GSET: Analytical Writing

The GSET Analytical Writing domain asks for a clear, well-reasoned essay, typically an argument critique or an issue response. Readers score the quality of your reasoning, organization, and control of language, not the rarity of your vocabulary.

Core rules

• State a thesis in the introduction and keep every paragraph tied to it.
• Develop one idea per paragraph with a topic sentence, explanation, and specific evidence.
• For an argument critique, separate the conclusion from the premises, then expose unstated assumptions and alternative explanations.
• Acknowledge a counterargument and answer it; concession without response weakens the essay.
• Use transitions that show logical relation (because, therefore, however, even if), not decorative connectors.

Worked example

Prompt: "The city should ban private cars downtown because a pedestrian-only weekend reduced air pollution." The conclusion is the ban; the evidence is one weekend's pollution reading. The argument assumes that the weekend effect would persist on weekdays, that weather or holiday traffic did not cause the drop, and that pollution did not simply move to adjacent streets. A strong critique would name those assumptions, propose the data needed to test them (weekday monitoring, seasonal controls, border measurements), and weigh the policy's benefits against costs to disabled drivers and deliveries. Notice that the critique targets the argument's logic, not whether you personally like the policy.

Traps

• Summarizing the prompt instead of analyzing it.
• Listing fallacies by name without explaining how each one damages the argument.
• Using absolute claims ("never," "all") that are easy to rebut.
• Ignoring the specific instruction, such as "discuss the extent to which" rather than "agree or disagree."