The source to use is this Narrative:
The Interesting Narrative of the Life of
Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African.
Written by Himself. Vol. I:
Electronic Edition.
Equiano, Olaudah, b. 1745
HOW TO WRITE AN ANALYSIS ESSAY
The purpose of a scholarly analysis essay is to carefully examine and sometimes evaluate a written text. As with any analysis, this requires you to break the subject down into its component parts. This helps you better appreciate and understand the text. For instance, analyzing a novel might include identifying a particular theme and explain how the author suggests that theme through the point of view from which the story is told.
Your essay must have a central idea (thesis), it must have several paragraphs that grow systematically out of the central idea, and everything in it must be directly related to the central idea and must contribute to the reader’s understanding of that central idea.
Your essay must cover the topic you are writing about.
Your essay must have a central idea (stated in your thesis) that governs its development.
Your essay must be organized so that every part contributes something to the reader’s understanding of the central idea.
Your essay must do the following:
Must have a central thesis. The thesis statement tells your reader what to expect: it is a restricted, precisely worded declarative sentence that states the purpose of your essay — the point you are trying to make. Without a carefully conceived thesis, an essay has no chance of success.
An example of a thesis statement – In Things Fall Apart, Chinua Achebe explores how British imperialism resulted in the destruction of traditional African society.
Usually, the thesis statement falls at the end of your introductory paragraph.
The Introduction. The introduction to your analysis essay should try to capture your reader’s interest. To bring immediate focus to your subject, you may want to use a quotation, a provocative question, a brief anecdote, a startling statement, or a combination of these. You may also want to include background information relevant to your thesis and necessary for the reader to understand the position you are taking. In addition, you need to include the title of the work of literature and name of the author.
The Body of the Essay- in this section you present the paragraphs that support your thesis statement. Your analysis essay should contain an explanation of your ideas and evidence from the text that supports those ideas such as paraphrase, specific details, and direct quotations.
Each paragraph should contain a topic sentence (usually the first sentence of the paragraph) which states one of the topics associated with your thesis, combined with some assertion about how the topic will support the central idea.
The Conclusion. Your essay should have a concluding paragraph that gives your essay a sense of completeness and lets your readers know that they have come to the end of your paper. Your concluding paragraph might restate the thesis in different words, summarize the main points you have made, or make a relevant comment about the work you are analyzing, but from a different perspective. Do not introduce a new topic in your conclusion.
