Essay Two Instructions & Introduction to

Analysis
You second major essay for the course, worth 20% of your grade, will be an analysis essay. In it, you
will analyze the strategies used by a single advertisement of your own choosing. Using one of the
assigned readings as a guide, you'll examine how the advertisement compels its audience to act in the
interest of the advertiser. Read the Essay Two instructions below. 

REQUIRED READING: ESSAY TWO INSTRUCTIONS: ANALYSIS

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Analysis essays are different from argument essays in purpose and structure. To get a sense of
what an analysis essay is and how it works, I highly recommend you read one or more of the
student-written sample analysis essays below. As you're reading each sample, consider the following
questions: 

Based on the sample, how are the goals of analysis different from the goals of an argument essay?
What is the writer is trying to accomplish in the first paragraph?
What is the writer trying to accomplish in the second paragraph?
The thesis doesn't come until the end of the second paragraph. Why do you think it is here rather
than at the end of the first paragraph, like in the argument essay?
What is the writer trying to accomplish in the proof paragraphs?

If you only read one sample essay, please read this one: "Past,
Present, and Pepsi." 
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And here are three more sample essays you can take a look at to get a sense of other (successful)
approaches students have taken to this project:  
Essay Two Analysis Sample #1 
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Essay Two Analysis Sample #2

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Essay Two Analysis Sample #3

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Argument Vs. Analysis: The Big Differences

As we move from argument to analysis, we are moving away from claims about value. Unlike in an
argument, in an analysis, we're not concerned with “good vs. bad,” “beneficial vs. dangerous,”
“important vs. insignificant,” and other such questions of value. 

Instead, with analysis, we're moving towards something more exploratory and explanatory.
Analytical claims are more along the lines of “This is what X means”; “This is what X symbolizes”;
“This is how X works”; or “This is the strategy or technique of X.”

Analysis requires focused, deep, detail-oriented thinking. You're looking at the thing you're
analyzing with a microscope, so to speak. This is different from the sort of "big-picture" thinking we
often find in arguments. 

In analysis, you're trying to discover something new in the thing you're analyzing, something

 interesting, not easy to see at first glance. You're decoding your object of analysis, finding
its hidden mechanics.

The Two Tools of Analysis

1. In analysis: Closely examine the specific details of something in order to better understand what
the whole thing means or how it works.

2. In analysis: Use an expert’s ideas about the type of thing you're analyzing to guide your analysis.

In Essay Two, you're going to use an expert source that says something about how
advertising works in general to help you figure out how a specific ad works.

Organizing Your Analysis 

You should also read the more detailed description of how to organize the analysis essay on the
second page of the Essay Two instructions above. 
Intro (the first paragraph): What am I analyzing and why is it important? 

Bridge (the second paragraph): What theory/expert source will I use to analyze it?

Thesis (one or two sentences at the end of the bridge paragraph): What techniques from the text
does the ad use? (Synthesize text & ad.)  

Proof/PIE (two or three paragraphs, after the thesis): Each proof should analyze one element of
ad. Describe a specific aspect of the ad; analyze it; explain why and how it contributes to the ad’s
overall strategy. Use quotes from text to help explain.

Conclusion (the final paragraph): Tie your analysis to the big picture; explore the cultural relevance
of the ad and your analysis of it.