The Analysis Paper
Click here for an explanation of what an analytical paper is.
Click here for your assignment.
Click here for examples of analyses.
Click here for the structure of your paper.
Click here for instructions on your introduction.
Click here for the organization of the body of your paper.
Click here for instructions on your conclusion.
What is an analytical paper?
Although many students think it is mysterious and difficult, the analysis paper is actually one of the easiest of all papers to write. All you need is something to analyze, and something to base the analysis on. Once you have those, the actual analysis falls right into place.
Consider why an analysis is made. Your blood may be
analyzed to see if you have a disease. Or it may be
analyzed to see if you are a DNA match so that you can
donate a kidney to your brother. A crime scene is
analyzed for clues to who committed the crime. A
successful business is analyzed for reasons for its
success.
In every case, whoever is doing the analysis has a set of characteristics to go by: specific signs of a disease found in the blood; specific markings on the DNA strand; specific items like fingerprints, footprints, bullets, broken glass, etc.; specific business procedures dealing with personnel, stockholders, money management, distribution, advertising, etc. There is always a list, and the person analyzing matches up items on that list with what he or she observes in what is being analyzed.
Believe it or not, that's all there is to
an analysis: finding an appropriate list, and matching
what you are analyzing to the items on that list!
Just because you are analyzing a novel, short story,
poem, or song instead of blood or a crime scene or a
business, the rules don't change. Students often don't
realize that, so when they are asked to do a literary
analysis, all they do is pointlessly rehash the plot.
They haven't a clue where to begin a real analysis.
Well, here'swhere to begin!
Return
Analyze something you have read or seen or
heard that includes words. No analyses of
blood or instrumental music or sculpture or buildings or
anything else without words. This
restriction still leaves you with a world of choices.
You may analyze a short story, a novel, a
poem, a film, a television show, a commercial, a song,
a website, a play, or anything else that uses words
--and of course you are free to include the
parts that are not words as well, such as visual images
in film and video, or the music of a song. However, you
will quickly discover that when you are doing an
analysis of something artistic, it is much easier to
analyze the words than the non-verbal aspects.
As a beginner, it is better to start with what you are analyzing for, such as gender differences in behavior or language, or a particular story pattern, and see what works come to your mind as exemplifying that pattern. After you have approached the problem from that direction a time or two, you will find it easier to start with a work you would like to analyze (or are assigned by an instructor to analyze), and find a basis on which to analyze it.
In order to analyze the work you have chosen, you need a list of items to compare it to. Our textbook provides several such lists in the readings we have done: the components of the "more" factor, the elements of the American mythic experience, the elements of a cult TV show, and the traditional romance formula are some examples.
Have you seen a film that demonstrates the "more" factor? Does the traditional romance formula apply to Pretty Woman?
But you do not have to stick to lists of characteristics found in your textbook. You can go to a book such as Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, find a list of the things that keep men and women from communicating accurately with one another, and apply the list to male and female characters in a situation comedy (is this why Ross and Rachel have such problems?) or a comic strip (why can't Cathy ever connect with the men in her life?) or a novel (isn't it interesting how the pivotal events of Dracula come about because first the men don't tell Lucy what is happening to her and later they decide to leave Mina out of their discussion). And speaking of vampires, what are the traditional elements of the vampire story? How many of them are adhered to in Buffy, the Vampire Slayer? How about the elements of postmodernism? Find a list, make sure you understand them, and decide whether The Simpsons or Buffy or Malcolm in the Middle is postmodern. Is Ally McBeal surreal? You will have to find the characteristics of surrealism and apply them to the program to decide.
You can get your list anywhere--all you have to do is
tell where you got it, and then follow it to make your
analysis.
Return
Examples
There is an excellent example of the kind of analysis you are to write in your textbook, and others that are very good but not as complete. Look at "What Makes Superman so Darned American?" by Gary Engle for a fine example of this kind of analysis. The author has a list of characteristics (the immigrant experience), and he shows point by point how the work matches the list--and also where it departs from the list.
Obviously you are not to copy the whole
analysis--no papers on Superman as an example of the
immigrant experience. That has already been done. But
you may apply the immigrant experience, the more factor,
or the characteristics of women's language to
other works.
Return
Structure of your paper
Your paper should be from 1000 to 1200 words in length (four to five pages, double-spaced), so don't pick something too long to fit into that space. Remember, you can get your list of characteristics anywhere. Find a list of the stages of recovery from alcoholism, and discuss whether Sipowicz on NYPD Blue is an accurate portrayal. How about Billie in Rude Awakening?
You can work on something that you know well
already. Return
When I studied the anthropological definition of the
shaman, I discovered that the characteristic shaman's
journey is repeated many times in Star Trek.
When I studied the Celtic beliefs about
the Gates between the Worlds being open on May
Day Eve, it revealed the meaning of "Stairway to
Heaven"--which is not hidden at all if you know the
mythology it is based on.
Introduction
Look
at the introductions to the various essays in our
textbook. Notice how each author starts out
with something interesting and perhaps a little
provocative to get the reader's attention, and then
quickly introduces the point of the essay. Remember
that your introduction should not take up more
than 20% of your paper--Gary Engle's long
introduction is part of a long article. Don't go more
than 200-250 words before you state your thesis.
Return
Body
The body of an analysis is very easy to write. You have your list of elements or stages or characteristics or whatever, and you simply go through them one by one, showing how the work you are analyzing demonstrates them. Possibly you may have to say that a characteristic or two is missing, but if three out of five are missing you should question whether you have really found an example of what you want to discuss! Often works have inventive twists on the characteristics. Good! Point out how the creator of the work you are analyzing has found a new way of dealing with an old idea.
You may or may not have a paragraph for each item on your list. Sometimes you can combine two or three related points in one paragraph. If you do so, be sure that there is a strong controlling sentence early in that paragraph, so the reader doesn't get lost trying to follow you.
When you have covered all the items on your list, you
have finished the body of your paper. Now go on to write
your conclusion.
Return
Conclusion
Here for the first time you have a paper in which the appropriate conclusion is a summary. Just as if you were a lawyer summarizing for a jury that you want to find in your favor, briefly (no more than 200 words tops) summarize the points you have made, and show how they logically support your analysis that the work fits the category you claim it belongs in.
And that's all there is to it! An analysis is very
easy to do as long as you find a work you
understand and a list of characteristics that actually
fit it. Have some fun with this--you will find
that this technique for writing a paper really makes
an impression on your audience, provided your
connections seem logical, and not forced.
Return
