“More analysis” is a comment, not a set of instructions. It is written in the margin in two seconds and it can mean three different things. The useful move is to work out which one before you rewrite anything.
Start with the sentence it points to
Find the exact sentence or paragraph the comment sits beside. Read only that. Then ask one question: have I said what happens, or have I explained how it supports my answer? Those are different jobs, and “more analysis” usually means the second one is missing.
The three gaps it usually means
- You named a technique and stopped. “The author uses short sentences.” True, and not yet analysis. The missing piece is the effect: what the short sentences do to the reader, the pace or the mood.
- You described the effect and stopped. “The short sentences make the ending feel abrupt.” Closer. The missing piece is the link to the question you were set: why does an abrupt ending matter for your argument?
- You made a claim with nothing under it. “The ending is powerful.” The missing piece is evidence, then the explanation of why that evidence counts.
One example, before and after
This is a made-up sentence about a made-up short story, so the point is the shape, not the text.
Before: In the final paragraph the writer uses very short sentences.
After: In the final paragraph the sentences shrink to three or four words, which slows the reader down just as the character stops moving. The pace mirrors her hesitation, and that is the uncertainty the question asks about: the ending refuses to tell us whether she leaves.
The second version still names the technique. It then adds what the technique does, and then why that matters for the question. Three jobs, one sentence each.
The action
Take the sentence your comment points to. Decide which of the three gaps it has. Add one sentence that fills that gap and nothing else. If you truly cannot tell which gap the teacher meant, write that down as a question instead of guessing: “Next to paragraph 2 you wrote ‘more analysis’. Do you want more on what the technique does, or more on how it connects to my argument?”
The free feedback tool walks through exactly that: pick the kind of comment, see an example, write your own edit, and keep the result.
The honest limit
None of this tells you what your teacher was thinking. Markers use the same phrase for different problems, and your task sheet or marking key is the only source that says what “analysis” is worth in your assessment. A specific question to the person who wrote the comment beats another paragraph written on a guess.