Read the essay question multiple times and make sure you understand it well. This will help you outline a clear thesis statement that answers the question correctly. Because your thesis statement is the most important piece of your analytical essay, it needs to be simple, yet thoughtfully crafted. A distinct thesis statements tells the reader why the issue you are discussing matters and defines your position clearly. For a strong analytical essay, support your thesis statement with facts, quotes or statistics, use assertive and declarative words and make sure your statement is plausible, insightful and original.
A strong analytical essay is well organized and planned in advance. Outline your essay to make sure each part of your paper supports your thesis statement and has appropriate facts and evidence to support your arguments. Once you know what you will be writing about, the actual act of writing will happen in a logical way and will most likely take you less time than if you start out without an outline. Doing your research and organizing citations, quotes, facts and statistics ahead of time an important part of good preparation for a strong analytical essay.
Evidence is everything in an analytical essay. You need evidence to support your arguments. A strong analytical essay must have facts and recognized sources to support every point that is made. Each piece of evidence can only be used to support one argument, and not its counter-argument. Also, creative thinking is demonstrated by the use of evidence that offers original insights that go beyond simple observations. A strong analytical essay will show evidence that will surprise and intrigue its reader, yet convince him of your argument.
When making arguments you must explain to your readers how your evidence supports your arguments, and how your arguments fit together to support your thesis statement. Don't simply state your evidence, but use logical-thinking and argumentation skills to bring up new questions, provide fresh insights and anticipate counter-arguments. A strong analytical essay makes use of logic and argumentation to show the readers how the thesis statement is supported.
Finally, an important criteria for strong essays of every type is to proofread the final essay and ensure proper use of grammar and vocabulary. For analytical essays, this means you should use the present tense, be objective, avoid using first person, use formal speech, avoid contractions and words such as "etc." and use proper punctuation. Creating original titles and sub-titles for each component of your essay will also add to the quality of your writing and the overall strength of your analytical essay.