Steps To Writing Analytical Essays

1. Consider the PROMPT. Know what you need to answer or discuss to satisfy the prompt (and your teacher). Circle all the KEY WORDS.

2. FREE-WRITE a response to the prompt. This step is meant to help you generate ideas. Write quickly and see what happens. This is NOT your first draft, but it may give you some good ideas that you can use in your first draft.

3. Come up with a WORKING THESIS which answers or addresses the prompt. The thesis is your OPINION, which you will need to PROVE. It should be fairly broad and needs to be something that you can prove using the text. You may change this thesis as you make discoveries while writing.

4.Write an INTRODUCTION which includes the title and the author of the work and incorporates your thesis.

5. Find EVIDENCE (QUOTES) which you think supports your thesis. This may also be a good place to modify your working thesis if the quotes that you found support a different thesis.

6. List your quotes. Analyze the quotes on an EVIDENCE/ANALYSIS SHEET. An evidence/analysis sheet is simply way for you to organize your ideas and insure that you have enough evidence which can support your thesis. Remember, your analysis of the quotes is very important (you are, after all, writing an analytical essay). Make sure that when you write down a quote on the evidence/analysis sheet that you make sure you can analyse it to prove your thesis. All quotes must SUPPORT YOUR THESIS. If you realize they don't, you need to find new ones.

7. Make a SKELETON of your paper. This is a rough OUTLINE to help you focus and organize your thoughts. Use your evidence, your quotes, from the sheet you filled out and organize your argument.

8. Write a FIRST DRAFT based on your skeleton/outline. If you've done all the above steps, this one is relatively simple. You've got your outline to tell you where things go, and you've got your evidence and your analysis. So just plug them into your outline.