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Comparison-Contrast Essay

Total Value: 5%


Due Date:

8-Week Internet Class: 9/12/11 by 11:59 p.m.
16-Week Hybrid Class: 9/27/11 by 11:59 p.m.

If the drop box records a submission time of even one minute late, the turn-in is late. Expect to lose 10% for each calendar day the paper is turned in late. Must be turned in as a MS Word DOC or DOCX file. Consult the syllabus for all turn-in requirements and associated penalties.

Background: While working on this essay, keep in mind that the English Department Final Examination is worth 33% of your final course grade, and the departmental standard form for the final examination is a five-paragraph essay, so to help you prepare for the final examination, all your major essays for this course will be in that same five-paragraph essay format. Basically, from day one of the semester, we will practice the skills on which you will be graded with regard to the final examination.
General Requirements:

  • Word count: 450 words minimum to 550 maximum, in exactly five paragraphs. If your essay falls short of or exceeds the required word count, or if it does not follow the required paragraph-count, the grade will certainly suffer. Moreover, the word-count requirement refers to only the words in your paragraphs, not the title or any other part of your essay.
  • Work closely with all the lectures and course materials, and especially Lecture 2 and Lecture 7, all of which are available on D2L.
  • This essay is an analysis of the comparisons and contrasts of a particular problem or issue, so make certain that the essay has a thesis, which should clearly define the comparisons and contrasts your paper will focus on. The thesis must be the final sentence of the introductory paragraph. A strong thesis would simply inform your readers that your essay will compare and contrast whatever you have chosen from the list of topics on this prompt.
  • Choose your topic ONLY from the list below, for to do otherwise would result in a substantial penalty against the grade your paper can receive.
  • Use the formatting requirements established by the syllabus and Lecture 2.
  • Pay attributions to any sources you engage to learn about the subject of your paper, but do not include MLA-type in-text citations, and do not include a works cited type page.
  • For proper attributions to sources, work with Lecture 7.
  • Remember to title your essay, but do not use the name of this assignment. In other words, no part of your essay's title should read "Essay 1," or "Comparison-Contrast Essay," or anything of the like.
  • Do not use humor in your title or in any other part of your essay. Academic essays are formal business.
    • Prompt: From the list of topics below, choose ONE, and then figure out which comparisons and contrasts you will write about. It is up to you whether to focus mostly on comparisons or contrasts, but do not choose too many comparisons or contrasts, for this is a short paper, and covering too many comparisons/contrasts will lead to a paper that does not analyze any one comparison or contrast effectively.

    Do not over-complicte or over-think this assignment with regard to what the paper should focus on. The body paragraphs of your paper should simply explain how, for example, Batman and Spider-Man are similar and how they are different. A strong thesis for a comparison-contrast essay is "The purpose of this paper is to explain the similarities and differences between music in the 1950s and the 1960s."
    MLA Style Guidelines:
    We will use MLA Style Guidelines only for formatting of your assignments, but not documentation and research. For more about documentation and research, see the information below. On the D2L content tree, I have provided you with a few links to MLA Style Guidelines, and you are expected to engage them to the point where the formatting of your assignments follow MLA Style. Work with these links, and especially
  • "Paraphrase: Write it in Your Own Words"
  • "Quoting, Paraphrasing, and Summarizing"
  • "Lecture 2: Formatting and Academic Prose: Read This Before Turning in Any Work"
  • "Lecture 4: TurnItIn.com: Plagiarism Detection Software"
  • "Lecture 7: Research, Documentation and Attributions to Sources"
  • "The 5 Paragraph Essay Format"


    • Moreover, work with these materials for the duration of the semester. Papers that negotiate MLA skills poorly will receive lower grades.
    Grammar, Punctuation, and General Writing Skills: Understand that grammar and punctuation are a very important factor that determines the grade your paper can receive. Consult the syllabus for information on the SMARTHINKING service. Even so, I have included some information here:
    SMARTHINKING Online Tutoring Service:
    SMARTHINKING is an online tutoring service that Temple College makes available at no cost to its students. SMARTHINKING provides tutoring in writing. Tutoring is available 24/7. With SMARTHINKING you can:

  • Connect with an e-structor and interact with a live tutor.
  • Submit your Writing for any class to their Online Writing Lab.
  • Submit a Question and receive a reply from a tutor.
    •
    Topics to Choose From (Choose ONLY ONE, and make certain it is from this list):
  • Compare and Contrast Fox News to MSNBC News.
  • Compare and Contrast the 1950s to the 1960s.
  • Compare and Contrast the influence of music to the influence of books.
  • Compare and Contrast talking to a parent to talking to a friend.
  • Compare and Contrast two ways to break a bad habit.
  • Compare and Contrast Nascar to Formula One.
  • Compare and Contrast, in baseball, a starting pitcher to a reliever.
  • Compare and Contrast Republican ideals to Democratic ideals.
  • Compare and Contrast Adolph Hitler to Joseph Stalin.
  • Compare and Contrast Two Well-Known Superheroes, like Spider-Man and Batman.
    •
    Due Date:

    8-Week Internet Class: 9/12/11 by 11:59 p.m.
    16-Week Hybrid Class: 9/27/11 by 11:59 p.m.

    If the drop box records a submission time of even one minute late, the turn-in is late. Expect to lose 10% for each calendar day the paper is turned in late. Must be turned in as a MS Word DOC or DOCX file. Consult the syllabus for all turn-in requirements and associated penalties.