Analysis Paper Outline
Introduction
You want to introduce your topic to the reader and offer any necessary context.
- Hook: Your first sentence should make the reader want to read on. You might use a shocking statistic, a surprising quote from the text, a personal story, or a historical or current event.
- Context: Assume that your reader has no familiarity with the text that you are focusing on. Ask yourself: what does the reader need to know in order to understand my paper? In a few sentences, you may want to mention the title of the text you are analyzing, who created that text, when it was published, and any relevant historical context to that time.
- Thesis: A short, clear articulation of your argument in 1-2 sentences.
Body Paragraphs
You will break your thesis up into smaller sub-claims. See the following example:
Thesis: In The House on Mango Street, Sandra Cisneros employs fairy-tale conventions in order to critique the “happily ever after” messaging that traditional fairy tales offer about marriage and to create her own feminist fairy tale.
Sub-claims:
- Cisneros employs fairy-tale conventions
- She critiques the idea of a “happily ever after” in marriage
- The House on Mango Street can be understood as a feminist fairy tale
You may find it easiest to write one body paragraph per sub-claim. Each body paragraph roughly follows the following formula:
- Topic sentence: A topic sentence is a rewording of your sub-claim and a mini-summary of the paragraph that is to come.
- Evidence: A quotation or paraphrase from the text. Remember that you’ll need to introduce each quotation and inform your reader who is speaking and in what situation.
- Analysis: Explain why this quotation or paraphrase helps support your argument.
Note: You may include more than one piece of evidence in a body paragraph; each piece of evidence must be analyzed.
Conclusion
In your conclusion, you’ll tell your reader why this paper mattered. You might point to directions for future research, end with a call-to-action or suggestion for the reader, or relate your paper to some sort of larger context.
