Compare/Contrast Essay Prompt
Directions: Select two issue-oriented advertisements, within the same format, dealing with the same subject matter and a topic of great interest to your identity group. Closely examine and review the two ads to determine how the verbal and visual components can affect an audience and create arguments from many positions.
Step 1: Ask yourself: Is this ad effective or significant? How? Why? Who has placed the ad? What was the intended purpose of the ad? Where did you find the ad? Why was it placed in that particular publication? Who is the target audience? Is your identity group part of the intended audience or not? Why? When (How recently?) did the ad appear in the publication? Does it deal with an ongoing issue or one that is time sensitive? How effective or significant (meaningful) is the ad? How do its verbal and visual components contribute to its effectives or significance? What is your personal response to the ad? Why do you respond this way?
Step 2: Your answers to the questions in Step 1 will assist you in analyzing or critiquing ad components. However, your answers alone do not make an essay. You should use the answers as a starting point from which you will develop a narrative voice and organize an essay to convey your position on the effectiveness of the two ads according to your chosen identity group. Your purpose is to inform readers, helping them decide if the ad has value or fulfills its intended purpose; help us understand why we should pay attention to the ad and its inherent issues. We, as consumers, need to be critical thinkers and skeptical, which leads us to investigating and asking questions.
Step 3: Write a focus statement, a thesis or claim, to guide your essay. Begin a first draft in which you carefully arrange and connect your ideas, choose appropriate transitions to move from one idea to another, and support your main claims and any sub-claims with verbal and visual details from the ad.
Structure: For this essay, I’d like you to select three points of comparison. You might look at the use of color, eye-catching ability, appropriateness of ad for target audience, etc. Then, use these points to develop your thesis on how effective the ads really are in relation to your identity group. Focus on one point at a time and be as detailed as you possibly can in your analysis.
Thesis: Once you’ve identified your position, construct a thesis statement that clearly states the topic and your position, without using “I.” The purpose of a thesis is to guide you and to help you with an organization pattern. Make sure that your thesis is not too broad and that it clearly states the subject matter; also, make sure that your thesis covers what you want to discuss in the body of the essay.
Sample thesis to model for comparison/contrast:
Since the 2003 Wizbang is more economical to own and operate than the 2003 Roadhog, it is popular among middle class families.
Although both Claritin and Allegra-D treat allergies, Claritin is more effective and has fewer side effects than Allegra-D, making it the go to choice for allergy sufferers.
The Army’s strategy for recruitment has a better appeal to the poor than the Navy’s because their ads appreciate the widening income gap between the rich and the poor.
Writing Your Compare/Contrast Essay
Prewriting
To get started writing your essay:
Review What is an Essay?
Take time to review possible subjects
Use prewriting to help you focus and narrow your topic.
Remember that “essay starters” are everywhere. If you keep a journal or diary, a simple event may unfold into an essay. Simply said, your essays may be closer than you think!
Drafting
When drafting your essay:
Develop an enticing title
Use the introduction to pull the reader into the points you want to make.
Think of specific, interesting details or events to incorporate into the essay to grab the reader.
Let the essay reflect your own voice (is your voice serious, humorous, matter-of-fact?)
Organize the essay in a way that may capture the reader, but don’t string the reader along too much with “next, next, next. Use your transition words and phrases!
Assignment Instructions
Create a prewriting in the style of your choice for the prompt.Review the prewriting videos on the My Writing Process: Prewriting and Draft page if needed.
Develop a draft essay according to the following formatting guidelines. Papers submitted that do not meet these formatting requirements will be returned to you ungraded.
Minimum of 2 typed, double-spaced pages (about 400–550 words), Times New Roman, 12 pt font size
MLA formatting (see the MLA Format page as needed)
Submitted as either a .Microsoft Word doc, .or rtf file
5. Submit your prewriting and draft as a single file upload.
Requirements
Be sure to:
Develop your essay by comparison and contrast using the three-points-of analysis scheme
Create a logical sequence for your points of comparison
Develop an enticing title
Use the introduction to establish the situation the essay will address
Avoid addressing the assignment directly (don’t write “I am going to write about…” – this takes the fun out of reading the work!)
Let the essay reflect your own voice (Is your voice serious? Humorous? Matter-of-fact?)
Make sure you take time to reflect on why your points are significant.
If you developed your prewriting by hand on paper, scan or take a picture of your prewriting, load the image onto your computer, and then insert the image on a separate page after your draft.
