Essay draft for comparison or contrast Kurt Vonnegut Jr. Harrison Bergeron and Shirley Jackson The Lottery

Paper 4

Comparison or Contrast

Topic

The poems and stories we have discussed since your last essay provide us with views on the topic of the individual versus society. Choose two of these works and explain either the similarity or the difference between what they have to say about the individual versus society. Your essay should explain what the writers’ ideas are and support your observations with details, illustrations, and examples from the poems or stories. You can compare a poem to a poem, a short story with a short story, or a poem with a short story. Use the methods discussed in class for organizing a logical comparison or contrast essay and for referring to and incorporating quotations from literature in your own writing.

Purpose and audience

Your purpose is to write an analysis that shows either the similarity or the difference between the viewpoints expressed in two or more literary works. (Don’t try to show both; that is for the next essay.)

Your audience is someone who has read the works you are discussing but who has not thought as deeply and carefully as you have about the similarities or differences in the attitudes these works express or imply about the individual versus society.

Special expectations for this assignment

Put into practice what you’ve learned from the course materials about writing comparative literary analysis. Be sure to integrate material from the works appropriately to support your analysis, and follow the guidelines for MLA in-text citation.

Format

Your paper should be between 600 and 700 words long, and is to be written following the conventions of formal writing assignments in MLA style, including double spacing, indented paragraphs, a standard font, no larger than 12 pt font size, and standard margins. Students must include a header in the upper left-hand corner of the first page that fits the following format:

[Your Name]

[Date]

ENG 111-[your section number]

Paper 4

Assessment

The paper is worth 100 points, and will be graded according to the attached rubric.

Rubric for Paper 4

Content

· An A paper

· fulfills the basic assignment requirements (topic, length, format, etc.)

· appropriately takes the audience into consideration

· provides a clear thesis statement that is specific, manageable, and arguable

· uses appropriate patterns of development to flesh out the main idea

· focuses on relevant points of similarity or difference

· supports points with sufficient examples or evidence

· uses summary, paraphrase, and quotation appropriately

Organization

· An A paper

· is logically structured, with all supporting points clearly tied to the main idea

· displays unity by maintaining focus on a single idea

· displays coherence by using transitions and other organizational elements to ensure the logical flow of ideas

· provides a clear introduction that engages the reader and offers a blueprint

· presents a conclusion that does more than just repeat the introduction, leaving the reader with a sense of something new and interesting

Style/Expression

· An A paper

· uses appropriate tone and word choice for the audience

· expresses ideas in clear, concise sentences

· varies sentence structure to avoid repetition or choppiness

· employs well-constructed sentences that clearly indicate the relationships between the ideas expressed

Grammar/Mechanics

· An A paper contains minimal errors in

· spelling

· punctuation

· general grammar

· sentence errors

· agreement

· tense

· quotation