SHORELINE COMMUNITY COLLEGE

HUMANITIES DIVISION

Analysis Essay Assignment

For this next essay you will be analyzing (and describing) a subject of interest to you. Analysis is most often based on comparison or on effect/cause and answers a sophisticated question. Looking at Just Food you see many different examples of analysis. For example, the first chapter compares energy used to transport food over long distances to energy used to locally grow and transport food and answers a question: How much energy is actually used in both cases and is it the only rational consideration? In the second chapter McWilliams compares organic to non-organic growing methods and answers the question: Which method is better for the environment? Notice that both examples have clear, complex points with a fair amount of detail explained and connected to the point. Another type of analysis is effect/cause. The third and fourth chapters exemplify this, showing the effects that come from causes: the effects of genetic engineering on crops and the environmental effects of eating land-based animals. Analysis is something that takes considerable work on the part of the writer—showing connections that may not be immediately apparent to a reader and develops a difficult, and at times, controversial conclusion. Again, I encourage you to work within the theme of food.

Here are the requirements:

• Choose a subject you are very familiar with to analyze—make sure the subject is something in which you are very interested.
  
• Consider what question you will be answering about that subject (remember most analysis is based on comparison or effect/cause). Make sure you know a lot of factual information relevant to that question.
  
• Make sure the question you devise is neither too broad for an essay nor too narrow.
  
• Write a focused analytical essay using detailed facts to support the answer to your question.
  
• Title the essay with a title that captures the unique essence of the essay.
  
• Type Description Essay—3 to 5 pages double spaced—with the following heading:

Your Name
English 101
Quarter, Year
Analysis Essay

• Fill out Essay Evaluation completely (including grade earned and precise, detailed reasons why grade is deserved).
• Staple all pages together—before coming to class—and turn in on due date.