Features of a good text analysis

This is an outline of features that make for a good text analysis.

I. Introduction:
In the introduction, you should contextualize the text to be analyzed (what is it,
where might it be found, etc) and include a clear thesis statement. A clear
thesis statement is one which:

takes a defendable position (i.e an opinion about the text). This can be seen
as an answer to the question what is the author trying to do with the text?
mentions the points that you intend to cover (a roadmap of the analysis
which follows).

For example, a strong thesis statement would be something like:

The author makes use of a range of persuasive lexis, and addresses the audience
directly in order to persuade an audience of young teenagers to buy the product.

Here, the main body will include an elaboration of persuasive lexis and
addressing the audience directly this is the roadmap.
A more descriptive thesis statement would be something like:
The text is an advert, intended to persuade an audience of young teenagers to buy
the product.

This is rather general and is not clear what the author will focus on in the main
body there is no roadmap.
II. Body Paragraphs:
Keep in mind that a text analysis is a text with many of the textual features of
other text types you are familiar with (e.g. ILSS essays) and not a completely new
text type. For example:

paragraph features such as topic sentences are features of this text type
too;

after a clear topic sentence focusing on the topic of the paragraph, there
should be examples from the text as support for the point made;

there should be a clear explanation of the significance/relevance of this

point to the thesis statement. This can be called the so what factor: once
you have given your examples, you have to ask yourself so what? and
explain why you feel this point is important. This comment on the relevance is
what makes the text a text analysis rather than just a description of the text.

Remember that when writing a text analysis, you are expressing an opinion
just as you did in ILSS 2. However, in ILSS 2 you were expressing an opinion
about an issue, whereas now you are expressing an opinion about a text.

It does not matter whether you use a top-down approach (i.e. first make a
hypothesis about a category such as text type/audience/purpose and then give
examples of features from the text to support your ideas about these categories)
or a bottom-up approach (i.e. first identify specific features and then deduce
what these features suggest to you about broader categories such as text
type/audience/purpose).
The main focus of an analysis should be on presenting a clear, logical argument
about the text and not on getting a right answer. Therefore, if you are able to
support your ideas about the text in a plausible manner, then I accept them even
if I dont necessarily agree with them.
III. Conclusion:
In the conclusion you should restate the focus of your introduction, and give
your opinion about whether the text is successful or not, i.e. does the text achieve
what your thesis claims it sets out to do? NOT your personal opinion about the
text itself (eg, topic, opinion, information).