Comparison/Contrast
- Use the chart we discussed in class to brainstorm ideas for an essay using comparison/ contrast organization. You have a number of choices:
Ø Write an essay that compares and/or contrasts certain aspects of culture in the United States and in your native country. Limit your discussion to the aspects of everyday life listed in the chart (or one you discuss with me). Write from your own experience as an observer of life.
Ø Alternatively, you can compare your native country today to the way it was in your parents or grandparents time. Also, if there is a recent event in your or your parents' lifetime that revolutionized life in your country, you can compare life before and after the event. You can also write about difference and similarities in rural and urban life in your county. (Don't write about government or politics.)
Ø You can compare two regions or ethnic groups in your own county.
Ø If you want to compare and contrast some other aspect of life in your native country, check with me for approval before you start to write.
- For alloptions, do not write about government or politics. Keep the discussions to familiar aspects of everyday life.
- Your essay can discuss only differences or you can discuss both similarities and differences.
- Your essay must include at two quote for one of the following sources. Use quotation marks and in-text citations. See pages 49-54 in Longman Academic Writing for help in using in-text quotes and citations. We will work on in-text citations in class.
- On a separate page, write a Works Cited list. Follow the example on page 318 of Longman Academic Writing. We will discuss how to do the citation in class.
Your final work must include:
1. An outline using the format posted on Blackboard. I will not accept essays without a complete outline.
2. An Introductory Paragraph that ends in a Thesis Statement. Your introductory paragraph must be at least 4 sentences long. Start with a general statement about the topic and narrow the focus so that each sentence leads the reader to the Thesis Statement. The introduction ends with a Thesis Statement, which states exactly what your essay will discuss. The Thesis Statement should state the topic of your essay and the controlling idea and list the subtopics of the essay.
3. The thesis should indicate comparison/contrast organization.
4. Three body paragraphs. Each paragraph should have a Topic Sentence that directly supports the Thesis Statement. All other sentences in the paragraph should support the Topic Sentence.
5. Paragraph Transitions. The Topic Sentence of each paragraph should also serve as a Paragraph Transition that ties the paragraph to the one that precedes it or relates back to the Thesis Statement. Use a minimum of one-word transitions. Use instead clauses and phrases that restate a key word from the previous paragraph or from the Thesis Statement.
6. In addition, use transition words and phrases within each paragraph. Specifically, use the signal words that show comparison and contrast on pages 141, 143, and 144 of the text.
7. The essay must include two in-text citations from the sources listed above. In addition, the essay must have a works cited list on a separate page. You can use the suggested citations given on the website. You can cut and paste them, but make sure you follow the spacing format shown on page 318 of the text.
8. A Concluding Paragraph. Begin your Concluding Paragraph with a Concluding Transition. Restate your Thesis. Summarize your main points. End the Concluding Paragraph with a Final Comment.