Isolate and analyze the question you will answer in your essay. Focus on specific words and phrases that alter or clarify the question. If your topic is very broad, define the parameters yourself by limiting your response to a specific angle. For example, if you are assigned the task of writing an analytical essay about Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice," recognize that your topic is very broad and narrow it yourself by choosing to focus on a specific issue, such as the role of marriage in the novel.
Select a standard by which you will evaluate your topic. Consider your options and select your evaluation technique by considering how it will relate to your overall topic. As an example, a feminist critique of the marriage market in "Pride and Prejudice" might highlight the status difference between men and women during the early 19th-century England as well as demonstrate some of the absurdities within the marriage market.
Isolate a few specific points that you will make and defend in your essay by identifying two or three reasoned assumptions you can make by applying your critique to the work. For instance, you identify the two main points as the status difference between genders and the nature of the marriage market.
Develop a reasoned foundation for your points by looking for evidence to support your conclusions. Relate your evidence directly to critical standard you chose as well as to your topic. As an example, you can illustrate perceived status differences between the genders by identifying statements throughout "Pride and Prejudice" that suggest that women were considered socially inferior to men.
Write your introduction with an attention grabbing lead-in sentence. Include a statement stating exactly which analytical approach you will use throughout your essay. Identify your topic and which works you will be analyzing. In your thesis statement, clearly identify the points you will illustrate in your essay. For instance, your thesis statement might say: "Jane Austen's classic work, "Pride and Prejudice," clearly defines the social differences between women and men in the early part of the 19th-century, while showing the ridiculousness of the entire marriage market."