argumentative essay based on two short stories

ENC 1102 Essay #1

Argumentative Essay based on Two Short Stories

In this assignment, you are going to write a 4 to 6-page essay based on the short stories we have covered. The essay will be argumentative in the sense that you will present a thesis within your introduction that will make a claim that must be substantiated with evidence. Keep in mind the same kinds of principles for closed-form writing that you practiced in 1101:

· Introduce the topic and narrow it down to a manageable thesis statement.

· Organize your ideas logically into sentences and paragraphs, using transitional expression to help the reader make sense of your argument.

· Make sure that your ideas are fully developed and that the evidence used is relevant.

· Support some of your ideas with secondary sources. When doing so, make sure you follow the guidelines for MLA as set out in your textbook. Use a minimum of 2 secondary sources.

· Pay attention to your prose style, varying sentence length for best effect and carefully proofreading your work to remove errors of word-choice, sentence structure and grammar.

· Include a conclusion in which you briefly summarize your argument and leave the reader with some final thoughts.

Task

The short stories from which you may choose are “Cathedral” by Raymond Carver, “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” by Joyce Carol Oates, “Everyday Use” by Alice Walker, “The Chrysanthemums” by John Steinbeck, and “A Good Man Is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor. The page numbers of these stories are included on the Syllabus.

Your task is to choose one feature – character, theme, symbol, setting, or point of view – and compare and contrast that feature in your two stories. For example, if you choose ‘character,’ you might compare the development of the narrator in “Cathedral” to that of Connie in “Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?” Or, you may prefer to write about the theme of following social conventions in “The Chrysanthemums” and in “A Good Man Is Hard To Find.” What you may not do is:

· Write about more than one feature. You must choose either ‘character,’ or ‘theme’ or ‘symbol’ and discuss this and only this feature in both of your stories.

· Write about “The Storm” and “The Story of an Hour” – we have already worked enough with these two stories.

Layout

You will be discussing two stories, so half your essay will deal with one story, and the second half with the other story. The plan will go as follows:

Introduction

· Briefly Introduce the topic of the essay, the two stories and the writers

· Include a thesis statement that covers your main point in the essay, which will be about either character, theme, or symbol.

Summary of the first story

· In no more than 250 words, summarize the main points in the story

Two-to-three body paragraphs on the first story

· These paragraphs will contain whatever you want to say about the story in relation to the thesis statement. If your thesis statement said, for example, that symbolism in the two stories is used to express the feelings of the characters, then these few paragraphs would show how that was true.

Summary of the second story

· In no more than 250 words, summarize the main points in the second story

Two-to-three body paragraphs on the second story

· These paragraphs will contain whatever you want to say about the second story in relation to the thesis statement. If we had the one above, that symbolism in the two stories is used to express the feelings of the characters, then these few paragraphs would show how that was true in the second story

Conclusion

· You draw the essay to a close with some final comments

Secondary Sources

As mentioned earlier, you will need two secondary sources in this essay. Secondary sources are articles that other people, typically professors and academics, have written either about your authors or the stories. You will use these secondary sources to back up your argument on at least two occasions in the essay.

Format

MLA

Deadline

Sunday, February 14, by 11:59 pm on Blackboard