale Themes to Analyze in Your Essay.)

How to Analyze 4 Important Handmaid’s Tale Characters

The Handmaid’s Tale is filled with a variety of characters, so I won’t be introducing you to everyone. Instead, let’s stick to four important characters in the novel: Offred, Serena Joy, Aunt Lydia, and the Commander.

Handmaid’s Tale Character #1: Offred

Offred is the narrator and protagonist of The Handmaid’s Tale. She tells the story of her life as a Handmaid: a woman who is forced to bear the children of infertile, elite couples.

While she sometimes reflects back on her life in the United States (before the rebellion and before it became Gilead), Offred is essentially complacent with her current existence.

Analyzing Offred

Offred’s complacency is an important aspect of her character. She’s a prime example of how people learn to accept their lives, no matter what they’re like. She’s willing to accept (at least on some level) that the new society of Gilead is actually of benefit to women.

Like many others, she’s also willing give up her freedoms and does little to fight for herself. As a result, she (and others) loses all freedom, allowing the government (who, by no coincidence is composed of men) to have complete control.

Because Offred has given up control of her freedom, her identify, and her body, it’s clear that she can’t be labeled a feminist. Men control every aspect of her existence, and she allows men (including Nick, with whom she ends up having an affair) to control her.

Essay idea:

Analyze one or more themes (such as feminism or complacency) in The Handmaid’s Tale.

Want to read an example essay that focuses on the theme of feminism in The Handmaid’s Tale? Check out Feminism in The Handmaid’s Tale, a Novel by Margaret Atwood.

Handmaid’s Tale Character #2: Serena Joy

When Gilead was still the United States, Serena Joy was an anti-feminist who advocated for traditional, conservative family values. In Gilead, she holds a high social ranking as she is the Commander’s wife.

Serena Joy, however, doesn’t live up to the name she has chosen for herself and is anything but serene or joyful.

She is angry because she too is completely controlled by men and is jealous of the Handmaids who are forced to have sex with her husband (and possibly bear the children she is unable to conceive).

Analyzing Serena Joy

Serena Joy is the quintessential mean girl. She’s at the top of the social ladder, so she thinks she can bully others.

Therefore, even though she too is miserable in her own life because she is controlled by men, she takes out her anger and jealousy on the Handmaids, including Offred.

The quintessential mean girl, Serena Joy takes out her anger and jealousy on the Handmaids.
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Irony is a big part of Serena Joy’s life.

Pre-Gilead, she fought against feminism and for traditional values. Ironically enough, she got what she fought for once Gilead was established.

The values she fought for, though, leave her powerless and angry rather than fulfilled and joyful.

Essay idea:

Compare and contrast the social hierarchy of Gilead to that of other dystopian novels.

Want to read more about the social structure in Gilead? Read The Social Mechanics of The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Handmaid’s Tale Character #3: Aunt Lydia

Aunt Lydia is part of a group of women called Aunts. Aunts work for the government and are assigned the task of essentially brainwashing women (like Offred and the other Handmaids) into accepting their new roles in society.

Aunt Lydia appears as a Handmaid’s Tale character mainly in flashbacks.

She is very much a part of Offred’s internal monologue as Offred often thinks back to what Aunt Lydia preached during the indoctrination. (Whether she believes all of Aunt Lydia’s words is debatable.)

Analyzing Aunt Lydia

In a world where women are oppressed, Aunt Lydia is certainly not a gal’s best friend or confidant—and most certainly not a Handmaid’s BFF.

Aunt Lydia works hard to convince Handmaids that they’re destined for their duties. She uses Bible verses in an attempt to illustrate that Gilead and its rules are God’s will and that the Handmaids are performing essential roles in society.

She seems to enjoy her power over the Handmaids and has little sympathy for their place in Gilead. Yet she does sometimes sympathize with the wives of the Commanders, asking the Handmaids to see life from their point of view.

Essay idea:

Analyze the use of language (including language of the Bible) in The Handmaid’s Tale to illustrate how the government asserts power and control over its citizens.

Read the example essayanalyzes the author’s use of Biblical verses in the novel.

Handmaid’s Tale Character #4: The Commander

The Commander is the head of the household in which Offred is the Handmaid. Though at times he feels trapped in society, he’s a powerful man who actually helped construct Gilead.

(I imagine at least one Handmaid saying things like, “You feel trapped? Ha! Try seeing life from my point of view!” or “Really? You’re not happy with society? You’ve got no one but yourself to blame!”)

Offred doesn’t see the Commander as all good or all bad. At times she even likes him because he actually shows some compassion toward her. They can sometimes even seem more like friends or lovers as they talk or play Scrabble together.

Analyzing the Commander

There is no doubt that the Commander holds the power. He is the head of the household and even helped construct the social order of Gilead. (It’s no coincidence that his title is actually “Commander.”)

The Commander appears to feel compassion for Offred as he allows her to play Scrabble and read. He also suggests that he enjoys her company and enjoys their conversations.

On the surface, this all seems well and good, but it can be argued that his motives are personal.

He treats Offred like a mistress. He tells her that his wife doesn’t understand him and asks Offred to dress up so that he can show her off at Jezebel’s (which is no more than a glorified brothel).

And he does all of this for his own satisfaction and doesn’t care if there are any consequences for Offred if she is caught breaking the rules.

Essay idea:

Examine the Commander’s motives. Is he being compassionate by letting Offred break the rules with him? Or is he being selfish by not caring about her feelings or what might happen if she’s caught?

Read more about the Commander and his motives in the example essay The Key Role of the Commander in The Handmaid’s Tale, a Novel by Margaret Atwood.

Now That You Know Everyone…

Now that you’ve been officially introduced to a few of the key Handmaid’s Tale characters, you’re ready to turn your analysis into an essay.

If you’re still looking for essay topic ideas, check out these additional example essays:

• The Meaning of the Phrase “Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down” in The Handmaid’s Tale, a Novel by Margaret Atwood
• The Eyes, the Watched, and the Watcher in a Surveillance Society in The Handmaid’s Tale, a Novel by Margaret Atwood
• An Analysis of the Portrayal of Women in Frankenstein and The Handmaid’s Tale

Ready to turn your ideas into an essay? Use these resources to put your paper in motion:

• 6 Prewriting Strategies to Get Your Essay Rolling
• 8 Components of a Smart Literary Analysis
• How to Write a Literary Analysis That Works

Don’t forget, your friends at Kibin are at the party too—and ready to help make sure your paper will make the grade.

Stuck on Your Analytical Essay?

Check Out These Example Analytical Essays

Yes! Show me examples.

Check out this short paragraph from Charlotte’s Web:

Fern came slowly down the stairs. Her eyes were red from crying. As she approached her chair, the carton wobbled, and there was a scratching noise. Fern looked at her father. Then she lifted the lid of the carton. There, inside, looking up at her, was the newborn pig. It was a white one. The morning light shone through its ears, turning them pink.

It’s only 61 words, but it creates a vivid picture, doesn’t it? You can easily imagine what Fern looks like as she comes down the stairs. You also get a clear image of the carton and baby pig inside.

This is a prime example of imagery. It creates a mental image that allows the reader to visualize the scene.

That’s all well and good, but other than saying that imagery creates a visual image, what else is there to say about it?

Here are a few tips to help you analyze imagery in literature the smart way.

How to Analyze Imagery in Literature the Smart Way

When you think of imagery, you usually think of visual imagery. But a mental image is much more than what you see.

Think about standing in a crowded elevator with a group of people who just got out of spin class. What you see might not be the most memorable part of this scene. The smell of a bunch of sweaty people in a tiny elevator will likely be the most vivid part of this image.

Thus, keep in mind that imagery in literature can involve all of your senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.

Let’s take a look at imagery in both poetry and prose, and analyze imagery the smart way.

Imagery in literature can involve all of your senses: sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell.
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How to analyze imagery in poetry

As you already know, poets are known for using all sorts of literary devices, including symbolism, rhyme, meter, and metaphors. They also use plenty of imagery.

Poets often use imagery to set the entire mood of the poem. They create a feeling they wish to express and hope the reader feels it as well.

Let’s take a look at “Root Cellar” by Theodore Roethke and examine how the poet uses imagery:

Nothing would sleep in that cellar, dank as a ditch,

Bulbs broke out of boxes hunting for chinks in the dark,

Shoots dangled and drooped,

Lolling obscenely from mildewed crates,

Hung down long yellow evil necks, like tropical snakes.

