[header] How to write a critical analysis [title] Identify the author's thesis. [step] Determine what the author is arguing for or against. [substeps] The thesis of an academic article might be easier to identify than the thesis of a creative work, movie, or painting. 
If critiquing a work of fiction or creative nonfiction, in either written form or film form, identify one main theme of the story. For a painting, analyze what the the painter may be trying to establish.