A Comparison of Two Genres

Writing 27 | Winter 2019

WP2: A Comparison of Two Genres

The first draft for WP2 is due Friday, March 1

Assignment: Write a thesis-driven 1000-1200-word comparison essay in which you compare the rhetorical situation and genre conventions of examples from two different genres: a magazine article from a magazine of your choice and a TedTalk video of your choice.

Genre: Comparison

Purpose: To analyze and compare two samples of different rhetorical situations and genres.

Audience: First year UCSC students who do not know the ways in which these two genres might be the same or different but would like to understand.

These students are familiar with the genre conventions of a comparison essay, however, and they expect this essay to be composed in a way that is appropriate to academic writing at the university level. In this case, “appropriate” means not only is the comparison essay organized in a way that makes logical sentence to the reader, but it must be composed of sentences that follow

conventional English language mechanics and accurate word choice.

Requirements:

· Length: 1000-1200 words

· Format: MLA style

· Purpose: Analyze and compare a magazine article from a magazine of your choice and a TedTalk video of your choice.

Tips:

· When you begin to write a comparison, you need to identify your subjects, state the basis on which you are comparing them, and indicate whether you plan to emphasize their similarities or their differences.

· Whether your purpose in writing a comparison is to inform, evaluate, or persuade, keep the specific needs of your audience in mind. How much do your readers already know about your topic? Why should they want or need to know more? What distinctions can you make that they haven’t already thought of?

· Complete a Venn diagram and organize the main ideas of your comparison before you begin drafting.

· A thesis sentence is a sentence in the introduction that tells the reader what the topic or argument of the essay is. The thesis of this type of essay depends on how the two things you are comparing relate to one another.

· This is a thesis sentence template to help get you started: The differences [or similarities] between ______________ and ______________ are [pronounced, striking, unmistakable, clear], but…

Use a Venn diagram to visualize similarities or differences. When you create a Venn diagram, you are visualizing specific points of comparison between your two subjects. Ask yourself: How, specifically, are my two subjects alike? How are they different?

TedTalk video

Magazine article

Venn diagram directions:

If you think the magazine article and TedTalk video are mostly different, make a list of everything you think is different (in terms of rhetorical situation and genre) in the larger area of the circle, and make a list of everything you think is similar in the smaller circle.

If you think the magazine article and TedTalk video are mostly the same, make a list of everything you think is similar (in terms of rhetorical situation and genre) in the larger area of the circle, and make a list of everything you think is different in the smaller circle.

WP3 Final Paper/Writing Process Log

In addition to writing this paper, I would like you to keep a writing process log to record your writing process for this paper. You will use this log to write your third and final paper for this class. I have included a sample log below. Your log does not have to look like this, but if you would like to use it as a template, please do.

Pre-writing

Date	Pre-writing step	Thoughts about this step/challenges/questions/concerns

(add more rows as necessary)

Questions you might consider for the pre-writing aspect of your log:

1. What new ideas have you been introduced to for this project? Review your class notes.

2. Which TedTalk text did you choose and which magazine article did you choose? Why?

3. What troubles or questions did you encounter while filling out the rhetorical situation and genre convention chart?

4. Did you make a Venn diagram? How did this help you organize your thoughts for this paper?

5. Did you complete any other pre-writing activities such as making a concept map or creating an outline before you starting drafting? Why did you do this?

Drafting

Date	Pre-writing step	Thoughts about this step/challenges/questions/concerns

(add more rows as necessary)

Questions you might consider for the drafting aspect of your log:

1. How did you begin drafting? Did you start with the introduction paragraph, or did you start with the first body paragraph and save your introduction paragraph for later? Why did you make this choice?

2. What writing plan did you follow while writing this draft? Did you write it all at once, did you write it a little each day? How long did you spend each time your sat down to write? How do you know?

3. What problems did you encounter while writing the comparison?

a. Did you face these challenges because you weren’t sure which ideas you wanted to write about?

b. Or, did you know which ideas you wanted to write about but didn’t know how to articulate your ideas?

4. Which parts of writing this paper was easy?

Post-drafting

Date	Pre-writing step	Thoughts about this step/challenges/questions/concerns

Questions you might consider for the post-drafting aspect of your log:

1. After you completed the draft (but before you turned it in), what did you do to make sure the professor was ready to evaluate it?

a. Did you reread it out loud to yourself to catch any errors?

b. Did you ask a peer to read it?

c. Did you work with a writing tutor before you turned it in?