And what a congress of stinks!—

Roots ripe as old bait,

Pulpy stems, rank, silo-rich,

Leaf-mold, manure, lime, piled against slippery planks.

Nothing would give up life:

Even the dirt kept breathing a small breath

It’s pretty easy to see the imagery in this poem, but what is there to say other than Roethke paints a picture of a root cellar?

Start with the obvious: what you see when you read the poem. Roethke creates a scene of a dark, dank, musty old root cellar. It smells bad and is full of weeds.

Most of the poem is dark, maybe even a bit depressing. But the final lines offer a sense of hope as the speaker states that, even in this environment, “Nothing would give up life.”

Even dirt is alive and breathing. (This, of course, might be compared to the human condition. People often struggle in deep, dark spaces, but they continue on, fighting for life and happiness.)

Next, let’s move on to literary terms that poems often use to help exemplify imagery.

In addition to imagery, “Root Cellar” contains:

• Alliteration (use of the same beginning sounds in words). Example: “Bulbs broke out of boxes” and “dangled and drooped.” Alliteration creates a sense of rhythm to the poem and an image of the bulbs.

• Simile (a comparison to seemingly dissimilar objects). Example: The shoots had “long yellow evil necks, like tropical snakes.” This comparison not only helps readers visualize the the length and color of the weeds but also creates an image of life. The weeds are moving, growing, and slithering like snakes.

• Connotation (assigning meaning to a word beyond a literal dictionary definition). Example: “Roots ripe as old bait.” Readers will likely assign a negative connotation to this phrase since they imagine the smell. This phrase also adds sense of smell to the already-present visual imagery.

One final takeaway when analyzing imagery in poetry: carefully examine every word. Poets aren’t wordy. They choose wisely and make every word count, so you better believe that, if a word is in a poem, it’s there for a reason.

After you’ve examined each word under the microscope, you can start to put your analysis into place to draft a poetry paper.

Here are two resources to help:

• How to Compare and Contrast Poems Like a Lit Major
• How to Analyze a Poem and Sound Smart Doing It

How to analyze imagery in prose

Analyzing imagery in prose, such as a short story or novel, is similar to analyzing imagery in poetry, but you’re working with complete sentences, paragraphs, and images built into a larger scope of a story.

Often, the writers of stories and novels aren’t using imagery as the sole focus of their work, but they’re generally trying to make a point. The imagery is there for a reason.

Authors often use imagery to set the scene and help readers put themselves in the characters’ shoes.

To illustrate, here’s an excerpt from The House on Mango Street by Sandra Cisneros:

But the house on Mango Street is not the way they told it all. It’s small and red with tight steps in front and windows so small you’d think they were holding their breath. Bricks are crumbling in places, and the front door is so swollen you have to push hard to get in. There is no front yard, only four little elms the city planted by the curb. Out back is a small garage for the car we don’t own yet and a small yard that looks smaller between the two buildings on either side. There are stairs in our house, but they’re ordinary hallway stairs, and the house has only one washroom. Everybody has to share a bedroom—Mama and Papa, Carlos and Kiki, me and Nenny.

Here, Cisneros creates a vivid image of the house that the child narrator will soon move into. The author uses personification to bring the windows to life (as they’re “holding their breath”), but the other literary devices often seen in poetry are absent in this example.

Instead, the author focuses on specific word choices to create the image. You can see the small, red, crumbling house. You can visualize a house crammed between other houses with only a tiny yard and young trees.

The author also includes tactile imagery as you can imagine yourself struggling to open a door that is “so swollen you have to push hard to get in.”

It’s obvious that the author includes imagery to describe the scene. But as you write your essay, it’s important to ask yourself why the author includes these specific images. What purpose do they serve within the larger context of the story?

In this case, the author includes this powerful imagery so that readers can sense the disappointment and shame the child feels as she looks at her new home.

“They” (presumably her parents) had told her about a new house they were moving to, but it’s apparent that they described the house differently. The child doesn’t see the house as anything she wants to live in.

She simply sees a run-down, tired old house that isn’t at all what she imagined.

The purpose is to allow readers to stand in the character’s shoes. The imagery creates a mood of sadness and disappointment. It helps readers connect with the character, learn more about the character as an individual, and learn more about the character’s role in the story.

If you have a good sense of imagery but are looking for more help putting your ideas into essay format, check out these posts:

• How to Write a Literary Analysis That Works
• Writing About Literature: 9 Things You Need to Know

A Smart Analysis

Hopefully, the tips I’ve included here make you feel more confident in writing a smart analysis about imagery in literature.

Need a little more insight? Look at how other students have written about imagery in literature. Here are a few example essays:

• A Literary Analysis of the Imagery in Macbeth by William Shakespeare
• An Analysis of Animal Imagery in a Doll’s House by Henrik Ibsen
• An Analysis of the Widespread Use of Sexual Imagery in Greek Literature

Working with a specific piece of literature? Search for sample essays about it.

One final piece of advice: don’t start writing without a little bit of planning. Spend time taking notes about imagery as you read. Jot down examples and what you think they mean. Once you’ve read the literature and taken notes, outline your ideas.

When you have a draft in place, find someone (like a professional Kibin editor) who is pretty smart about analyzing imagery in literature and can provide expert feedback. That way, you won’t have to imagine a good grade on your paper. You’ll earn it!

Stuck on Your Analytical Essay?

Check Out These Example Analytical Essays

Yes! Show me examples.

Imagine you’re on an African safari dream vacation. Your tour guide stops in the middle of the Serengeti to point out a pride of lions and to allow a photo op.

The right way to enjoy this breathtaking moment: Stay inside the vehicle (as instructed), and admire the lions from afar. Use your new long-range lens to take amazing closeups of the lions.

The wrong way to enjoy this breathtaking moment: Leave the tour behind, and strike out on your own to get a once-in-a-lifetime selfie with a lion.

Sure that selfie would be amazing, but it’s not worth the risk. On your African safari, it’s always wise to listen to your tour guide (and stay a safe distance from the lions). After all, she’s the expert, and she’s there to protect you and help you enjoy your experience.

Consider me your guide too—one who’s here to help protect you from poor grades and to help you analyze an article the right way.

So let’s get started on how to analyze an article by first looking at the wrong way to do it. (Feel free to take photos along the way, but please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times.)

The Wrong Way to Analyze an Article

Just like there are certain things you shouldn’t do when you’re on safari with dangerous lions in your midst, there are certain things you shouldn’t do when analyzing an article.

Here are three things you shouldn’t do.

Don’t stop reading after you skim the article

When reading any article, especially longer scholarly articles with headings, it’s always a smart strategy to skim the article to get a sense of the key headings and the gist of the contents.

You don’t, however, want to stop there. You won’t fully understand the arguments of the article if you only skim the content. You’ll need to read the article with a critical eye (more about that in a bit).

Don’t assume there’s nothing to critique

If students are assigned an article to analyze, they sometimes wrongly assume their profs want them to only point out the positive aspects of the article.

Your profs expect you to look at both positive and negative aspects of a piece, so it’s okay to find fault in the article or with the writer’s logic or arguments.

Don’t forget the evidence

Another important point to remember is that no matter whether you ultimately present a positive or negative critique, you’ll need to support your comments with evidence. Don’t make the mistake of writing your analysis without directly referring to evidence from the article itself or using outside sources.

Now that you know what you shouldn’t do, here’s what you should do when analyzing an article.

How to Analyze an Article the Right Way

We covered what not to do. Now let’s look at how to analyze an article effectively.

Analyzing an article—such as a news article, an editorial, or a scholarly article—is different than analyzing literature. (If you’re looking for help with writing a literary analysis, read How to Write a Literary Analysis That Works.)

When you’re analyzing literature, you’re looking for things like symbolism, metaphors, and other literary techniques. Though an article might contain a stray metaphor or two, the goal of an article isn’t to tell a story. The goal is to inform or persuade.

With this in mind, here are three strategies to help you see how to analyze an article the right way.

Read and take notes

Remember, you can’t get away with skimming the article. It would be like watching a movie trailer and assuming you know the entire plot of the film.

So read the entire article, and read it more than once. As you read, take notes.

What type of notes should you take?

