Argument Essay Connecting Raymond Carver’s “Popular Mechanics” & Kate Chopin’s “The Story of an Hour”
Your task is to write an essay which establishes a connection between the two short stories identified above. You may select any focus you like, provided that you engage the course theme of conflict and/or war. The key to a successful synthesis, is that you are not writing about the sources (short stories), you are writing about an issue for which your sources provide evidence. Refer to the format below to ensure that your essay is logically organized, compelling, and contains the basic requirements of an argumentative essay. Your essay should be approximately three pages, double-spaced, 12 point plain font. Use MLA parenthetical citations to format your quotes (see this week’s PowerPoint #1), and proper MLA headers (see MLA Conventions, under the Supplemental Resources tab).
I. Original Title (2 spaces below the date, 2 spaces above the first line of the first paragraph, and centered in the middle of the page). This means your title cannot be Synthesis, Popular Mechanics, or The Story of an Hour (although the story titles might be included as part of your title). In an case, your title should reveal something about your essay.
II. Paragraph 1: Introduction including: Hook (grabs the reader’s attention), Transition (bridges gap between Hook and Thesis), & Thesis (articulates focus of essay, must make a specific declaration of what you will demonstrate or prove). Rather than attempting to summarize both stories here, you introduce the topic you will explore, and conclude by articulating what point you will make about that topic.
III. Evidence: Here is where you break down your overall argument into bite-sized pieces.
a. Paragraph 2: (first point that supports your thesis, supported by evidence from one or both texts, followed by your explanation of why the evidence supports the claim)*
b. Paragraph 3: (second point that supports your thesis, supported by evidence from one or both texts, followed by your explanation of why the evidence supports the claim)
c. Paragraph 4: (third point that supports your thesis, supported by evidence from one or both texts, followed by your explanation of why the evidence supports the claim)
IV. Conclusion: Paragraph 5: (This paragraph wraps up the argument, assuring the reader that you have fulfilled the promise made by your thesis)
*The first time that you reference one of your sources is where you provide a brief introduction. Hopefully, this will make clear the reason that a summary needs to be brief; as, it is only a small portion of the paragraph. Yet, if you were to go directly to a quote without an overview, it would have no meaning to a reader who is unfamiliar with the story; moreover, it would carry no weight.