Building an argument

Analysis shows your audience how you connect the evidence to your claim. Unlike many other forms of writing, a reader of an academic text is interested in knowing the "why" as well as the "what." That is, readers want to follow the train of reasoning that led the writer to a specific conclusion so that they can also know whether to draw the same conclusion. This may seem weird even for experienced writers coming from a non-academic context, since that kind of information can often seem boring or irrelevant to an average reader, and may frustrate a colleague or superior in a professional context. Structuring an argument that shares your critical thinking with the audience may not be necessary in other contexts, as a lot of the background thinking may not be verbalized in the same way. But when you're writing for a North American academic audience, it's a convention to build arguments using this type of structure. Your analysis tells your audience what you think is significant about the claim you're making, and how and why the evidence supports it.