Here are a few tips:

• It’s only natural to have to stop and read a section again or to have a few questions. These are key points to notice. Write about what confuses you, and ask questions about the content.
• Identify and take note of key arguments. Articles often uses headings to identify specific sections. If no headings are included, look for changes in topics at the beginnings of paragraphs.
• Look for patterns in the writing. Does the author use the same type of reasoning, logic, or evidence to support arguments throughout? Does the author use humor, or is the tone serious? Jot down your thoughts on how the writer develops the article.

If you’d like to learn more about specific note-taking strategies, read 10 Note Taking Strategies to Write a Better Essay.

Examine the arguments in detail

Through your note-taking, you’ve already identified the main arguments of the article, now take a closer look. How do the arguments hold up?

Here’s what to look for:

• Evidence: What type of evidence does the writer use to support the argument? Does he/she use statistics, examples, or original data? Remember, writers shouldn’t simply make statements without sufficient evidence to support their claims. It’s like a little kid asking a question and a parent replying, “because I said so.” There’s no real evidence to support the parent’s statement. The child is simply supposed to accept the statement.

Don’t automatically accept writers’ statements as fact if they don’t support their arguments!
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• Credibility: Even if a writer appears to use a variety of evidence to support arguments, you need to make sure the sources are reliable. Does the writer cite Wikipedia or statistics from a peer-reviewed, scholarly article? Clearly, there’s a difference between the two.

• Persuasion: If the goal of the article is to persuade, you’ll need to consider whether the writer is convincing. What makes the piece convincing, or why isn’t it convincing?

Need help on what questions to ask? Here’s a pretty solid list of what to consider when analyzing a research article OR a newspaper (or other informational-type articles).

Look for what’s missing

Even if a writer supports the arguments presented in the article, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t something missing.

For instance, let’s say that a writer argues that more students should be eligible for student loan forgiveness. While anyone who has student loans would certainly agree with this idea, the writer may fail to address how the forgiveness of student loans may affect other parties, such as the lenders, colleges, or financial aid programs.

If you find yourself reading an article and saying things like, “…but what about…,” or, “why doesn’t he mention…,” this is a good indication that there is, in fact, something missing from the article and the writer’s arguments.

The End of Our Tour

We’ve reached the end of our tour about how to analyze an article, but as you exit, please stop by the gift shop and check out our additional resources to help you turn your notes into an actual essay.

Here are some resources to help you get started with your paper:

• How to Write an Analytical Essay That Digs Deep
• This Analytical Essay Outline Will Kick Start Your Writing
• How to Write a Smart Rhetorical Analysis Essay

If you’d like to book another tour, Kibin also offers editing services, so send your essay to us to make sure your paper can soothe even the most savage of professors.

In the world of literature and essay-writing, the Brangelina of essays is the summary analysis.

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By now, you’ve probably written more analysis essays than you can count, and summaries too. So what’s so different about a summary analysis?

Well, it’s not just about mashing the two types of essays together and hoping everything works out. It’s about writing a cohesive paper that intertwines both elements to create the ultimate essay power couple.

You’re not on your own for this. I’ll give you more details about what a summary analysis is, as well as how to prepare for and write one yourself.

What Is a Summary Analysis?

At the surface, a summary analysis is exactly what it sounds like—part summary, part analysis. But many students find it difficult to combine the two. They write their summary and then their analysis, but that’s not the most effective way of doing it.

The better way? Do both at once.

In other words, don’t write your entire summary all at once. Instead, write a little bit of summary and a little bit of analysis, alternating between them. Doing it this way allows you to refer directly to the part of the summary you’re analyzing at the moment.

This might sound a little confusing right now, but with a little bit of advice and practice, your essay will flow much better.

One form of a summary analysis that most people would recognize is the movie review. It gives readers some plot points (hopefully without giving away spoilers) and interprets those in a broader context for a potential audience of moviegoers.

You, however, can and should give away the spoilers of your novel or article—the instructor has most likely read it already anyway. And you’ll want to show you actually read the whole thing.

But for the purposes of my advice below, I’ll do a movie review on the movie that got Brangelina started—Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

What to Do as You’re Reading

Before you start writing your summary analysis, you need to read with intention. That doesn’t mean just reading once for the fun of it. It means taking notes and doing what you can to note important parts of the poem, article, play, or novel.

The are tons of critical reading strategies, including the ones listed below. But you don’t have to use all of them—feel free to choose the ones you like and ditch the ones you don’t.

Highlighting

It may sound basic, but highlighting important plot points, ideas, and characters allows you to go back through when you’re writing your outline and easily see what’s important.

It’s faster than writing notes, but you only mark what’s written in the book. So it’s best to supplement this method with another one that gets more into analysis.

Taking notes

Some people find taking notes as they read to be an easy way to get ahead in their analyses. It takes a bit longer, especially if your notes are hand-written. However, it gives you enough room to record your reactions to certain parts of the text.

One tip to help you keep track of how your notes correlate to the text is to include the page and paragraph numbers.

Annotation

Many people annotate directly in the margins of a book. This allows you to show your response exactly where an important part of the story is.

You can use it to combine analysis and summary by underlining the text in the book and writing a short analysis in the margins.

Behold! The Power of Outlining

Now that you’ve read through and annotated or highlighted the important parts of the text, you can start the writing process. And what’s the first part of the writing process? Organizing your thoughts into an outline.

An outline is especially important when writing a summary analysis because there are many parts to keep track of.

An outline is especially crucial in a summary analysis. There are many parts to keep track of.
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Since you’re not writing a block of summary followed by a block of analysis, your essay has to be more fluid. And the more organized you are from the beginning, the easier it is to write fluidly.

My outline for a summary analysis on Mr. and Mrs. Smith would look like this:

1. Introduction
   1. Hook
   2. Thesis statement
2. Marriage counseling/dull marriage
   1. Living exciting lives individually doesn’t mean people are exciting together.
   2. Opposites attract at first but may fizzle out after a while.
3. Take each other out
   1. Sense of anger for each one not telling the other what they did for a living.
   2. Putting work (as assassins) ahead of love life is literally leading to them destroying each other.
4. Rekindled romance
   1. Being open and honest leads to deeper levels of love.
   2. In the face of danger, adversity, and challenges, love triumphs.
5. Conclusion

Getting to It: Writing Your Summary Analysis

Now that all your thoughts are organized, you can start really diving into writing.

The introduction should include a hook and a thesis statement. The hook is meant to get readers’ attention and entice them to read more. Making a bold statement, asking a rhetorical question, or giving a quote or statistic are all popular ways to create a hook.

Your thesis statement should give some more information and tell the reader what your essay is going to be about.

Here’s what my introduction would look like:

Mr. and Mrs. Smith takes metaphor to the next level by combining love, death, sex, and violence. In this 2005 movie directed by Doug Liman, the Smiths’ journey as a couple directly aligns with their secret lives as assassins and stands as a powerful metaphor for the role of communication and trust in marriage. The movie goes from secrecy to vengeance and finally to a rekindled romance, all while the title characters begin to open up to each other.

Next, we move on to the body paragraphs. You don’t have to stick to a strictly 5-paragraph structure for your summary analysis, unless your instructor tells you to. The important part is to make everything flow together.

Take it sentence by sentence, telling the reader an important summary point and then giving your interpretation of that point and why you think it’s important.

Do your summary analysis sentence by sentence: 1) summary, 2) interpretation, & 3) importance.
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I’m not going to write the entire essay, but here’s what some of the body section would look like. Notice which parts are summary and which are analysis.

After all the anger and betrayal John and Jane Smith went through, they ended up face to face and gun to gun. It’s in this moment that their true vulnerability shows, and they look at each other with new eyes. Their walls had been torn down, and they could now communicate as assassins and as partners. Neither John nor Jane could pull the trigger, and after a passionate make-up, they decided to work together as a team to take out the other assassins who were after them. The Smiths used their strengths as assassins and their newly rekindled romance to prove that love conquers all—even in the face of almost certain destruction.

Finally, after you’ve finished your body paragraphs, you need to wrap it up. Your conclusion should briefly restate your thesis in new words and using new information that came to light in your body paragraphs. This will give your essay a good sense of closure.

Here’s my conclusion:

While Mr. and Mrs. Smith was certainly not an instant Hollywood classic, it clearly shows how a couple can overcome their issues and learn to work as a team. By using such a dramatic example of the reasons spouses keep secrets, the film was able to relate openness and how communication can make or break a relationship to a literal life and death situation.

