How to Write Analysis Papers: An Ultimate Guide – Well, you are going to write an analytical paper. The problem is that you’ve never done this before, and you don’t know where to start. Don’t worry. Don’t get someone to write your paper because you can do it yourself instead of paying experts for writing analysis essays for you online! Take a deep breath, buy a caffeinated drink, and follow our tips to write a quality analytical paper.
Table of Contents
What is an Analytical Paper?
This paper analyzes a problem or presents an opinion based on a specific fact. Such a paper reveals the facts that were not previously known and makes a deeper analysis. Depending on the goals set, you should write the text based only on reliable information. The facts must be irrefutable.
So, your goal is not to convince readers to accept your point of view. You need to provide enough analysis and facts to convince readers that you understand the topic and your arguments are reasonable. That is, this is a mini-research. You choose a topic, study it comprehensively and provide your audience with ready-made answers to the questions.
Stages of Writing an Analytical Paper
The work on analytical papers is peculiar and rather scrupulous. That is why it makes sense to initially divide it into several main stages, each of which is studied in more detail:
- Learn more about the work/event/phenomenon that your paper will be based on. Highlight important points, sides, and motives in it.
- Form an opinion on the subject of the paper and formulate it briefly in the thesis statement. Answer the question, “What am I trying to prove?”
- Find additional arguments to help prove your point. It can be facts contained in the subject of the paper, different events and situations you faced in your life, gained experience, experiments, statements of scientists and critics, and so on.
- Write an outline of the paper.
How to Do Research
There are only 3 principles for conducting research for an analytical paper:
- Credibility. Information is taken from trusted sources and is not limited to 1 or 2. The more valuable the resource involved, the more convincing the paper will be.
- Expert’s opinion. Listen to the opinions of experts. Use information from professional literature in your paper, rely on reviews of other authors.
- Personal experience. When you write an analytical paper, choose the topic that you really know a lot about. You should explain your thoughts in detail, using arguments from your personal experience.
Standard Analytical Paper Outline
Here is an approximate structure for constructing a text:
- Introduction
- Thesis
- Body
- Conclusion
Now let’s take a closer look at all of these parts:
- Introduction. The introduction should give readers basic information about the problem. Avoid summarizing events. It’s better to just state your arguments. Avoid dramatic introductions (it is best not to use question marks and exclamation marks at the very beginning). Don’t write your text in the first and second person.
- Thesis. Usually, this is the shortest part of the analytical paper, but it can be called the most important. This paragraph lays down the main idea of your work and should run a thin thread through the entire paper. Your thesis should be clear and without any ambiguity.
- Body. This is the actual process of analysis and the largest part of your paper. You have to provide facts and arguments to prove your point. Each fact is examined in detail, considered from all sides. Here you need to think broadly to avoid subjectivity. Particular attention should be paid to the facts on which your main arguments will be based. You can use different methods of proof, but they have to be structured and consistent. It is very important to list the most important points and be able to refer to them. If you draw a logical conclusion from a fact, be sure to set out the logical chain of your thoughts so that readers can come to the same conclusion.
- Conclusion. The final part should be both informative and concise. But the most important thing is to convey all the conclusions made on the topic in this part. It is also necessary to evaluate the result of your research and tell what you have achieved, whether you have managed to reveal the topic.
After the structure is drawn up, you can already start writing the text itself. Follow the plan clearly. If you find some more interesting ideas in the process of writing, it’s okay – you can add them to your work.
Summing It Up
So, in an analytical paper, you choose topics, break the text into segments since you need to analyze the theses you have chosen, and link all the points together, including the conclusion. Your paper should show your position and substantiate your point of view.
When you proofread and edit your finished article, make sure that you explore the issue as much as possible, and the work has no mistakes. If you choose a topic that is close to you, it will be easy for you to write an analytical paper. And don’t forget about the main rule – the chosen topic must be relevant. In this case, it will raise interest in your work.