Why Learn To Analyze?

Analyzing, a skill that is used in many different professions such as: law enforcement, teaching, coaching, any medical field, fire fighters, and editing just to name a few. It’s a skill that helps you understand a situation by pulling at all the facts that are provided to you and formulating a conclusion. As an English teacher I have my students practice the skill of analyzing by looking at essays written by past students on prompts written by credible sources, such as, the creators of the AP Literature exams that can be found on sites like College Board. Additionally, I have my students read short stories, novels, poems, and articles to practice their analytical skills. These skills help prepare students for the future whether or not they want to go to college.

Analyzing is even used for parenting; even though it may not be publicly acknowledged as a parenting skill it’s one that is used in the subconscious. Parents watch their children play and react to different things and learn what their child is good at, enjoys, and even allergic to among other things. It’s an invaluable skill that every person should learn to hone and master to get the most out of life. That’s where I come in, I will be providing brief lessons here to enlighten all who are willing to read on the ways to improve one’s analytical skills in reading and writing!

A quote that I have grown fond of goes like this, “The only people who see the whole picture are the ones who step outside the frame,” Salman Rushdie, The Ground Beneath Her Feet. Simply providing evidence or citing facts is not enough to be called a true analysis. Accomplishing a strong analysis requires that the reader makes conclusions based on the evidence and facts that they discover, I believe that is what Rushdie is saying in this quote. For a person to see the whole picture they must be able to not only understand the context of the story but also be able to write conclusions to the information that’s provided. When I say conclusion, I don’t mean write a formal conclusion, I mean to infer or judge something based on reason and evidence.

I would like to encourage readers of this post to provide any personal insights on the topic of having analytical skills or any ideas on how to improve one’s ability to analyze within the comment section. This post is not meant to be so much as educational but explaining the purpose behind my intentions for my blog.

Thank you for reading!