For more inspiration, read through some examples of summary analysis essays:

• A Summary Analysis and Critique of Animal Behavior by Lee Dugatkin
• A Summary, Analysis and Reflection of Number the Stars, a Book by Lois Lowry
• A Summary Analysis of the Movie Grosse Point Blank

Need to write a summary analysis of a poem? Gain some insight from How to Analyze a Poem and Sound Smart Doing It.

Closing Thoughts

If you still don’t feel confident after your first draft, it’s okay—no one gets everything perfect the first time around.

Read it over, make revisions, and if you still don’t like it, send it to one of the Kibin editors to have a look at. We’ll make edits and give you suggestions to make your essay killer.

Stuck on Your Analytical Essay?

Check Out These Example Analytical Essays

Yes! Show me examples.

Hear me out on the last one for a second.

Think about Professor Trelawney’s class—what was one of the first things they did? Read tea leaves. Those young witches and wizards had to look at the tea leaves in a different way to interpret what they meant.

And that’s exactly what you’ll be doing. No! Not reading tea leaves—interpreting literature. I’ll help you learn what an interpretive essay is and how to write one.

What Is an Interpretive Essay?

Before we get into the how, we have to figure out the what. You can think of an interpretive essay the same way you think about a literary analysis.

Like the name suggests, an interpretive essay is one in which you interpret a piece of literature—a book, essay, play, or poem. It doesn’t have to be, and actually shouldn’t be, about every element you can think of.

Instead, choose one or two elements of the piece to focus on, unless you’re given a specific prompt (in which case, just follow the prompt). If you don’t have a prompt, figuring out what to write about can be a little difficult.

My suggestion is to find something that’s interesting to you. The author’s use of foreshadowing or metaphors, or a certain theme, setting, or character. Once you have this broad topic picked out, you can interpret it by breaking it down into pieces.

If this still sounds a little too theoretical and not practical enough, don’t worry. We’re just getting warmed up.

How Not to Write Your Interpretive Essay

Before we get into how to write your interpretive essay, it’s important to know what not to do from the very beginning.

Don’t write a summary

If you’re working on an interpretive essay where you’re describing what Professor Trelawney’s impact is in Harry Potter, for example, you wouldn’t just tell your reader what Trelawney is like.

Describing her profession, visions, or personality is way too surface-level. You need to dig deeper and make connections as to why her visions are important.

Writing an interpretive essay? Don’t just summarize. Dig deeper and make connections to the why.
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Go big, go small, or go home

While most interpretive essays focus on the smaller aspects of a piece of literature, some students choose to focus on the broader meaning of the work as a whole. Keep in mind, though, that you should do one or the other, not both.

Writing about the big picture and small parts can make your work seem too jumbled. So pick one, and stick to it.

For ideas on what elements to look out for—big or small—check out this super-helpful list of various elements of literature.

What an Insightful Interpretive Essay Must Have

Now that you have a couple things to look out for as you write your interpretive essay, it’s time to talk about what you should do.

1. A thoughtful thesis

Like any essay you write for class, you’re going to want a thesis statement for your interpretive essay.

A thesis usually consists of one, sometimes two sentences that tell the reader what you’re going to write about. It clearly states your viewpoint and offers a summary of your supporting reasons for that viewpoint.

If I were to write my entire interpretive essay on the role of Professor Trelawney in Harry Potter, my thesis statement might look like this:

Though Professor Sybil Trelawney does not have many visions during her tenure at Hogwarts, the one she does have is crucial to the plot of the entire Harry Potter series. Her prophecy lets Dumbledore know how important Harry is to the fate of the wizarding world and allows Harry to find out what he must do to defeat Voldemort.

As you can see, this thesis statement describes what I’m interpreting—Trelawny’s importance to the plot—and offers the supporting points that I’ll be discussing in the body paragraphs.

2. Balance

Speaking of the body paragraphs, you want to make sure they all balance out. In fact, you want to make sure your whole essay balances out.

What I mean by this is that you should have a brief introduction that introduces what you’re going to write about, followed by body paragraphs of similar lengths, then a brief conclusion that nicely wraps it all up.

In my interpretive essay, my first body paragraph or section would discuss how Trelawney’s prophecy showed Dumbledore how important Harry is to the fate of the wizarding world, as well as the repercussions of this knowledge. This would include Dumbledore’s protection of Harry throughout the years.

The second section would discuss how the prophecy showed Harry how to defeat Voldemort and the responsibility that comes with that knowledge. “Neither can live while the other survives” means one has to die, which is pretty heavy stuff for a teenager to deal with.

Both sections should be roughly the same length (no need to count words exactly, just don’t make one super short and the other super long).

It’s also important to note that you do not need to follow a five-paragraph structure unless instructed to do so. That’s why I refer to these as “sections.” Each section can be one or several paragraphs, depending on the flow.

3. Support

In essay-writing, you’re opinion is no good unless you can back it up.

How do you do that?

You use support from the text and outside sources. Supporting your argument gives you credibility and lets the reader not only know you understand the text, but also helps them understand it better too.

If you use support from an outside source, make sure it’s credible and not some meme you saw on Facebook. And always, ALWAYS cite your sources. If the idea isn’t yours, you have to give credit to the original source—even if you’re not quoting directly.

For my first body section, my support would include three points:

• Dumbledore’s protection of Harry
• Snape’s last memories that included his own protection of Harry at Dumbledore’s request
• The fact that the whole reason Trelawney was hired in the first place was because that one prophecy was so powerful and important

4. Good transitions

The three “should dos”above will get you a decent interpretive essay. But we can do better than decent, right?

To have a truly great essay, you’ll need more than content—you’ll need the right kind of flow. And to get that flow, using using effective transitions is key. (You might also want to check out 97 Transition Words for Essays You Need to Know.)

Transitions are how you get from one idea to another. In elementary school, you might’ve learned using “first,” “second,” and “third” to introduce the body paragraphs. But you and your writing have both evolved since then. So it’s time to use some grown-up transitions.

Effective transitions are more conversational. Not to say that your essay should read like you’re chatting with a friend … just that it should go from one idea to the next with no abrupt stops or awkward pauses.

So to get from my first body paragraph to the second, I might write something like this:

Dumbledore was not the only one to see and be affected by Trelawney’s prophecy; it also impacted Harry by giving him the knowledge he needed to defeat Voldemort.

And then I would proceed naturally into my next point.

5. Personality

Your flow is also going to depend on how much fun you have when you’re writing.

I know, your essay probably isn’t on something like Professor Trelawney’s prophecy, but injecting some of your personality into your interpretive essay makes it read easier and stand out (in a good way) from the 20 or more other essays your teacher has to read.

Plus, it makes it much more enjoyable to write.

Last Step: Putting It All Together

Now that you know what to do and what not to do when you write your interpretive essay, it’s time to get to it.

Many students find writing an outline before they begin can save them time and make the writing process easier. Doing so will let you organize your thoughts, so all you have to do is fill in the information.

And don’t forget, if you want to avoid making grammar mistakes or you want to know whether your support is okay, the Kibin editors are always here to help make sure you’re reading those tea leaves right.

Stuck on Your Analytical Essay?

Check Out These Example Analytical Essays

Yes! Show me examples.

You cannot escape it any longer. Your essay is due a week from today. (Thank goodness for homework apps, or you would have completely forgotten about it!)

Remembering that you have to write an essay is only half the battle, though. Now you have to figure out how to write it.

I know you don’t have a lot of time to waste, so let’s cut to the chase. Here’s how to write a smart rhetorical analysis essay in 4 basic steps.

What Is a Rhetorical Analysis Essay?

In its simplest terms, a rhetorical analysis essay breaks down another author’s piece of writing to examine how smaller parts work together to create a larger effect, such as to persuade, to inform, or to entertain an audience.

Sounds simple enough, right?

Let’s look at it another way.

A rhetorical essay is like an engine. All the parts must work together in order for the engine run correctly.

A rhetorical essay is like an engine. All the parts must work together for the engine run correctly.
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If you’re not mechanically inclined, think of it as a recipe. All ingredients blend together to make a delicious dessert. (I don’t know about you, but I’m suddenly hungry for red velvet cupcakes.)

So how exactly do you write a rhetorical analysis essay? Here’s how.

4 Steps to Write a Smart Rhetorical Analysis Essay

Step 1: Read!

I know this sounds obvious, but it’s a crucial step. You cannot write a smart rhetorical analysis if you skim through a piece of writing that you’re supposed to be analyzing. Take the time to read it once or twice to understand the main point and the author’s key arguments.

