The Importance of Analytical Writing
Analytical writing is a crucial skill that is needed to be successful in high school, college, and beyond. This style of writing is a formal essay that showcases meaningful reflection and analysis, often looking at the cause and effect of an event. It’s often used in standardized tests, as well as high school and college courses. Despite the importance of this skill, schools tend to rely only on English courses to teach students how to write essays, which can limit the student’s writing and analytical ability. But with the Harmony Plus Analytical Writing course, students have the opportunity to explore and craft analytical essays through the lens of issues they care about. Through the guidance of Mr. Glen, who has a Ph.D. in Education and more than 10 years of experience in teaching, students practice advanced annotation and reading strategies to help them understand, analyze, and synthesize causes and effects. Also, students learn advanced grammar and writing techniques that align with SAT standards to get them set up for college. At the end of their sessions, students present their analytical writing project, working on their formal presentation skills through professional pitch decks.
With such a comprehensive program, each session is dedicated to working on crucial writing, analytical, and presentation skills. In the first two sessions, students work to identify their objectives and choose their topic for their essay. This can be a topic they are passionate about or one that has affected them personally. In these early sessions, students also work on writing their effective analytical thesis statements and beginning their research. Beginning research can be a daunting task, but that’s why students learn where to start and how to conduct their research. Since research isn’t always about books, students also work to find organizations that address their issues. Once identified, students determine potential volunteer sites that relate to their issues while developing goals to maximize extracurricular opportunities. As they work on their research, students create plans for how their organization aligns with their larger high school, college, and life- plans.
Once they’ve started working on their research, students begin to write their essays from body paragraphs to working active vs. passive voice. As they grow their writing skills and essays, students also work on their presentation skills which they’ll need for their showcase. In a later session, students learn how to make effective PowerPoints. As they critique different examples of PowerPoints, students also create their PowerPoint for their presentation.
But a presentation is only as good as its speaker, which is why students also work on their presentation skills.
They work on speaking and effective presenting by analyzing and critiquing presentations. Students also practice their presentations and receive feedback from classmates, which helps them to grow in their skills and confidence so that they’re ready for the Showcase Presentations.
At the end of their sessions, students take part in the Showcase Presentations. Here, students share their presentations to classmates and guests. They explore their issue, the effects of the issue, the causes of the issue, the organization they will become involved with, and how this fits into larger life goals. In the most recent program, two presentations stood out: Air pollution and animal poaching in Africa. With Jessica’s presentation on air pollution in California, it was a topic that she is passionate about but also one that affects her personally, since she lives in California. In her presentation, she carefully outlined what air pollution is, the cause and effects of it, and shared about Earthjustice, the non-profit she located. In the end, Jessica shared that this topic and organization aligned with her goals to be a Biomedical Engineer that designs equipment to help prevent air pollution. For Olivia’s presentation on animal poaching in Africa, she shared the causes and effects of poaching, some potential solutions to it, and organizations already working to combat it. Her love of animals and desire to save them drove Olivia to find the World Wildlife Fund and others. Aside from the excellent presentation they both gave, with organized presentations and clear speaking, these two presentations also showed the deep care, empathy, and social responsibility students can feel toward their topic.
While writing essays is about writing, analytical writing is so much more than that. With its focus on cause and effect analysis and research, analytical writing allows the student to widen their worldview while coming to educational conclusions and solutions on a large scale. Plus, these analytical and writing skills will serve students from school to college to their jobs. Add in those interview and presentation skills that are equally crucial and you have a fully-rounded student who is set up for success in all endeavors. If you’re ready to give your child an academic advantage, check out Harmony Plus’s Analytical Writing course!
