Which strategy/strategies is (are) most commonly used forms of analysis in college-level writing?

• A. Comparing and contrasting
• B. Explaining cause and effect
• C. Both comparing and contrasting and explaining cause and effect
• D. Describing the order of events

Answer: (C)

In college-level writing, analysis often means looking at how ideas relate and why things happen. Comparing and contrasting lets you examine similarities and differences to assess how two ideas, theories, or phenomena stack up against each other. Explaining cause and effect shows the reasons behind outcomes and the consequences that follow, which helps you argue for a particular interpretation or solution. These two approaches together cover the main analytic tasks writers use to evaluate ideas and build arguments. Describing the order of events, while useful for telling what happened, is more about narration than analysis, so it isn’t as central to analytic writing. That’s why combining comparing/contrasting with explaining cause and effect reflects the most common analytic strategies.