Step 2: Ask a lot of questions

When you’re writing a rhetorical analysis, you’re trying to get inside the writer’s head. You want to understand his or her writing inside and out. You want to know what makes the writing tick.

To do this, you need to start asking questions.

Here are some examples:

• What is the thesis (or focus) of this piece of writing?
• Is the author’s purpose to persuade, to inform, or to entertain?
• Does the author use ethos, logos, or pathos to persuade?
• Is the intended audience general readers, professionals, college students, or children?
• What is the author’s writing style? Does the author use formal or informal language? Does the author use slang or jargon?
• Is the tone serious, casual, sarcastic, condescending, or funny?
• How does the author use structure to make an impact? How do word choices affect the writing? How does the order of ideas, punctuation, or sentence structures affect the writing?

After you’ve answered these questions (and maybe some others that aren’t listed here), ask yourself two very important final questions:

• How does the author incorporate these rhetorical choices to achieve his or her purpose?

• Why does the author make these specific rhetorical choices?

A Word of Caution – As you’re taking notes about how and why the writer does what he or she does, make sure you’re actually analyzing. Don’t confuse summary with analysis. A rhetorical analysis is not a summary.

Don’t confuse summary with analysis. A rhetorical analysis is not a summary.
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Here’s an example of a summary: In his “How Early Is Too Early?” article, Sanchez uses humor in an attempt to persuade readers that the school day should start at 8:00 a.m.

This example simply tells readers about the article and summarizes the key points. It does not explain how humor is used or whether the author uses humor successfully to persuade his audience.

Here’s an example of a rhetorical analysis: In his “How Early Is Too Early?” article, Sanchez attempts to use stories of sleeping students and groggy teachers to persuade readers that the school day should begin at 8:00 a.m. These examples, though mildly entertaining, provide no conclusive evidence as to why the school day should start at a later time.

See the difference? This example examines the strategy used by the author (humor) and analyzes whether the strategy is effective in achieving the author’s purpose (to persuade readers).

Okay, you’ve read the piece of writing once, twice, maybe even three times. You’ve asked (and answered) a lot of questions about the writing. Now what?

It’s time to put your ideas into essay form.

Step 3: Turn your notes into a rhetorical analysis essay

This step-by-step guide starts with the introduction and thesis then moves to the body paragraphs and ends with the conclusion. We all know this is how the final product will end up, but it doesn’t mean you have to write in that order.

You might begin with a thesis statement, draft a few ideas, and scrap them all in order to revise your thesis statement and start with completely different ideas. That’s fine. Sometimes it takes a few tries to get started.

It doesn’t matter in which order you choose to actually complete the steps below. As long as your paper ends up in a traditional essay format, you’re golden.

Introduction and thesis statement

An introduction to a rhetorical analysis essay is a bit different than other essays. You’re not trying to open with a snappy hook to grab readers’ attention.

The goal of a rhetorical analysis introduction is to provide the basic information of the writing you’re analyzing.

Tell your readers the title, author, and purpose of the writing you’re analyzing within the first line or two of your introduction

 

Your first line might look something like this: In her article, “The Student Loan Debt Trap,” Kala Robinson argues that students are unfairly burdened for a lifetime due to their enormous student loan debts.

Develop the introduction by adding more details about the writing, and as you would with other academic essays, wrap up your introduction with a thesis statement.

In a rhetorical analysis essay, your thesis statement should make a point about the article and the author’s arguments and/or style choices.

You might include whether the author’s arguments are convincing, whether the tone is effective or perhaps too informal, sarcastic, or condescending, or whether the author achieves her purpose.

Here’s a thesis statement example: Robinson’s use of statistics, real-life examples, and emotional appeals provide a strong argument for the need to eliminate student loans.

Yeah, this all sounds pretty formal and academic, but you’re writing an academic essay!

Once you’re satisfied with your thesis statement, move on to the body of the paper.

Body (analysis)

The body of the paper is where you’ll truly begin to analyze the contents, style, and arguments of the piece.

Remember those questions you asked yourself and those notes you took in Step 2? Now’s the time to put them to use.

Using your notes as reference, move through the writing you’re analyzing and examine the key rhetorical strategies the author uses.

Don’t try to discuss every miniscule point. Choose a few of the strongest and most important to include in your paper.

In other words, if you think the author uses excellent statistics to support her argument in the first half, include this as your first point of analysis in the body of your essay.

If, in the second half, the author’s argument falls apart because she simply doesn’t offer any current, real-life scenarios, mention that as the next point in your paper.

Don’t forget to use specific examples and word choices to support your arguments. Don’t try to take the easy way out. Take the time to look up the exact words and arguments the author uses.

Keep in mind that your rhetorical analysis doesn’t have to be all positive or all negative. Mix the good with the bad (and maybe even the ugly).

After you’ve worked your way through the piece of writing, picking out the key points you want to analyze, you can finally (yes, finally!) move to the conclusion.

Conclusion

The conclusion for a rhetorical analysis essay is pretty standard stuff. Wrap up your key ideas and refer to the main points of your paper.

Here’s what a rhetorical analysis conclusion might look like: Ultimately, even though a handful of Robinson’s statistics are slightly outdated, the use of these statistics combined with real-life examples provides a strong argument. She further emphasizes her point, and through her use of emotional appeals, compels readers to fully understand and sympathize with the unfair burden so many college graduates face as they attempt to repay their student loans.

Not so bad, was it?

Need some more examples to help ensure you’re on the right track before jumping into the final step? Check out these rhetorical analysis essay examples:

• A Rhetorical Analysis of Jennifer Price’s “The Plastic Pink Flamingo”
• Rhetorical Analysis of Anna Quindlen’s “Driving to the Funeral”
• A Rhetorical Analysis of Amy Lin’s Article “Barbie: Queen of Dolls and Consumerism”
• A Rhetorical Analysis of Beowulf, an Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem

Feeling better about moving forward with your essay now? Let’s get to revising!

Step 4: Revise

Imagine these guys are your professors, and this is the reaction they have to your rhetorical analysis essay. Not what you were hoping for, was it?

This is exactly the reaction you might get if you try to write your paper a few hours before it’s due, and you don’t spend any time revising.

Having to revise doesn’t mean your paper sucks. It means you care enough about your writing to do your best work. After all, almost no one writes the perfect paper on the first try.

Revision strategies to get you started

• Set your essay aside for a day or two before revising.
• Highlight your thesis statement. Then look at your key arguments to make sure they match your thesis.
• Check to make sure you’ve included specific examples to support your discussion.
• Make sure you’ve connected ideas with transitions.
• Don’t be afraid to reorder ideas or scrap a paragraph if you need to. Revision can get messy!

Your masterpiece is (almost) complete. Sometimes one revision isn’t enough to craft the perfect masterpiece. That’s where we come in. Why not have a Kibin editor help you with your next revision?

It’s a lot of work, I know, but your GPA will thank you.

Or think about it this way: if you were in The Hunger Games, would you be an inhabitant of The Capitol—carefree and enjoying the “entertainment” of the Games—or more critical of the government and the fact that it’s actually benefiting all of Panem?

Literature, like life, is nuanced.

You can’t just take what the author of your text, President Snow (or other politicians), advertisers, or corporations tell you at face value. You have to think critically and look at the context and background information, biases, and other factors at play.

Don’t take what authors, politicians, or corporations tell you at face value. Think critically.
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Writing a critical analysis essay will help you hone these skills. Instead of looking at this as just another assignment to trudge through, look at it as a chance to channel your inner critic.

In this post, I’ll give you the specifics on how to write a good critical analysis essay. I’ll even throw in some examples relating to one of my favorite critics—Katniss Everdeen. (A critical analysis of The Capitol works, right?)

How to Take Your Critical Analysis Essay from Eh to Awesome

A critical analysis essay takes a piece of literature and breaks it down in order to explain the author’s thesis or main idea. But only explaining the different components and how they relate to the main idea will give you a pretty boring essay.

To make it good, concentrate on three elements—effectiveness in staying true to the thesis, organization, and appeal (aka, the non-boring factor).

A good critical analysis essay concentrates on 3 elements: effectiveness, organization, and appeal.
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Effectiveness

I cannot overstate the importance of staying true to your thesis statement. That’s the North Star guiding you to good essay writing.

I’ll talk about developing your thesis later, but once you have it down, you want to make sure the rest of your essay is devoted to proving your thesis.

Take a lesson from Katniss—success and true greatness don’t come from distractions. They come from dedication to your goal.

