Writing an analytical essay is difficult if you don't know how to do it. However, once you've got clear guidelines, this task is as easy as ABC. We want to help you out and teach you how to write an analytical essay quickly and easily.
Understand the Object
The first thing you need to do is to understand what you're going to write about. This goes beyond just simply knowing the topic. You need to be able to comprehend the deeper meaning of it because the name of an analytical essay says it all - a thorough analysis is required. One of the effective methods, which you can use, is breaking your topic into pieces and analyzing them separately. Later, you can collect all the data into one essay.
Brainstorming
Once you're satisfied with the level of understanding the topic, you need to prepare for actual writing. Brainstorming is a great mind tool that will help you to come up with enough arguments for an analytical essay. Take your topic and study it from as many angles as you can find. If you're writing an analysis of a literary piece, for example, look at the author's style, how they create the visual pictures, the obvious and hidden motives, the consistency of the work, etc.
Don't worry if your brainstorming is all over the place. Just take a piece of paper and jot down everything that crosses your mind. Mind maps can be very helpful because then you can group your thoughts by topics united around one idea.
Thesis Statement
The core of your essay is the thesis sentence, so start with it after brainstorming. The thesis should meet two main requirements - it should be specific and not too long. Don't try to elaborate in the thesis statement, you'll have the whole essay just for that. What you need to do is to give the reader a clear picture of what to expect from the following text. This one sentence should basically reflect the whole essay, so don't hesitate to go back to it throughout the writing process.
Arguments
That's the step where you go back to your mind map, which you created while brainstorming, and develop your ideas into working arguments. You might need to search more information from additional sources to cover the arguments completely. One thing you should avoid by all means is altering arguments for your own favor. If an idea doesn't fit in with your way of thinking, abandon it altogether. If your evidences seem to be messy, make an outline on a separate piece of paper, and organize them in a logical order.
Proofread
After you've finished your essay with a conclusion, dedicate enough time for proofreading your essay. Check all spellings (especially names), look for run-ons and grammar mistakes, and track the general flow and comprehension of the text. Imagine you're a teacher and you need to grade it. Don't hesitate to be critical, because your teachers will definitely be relentless.
That's all you need to write an analytical essay. Good luck!