Begin your paper with a general observation about the subject. Many people use a "hook" to pull their reader in, by asking a rhetorical question, telling a short anecdote or defining an important word.
Provide background information to establish context for the subject.
State what the main topic of the paper is and what the paper will argue, as well as an explanation of why this claim is important. The explanation of the importance of the claim is often called the "So what" of analysis. After stating the claim, ask yourself, "So what?" and explicitly state the answer you come up with.
Write topic sentence--the first sentence of each body paragraph--making sure each one directly relates to one aspect of your main idea. These sentences are sublcaims that can be proved or disproved with evidence.
Provide evidence for each subclaim, by directly quoting a text, by paraphrasing or by providing a description of the object you are analyzing. This evidence should prove the subclaim previously stated and should be relevant to the paper's overall main idea.
Explain what the evidence means and how each part relates to the subclaim. This is where you articulate how you understand the meaning of the evidence used. This is the bulk of the paper, where you specifically state the analysis of the topic.
Explain why this analysis is important and how it relates to the main idea, or thesis, in the introduction. Make these connections for your reader.
Restate the main idea. Consider doing so in a new way, rather than repeating exactly what you wrote in the introduction.
Restate the smaller claims the paper introduced, pulling together all the information covered in the body paragraphs.
Discuss how the analysis might impact on a larger scale, how it matters in the "real world" sense or how it might affect the life of your reader.
Explain any holes in the analysis or counter-arguments not covered in the body paragraphs.
End on a general statement similar to the statement made in the first sentence of the introduction.