What is the definition of the academic verb analyze?

• A. To summarize data quickly to draw a conclusion.
• B. To examine in detail to understand structure, relationships, and meaning.
• C. To criticize negatively without evidence.
• D. To predict outcomes without examining evidence.

Answer: (B)

Analyzing means examining something in detail to understand its parts, how those parts relate, and what they reveal about meaning. In academic work, you look closely at a text, data, or argument, break it into components, identify connections and evidence, and interpret what those details show about the overall message or implications. This focus on structure, relationships, and significance is what makes analysis different from simply retelling or guessing.

That's why this option is the best choice: it describes examining in detail to understand structure, relationships, and meaning—the core idea of analysis. For example, analyzing a poem would involve studying how word choice, imagery, and form work together to convey a theme, rather than just summarizing the plot.

The other options describe different tasks: summarizing data quickly to draw a conclusion is about brief restatement, not deep examination; criticizing without evidence isn’t analysis; predicting outcomes without examining evidence is speculation.