Prompt
Requirements
Make sure your essays meet the following general requirements:
LENGTH: 3-5 pages, not including the Works Cited page
FORMATTING: using MLA basic page formatting and general citations
RESEARCH: Students will be required to use a Works Cited page to document their sources in the essay. Students will be expected to note the use of all sources in the body of the text using parenthetical citations. Any included source material must be accurately cited.
Students are required to quote from and cite both stories
Students should utilize additional outside sources to support claims from the critical scholars and their theories, and using material from the posted criticism lessons
Your research should not:
analyze the story you are analyzing. Your ideas should be your own.
encyclopedic, bibliographic, or definition information. You may need these sources, but they do not count as research.
Your research can be:
an interview with the author that includes a topic relevant to your essay
an article by the author that includes a topic relevant to your essay
a documented news event that demonstrates your topic’s presence in contemporary America
another type of source that helps you prove a pattern in reference to your topic.
Structure
Students will use the Comparison structure to guide their organization. Keep in mind that the comparison should analyze the differences or similarities between two stories to help support a specific claim, and be supported by the literary criticisms. Comparative analysis does not simply highlight differences or similarities, but should be used to make a point about the literature.
Body Organization Methods
There are two different methods for discussing the comparison between your subjects. They are referred to as the Block Method (also called subject-by-subject) and the Alternating Method (point-by-point). There are good reasons you should pick one over the other. If you are comparing subjects primarily with points of data (dates, statistics, quick facts, and small details) you would have the best luck with the Alternating Method. If you feel like you need to describe one subject at a time, specifically when this involves telling stories, the block method might be best. Try out both to see which works best for your writing situation.
Introduction
Provide background on the topic relevant to the reader’s level of knowledge, starting with known elements and moving into unknown or less clear elements
But avoid a summary of the points you will use in your comparison
Explain why each of the subjects are worth comparing in relation to the motivation
Include your thesis claim about the topic
Body
Identify whether block or alternating method will be best for your writing situation
Ensure that you cover the same points for each subject
Make sure not to exclude any points; if they aren’t relevant to the current subject, explain why
Include examples of the comparisons when relevant
Identify what we learn about the subjects when comparing them in this way
Conclusion
These are options for your conclusion. You need not cover all of them. You may choose one, or more than one, but keep your conclusion focused on reinforcing the analysis within the thesis statement
Make a prediction about how these subjects could change in the future
Provide a solution to a problem raised in your body
Offer suggestions or advice for people dealing with problems raised in the body
Interpret how these two subjects have changed together, or because of each other, over time
Form new questions that might be asked given your analysis of the situation. Where can further research be done?
Evaluation
Grading the Essay
Essays will be evaluated on the goals of the unit. In this essay, your primary evaluation will be on:
Accuracy of MLA documentation and citation policies, including
A works cited page following formatting guidelines
accurate end citations
the use of correct in-text citations attributing all paraphrasing and quotations
The use of analytical paragraph structure
Ability to contextualize information from a variety of sources
Clarity of central theme and thesis statement, as well as internal structure from topic sentences and transitions
Documentation
★All essays are automatically scanned for issues of plagiarism. Make sure to review the Academic Honesty policies on the Syllabus.
Outside sources are required for this essay. You should cite (and quote from, or describe scenes from, where appropriate) the stories you are analyzing. You can consider content we learned in class as common knowledge. However, you should supplement specific knowledge about the criticisms and its scholars with research from appropriate sources. Any research or support in your essayt should be properly documented.
No outside sources should analyze the stories for you. All ideas in the essay should be yours. Remember that you’re being graded on how well you compose your own ideas, not on how brilliant those ideas are.
Your research should not:
analyze the story you are analyzing. Your ideas should be your own.
encyclopedic, bibliographic, or definition information. You may need these sources, but they do not count as research.
Your research can be:
an interview with the author that includes a topic relevant to your essay
an article by the author that includes a topic relevant to your essay
a documented news event that demonstrates your topic’s presence in contemporary America
another type of source that helps you prove a pattern in reference to your topic.
