compare or contrast

instructions

Choose two of these readings to write a compare OR contrast essay:

Link – “Sister Flowers” by Maya Angelou (Chapter 15 from her novel I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings)  (Links to an external site.)

Link – “A View From the Bridge” by Cherokee Paul McDonald(Links to an external site.

Link – Once More to the Lake

Introduction:

-The first sentence is an attention-getter that mentions both articles and both authors.

-Write a sentence each concerning what the given story was about (summary-synopsis).

-The next part of the introduction MUST be a preview of support, where you give a sentence or two each about these categories a) characters b) the authoring devices used by both authors, and c) your evaluation (author effectiveness).

-Thesis statement.  Plainly, state whether the articles are more the same or more different.

Body Paragraphs:

-Do these in the SAME ORDER as you gave in your preview of support.  Body Paragraph #1 is about characters.  Body Paragraph #2 is about writing styles, and Body Paragraph #3 is your evaluation concerning author effectiveness.

Body Paragraph 1 – Characters.

Body Paragraph 2 – Author’s writing styles / devices – What writing techniques did you notice?  Were both authors descriptive?  Did they similarly utilize imagery and the senses?  Were both flowing or was one really choppy?  Name every authoring technique you can find, even down to the simple issues like for example – “The authors both used dialogue.” Or…”Both authors used dialogue differently.”

Body Paragraph 3 – Evaluate the works. Are they good or bad, strong or not worth publishing. Tell why overall.

Conclusion:

1) Give a re-thesis (the thesis statement slightly reworded to highlight your main idea).

2) Recap your body paragraphs.  One sentence (or two) each about each category (or body paragraph).

3) The “So What” or “Call to Action.”  Give a sentence that either shows you learned something from writing this paper, or its overall purpose.  You could also tell your reader (without saying “you”), to take action or think about this.