Summary Vs. Analysis

Throughout my education; early as fourth grade I have been frequently asked to summarize something.  This was a task of completely reading the content to be summarized, then in my own words, briefly highlighting the important events, places, or ideas that were described vividly and in depth by the author.  Not until recently in my education have I been asked to analyze something.  Focus on something specific in the literature and break it down to form a better understanding of how it is a key player in the overall integrity, and produce a valid argument.  I view it as a mechanical processes, much like the troubleshooting in involved in a dirt bike for example.  You have a task at hand that you are trying to isolate and direct your full attention to addressing that specific task.  Once you have your task, you begin disassembling the surrounding parts in a methodical manner to expose the piece you need to address.  Now you have  briefly gone through every piece, and worked with the intended one extensively; begin placing each piece back together like a puzzle until they are all in the right position or sequence that makes them work together.  As a result of this process, you now have a understanding of the process as a whole, but also a more in depth isolated understanding of a deeper issue.  Once you have gone through these trials, you can formulate a course of action.  In a dirt bike's case; what you have now is evidence of what the underlying problem is.  This evidence is the backbone for your argument.  Many times after pulling apart a bike I would take my problem backed with the evidence obtained to an online forum to have a discussion based argument of what the issue really is.  The evidence I have equipped myself with gave me a better understanding of the process, but still leaves an argument. It becomes an argument when two apposing sides have taken in my information and have concurring ideas.  Often, this is the best way to find a solution to a problem. The argument engages people in my issue and a plethora of information is exchanged between the opposition.  The final product began as my dissection of a problem, and ended as an argument that highlighted the significance of the part in question and how it is affecting the rest of the bike negatively or positively as a whole.  I hope this is a sensible comparison between the troubleshooting of a dirt bike and the analysis of a literary piece  that will be easy for you to relate to.  The specific piece, once fully analyzed, dirt bike or literature, should yield you a detailed understanding of the roll it plays, why its located in the body where it is, and present you with an argument.   

Here is a cool, and very straight forward website that explains what it takes to analyze literature.

 Image source: http://s389.photobucket.com/albums/oo336/mx4god/?action=view&current=2003YamahaYZ250FRebuild001.jpg