In her case, it was freeing the people of Panem from tyranny. In your case, it’s writing a good critical analysis essay. Compared to her goal, the writing doesn’t seem as intimidating, does it?

Organization

Organization comes down to ensuring your writing flows logically from one point to the next. One of the best ways to ensure your essay is well-organized is to write an outline. This way, you can plan everything out before you get too far into writing and realize that you forgot an important part.

Appeal

What I call the “non-boring factor,” others may call creativity. In this case, I’m not talking about being the next Shakespeare. I simply mean that you want to keep your reader engaged.

Just putting the necessary information on paper is not going to create an enjoyable reading experience. When you’re writing and reading over your critical analysis essay, put yourself in your reader’s shoes and judge whether it needs a little more personality.

Steps to a Good Critical Analysis Essay

Now that you know a little more about what to include in your critical analysis essay, let’s get into some real examples. After you have read your text critically, there are only four steps left in the writing process:

1. Write your thesis statement
2. Draft an outline
3. Write the content of the paper
4. Proofread your work

Each of these steps could use a little more explanation, right? Let me show you these steps in action. In the following examples, I’ll analyze author Suzanne Collins’ main point in The Hunger Games series and answer whether she was successful in getting that point across.

Step #1: Write your thesis statement

The thesis statement tells your readers what your critical analysis essay is about. Think about what you want to accomplish with your essay, and state it clearly.

Because this is a critical analysis essay and, therefore, covers a pretty broad topic range, it’s okay to have a fairly lengthy thesis statement.

For my thesis statement, I might write something like this:

In The Hunger Games series, author Suzanne Collins effectively demonstrates the dangers of modern issues of war, inequality, and violence. She uses President Snow and The Capitol as gross exaggerations of the worst habits in US society: vanity, greed, conformity, and lack of empathy. By contrasting these exaggerations against the main character, Katniss, Collins successfully gets readers to understand and even sympathize with her main idea.

Step #2: Draft an outline

Much like taking over The Capitol, writing a critical analysis essay requires you to develop a plan.

Outlines may seem like unnecessary work. Really, though, they make your work a whole lot easier. You can organize all your thoughts beforehand and make the writing process a lot faster.

A critical analysis essay has several components, all of which should be reflected (in some way) in your outline:

• Background information about the book, essay, or poem
• Your thesis statement
• A summary of the piece
• The analysis

Depending on your writing style, your outline can be as full or as bare as you want it to be—so long as it gives you an idea of the breakdown of your critical analysis essay.

My outline would look like this:

1. Introduction
   1. Background information
      1. The Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins, 2008-2010
   2. Thesis statement
2. Summary of the story
3. Collins’s purpose
   1. Showing the dangers of war, inequality, and violence
      1. War = catalyst for the Hunger Games to be created in the first place.
      2. Inequality between The Capitol and the rest of Panem creates tension and eventually revolts.
      3. All of Panem is violent, not just the Hunger Games. Creates unjust sense of power for ones committing the violent acts, (rightful) mistrust of government by the victims, and results in death of many.
4. Organization and Style
   1. Three-part series showing Katniss’s life during and after the Hunger Games. Told in first person and portrays rise to her role as the Mockingjay.
5. Effectiveness
   1. Through a thoughtful portrayal of the stark differences between the Capitol and the rest of Panem, and how apathetic Capitol residents can be about the suffering of others, as well as the pure evil characterized in President Snow, Collins is highly effective in making readers understand her main idea.
6. Audience
   1. Teenagers and young adults, but can be enjoyed by older adults as well.
7. Conclusion
   1. Throughout The Hunger Games series, Suzanne Collins is able to effectively show her readers what can happen to the world if war, inequality, and violence continue.

Your essay outline might look similar to mine. If you’re analyzing a non-fiction work, you might include other elements as well. Whatever kind of work you’re writing about, your essay must include an introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion.

Step #3: Write the content

Now that you have your outline, you have a basic plan of attack. All that’s left is filling in all the important details.

Because each piece of literature is different, no two analyses are going to be exactly the same. But there are components that you should include in almost every critical analysis essay:

• The author’s thesis or main idea
• The work’s organization, style, and effectiveness in defending the thesis or staying consistent to the main idea
• How the work appeals to a certain audience

However, different types of works will require other types of details. For example, nonfiction works can analyze an author’s biases, viewpoints the author might not have considered, and whether the author is relying on assumptions or opinions rather than facts.

Here’s a few critical analysis essay examples about nonfiction works:

• Critical Analysis of the Article Dangerous Minds by John Pekkanen
• A Critical Analysis of Rho’s Article on the Aspects of Excellent Journalism
• A Critical Analysis of Martin Luther King, Jr’s. “Letter from the Birmingham Jail”

With fiction, most of what you’re dealing with won’t be facts. (That’s kind of the point of fiction.) So your analysis might include the literary devices the author uses to achieve the main idea, and discuss the importance of the characters or plot.

Here’s a few critical analysis essay examples about fiction works:

• A Critical Analysis of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov
• A Critical Analysis of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein
• A Critical Analysis of Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s “The Yellow Wallpaper”

Let’s dive back into my example essay on The Hunger Games.

Because of the nature of critical analysis essays, no two body paragraphs are going to look the same. However, part of the “effectiveness” part of my essay might look something like this:

While most of the people in Panem struggle and starve, the people of The Capitol live in the lap of luxury. Children of the Districts live in fear that they will be chosen for the next Hunger Games, while children in The Capitol view the Games as entertainment. They live in two different worlds, and it’s these differences that emphasize the apathy of Capitol residents toward the suffering of others. Because President Snow is the man in charge of the Hunger Games, as well as the one responsible for the suffering throughout the Districts on a daily basis, he represents the epitome of evil. Through these differences, Collins successfully allows her readers to see how the evil of the few in power and the apathy of the many can contribute to war and violence.

Step #4: Proofread your work

Just because you’re finished writing doesn’t mean you’re totally done. Make sure to read over your work to catch any mistakes you may have made or anything that could be better.

If you’ve proofread but still aren’t so sure about it, send it to our Kibin editors. They can look it over and bring it to the next level.

That wasn’t so hard, right? Hopefully, now you have some clearer insight into how to take your critical analysis essay from boring to brilliant. Now get to writing!

And may the odds be ever in your favor.

It’s a short sentence, but it packs some intimidation, doesn’t it? Don’t let it scare you. It’s really just a fancy way of saying, “Write a paper, and support what you say.”

It’s like piecewise linear interpolation. Now that sounds scary! Someone once explained it to me as a mathematical way to connect dots. Sure, it’s much more complex than that, but would you rather learn how to connect dots or learn piecewise linear interpolation?

It’s all about the wording. Explaining something another way makes it easier to understand.

With that in mind, let’s try some piecewise linear interpolation. Okay, maybe not. But I am going to connect the dots for you and explain four expert tips to help you write an A+ analytical essay.

A One-Sentence Definition of an Analytical Essay

An analytical essay is an essay in which you’ll analyze something (like an article or a piece of literature) and then support your arguments with evidence (generally from the source you’re analyzing).

Simple enough, right? So how do you put this into practice? Here are four tips to writing an analytical essay.

Expert Tip #1: Find Something to Analyze

Analyze an article

If you’re analyzing an article, look for the author’s key arguments. Determine the purpose of the article. Does the author want to inform you or persuade you? Look at the language, the tone, the writing style, and how the writer appeals to the audience.

Does the author fail to address key points about the topic? Does the author use humor or sarcasm to make a point? Does the author use emotional appeals to convince readers? (You know, like those commercials that ask you to save a sad, lonely puppy.)

For example, you might be analyzing a persuasive article or opinion piece about standardized testing. If John Carter, the author, neglects to support his argument and uses lots of emotional language to try to convince you, you can start to develop an argument.

By analyzing these points, you can determine whether the article is effective and whether the author achieves the intended purpose in writing the piece.

Or analyze a piece of literature

If you’re analyzing literature, look for the following:

• themes
• symbols
• moral or ethical dilemmas
• the author’s arguments

Pick something you (and your readers) can take a stance on.
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Pick something you (and your readers) can take a stance on. For instance, don’t try to argue that blood is everywhere in Macbeth. That’s pretty obvious. Lots of people die in Macbeth.

Instead, write about the symbolism of blood. Remember when Lady Macbeth utters the famous line, “Out, damned spot”? She’s imagining the blood because she feels guilty.

