2k-words SWA+Essay

Instructions for Essay 3

Mrs. Smith’s English 101, Fall 2019

Instructions:

In this essay, you should use two texts from the semester and create an argument that stems from comparison of the texts. This is not a simple compare/contrast essay. Instead, you’re using close readings of both texts to make a single claim.

Length Requirement: 1700-2100 words

Thesis examples:

Incorrect: Hamlet and “Welcome to the Black Parade” are similar and different, but both about men who do not feel like they fit in.

Correct: Hamlet’s Soliloquy and the music video for My Chemical Romance’s Welcome to the Black parade both address what the afterlife is like for troubled young men, but both suggest that ultimately even staunch individualists long for understanding and companionship.

Paragraph 1: Introduction

Sentence 1: introduce your two chosen stories

Sentence 2: describe or summarize the first story

Sentence 3: describe or summarize the second story

Sentence 4+: describe what the stories have in common

Last sentence: Write a thesis that makes a claim about what these two stories, read together, teach the reader about a certain concept

Paragraph 2: Body Paragraph about Story 1

Sentence 1: write a topic sentence that describes some aspect of the first story. This must be a theme or claim you created from critical thinking, not a mere fact about the story.

Sentence 2: describe that detail of the first story and give a relevant quotation from it

Sentence 3+: describe the meaning of that detail for your interpretation

Final sentence: write a transition comparing the same aspect in the next story

Paragraph 3: Body Paragraph about Story 2

Sentence 1: introduce the same theme/aspect/question as the previous paragraph, but in the second story

Sentence 2: provide details or relevant quotations about that theme in the second story

Sentence 3+: describe the meaning of that theme and compare and contrast with story 1

Final sentence: transition to the next theme from story 1

Paragraph 4-7+:

repeat the body paragraphs about story 1 and story 2, alternating until your argument is complete

Conclusion:

Sentence 1: Say something that starts with “in conclusion”

Sentence 2: Summarize the comparison or contrast you made in paragraphs 2 and 3

Sentence 3: Summarize the comparison or contrast you made in paragraphs 4 and 5

Repeat this until you have summarized all major points of your essay

Final sentence: restate thesis