A thesis that states your main argument. Analysis that relates back to your thesis and supports it. Examples to support your analysis and allow a more in-depth look at the issue. In the rest of this article, we’ll explain how to include each of these in your analytical essay Thesis: a strong, specific argumentative claim introduced early in your essay Evidence: primary and/or secondary sources that support your argument Interpretation/analysis: explanations of how the sources support your argument Write a strong thesis statement! What is a thesis statement? It is usually a single sentence at the end of your first paragraph that presents your argument to the reader. The rest of the paper, the body of the essay, gathers and organizes evidence that will persuade the reader of the logic of your interpretation
5 Steps to Write a Great Analytical Essay
General Education. Do you need to write an analytical essay for school? What sets this kind of essay apart from other types, and what must you include when you write your own analytical essay? In this guide, we break down the process of writing an analytical essay by explaining the key factors your essay needs to have, providing you with an outline to help you structure your essay, and analyzing a complete analytical essay example so you can see what a finished essay looks like.
Before you begin writing an analytical essay, you must know what this type of essay is and what it includes. Analytical essays analyze something, analytical thesis statement definition, often but not always a piece of writing or a film. Instead of summarizing, an analytical essay typically takes a narrower focus and looks at areas such as major themes in the work, how the author constructed and supported their argument, how the essay used literary devices to enhance its messages, etc.
Rather, analytical thesis statement definition, your goal is to have enough analysis and examples that the strength of your argument is clear to analytical thesis statement definition. Besides typical essay components like an introduction and conclusion, a good analytical essay will include:.
Below is an outline you can follow when structuring your essay, analytical thesis statement definition, and in the next section we go into more detail on how to write an analytical essay. Your introduction will include:. Your analytical essay will typically have three or four body paragraphs, each covering a different point of analysis. Body paragraphs will include:. Begin analytical thesis statement definition rephrasing your thesis and summarizing the main points you made in the essay.
Someone who reads just your conclusion should be able to come away with a basic idea of what your essay was about and how it was structured. A conclusion will include:. Follow these five tips to break down writing an analytical essay into manageable steps. All of these steps use the completed analytical essay in the next section as an example. Before you decide on an analytical essay topic, do a bit of research to make sure you have enough examples to support your analysis.
You need to choose a topic that allows you to analyze the theme. You could write about how Steinbeck used literary devices throughout the whole book, analytical thesis statement definition, but, in the essay below, I chose to just focus on the intercalary chapters since they gave me enough examples.
Having a narrower focus will nearly always result in a tighter and more convincing essay and can make compiling examples less overwhelming. When you begin writing, remember that each sentence in your analytical essay should relate back to your thesis. In the analytical essay example below, the thesis is the final sentence of the first paragraph the traditional spot for it.
How Steinbeck used literary devices in the intercalary chapters to show how rough migrants could have it. Crystal clear. This is where you determine the bulk of your analysis--the information that makes your essay an analytical essay.
My preferred method is to list every idea that I can think of, then research each of those and use the three or four strongest ones for your essay.
A good rule of thumb is to have one body paragraph per main point. This essay has four main points, each of which analyzes a different literary device Steinbeck uses to better illustrate how difficult life was for migrants during the Dust Bowl. The four literary devices and their impact on the book are:. Now that you have your main points, you need to back them up, analytical thesis statement definition. Any evidence that would work for a regular research analytical thesis statement definition works here.
In this example, I quoted multiple passages from The Grapes of Wrath in each paragraph to support my argument.
You should be able to back up every claim you make with evidence in order to have a strong essay. Create an introductory paragraph that analytical thesis statement definition with the thesis, make a body paragraph for each of your main points, including both analysis and evidence to back up your claims, and wrap it all up with a conclusion that recaps your thesis and main points and potentially explains the big picture importance of the topic.
One way Steinbeck illustrates the connections all migrant people possessed and the struggles they faced is by refraining from using specific titles and names in his intercalary chapters. While The Analytical thesis statement definition of Wrath focuses on the Joad family, the intercalary chapters show that all migrants share the same struggles and triumphs as analytical thesis statement definition Joads. No individual names are used in these chapters; instead the people are referred to as part of a group.
By using generic terms, Steinbeck shows how the migrants are all linked because they have gone through the same experiences. The grievances committed against one family were committed against thousands of other families; the abuse analytical thesis statement definition far beyond what the Joads experienced. The Grapes of Wrath frequently refers to the importance of coming together; how, when people connect with others their power and influence multiplies immensely.
Throughout the novel, the goal of the migrants, the key to their triumph, has been to unite. Hundreds of thousands of migrants fled to the promised land of California, but Steinbeck was aware that numbers alone were impersonal and lacked the passion he desired to spread.
Steinbeck created the intercalary chapters to show the massive numbers of people suffering, and he created the Joad family to evoke compassion from readers. Because readers come to sympathize with the Joads, they become more sensitive to the struggles of migrants in general, analytical thesis statement definition.
However, John Steinbeck frequently made clear that the Joads were not an isolated incident; they were not unique. Their struggles and triumphs were part of something greater. Refraining from specific names in his intercalary chapters allows Steinbeck to show the vastness of the atrocities committed against migrants. Steinbeck also creates significant parallels to the Bible in his intercalary chapters in order to enhance his writing and characters.
