How to Write an Analytical Essay in Business Studies: Fill in the Gaps

Usually, an analytical essay is the paper that includes the argument and its analysis. Even though this type of a written assignment is, roughly speaking, a short illustration that covers some important notions, a student needs to research the topic thoroughly to make sure he/she will get the highest grade possible. But this is where problems usually begin… For any student, performing a stage-by-stage analysis is tough whatever the topic is, not to mention those who’ve chosen business studies as their main discipline.

How to Write an Analytical Essay in Business Studies: Get Acquainted

There are several types of analytical essays that students need to cover, but even experts agree to the idea that the work in business studies is top complicated. Business studies always base on some practical issues. Through an analytical essay, a writer must show his problem-solving as well as business-related solutions, deep knowledge of the theory (past and present), the ability to properly use the discovered data, as well as his/her critical thinking skills.

While crafting an essay, a writer presents a claim concerning what he/she is analyzing and supports it with numerous reliable evidence. But the main problem here is that not every topic will find support in theories from textbooks or journals. What you need is to decide what about to craft your essay.

Pick the Topic of Your Analytical Essay in Business Studies

Many students are shocked after reading this subtitle and start asking WHY they actually need to choose the topic if it is already provided by a supervisor. The matter is that a supervisor usually offers either something very general or random. Check the topic your tutor has offered you to disclose: if it lacks interest and has been researched in every possible way, ask your supervisor for the freedom to pick your own topic.

In case you can’t choose yourself, consider the following recommendations:

• In case you’d like to craft an analytical essay about any kind of research in the area, concentrate on the main motives that directed the researchers.
• Don’t be afraid to argue the theory that you are analyzing.
• Always use the scientific approach to your analysis.
• In case you are interested in any historical issues of the business study, talk on the forces that made their contribution to what happened.

Make the word specific your primary tool. Usually, students go the wrong way and pick something very broad, too general. What we suggest is to transform an interesting but broad topic into something narrow. By narrow we mean the tiniest specifications that (be sure of that) will grab the attention of your reader(s).

If you are trying to craft a decent analytical essay in business studies for the very first time in your college years, we provide the list of really narrow topics that you could cover:

• The History and Psychology of Business Ethics;
• Why Advertising Negatively Affects Modern Buyers;
• How to Promote Business Through Franchising?
• What’s Health Business and What Are Its Psychological Components?
• Strategies That Help the Smallest Business Succeed;
• Electric Power Business: Analyzing the Competition;
• How Do Psychological Tricks Make Us Buy More Costly Products?
• The Role of Social Media in the Growth of a Company;
• The Reality of the Green Energy in XXI;
• The Influence of International Businesses on Domestic Market;
• Healthy Working Environment: Is Its Importance Overestimated?
• Franchises vs Businesses from Scratch: What’s Better?
• Understanding Contemporary Society Through Modern Business;
• Business Communication Channels;
• Is There a Relation Between World’s Business Strategies and Climate Changes?
• A Small Project That Becomes a Huge Corporation: How Real Is That?
• Fast Food as One of the U.S. Business Bases.

The list can go on and on. By sharing these seventeen narrow business studies-related topics, we intend to provide you with ideas about what you can write about. And now, let’s see how you need to write an analytical essay in business studies.

How to Write an Analytical Essay in Business Studies: Mind the Design

Did you know that the structure of your analytical essay predetermines nearly 50% of your final grade? Yes, it is as important as the content of a written piece. This is why we’ve made up our mind to share all the structural specifications for you to be able to avoid any mistakes when it comes to crafting a written assignment in business studies.

• Make a plan

This step is effective when you need to structure your analytical essay in business studies and make the process of writing a bit easier. What does the analytical essay consist of? The structure is the following:

• Introduction
• Body (causes, description, analysis)
• Conclusion

Find more details on each of the parts below.

• Introduction

As you have chosen the topic and written a plan, write an introduction. The introduction part is often called the opening that provides readers with the background facts on the topic.

Even though business studies essay topics seem to lack interesting pieces, make your introduction as engaging as possible. Refuse from summing up the prompt but give the analysis argument instead. Don’t make your introduction sound too dramatic because drama never adds credibility to an analytical piece.

To get your readers involved, it’s a must to include three main tricks into your introduction part: the hook, thesis statement, and the disclosure of how you are planning to prove your main idea.

What’s the hook? It is the most fascinating and surprising part of your essay work in business studies. Believe it or not, but the hook is usually your only chance to impress the readers. The hook grabs readers’ attention and holds it until the final lines of the essay. To make sure the hook works, you are free to use any tools. The most-widely spread tools are a joke, a question (provocative or rhetorical), an interesting fact, or a known quote. Some writers start with the statistics. You can do the same or, what is even better, you can combine several methods.

