essay 1

English 1301 ESSAY 1: COMPARE AND CONTRAST

Overview:

The compare and contrast essay allows you to clarify differences and similarities between two things to clarify to an audience for several different purposes. A comparison between two objects can help an audience decide which thing they prefer, or which has more usefulness, or it can educate an audience about something that is foreign to them.

Your assignment:

Compose an essay of 900 to 1,100 words on one of the following topics. Your essay must be typed, it must be double spaced with 1 inch margins, and it must use Times New Roman typeface. It must have a dynamic title and above the title you must include the following information (do this on all of your papers):

Your name Jane Smith

The class and time English 1301, 10:00 class

The assignment and draft Essay 3 Rough Draft

The date submitted February 11 2015

The word count Word Count: 1067

Your topic: select ONE of the following topics

TOPIC 1: Compare and contrast the experience of living in your home country with the experience of living in America. Your purpose in writing the paper should be one of the following – either to educate those in your home country about America, or to educate those in America about your home country.

TOPIC 2: Compare and contrast the experience of watching a movie at home to watching a movie in a theater. Your purpose for writing this paper will be to shed some light on the trend of people watching movies at home. Is the home experience “better” than the theater experience? Or are people who mostly watch movies at home missing out on something?

Key: develop a criteria

The strength of your discussion will largely depend on your criteria, around which you will develop your points, and the depth and detail you use to develop your points. Basically, a criteria is a set of qualities shared by two things that can be used to compare the two things.

For example, if we are to compare two automobiles, we could compare them according to the following criteria:

· Cost

· Miles per gallon

· Safety

· Performance

· Interior and exterior style

· Dependability

Purpose:

It’s key that your purpose is clear. Anybody can list and identify the qualities of two different objects, but without a purpose that’s all your essay will be – a list of qualities. Perhaps your purpose could focus on the difficulties someone would have in adjusting from one society to another, or the enlightenment they could achieve in experiencing a new culture.

Introduction:

At the beginning of an essay it is important to entice your audience to want to read your discussion. To accomplish this you want to make the subject matter seem interesting while clarifying your purpose for addressing your audience. Think about how you want to enlighten your readers, and what they might find most interesting about your subject matter, and give them a taste of the ideas you plan to introduce to them.

IMPORTANT DATES:

5/21 Read chapters 1 and 18 from your St. Martin’s text. In chapter 18, focus

on the techniques of chunking and sequenced comparison; also focus on the Sentence Strategies at the end of the chapter.

5/25 Rough draft due. Bring 3 copies to class; on this day we will workshop these drafts. Your draft must meet the minimum word count to receive credit. If your draft does not meet the word count, or if you do not submit a draft on this day, you will lose points on your final draft. Be sure to STAPLE your drafts.

5/26 Final draft due.