Original text: Analysis
An analysis is an argument in which you study the parts of something to understand what it is made of, how it works, what it means, what its problems may be, or why it might be significant. In academic settings, researchers analyze every subject imaginable: from cliff diving to sculpture, from the birth of galaxies to blood flow, from the courtship behavior of orangutans to the emigration patterns of Monarch butterflies. In each case the researcher uses an analytical tool: With it, you can examine the skin cells from the back of your hand and see details invisible to the naked eye. But change the tool—use an x-ray machine, for instance—and you will see something else entirely.