The Analytical Essay. This paper grows out of a thoughtful reading of Signs of Life in the U.S.A. (Maasik and Solomon) and will be a three to four page semiotic analysis and not simply an "opinion" piece on your "likes/dislikes." A semiotic analysis goes beyond stating one's personal experience to explain HOW a particular text produces meaning through its arrangement and organization of signs. It carefully examines the different signs that organize the text (i.e. it "takes apart" the text into its various separate elements), how these signs "work" together, what viewpoints and cultural beliefs the text relies on to "make sense," and thus what the larger significance of the text might be. What does it tell us about the world in which we live and the cultural norms which structure that world?