Skip to Main Content

Ask A Librarian Hours Library Catalog Article Databases RESEARCH SERVICES HELP INFORMATION FOR...

Types of College Assignments

Components of a Critical Analysis Essay: Quick Review & Research Reminders

When you combine

How to Support Your Argument Look at your close readings and provide specific, well-explained textual support for your argument. Pay special attention to how the author chose to tell the story, and look closely at things like: word choice, literary devices, and structure of the text. When researching, you will want to look at how scholars are talking about these aspects of your chosen text, as well. REMEMBER You are the expert! When choosing your scholarly articles, you are not simply finding things that “support” your close reading. You are finding things to build upon, using your paper to add something new and related to the conversations these authors have already started.

synthesize (verb) – to combine (a number of elements) into a new, coherent whole. In literature, this means the “elements” are the findings of the literature you gather and read; the “new whole” is the conclusion you draw from those findings using your viewpoints and the scholarly research you use to support your thesis.(Via: https://guides.library.harvard.edu/c.php?g=310271&p=2071511). Step 1: Gather literature that addresses your research question or thesis statement. Find outside, critical sources from scholarly and/or peer-reviewed sources (check your assignment sheet for exact number and type). Step 2: Review the literature and take notes: describe, summarize, analyze, and identify key concepts. Step 3: Synthesize the literature: compare & contrast, critically evaluate, and interpret, so that you can draw a conclusion to answer your question or support your thesis. Explore the overall purpose and argument of the text. Be sure to prove an argument in the paper and connect your topic to the real world in the conclusion.

https://guides.library.harvard.edu/c.php?g=310271&p=2071511

Components of a Critical Analysis Essay
To view a PDF version of the above slide show, click here.