English 1101 Literary Comparison and Contrast Essay
A comparison and contrast essay asks the writer to explore the similarities and differences between two types of people, cultures, places, objects, or ideas, and, like other rhetorical strategies, this one can carry a great deal of persuasive force. Evaluations or judgments about something often depend on a successfully executed comparison and contrast argument, as for example, when a person has to make a decision whether to move to a new town, where to go to school, or which car to buy. We might compare and contrast political candidates, potential homes, mates, investment vehicles, and careers. Indeed, anything can be analyzed by comparing it with and contrasting it to something else.
Although simple comparison and contrast arguments can be made using items within a single class (i.e., cars, trees, reptiles, planets, and towns), analogous comparison and contrast arguments show similarities and differences between two items or ideas of different classes, such as a child's room and a junkyard, painting and poetry, writing and mountain climbing, football and warfare, language and clothes, or prison and poverty. For this assignment, however, please write a thoughtful essay of between 800 and 1,000 words that compares and contrasts features of two of the works of literature below. Please use M.L.A. format to cite two of the works below in your paper. In addition, please integrate quotes into one of your own sentences, and recall that story titles should not be underlined, but have quote marks around them.
This essay requires secondary research: you should use GALILEO to find two scholarly sources to include in your discussion. You will want to use the MLA database. To get there, go to Gordon's web page. Then, follow this trail: My Gordon > Library Online Resources > GALILEO > Databases A-Z > M > MLA International Bibliography. Please do not limit your research to what is available in full text, for the Hightower library has many resources available both in print and on microfilm.
A subject search in the GIL catalog under the author's name will also produce results. From the Hightower Library site, follow this trail: GIL Catalog > Exact Search > Subject Heading. Type in the author's name in this format: Last Name, First Name. Look at the list for "Criticism and Interpretation" to find books our library holds.
DO NOT USE THE INTERNET TO FIND SCHOLARLY SOURCES. (GALILEO is an online database that leads to scholarly journal articles.)
The works cited page should, therefore, have four entries: the two stories and the two scholarly sources.
A note on writing about literature
Use the present tense to write about the writing of others, and in this paper, do not speculate based on your feelings or what you imagine the characters would do in a situation outside of the story itself. Base your analysis instead on the text of the stories, and use plenty of examples to support your points. Do not summarize the plot or describe a character. Observations are fine way to begin, but you should use those observations to then make an argument about the stories' interpretation.
Take a look at the linked presentation: What Is Literature?
We will be discussing the following works from in relation to this assignment:
William Faulkner, "A Rose for Emily"
Kate Chopin, "The Story of an Hour"
Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Young Goodman Brown"
Carson McCullers, "A Domestic Dilemma"
Charlotte Perkins Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper"
I will hand out & we will discuss the following essays:
Nathan Turner, "Disillusionment"
Amanda Teal, "The Power of Prayer"
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to hone further your analytical reasoning and close reading skills, and in this paper, you will engage the rhetorical mode of comparison and contrast in order to argue for a particular interpretation of the stories. You will also practice writing in an academic tone for a more educated audience than you might have before. This assignment will also help you forge a link between thinking and writing, a connection absolutely essential to your future success as an educated person. In addition, you will learn the basics of citing sources in M.L.A. style.
Audience
The audience for this paper is a group of educated people who are interested in thinking about what they read.
What to turn in
1) the rough draft
2) the final draft
3) the grading standards sheet filled out by you for your paper
Don't forget to fill out and submit the grading standards sheet so that you can learn to assess your own work.