What’s a thesis? It’s the text that summarizes the intentions that are planned to be presented in the essay. The thesis aims at informing readers about the main problems covered in the analytical essay.

When working on your thesis statement, you can write it in one of the following ways:

1. Offer two options: Some people believe that…., while others agree to the idea that… We shall analyze both opinions and come to a conclusion.
2. Agree or disagree: There’s a trend towards… However,… So should you agree or disagree with the statement?
3. Causes and effects: As more and more people use social media… Many business owners agree that this use influences their enterprises… What else should be expected?
4. Advantages and disadvantages: Advertising has incorporated psychological effects long ago. On the one hand, buyers… On the other one, they… What comes next?

The next step following the thesis statement is proving that your claim has the right to be. How to do that? Say you are dwelling on a known business theory. Try to focus on the study methods that were used by the author of the theory. In case your work is somehow related to the historical events and their influence on business, give a full analysis of the reasons of those historical events. Analyze the historical findings, figures, their first business steps, etc.

Most students indeed require a good example of an analytical essay in business studies to know how to craft their introduction part according to all requirements. If you believe you need it as well, contact your supervisor, maybe he/she will provide you with several examples to make your lot easier.

• Body

The body of your essay must be comprised of three paragraphs. Each of the paragraphs has its own mission. By omitting one of the paragraphs, you automatically lose around 15% of your final grade, even if the research and analysis are profound.

Paragraph one deals with the topic sentence. In this part, a writer should dwell on what the body of the essay will cover. In other words, the very first paragraph of the body is an extended version of the title/problem.

Paragraph two provides an analysis of the problem you have picked. And this is when you are making an argument, comparing theories or research results and are proving why your point of view is correct.

Paragraph three includes trustworthy evidence from reliable sources that support your thesis statement and your analysis. Make sure the sources you use are multiple.

• Conclusion

How to create a really decent conclusion? Most students believe it’s easy. In fact, they pay so little attention and time to this part that it becomes their stumbling block on the way to a high grade. To avoid their mistake you need to:

1. Make sure the final paragraph of the Body leads to the final part — the conclusion in the most logical way.
2. Use a few transition words in the third Body paragraph to show the relation between the two final parts of your essay.
3. Get back to your thesis statement and paraphrase it into a conclusion, summarizing everything that was written before.
4. Provide own predictions of the impact of the provided claim.
5. Write a closing sentence. It will be the reflection of the hook used in the intro part. It can also be a recommendation.

Your conclusion shouldn’t end up with new ideas.

• References

Apart from using footnotes on all pages of your analytical essay in business studies, you also need to add the list of references (bibliography) at the end of your work. Typically, the general recommendation is to attach the list of references on a separate page. Check your writing requirements and specifications for the method to reference the used data sources. In most cases, they ask to follow the Harvard method and provide references ordered alphabetically.

How to Write an Analytical Essay in Business Studies: Just Revise It

Another rather underestimated step of writing an analytical essay in business studies is revising the written piece. Your task is to re-read (and more than once) what you have put in paper, revise it, edit and then proofread.

Put your essay aside for a couple of days. Practice shows that within a few days you will have a couple of new ideas that can be added to your essay. Put each idea in paper, leave for a few more days, then check and decide whether to add them to your essay or not.

Before handing in, re-read the piece once again making sure all the places, names, and terms are error-free.

As you’ve read the revision part of our short guide, you’ve understood that to complete a really decent analytical essay in business studies you need much time. This time should be divided between picking up the topic, researching it, drafting a plan, drafting each part, combining all parts together, putting a paper aside, thinking over, getting back to it once again and then handing it in. It will take A LOT of time even if the process is smooth. But we all know that it is never perfectly smooth unless you are an expert writer.

To make the whole process easier and smoother, we suggest you re-reading the article a few more times and writing down the most important things. Start with researching and drafting, ask your friend to read and proofread what you’ve crafted, don’t be afraid to ask your supervisor for timely support. We believe that, regardless of the topic, you can manage to write even the top complicated analytical essay in business studies.

References:

• Aczel, R. (2015). How to write an essay [optimize your exam preparation]. Stuttgart Klett Lerntraining.
• McHoul, A. (1991). How to Write an Essay on Thomas Pynchon. Pynchon Notes, 0(28–29), p.157.
• Wilkinson, R. (1994). Business studies: an introduction to management and business studies. Oxford: Heinemann.