1. Division or Analysis
Slicing into Parts

2. The Method Remember how “you” improved Green Tea Tonic?
When you analyzed the make-up of this drink, you found the actual ingredients:
Water, green tea, corn syrup, citric acid, sodium benzoate & coloring.
Division or analysis (these terms are interchangeable) is a key skill in learning & in life.
It allows you to slice a large & complicated subject into smaller parts that you can relate to each other.

3. Kinds of Division or Analysis
Division or analysis always works in the same way: separating a whole subject into its elements, slicing it into parts
Level of difficulty varies: you can much easier do this about a subject that comes naturally to you than about something you’re not familiar with or just recently learned
There are so many ways to divide or analyze a subject (just like slicing a pizza)

4. Analysis & Critical Thinking
Analysis plays a huge role in critical thinking, reading and writing.
All of these go beneath the surface of the object, word, image, or whatever the subject is.
When you work critically, you divide the subject into its elements, INFER the buried meanings and ASSUMPTIONS that define its essence, and SYNTHESIZE the parts into a new whole that is now informed by your perspective.
This method will help you understand a sculpture, perceive the importance of a case study in sociology, or form a response to an environmental impact report.

5. The Process – Subjects & Theses
Any time you see the words evaluate, examine, explore, interpret, discuss, or criticize, get ready! You’re about to conduct analysis!
Separate the subject into its elements, infer their meanings, explore the relations among them, and draw a conclusion about the subject.
You can use ANYTHING for analysis, but only if the analysis will add to the subject’s meaning or significance.

6. The classic analytical exercise that leaves the parts clearly dissected, with no life to the subject, is NOT what you want.
You have to animate the subject, and you do that by finding your interest.
What’s appealing about your subject? Curious? Mysterious? Awful?
What’s your purpose in writing about your subject? Do you simply want to explain it, or do you want to argue for or against it?

7. These questions can help you find the framework you will use to divide the subjects into parts.
Finding your principle of analysis will lead you to your essay’s thesis as well (the main point you want to make about your subject)
Expressed in a thesis statement, this idea will help keep you focused and help your readers see your subject as a whole rather than as a bundle of parts.

8. Use your framework consistently – don’t switch around!
In developing an essay by analysis, having an outline at your elbow can be a help.
You don’t want to overlook any parts or elements that should be included in your framework.
You don’t have to mention every feature in your final essay, or give them equal treatment, but be careful with what you omit.
Use your framework consistently – don’t switch around!

9. Evidence
Making a valid analysis is chiefly a matter of giving your subject thought, but for the result to seem useful and convincing to your readers, it will have to refer to the concrete world.
This method requires open eyes and a willingness to provide evidence.
The nature of the evidence will depend on what you’re analyzing (physical details for a sculpture, quotes for a poem, statistics for a psychology case study, etc)
You need to supply enough evidence to justify and support your particular slant on the subject.

10. Be careful…
Don’t get so carried away with the details that the subject itself becomes distorted.
Keep the subject in front of you as you work (or at least imagine it vividly) & maintain an outline.
It helps to reassemble your subject at the end of the essay, placing it in a larger context, affirming its significance.
By the end of your essay, your subject must be a coherent whole truly represented by your analysis. The reader should be intrigued by your subject, yes, but also be able to recognize it on the street.

11. More about the thesis statement
Readers will have an easier time following your analysis if they have a hook on which to hang the details. Your thesis statement can be that hook if you use it to establish your framework.
Vague: The sculpture is a beautiful piece of work.
Revised: Although it may not be obvious at first, this smooth bronze sculpture unites urban and natural elements to represent the city dweller’s relationship with nature.
Vague: The sculpture is a waste of money.
Revised: The huge bronze sculpture in the middle of McBean Park demonstrates that so-called public art may actually undermine the public interest.

12. The Infamous Checklist
Principle of analysis and thesis
Completeness
Consistency
Evidence
Significance
Truth to subject