comparison/contrast

In your first in-class essay, you had the opportunity to create an argument responding to one essay read for
class. In your first out-of-class essay, you’ll take this process a step further and create an argument
analyzing a relationship you see between two essays read for class.
You may choose any two essays read for class so far: Hacker and Dreifus, Ungar, Addison, Carey, Murray,
and Rose. After you have chosen your two essays, the next step is to identify the specific topic that the two
authors are writing about and then choose one of three different ways to connect those two readings in your
essay:
1. Explain why one argument is more persuasive than the other.
2. Explain how two authors who apparently disagree about X actually share some common ground in their
positions.
3. Explain how two authors who apparently agree about X actually disagree about something important
when we look more closely at what they’re saying.
? Your final draft must be 4-5 pages, typed and double spaced in 12-point Times New Roman font with linch
margins, page numbers, in-text citations MLA style and a Works Cited page (this page does not
count toward the page requirement.
Rough DrafLDue: Monday_9/30
Final Draft Due: Monday 1017
Note: While this essay is considered a “comparison/contrast” essay, that name can sometimes be
misleading. Keep in mind that your thesis, and your essay, should be an argument. Often, the term
“comparison/contrast” leads to an essay describing the similarities and differences between two texts; that is
not an argument. Instead, an argument would be an analysis of the relationship between the two texts. It can
often help to think about this assignment as either arguing that two texts that appear to be similar are in fact
different or that two texts that appear to be different are in fact similar.