Guide for Writing an Analytical Exposition

GUIDE FOR WRITING AN ANALYTICAL EXPOSITION

How to write an Analytical Exposition

The purpose of an analytical essay is to propose and support an argument. By analyzing the material on which the essay is based, the essay writer should develop a position regarding the accuracy of the original information. The introduction is one of the most important parts of an analytical essay. This is because it is in the introduction that the reader will receive his first impression of the essayist's position

 Regardless of what the essay is about, most analytical or expository essays conform to a specific structure; they all have an introduction, a main body and a conclusion.

Before Writing

Step 1

Select your topics to provide evidence for your thesis. Try to pick something manageable, that will fit within the space specifications of your essay.

Step 2

Organize your ideas. You can do this in several different ways. For instance, some people will simply make a list of their ideas and select the ones they want. Other people who think more visually might make a tree of their ideas, beginning with the central topic and drawing "branches" to represent other ideas working from the central topic. Some people might engage in free-writing, simply putting their ideas on paper with no worries for structure, simply to see where their ideas go.

Step 3

Write a thesis statement. This is the single most important section of your essay. The thesis statement is essentially a sentence that explains what your central argument or idea is. You will use this idea to develop everything else in your essay. While thesis statements are usually only one sentence long, they can be longer if necessary, but the more direct your thesis, the better.

Step 4

With your thesis statement in mind, pick three or four ideas from your previous work in Step 2 that you feel support this statement.

Step 5

Write a topic sentence for each one of these ideas. These will be the topic sentences for each paragraph of your essay's main body.

Step 6

Plot the body of your essay. This is where the introduction--main body--conclusion structure comes into play. Take each of the topic sentences you wrote for the main body, and decide the order in which you wish to present them.

Writing

Step 1

Write your introduction. The introduction must include your thesis statement as well as a summary of your topic sentences for each paragraph in the main body. You also want to capture the reader's interest, making certain that he or she will read your essay all the way through.

Tips

·         Understand the source material thoroughly. Every analytical essay is essentially a commentary on someone else's work. This means that an effective analytical essay writer is someone who is able to read and understand the source material exceptionally well.

·         Grab the reader's attention. By including a quotation or controversial statement in the first few lines of the introduction you generate interest in your essay. This increases the likelihood that your essay will leave an impression and actually influence the reader's opinion.

·         Summarize the source material. This summarization is sometimes referred to as an abstract and should be included in the introduction. The summary should inform the reader of the title and author of the source document as well as provide a brief overview of the source document's main points. By including this abstract in the introduction, the reader will have a better idea of the context in which your argument arose.

·         Finish with a thesis statement. A thesis statement is a concise sentence that outlines precisely what the main argument of your essay is. The thesis statement is going to be the main idea or position that the remainder of your essay is going to support. It is important that this position be an opinion rather than a fact, since it must be something that can be argued both for and against.

Step 2

Write a paragraph for each of the topic sentences. Expand upon how this topic sentence supports your thesis, and provide any information you wish in support.

Step 3

Write a concluding paragraph for your essay. The conclusion must restate the thesis, restate each of your arguments in support of the thesis, and generally bring the essay to an effective close. Make sure to word all of these differently than you did at the beginning and in the body. Also, make sure to never introduce any new material in the conclusion.

Intro and Conclusion hints

Construct the Introduction using the key facts. For instance, if your subject is "Chocolate," your introduction can be "Chocolate is a sugary concoction made out of the cocoa bean." Write out all of the facts in the same manner.

The "thesis" is very important, it is the last sentence in the Introduction, which will tell the readers what the essay will be about.

Build the thesis statement using three reasons to back up and support it. Your thesis should look something like this: "Chocolate is over-rated because it is too rich, too fattening, and not tasty."

The conclusion paragraph is much like a conclusion sentence; it ends your exposition by summing up the points you made earlier.

Restate the importance of the topic you covered. For example, "Chocolate is enjoyed by many people the world over." Then restate the reasons you like or dislike chocolate. Then, in your final sentence, you will want to write a sentence that looks toward the future, such as, "In the future, I wish to never see chocolate again," or something to that effect.