A Tip for Writing an Insightful Essay

The Alberta 30-1 diploma involves writing a Critical/Analytical Response to Literary Texts and one of the categories you'll be evaluated on is "Insight." This means going beyond the surface of a text, and coming up with a compelling, well-supported argument--I know it sounds tricky, but there's a way to help yourself get there! To show insight, I always tell my students to ask, "Why?" until they can't ask it anymore. 
For example:

Macbeth becomes king through violence.

Why does he become king through violence?

Macbeth becomes king through violence because his ambition is too great; had he waited for the prophecies to come true, he might not have met his tragic end.

Why is Macbeth's ambition too great?

Shakespeare is showing that having too much ambition is a tragic flaw resulting in the ambitious person attaining power through violence, and when you obtain power through violence, that violence will be returned to you.

See how each time I answered, "Why?" the answer became a little more detailed? The more you ask and answer the question, "Why?" the better your answer will become! When you can't answer, "Why?" anymore, it's very likely your essay will be approaching insightfulness.