Thus, you can argue that blood is a symbol of guilt throughout Macbeth.

Expert Tip #2: Create a Strong Thesis Statement

The thesis is a one-sentence statement that tells your readers what your paper will be about.

This statement is going to set up your argument, so take time to word your thesis carefully. (Remember, you might need to revise your thesis a few times before you get it just right.)

If you’re analyzing an article…

If you’re writing about the effectiveness of an article, your thesis might look like this:

While Carter’s essay begins strong with relevant examples about standardized testing in elementary schools, he fails to use sufficient data and updated statistics, ultimately making it difficult for readers to support his claim.

If you’re analyzing literature…

If you’re writing about symbolic blood in Macbeth, your thesis statement might look something like this:

Although violence and bloodshed are present throughout Macbeth, it is the imagined blood that proves most powerful as it symbolizes guilt in both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth.

Still looking for more help crafting that perfect thesis? Read How to Write a Thesis Statement in 5 Simple Steps and What Twitter Can Teach You About Writing a Thesis Statement.

Expert Tip #3: Use Evidence to Support Ideas

Simply saying something doesn’t make it true.

You cannot write, “Carter’s essay isn’t convincing,” or, “Blood symbolizes guilt in Macbeth,” and expect your readers to believe you. You need to convince them. To do this, you’ll need specific evidence.

Simply saying something doesn’t make it true. You need to convince your audience.
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If you’re analyzing an article…

Look for places where the author doesn’t support his ideas. Is he missing details or statistics? You might also paraphrase an important argument to help make your point.

Don’t just pick any random phrases or sections because it looks good to have quotes. Make them count!

In the article about standardized testing, perhaps the author includes valid points about testing but might be using statistics that are 15 years old. Are the numbers still accurate today?

Perhaps the author states that kids are worn out from standardized tests but doesn’t provide any evidence to support this claim.

If you’re analyzing a piece of literature…

Look for examples and ideas that you might paraphrase and quote. Look for key scenes or dialogue that illustrate your claim and are crucial to the story.

In an analytical essay about Macbeth, you might point to the scenes where Macbeth kills Duncan or where Macbeth kills Banquo then feels guilty. You might also point to the scene where Lady Macbeth, due to her own guilt, imagines blood spots that she cannot wash away.

Expert Tip #4: Evaluate, Interpret, or Analyze

If you want to write an effective analytical essay (and I’m assuming you do), you cannot just summarize what you’ve read. If someone is reading your paper, chances are they’ve read the article or piece of literature you’re analyzing, so don’t simply retell the story.

Skip summarizing, and start commenting.

Choose an important quote or perhaps paraphrase an important scene. Then evaluate it, interpret it, or analyze it.

In other words, make some sort of relevant comment.

For example, when analyzing an article…

Let’s analyze the following quote:

“Ten year olds step off the bus after school looking sad and worn out. Some are too tired to play when they arrive home. Some are worried, scared that they will not move on to the next grade. The cause of this stress? Standardized tests. Imagine how stressed-out 10 year olds must feel after spending an entire day completing a long, ineffective standardized test. It is no wonder children are having trouble eating and sleeping. It is painfully obvious to any caring adult that these kids are simply too young to be put under such pressure.”

• Does the author make a valid point about kids being forced to take long standardized tests? Yes.
• Does author go overboard with the wording and emotional appeal to get you to feel sympathy and empathy for kids taking standardized tests? Most certainly.

This is the starting point of your analysis. Use these key ideas to develop a discussion of how the author supports his arguments and uses language and emotional appeals in an attempt to convince readers.

You’ll also want to comment on whether this strategy is effective. Does the author achieve his purpose of convincing readers?

For example, when analyzing literature…

When writing about literature, let’s say you pick one famous quote to begin. What does it mean when Lady Macbeth says, “Out, damned spot”? You cannot just say it symbolizes guilt.

How do you know what the words symbolize? How does this quote fit into the larger context of the play and your paper’s argument?

You might interpret the scene as Lady Macbeth developing paranoia as she reflects upon the murderous deeds she and Macbeth have taken part in. You might analyze her sleepwalking ramblings as clear evidence of guilt.

The key takeaway here: It’s not enough to simply include a quote or paraphrase and call it good. You need to explain its importance and interpret its meaning.

The Complete Picture: An A+ Analytical Essay

Once you connect the dots and put these four expert tips together, you’ll have a complete and (hopefully) A+ analytical essay.

Even with these four tips in mind, it cannot hurt to learn more about analytical essays, right? For more writing tips, read this post on writing an analytical essay that digs deep.

Still struggling? Try some prewriting strategies, or check out a few analytical essay examples. Here’s a few to get your started:

• Emotional Distance in A Dream Pang by Robert Frost
• An Analysis of Emily Dickinson’s Humor and Sarcasm in Her Works
• Analyzing A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway

If you’ve started your paper but still feel like you cannot put the ideas in place, try writing an analytical essay outline. An outline can help you organize your thoughts and connect ideas to create a structured, well-written analytical essay.

Want to make sure every t is crossed and every i is dotted? Let a Kibin editor help! Remember, editors are not just proofreaders. They can help revise your writing too.

Stuck on Your Analytical Essay?

Check Out These Example Analytical Essays

Yes! Show me examples.

By now, you’ve probably made plans in one form or another. You’ve marked quizzes and paper due dates on a calendar. Maybe you’ve put together a surprise birthday party for your friend. Thinking about setting a wedding date with your significant other? Now you’re really talking about planning.

But why do we plan? What makes us set a schedule for a series of events ahead of time? In this post, I’ll answer these questions and focus on why outlining your papers is a vital part of the writing process.

Then you’ll get the chance to access some awesome essay outline templates to help you start writing a well-planned and strongly organized paper that wows your professor.

Planning Saves Lives … or Grades

Okay, so your freshman analysis paper on gender roles in 50 Shades of Grey may not win a Pulitzer or change anybody’s life. But if you don’t outline your paper, you’re probably heading for a crash.

If you don’t outline your paper, you’re probably heading for a crash.
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Speaking of crashes, think about something you probably do on a daily basis, driving—or riding in—a car. A lot of planning went into that machine to make it work and get you safely from point A to point B.

If the engineers hadn’t carefully blueprinted all the working parts and how they fit together, then that car wouldn’t run at all. Essays are similar. An unplanned essay that isn’t outlined usually won’t pass your professor’s inspection and just gets you nowhere.

An essay outline denotes how you’ll structure your paper. You can (and should!) make changes along the way. But you want to get everything written down so that you can refer to the outline while you’re writing your rough draft.

If you start out with a good idea of how your paper will function and transition between ideas and paragraphs, then you’ll stay on track and avoid writing yourself into a corner.

Beware the corners—this is what happens when you get to a point in your paper and feel like you have run out of ideas or have no place else to go. Don’t let this happen to you—plan ahead!

Got It–But How Do I Start?

Good time management skills definitely don’t hurt. But just like your paper won’t write itself, your essay is going nowhere if you don’t sit down and start working on that outline.

But maybe it’s been awhile since you’ve composed an outline, and some forms are better than others. No worries—instead of starting from scratch, we’ve got you covered with these templates. You just have to fill in the blanks and keep moving forward!

That said, it’s a good idea to think about the process behind writing a paper before moving forward with your outline. Most papers—like most cars—have the same basic working parts.

Most papers—like most cars—have the same basic working parts.
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You usually need a thesis statement in your introductory paragraph, body paragraphs that follow a logical order and support that thesis, and a conclusion that wraps it all up.

And though most essay have those same working parts, there are different types of essays. Each one requires a different approach to outlining. So without further ado …

7 Super-Awesome Essay Outline Templates

1. Analytical essay outline

Download the template!

This outline template can help you pick apart a topic and support your thesis so well that your professor’s jaw will drop. An analytical essay isn’t a summary—it requires you to concentrate on how a book or poem was written, why a song was composed, what themes are prevalent in a movie, and why that matters.

You come up with an answer and then explain why you’re right. This template covers the basics and narrows the focus, so you can write a killer thesis statement and use strong evidence to support your claim.

2. Argumentative essay outline

Download the template!

Nearly all college students will write an argumentative essay, so steel yourself and get ready to create a powerful outline. In this type of essay, you’ll try to persuade your readers that your thoughts on a given topic are the right ones.

But unlike a persuasive essay, you’ll have to do some solid research and back up your ideas with hard facts. This is a great template to guide you through writing your intro, developing your argument, refuting your opponent’s arguments, and bringing your essay over the finish line with the conclusion.

