Description
Write a comparison/contrast essay, 1250-1500 words in length, focused on one of the pairs of readings below. To be successful, your essay must focus on the content of the readings (your essay must substantially be about the essays, and not merely their topic) and you must have an argumentative thesis.
Successful arguments for this assignment tend to argue for productive connections between the two sources. You may find it helpful to ask yourself this: how does reading these two sources together help us to understand the relevant issue in a way that reading one essay alone would not?
If you wish feedback on your thesis, please email it to your DGD leader well in advance of the due-date. You will need to quote from both essays, and you will need to analyze the elements of the essays upon which you are focusing. Each of the essays is available on Brightspace in a module labeled “
Sources.”
1. Matthew Mendelsohn, “Birth of a New Ethnicity” and Northrop Frye, “Preface to The Bush Garden”
2. Tim Bowling, “Na Na Na Na, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye” and Jay Teitel, “Shorter, Slower, Weaker: And That’s a Good Thing”
3. Margaret Atwood, “Pornography” and Gloria Steinem, “Erotica and Pornography: A Clear and Present Difference”
Once again, your essay will be marked based on the following criteria: the quality of your thesis, the organization of your essay, the relevance of your evidence, the coherency and detail of your analysis, and the technical quality of your writing.
In addition, you will be required to quote, cite, and provide a Works Cited following MLA or APA guidelines. Proper citation information for all of the sources will be provided on Brightspace prior to the due date. Your essay must be submitted in Brightspace as a Word or PDF document with the following formatting, adhering to MLA or APA style guidelines:
– Font: Times New Roman
– Font Size: 12 pt.
– Margins: 1 inch
– Spacing: Double