English 1110-04, 05 Fall 2021 Essay #2

IMPORTANT NOTE: Do not use any secondary sources in the preparation of this essay.
Rely instead on your own skills of analysis.

DUE: BEFORE Saturday, Dec. 4 at midnight

NO LATE PAPERS WILL BE ACCEPTED

Write a comparison/contrast essay of approximately 1250-1500 words on one of

the following topics.

If you want to adapt any of the topics, please talk to me first. Also, if you want to
write about something in particular that involves 2 of the course texts, tell me and
I will try to create a topic for you.

Note: “course stories” in the topics below can include our film, My American
Cousin.

1. Compare any 2 of our course stories in terms of how parents help or hinder their
children’s development.

2. Compare two fathers from any of our course stories in terms of their power in the
family and its effect on the child/children.

3. Compare two mothers from any of our course stories in terms of their power in the
family and its effect on the child/children.

4. Compare “Queen of the North” and “Ice House” in terms of the protagonists’ silence,
how it affects their lives, and how/if they gain any resolution.

5. Compare “Crush” and “Agreeable” in terms of parental reactions to sexual matters

and how these reactions affect the protagonists.

6. Compare “Crush” and “F.A.Q.s” in terms of what they show about young people
finding their identities on their own terms.

7. Compare “No Bikini” and “Twenty Hot Tips to Shopping Success” in terms of social
expectations/constructs of gender, how the protagonists respond to these constructs,
and what gains they make in affirming their identities.

Your essay should:

•have a clear thesis statement which is appropriate for a comparison/contrast essay

Here is a template to use for comparison/contrast:

Comparing these two stories in terms of (point of comparison 1) and (point of

comparison 2) [add more points as you needed] yields the useful understanding/
reveals/suggests that (rest of thesis-- which must express an argument that your
comparison has led you to be able to assert which you will “prove” in your paper).

•have topic sentences for each body paragraph indicating the main point of the
paragraph as well as its connection to the thesis

•have as many body paragraphs as it needs to communicate your ideas (i.e. do not feel
confined to writing a 5-paragraph essay)

•use literary terminology wherever possible (for example, setting, characterization,

protagonist, point of view, etc.)

•have a scholarly two-part title

•have an effective introduction and conclusion

•make liberal use of supporting quotations to support your points

•have smoothly-integrated and correctly-typed quotations

•Use the MLA style of citation for your essay; this means

•correctly-formatted in-text citations

•a Works Cited entry for the stories you’re using (use the template provided for citing
from our course reading package)
•correct MLA paper format

•be clearly written and as error free as possible

Please use the audio feedback from your first essay, so you can avoid repeating errors/
weaknesses.