How to analyse in a critical essay
Why do we need to analyse?
In a court of law, a good lawyer would never stand up, point at a photograph or an evidence document, say Here’s my evidence, so that proves my point
then sit back down, case closed.
A good lawyer would always:
- present evidence
- spend time unpicking it
- analyse their evidence
- explain to a jury how that evidence proves their point
This is exactly the process you should go through when analysing quotations, techniques, or key episodes in a critical essay at National 5.
Let's look at an example...
Here is an extract from a candidate’s essay about the theme of love in Shakespeare’s ‘Sonnet 18’:
The first way in which the writer shows the theme of love is through rhetorical question. In line one the writer says: ‘Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?’ This shows the writer is thinking about love as he is asking a question about it.
Questions
- Has the candidate unpicked their evidence?
- Has the candidate proven their point well?
- How could this candidate improve their analysis?
How to improve analysis
- Explain to whom the question is addressed
- Unpick the question – what is being asked and why?
- Develop analysis by providing another layer of textual evidence. For example, quoting the next line of the poem
- Explain additional evidence in detail, mentioning what it all tells us about love
Analysis could involve:
- explaining the denotation and connotation of a word
- explaining two things being compared in a piece of imagery.
Analytical vocabulary
Here are some examples of different analytical vocab words you can use to vary your writing in your critical essay:
| Creates | Evokes | Illustrates | Implies |
| Portrays | Highlights | Establishes | Presents |
| Conveys | Suggests | Reveals | Insinuates |
| Explores | Develops | Indicates | Offers |
| Creates |
| Evokes |
| Illustrates |
| Implies |
| Portrays |
| Highlights |
| Establishes |
| Presents |
| Conveys |
| Suggests |
| Reveals |
| Insinuates |
| Explores |
| Develops |
| Indicates |
| Offers |
Try it yourself
Select five analytical vocab words from the list above. Try to use them in your own essays – one per paragraph.
Linking between quotations and ideas
If you are considering using two quotations per paragraph to add depth and detail, then you need to link between the analysis of your first piece of evidence and analysis of your second piece.
You might use one of the following linking stems to lead into your second quotation:
Another time that we see this is…
A second example which supports this idea is when…
We again note this concern with X when Y says…
Later in the same passage…
Owing to this, the reader is primed to expect X and is therefore not surprised when…
Just as… so too…
This is not an exhaustive list. Try to think of linking stems that might work for the texts that you are studying.
