At some point in your college career, you will most likely have to know how to write a process analysis essay. It sounds intense, but “process analysis” is just a fancy way of saying “how-to.” Follow our simple steps to write this type of essay.
Intro to Process Analysis
Process analysis essays lay out the steps of a process in chronological order. You encounter process analysis all the time in everyday life, whether you’re following a recipe, setting up your Facebook profile, or reading this article.
A process analysis essay may go beyond instructions. One might explain how a toaster works, how a volcano is formed, or how wet clay becomes porcelain. As you can see, this type of essay spans all fields of study, from the sciences to the arts. Of course, process analysis is most important to students who study or plan to study technical subjects such as computer science, engineering, and healthcare.
Know Your Subject
It may seem obvious, but if you don’t fully understand the process, you won’t be able to describe it well. If your reader is simply interested in learning “How a Bee Makes Honey,” you have a little more leeway. But a topic like “How to Harvest Honey” needs to be absolutely correct and complete. In the real world, leaving out any crucial step will leave readers confused and unable to complete the task at best, and possibly fatally injured at worst (as in “How to Operate Your Chainsaw”). So before you start writing, be sure to choose reliable resources for your research, and do plenty of reading.
Create an Outline
Sure, it seems like a hassle, but creating an outline will serve you especially well when you are writing a process analysis essay. In fact, by expanding the preliminary outline, you’ll have your paper almost finished in no time.
Start by making a list of basic steps. They don’t even have to be complete sentences. If you’re writing about “How to Cut a Pineapple,” for instance, jot down things like:
- Wash fruit
- Cut off top
- Cut off bottom
- Remove skin
Keep going (depending on whether you’re describing how to cut spears, rings, or chunks). Review the list and add steps you’ve forgotten. Then reorder the steps and keep reviewing the list until you are sure you’ve got everything.
Formatting Your Essay
As with most essays, you’ll want to include an introductory paragraph as well as a conclusion. In the introduction, you can
- Tell the reader why it’s important to learn this process
- Throw in some statistics on the topic
- Summarize the content of your paper and the number of steps involved
Your conclusion can briefly recap the process and, again, stress the importance of the subject.
As for the body of the essay, it’s best to separate each step or group of related steps in the process into a paragraph. That makes it easy for the reader to follow and refer back to what’s needed.
The essay can be as long or as short as it needs to be. If you’re explaining how to use a comb, you won’t have much to say. On the other hand, the volcanic process could take many pages to describe clearly and completely. Of course, in academia, you may be given a minimum and maximum word or page count for your report, so be sure that your topic is appropriate for the assigned length. You won’t be able to write ten pages on how to comb your hair.
Style Guidelines
A process analysis essay falls in the category of “technical writing.” Your goal is not to paint a beautiful visual picture or be humorous. You can add some flavor to your introduction to draw the reader’s interest, and you can end the paper on a fun note to leave a lasting impression. The body of the paper, however, should be written very plainly so as not to cause confusion. Take a look at the following examples:
- Wrong: “Hammer in that nail, but watch your fingers! OMG. That would hurt.”
- Wrong: “Take a regular hammer and begin to tap the nail in very carefully, making sure you don’t hit any of your fingers in the process.”
- Right: Tap the nail in with a hammer, being careful not to hit your fingers.
Use plain English and simple words. Keep sentences short. Your goal is to write as concisely as possible while still being clear. The second sentence above contains 25 words, whereas the third sentence says the same thing in only 14. The first sentence, of course, is written in a casual tone that’s appropriate for a text but not a school assignment or professional material.
Learning how to write a process analysis essay is a life skill that will serve you well. It’s one of the easiest pieces to write, since you don’t need to use flowery poetic language or impressive vocabulary words. All you have to do is understand your subject well, outline the steps, format your essay correctly, and fill it in with well-written content.