By using simple sentences and stylized writing, Steinbeck evokes Biblical passages. Throughout his novel, John Steinbeck makes connections to the Bible through his characters and storyline. Starving migrants become more than destitute vagrants; they are now the chosen people escaping to the promised land. When a forgotten man dies alone and unnoticed, it becomes a tragedy.
It is easy for people to feel disdain for shabby vagabonds, analytical thesis statement definition, but connecting them to such a fundamental aspect of Christianity induces sympathy from readers who might have otherwise disregarded the migrants as so many other people did. The simple, uneducated dialogue Steinbeck employs also helps to create a more analytical thesis statement definition and meaningful representation of the migrants, and it makes the migrants more relatable to readers.
Steinbeck chooses to accurately represent the language of the migrants in order to more clearly illustrate their lives and make them seem more like real paper than just characters in a book.
There are multiple grammatical errors in that single sentence, but it vividly conveys the despair the migrants felt better than a technically perfect sentence would.
The Grapes of Wrath is intended to show the severe difficulties facing the migrants so Steinbeck employs a clear, pragmatic style of writing. The depiction of the migrants as imperfect through their language also makes them easier to relate to. Repeatedly in The Grapes of Wraththe wealthy make it obvious that they scorn the plight of the migrants.
The wealthy, not bad luck or natural disasters, were the prominent cause of the suffering of migrant families such as the Joads. Thus, Steinbeck turns to the less prosperous for support in his novel. In The Grapes analytical thesis statement definition WrathJohn Steinbeck uses metaphors, particularly about nature, in order to illustrate the mood and the overall plight of migrants. Throughout most of the book, the land is described as dusty, barren, and dead.
Towards the end, however; floods come and the landscape begins to change. This description offers a stark contrast from the earlier passages analytical thesis statement definition were filled with despair and destruction. However, at the end of the chapter the rain has caused analytical thesis statement definition life to grow in California. The new grass becomes a metaphor representing hope. When the migrants are at a loss over how they will survive the winter, the grass offers reassurance.
The story of the migrants in the intercalary chapters parallels that of the Joads. At the end of the novel, the family is breaking apart and has been forced to flee their home.
However, both the book and final intercalary chapter end on a hopeful note after so much suffering has occurred. Steinbeck affirms that persistence, even when problems appear insurmountable, analytical thesis statement definition, leads to success. Refraining from using specific names and terms allows Steinbeck to show that many thousands of migrants suffered through the same wrongs.
When Steinbeck writes in the imperfect dialogue of the migrants, he creates a more accurate portrayal and makes the migrants easier to relate analytical thesis statement definition for a less affluent audience. Metaphors, particularly relating to nature, strengthen the themes in The Grapes of Wrath by enhancing the mood Steinbeck wants readers to feel at different points in the book.
Overall, the intercalary chapters that Steinbeck includes improve his novel by making it more memorable and reinforcing the themes Steinbeck embraces throughout the novel. Steinbeck wrote The Grapes of Wrath to bring to light cruelties against migrants, and by using literary devices effectively, he continuously reminds readers of his purpose.
This essay sticks pretty closely to the standard analytical essay outline. It starts with an introduction, where I chose to use a quote to start off the essay, analytical thesis statement definition. I then give a bit of background on The Grapes of Wrath and its themes before ending the intro paragraph with my thesis: that Steinbeck used literary devices in intercalary chapters to show how rough migrants had it.
What does this analytical essay example do well? For starters, it contains everything that a strong analytical essay should, and it makes that easy to find. Additionally, the essay does a good job of taking an in-depth look at the issue introduced in the thesis, analytical thesis statement definition.
Four ways Steinbeck used literary devices are discussed, and for each of the examples are given and analysis is provided so readers can understand analytical thesis statement definition Steinbeck included those devices and how they helped shaped how readers viewed migrants and their plight. Where could this essay be improved? I believe the weakest body paragraph is the third one, analytical thesis statement definition, the one that discusses how Steinbeck used plain, grammatically incorrect language to both accurately depict the migrants and analytical thesis statement definition them more relatable to readers.
The paragraph tries to touch on both of those reasons and ends up being somewhat unfocused as a result. It would have been better for it to focus on just one of those reasons likely how it made analytical thesis statement definition migrants more relatable in order to be clearer and more effective.
This essay also could explain the excerpts that are included more and how they relate to the points being made. This is perhaps especially true in the second body paragraph, the one that discusses similarities to Biblical passages. Additional analysis of the quotes would have strengthened it. What is an analytical essay? A critical analytical essay analyzes a topic, often a text or film. The analysis paper uses evidence to support the argument, such as excerpts from the piece of writing.
All analytical papers include a thesis, analysis of the topic, and evidence to support that analysis. Reading analytical essay examples can also give you a better sense of how to structure your essay and what to include in it. Learning about different writing styles in school?
Analytical and Expository Thesis Statements
, time: 5:04Thesis Statement - Examples and Definition Thesis Statement
Dec 13, · An analytical thesis statement analyzes, or breaks down, an issue or idea into its different parts. Then, it evaluates the topic and clearly presents the order of the analysis to the reader Thesis: a strong, specific argumentative claim introduced early in your essay Evidence: primary and/or secondary sources that support your argument Interpretation/analysis: explanations of how the sources support your argument Definition of Thesis Statement A thesis statement is a statement that occurs at the end of the introduction, after the background information on the topic. The thesis statement is connected with the background information through a transition, which could be a full sentence, or a simple transition word, such as therefore, because, but etc
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