How to Write a Thesis for an Analytical Paper

When you receive a prompt for an analytical essay, keep in mind that these types of assignments can usually be reduced to a simple question. The assignment will ask you to write for a specific prompt "question" and your thesis should provide an answer to that question.  

For Unit 1, the general question could have been phrased as, "What does an analysis of a commercial reveal about rhetoric arguments in advertising?" so your "answer" (the thesis statement!) could have been something along the lines of the following:
"An analysis of the 1951 Pillsbury deluxe cake commercial reveals that Pillsbury attempts to sell its product to a wide audience by convincing the viewer that their cake is more delicious than any other through repetitive slogans, visual images of moist cake, and casting the commercial with people of all ages."

For Unit 2, the question could be phrased as, "What can you learn from analyzing the visual rhetorics of 2 videos with the same underlying  text (the lyrics) at the same time?" 

 If you were analyzing the Fun song "We are Young" that we looked at in class on Friday, your "answer" could be something along the lines of, "An analysis of the visual rhetorics used in Fun's original music video "We are Young" and the Chevy Sonic commercial featuring the same song reveals that although the texts may seem to be the same, the texts have very different meanings. While both videos contain A, B, and C, a visual analysis reveals the original video to be about X, but the commercial is ultimately about Y.”

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