Text Analysis English: Structure & Analysis

Essentially, a text analysis is an essay in which you examine the given text. Aspects such as language, structure, mood, narrative perspective and intentions of the author are important to consider. You usually write a text analysis in the simple present tense.

Text Analysis English Structure

A text analysis always has the same structure:

1. introduction (introduction)
2. Bulk (body)
3. Ending (conclusion)

introduction

When it comes to the introduction, the introductory sentence is the most important. This is how you start your text analysis and give general information:

• title
• text type
• author
• Release date (date)
• topic

Special types of text

• Drama: When analyzing a drama, you must always state in the introduction the act and scene you are considering in more detail.
• newspaper article: When you analyze a newspaper article, you must always give the name of the newspaper that published the article in the introduction.
• Political speech: If you are analyzing a political speech, then in the introduction you need to identify the speaker (speaker) to name. You must also state where, why and to whom the speech was given.

The main part of a text analysis consists of three parts:

1. synopsis
2. Intention of the text/interpretation hypothesis
3. Analysis (structure, language, classification)

table of contents (summary)

In the synopsis, you summarize the content of the text you are analyzing. Important here is:

• Subject of the text (What is the work about?)
• brief description of the content.
• place of action.
• What characters are there?
• How are these characters described? (Characterization)
• How are the characters related to each other? (figure constellation)

Intention of the text/interpretation hypothesis

The interpretive hypothesis of text analysis is the part where you make hypotheses about the author’s intentions. You need to explain what you think the purpose and impact of the text is. Or to put it briefly: What is the intention of the author?

• What does the author want to achieve? (action intention)
• What is the function of the text? Is the text an appeal?
• Who is the text aimed at?
• What is the author’s attitude towards what has been written?
• Are there historical, political, social connections?

You don’t have to come up with the same hypothesis as your classmates. It is important that you explain and argue in your own words why you have this assumption. The analysis part of your text will help you with this. At the end you can also declare your hypothesis wrong if you came to this conclusion through the analysis.

analysis

This part is the most important part of your text analysis. Here you literally dissect the text you are analyzing, looking for linguistic and structural features that support or contradict your interpretation hypothesis. The following are structural, linguistic and temporal aspects that may be relevant to your text analysis and that you could/should examine:

Structure:

• How is the text structured? (Outline)
• How does the text begin and end? (For example, is there a classic drama structure?)
• Is there a tension?
• In which chapter/scene is the climax? Are there perhaps several highlights?
• Is there also a turning point and if so, where? What effects does this have?
• Are there any time compressions or expansions?

Contents:

• Is there a narrator? Does this person make a statement?
• What narrative perspective does the narrator take? (authorial, personal, neutral, first-person narrator)
• How does the narrator feel about the events? Does he/she even comment on what is happening?
• Are inner processes of the characters shown? (inner monologue, experienced speech)
• Do narrative time and narrated time play a role?
• Is there an argumentation strategy? (Do the arguments make sense?)

Language:

• Does the language seem dated or modern?

• Are there any abnormalities in the language?

• Are there any special style figures? (stylistic devices)

Classification:

conclusion

The final part of your text analysis briefly summarizes all of your statements and arguments. Here, only the essential results are important. The interpretation hypothesis is discussed again and you confirm whether your hypothesis has been confirmed or disproved with your analysis. Try to round off the text analysis in a meaningful way.

Special types of text

• Speech: When giving a speech, it is important to explain again what the speaker wanted to achieve.

• Drama and Novel: Try to put the analyzed scene in context and explain its meaning in the work as a whole.

Text Analysis English – Fictional & Non-fictional Texts

So far we have explained the rough structure of a text analysis that applies to almost all texts. In the following sections you will learn more about different types of text and the special features of analyzing these texts. Because your text analysis depends on whether your original text is a fictional text or non-fictional text is.

Fictional Texts

Fictional Texts, in German «fictional/literary texts», are texts that tell an invented story. These include, for example, novels, stories, novellas, short stories and dramas, plays and poems.

The following are particularly important when analyzing literary texts:

• Linguistic design (style)
• narrative perspective
• Action structure (plot)
• character constellation
• narrative tense

analyze poem

When analyzing a poem, you first look at the composition and structure of the poem. To do this, you «break down» the text into its individual parts and describe how the author wrote the text.

What you should consider when analyzing a poem:

• line/verse
• stanza
• meter
• epoch (epoch)
• year of publication
• rhyme
• rhyme scheme

Then you go into the content and meaning of the lyrical text during the interpretation and think about what the author wanted to express with the text. You should also consider the effect of the poem on the reader.

analyze drama

The drama analysis is a special form of text analysis of fictional texts. Here, only a specific scene of the drama is examined, only rarely the entire drama. The scene is broken down into its individual compartments, examined and then the scene is interpreted by you.

The following aspects are considered in drama analysis:

Analyze picture or cartoon

A cartoon is a caricature in German. The aim of a cartoon is to exaggerate social or political conditions or human characteristics in a fun way.

Cartoons come with and without text. With a text in the form of a speech bubble (speech bubble/speech balloon), an inscription (inscription/label) or a caption (caption) the core statement of the cartoon can be clarified.

Follow these three steps for a successful one Cartoon Analysis:

1. Description of the cartoon
2. analysis of the cartoon; Support statements with found linguistic means
3. Summary assessment

Non-fictional Texts

Non-fictional Texts mean as much as «factual or practical texts» and deal with the real world. To the Non-fictional Texts include, for example, political speeches, newspaper articles and scientific texts.

The following are particularly important when analyzing factual and practical texts:

• Linguistic design (style)
• structure
• tense
• Linguistic devices (stylistic devices)

Analyze factual text

When analyzing non-fiction, consider the following:

• Explain the structure and organization of the text
• Analysis of language and its impact
• Analysis of the language level (colloquial, technical language, high-level language)
• What is the intention of the author with his/her text? (convince, inform, provoke, criticize, warn, etc.)
• Tone or attitude of the author

analyze speech

When you analyze a speech you are mainly concerned with the rhetorical stylistic devices used, content and the intention of the author. So when analyzing a speech in English, you look at an author’s speech and then break it down into its individual parts. These individual parts are then analyzed and then interpreted.

The following aspects are considered in more detail:

• contents
• structure / construction
• argumentation
• speech situation
• manner of speech
• intention of the speech
• linguistic means

When you have thoroughly analyzed these aspects, you can interpret the speech at the end of your analysis. That is, you explain based on your analysis, What the intention of the author with his/her text and how this can be recognized.