In an argument essay, you must consider the opposing side(s). This handy template will also show you how to tackle the best of them.

3. Compare and contrast essay outline

Download the template!

A compare and contrast essay takes two subjects and focuses on their similarities and differences. Sounds easy, right? Wait—there’s more!

Like all good essays, this one also serves a larger purpose—maybe you’re trying to state something unknown, clear up a misunderstanding, or show that one topic is better than another.

This template can help you reach these goals using the point-by-point comparison method. Check it out.

4. Expository essay outline

Download the template!

Do you like helpful advice? Me too. That’s what you get with this awesome expository essay template. An expository essay is kind of like a book report. Your teacher makes you write one of these to show that you’ve aptly researched a topic.

Though there are many ways to organize this type of essay, start with this outline, and you’ll be in good shape. It will help you explain your topic using facts, evidence, and analysis—all of which will help you showcase the larger significance at hand.

5. Persuasive essay outline

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Prove it to me. A persuasive essay’s goal is to convince your readers that your viewpoint is the right one. It’s kind of like an argument essay, except that you don’t have to use well-researched facts in order to support your thesis. You can focus on emotional anecdotes and stories to convince your reader that you’re 100% correct.

This is a great outline template that really delivers from intro to conclusion. Need to define your audience and lay down your best hook? Look no further than this stellar template.

6. Reflective essay outline

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In a reflective essay, you get to recall an event, object, or person that helped you become who you are today. This is a fun essay to write because all the material for it exists in your own head. You don’t have to research or argue. You simply offer the reader a meaningful glimpse into your life.

These essays don’t have to be serious—just ask David Sedaris—but there are good and bad ways to write them. Never fear—this template is here to guide you in setting up your hook, descriptive body paragraphs, and an impactful conclusion.

7. Research essay outline

Download the template!

Research essays are beastly—they’re longer than most papers to start. They also typically require more effort because you’re gathering sources and revealing what experts are saying about your topic. But this type of essay is cool because it helps you sharpen both your writing skills and knowledge about a topic.

So learn something, and slay that research essay beast by starting with the best weapon. This template will help you put a framework to your ideas—covering the thesis, context, and history behind your topic, the existing arguments, and why the topic/research matters.

From Outline to Essay

Outlining your essay before you begin writing it has so many advantages. It’s easier to change and reorganize a few points on a page than doing the same for large paragraphs in a rough draft.

Outlines save you time and provide peace of mind when it comes to writing papers. Even when you’re putting words to the page, you can always refer back to an outline to keep you on the right track and avoid getting stuck in one of those scary corners we talked about.

Want to win the essay-writing race? Then make a habit of outlining your essays from now on.

Some Inspiration

Sometimes it just helps to see how others have tackled essays in the past. Check out some of these great example essays from the Kibin database to inspire your next trip down essay-writing lane.

• Analytical essay examples
• Argumentative essay examples
• Compare and contrast essay examples
• Expository essay examples
• Persuasive essay examples
• Research essay examples
• Reflective essay examples

Now you’re ready to rev your outline-writing engine. Kick your typing into gear, and drive that paper from point A to point B with a well-organized structure that’ll show your professor you know what’s what.

And don’t forget—your Kibin pit crew is standing by to proofread that next paper to make sure it runs like a dream when you’re ready to turn it in.

Keep reading this blog post for useful tips on how to write an analytical essay in no time.

Where Do You Start?

Start with the assignment guidelines.  Chances are you haven’t read them in a while, and it’s important that you know exactly what you should be writing.

Should your paper be 800 words?  1000 words?

Are you writing an analytical essay about a poem, short story, or maybe even a novel? Do you need to complete any outside research? Does your professor require a specific format for your analytical essay?

Once you understand the assignment, you can move to the next step: understanding how to write an analytical essay.

What Is an Analytical Essay?

To analyze a work of literature, you need to break it down into smaller parts to understand what it means.  Looking at smaller parts of a piece of literature helps you understand how the pieces fit together to create the larger meaning.

The Analytical Essay as a Jigsaw Puzzle

Think about writing an analytical essay like piecing together a jigsaw puzzle.

When you’re putting together a puzzle, you have 100s of tiny pieces that make up an image. When you’re looking at just one piece, you can’t tell what you’re looking at.  You can’t identify the picture in the puzzle until you put all the pieces together.

Learning how to write an analytical essay is like taking apart that puzzle.  You start with the large image, and you have to look at each piece to see how it fits into the larger puzzle and to understand what it all means.

What an Analytical Essay Is Not

An analytical essay is not a summary.  Do not retell the plot.

In other words, if you’re writing an analytical analysis of The Wizard of Oz, don’t simply tell us how Dorothy lands in Oz and tries to find her way back to Kansas. Your goal is to analyze a piece of writing, not simply tell readers what they have just read.

Now that you understand the basics, use these six tips to help you learn how to write an analytical essay that digs deep.

How to Write an Analytical Essay That Digs Deep (6 Easy Tips)

1. Take notes. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP!

Taking notes is a crucial step in writing an analytical essay because it will help you discover important points in the writing that you are analyzing and help you see how ideas fit together.

Begin by carefully reading through the writing that you will analyze and take notes as you read.

Here’s where you’ll start to dig.

Write down anything that seems significant to you.  Do a character’s actions seem odd or out of place?  When you read what one character said to another, did you think it told you something more about the character’s relationship to the story? Did you think it was interesting that the speaker mentioned black boxes four times in the poem?

If so, write it down.

Jot down your thoughts as you read. You need to look beyond the surface of the piece of literature in order to understand the true meaning. Don’t accept anything at face value.

WARNING!  If you’re taking notes on a separate page, make sure to write down the page number or paragraph number as a reference.  This will make it much easier to find the information again when you’re writing your essay.

2. Dig deep into the writing and examine each level.

A flower in a poem might be more than a flower.  It might be a symbol of love.  The red hat a character wears might be more than a hat.  It might signal a character’s independence.

Don’t merely summarize what happens in the literature.  You’ll need to write commentary.

You’re writing your thoughts about what you’re reading.  You’re asking questions.  You’re asking why events occur, why characters act the way they do, and why the author wrote the piece in a specific way.  You’re drawing connections and using the space to help you develop meaning and analyze the piece of writing.

3. Focus.

Review your notes and look for the gems you’ve uncovered in your analysis. Decide which ideas you will use as the focus of your paper.

Spend some time examining and organizing your ideas, as you may need to narrow your focus into an appropriate topic for your paper.  For instance, you might look for recurring symbols in a poem, or you might look at character development in a short story, or you might look at the theme of a novel.

4. Develop a thesis.

The thesis will be one statement (generally at the end of your introductory paragraph) that tells readers what your paper is about. It lets readers know the point of your analytical essay.

In other words, now that you’ve examined each part of the writing, you’ll tell your readers what it all means.

For instance, if the speaker in a poem refers to black objects, your thesis might explain the use of the black objects as a symbol for death. If a character develops from a shy boy to an outspoken man during the novel, your thesis might explain the theme of the story as the difficulties of transitioning into adulthood.

5. Develop the body.

The body of your paper needs to contain evidence to support your thesis.   You need to convince your readers of your point.  You’ll do this by finding examples from the piece of writing you’re analyzing.

Use your notes again (those gems you uncovered earlier as you dug through the literature) to find places in the writing to support your ideas.  You might use a short piece of dialogue to explain a character’s mood and how it contributes to his character.  You might include a summary or paraphrase of an event that contributes to the overall development of the story’s theme.

Don’t forget:  all information in the body of your analytical essay must directly relate to your thesis and must support your ideas.

WARNING!  Don’t fill your paragraphs with paraphrases, summaries, and quotes without including a discussion of their importance and meaning.  Include your own words in your analytical essay and use evidence from the text to support your writing.

6. Develop the conclusion.

Your conclusion will let readers know that they’ve reached the end of your paper and will provide some type of restatement of your key arguments and thesis.  (This is not the place to introduce new ideas.  Remember, you’re ending your essay, so readers shouldn’t learn new information in your conclusion.

Do you need more help? View this slideshow to learn more tips for writing an analytical essay.  If you want to read a sample of an analytical essay, look at these sample student essays. Also check out this great post on how to write an analytical essay outline.

Good luck!

Stuck on Your Analytical Essay?

Check Out These Example Analytical Essays

Yes! Show me examples.