Comparison and Contrast Essay
Description
Before writing be sure you have chosen an organizational pattern (see the powerpoint) and are familiar with both essays.
Your assignment is to write a 3 page MLA formatted compare and contrast essay over “Black Men and Public Space ” (p. 132) and “Parallel Time” (p. 140). Both of these essays are located in your Reading Critically, Writing Well textbook. You will need a works cited page for this essay in order to pass. It is important that each story has its own works cited entry. Cite each story as a “selection from an anthology”. There are numerous examples in your Hacker book and on the OWL at Purdue website. I have also included an example in the folder for this week. Also, be sure that within your essay body I am always aware which essay you are referring to. Brent Staples wrote both of these essays. Therefore, you can’t say “In the Staples essay”. I won’t know which one you are referring to. You also can’t say “in the first essay” because I won’t know which essay you read first.
Finally, provide textual evidence to back up your points. The easiest way to do this is to include a signal phrase, quoted material, and a parenthetical citation.
For example:
Staples writes, “I learned to smother the rage” (“Black Men” 134).
or
In “Black Men and Public Space,” Staples remarks that he “learned to smother the rage” (134).
Note that in both examples I know who is speaking, in what essay the quote appears, and from what page. Usually parentheticals only include the author’s last name and the page number the quote is found on. Since we are comparing two essays by the same author, we have to provide the essay title somewhere in the signal phrase or in the parenthetical. You may abbreviate the essay titles within the parenthesis to “Black Men” or “Parallel”.
A little background information:
Staples wrote these essays 8 years apart, but they describe the same thing. He is treated poorly by complete strangers when he has done nothing wrong. Things you might consider as talking points for your essay:
tone
attitude
actions
reactions
