When asked to write an analysis, many students struggle to avoid simply summarizing the content. Analysis requires going deeper and truly analyzing the material—not just presenting the content in a concise way. To find out when to use each one and improve your analysis abilities, check out the links below.

Summary vs. Analysis: this University of Arizona Global Campus resource offers quick explanations and examples to help writers distinguish between summary and analysis.

Summary vs. Analysis: this concise guide from the University of Illinois Springfield lists the differences between summary and analysis and contains an example paragraph for each. 

How Can I Create Stronger Analysis?:  need help developing your analysis? This webpage from the University of Michigan's Sweetland Center for Writing provides an analysis overview, general guidelines, and practice exercises.

Summary: Using It Wisely: this UNC-Chapel Hill Writing Center page offers more extended advice on identifying and limiting summary in favor of analysis.

If you're looking for more specific resources on analysis, see our Rhetorical Analysis page for a UWC-created resource and our Literary Analysis page for help analyzing short stories and novels, poems, and plays.