The following suggestions can help you focus your work on an analytical essay or another type of analytical document.

Suggestions for Essays

1. ANALYZE AN ACADEMIC TREND

Identify a trend in a field of study that interests you. For instance, you might have noticed the increasing use of statistical methods and advanced mathematics in biology courses, a decreasing emphasis on politics and great leaders in history courses, or a new focus on ethics in business courses. Confirm that the trend exists, and then analyze its implications for students in the discipline. To support your analysis, consult scholarly journals, survey instructors in the field, or interview students who are majoring in the field.

2. SPECULATE ABOUT A POPULAR TREND

Write an essay that explores a popular trend, such as the rise in popularity of a particular kind of music or growing interest in a particular area of study. Address your essay to your instructor. In your essay, describe the trend and provide evidence that shows how it has developed over time. To support your analysis, draw on written sources, or conduct field research using interviews, observations, or surveys.

3. TRACE THE CAUSES OF A RECENT EVENT

Interpret a recent event for an audience of your choice, such as your classmates, other college students, your instructor, your parents, or members of the community. The event might be a local ballot initiative, a natural disaster affecting your region, an incident involving law enforcement officers and college students, or anything you’ve read about in the news that intrigues or worries you. In your essay, describe the event and provide an analysis of its possible causes. Draw on written sources, interviews, or observations to support your analysis.

4. ASSESS THE EFFECTS OF A HISTORICAL EVENT

Analyze the long-term consequences of a historical event for an audience of your choice. You might direct your essay to your instructor, your classmates, other college students, your friends, or people working in a particular profession. Choose a historical event that has implications for your audience. For example, if you are writing for people from your hometown, you might choose to write about something that occurred when the town was founded. If you are writing for your instructor or classmates, you might choose something related to education, such as the passage of Title IX, which banned discrimination on the basis of sex in educational programs that receive federal funding, or the Morrill Act, which established public land-grant universities. In your essay, describe the event clearly, identify the sources you used to learn about it, and discuss the implications of the event for your readers.

5. ANALYZE AN ADVERTISEMENT

Write an essay that uses rhetorical analysis to interpret an advertisement. Address your essay to your instructor. Choose an ad that interests you, and develop an interpretive question to guide your analysis. For example, you might ask how ads for a credit card company use appeals to character or logic to elicit a positive response from readers, or you might ask how an ad for a popular brand of beer uses emotional appeals to distinguish the beer from its competitors. If possible, include part or all of the ad as an illustration in your essay. To support your analysis, draw on written sources, or conduct field research using interviews, observations, or surveys.

Suggestions for Other Genres

6. DRAFT AND DESIGN A COLUMN FOR A MAGAZINE

First decide whether you want to write about a particular subject or submit your column to a particular magazine. If you have a specific subject in mind, search your library’s databases and the Web for articles that address it. This can help you identify magazines that might be interested in your column. If you want to publish your column in a particular magazine, read two or three issues cover-to-cover to determine the kinds of subjects it normally addresses. Once you’ve selected a target magazine, analyze it to determine its writing conventions (such as the level of formality and the manner in which sources are acknowledged) and design conventions. As you learn about your subject and plan, organize, and design your column, keep in mind what you’ve learned about the columns you’ve read. Your column should reflect those writing and design conventions.

7. CREATE A NEWS ANALYSIS

Begin working on your news analysis by identifying an event to analyze. Consider whether analyzing this event will help you accomplish your purposes as a writer. Then reflect on whether your readers will want or need to know about the event. Finally, identify the newspaper, magazine, or Web site where you’d like to publish your news analysis. Once you’ve made these preliminary decisions, learn more about the event by consulting your library’s databases. Use what you learn about the event to plan, organize, and design your news analysis. Be sure to seek feedback on your drafts from other writers (friends, classmates, relatives) and from your instructor.

8. DEVELOP A MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATION

Begin working on your presentation by considering your purpose and your audience. After you’ve chosen a subject and conducted your analysis, identify the overall point you want to convey; choose the reasons you’ll use to convince your readers to accept your analysis; and identify the evidence you’ll use to support your reasons. Then consider the setting in which your audience will view your presentation, choose an organization for your points, and select an appealing and consistent design for your slides. Remember that an effective slide usually focuses on a single point and provides a limited amount of information to support that point. As you develop your presentation, ask for feedback from friends, classmates, instructors, or relatives.

9. ANALYZE A POEM, SHORT STORY, OR NOVEL

Analyze a poem, short story, or novel that you’ve read recently. Address your analysis to your instructor and other readers who share your interest in this work of literature. Focus on a clearly stated interpretive question, and use text analysis as your interpretive framework. Support your analysis by drawing on the work of literature and published reviews or journal articles. In your essay, identify and briefly describe the work you’re analyzing. Then offer your interpretation of the work.

10. POST A BLOG ENTRY

Identify a subject that is suitable for analysis and likely to interest a general group of readers. Then create a blog entry that analyzes the subject. As you write your entry, consider the possibilities and limitations associated with writing for the Web, and in particular for a blog. In your blog entry, provide enough background information on your subject to ground your analysis, introduce your interpretive question, and present your analysis. You should support your analysis by drawing on the subject and linking to other documents on the Web.