Essay 3 - Comparative Reading

For this assignment, you will be close reading text from our third unit in order to argue for an interpretation of it, though this time you will be doing so by using a second text to inform your reading. Your texts should be from two different mediums—that is, you can pick and choose from auditory, visual, and alphabetic texts, but you may not compare two of the same medium. Your essay should be 7-10 pages in length, and must be in MLA format, which means 12 point Times New Roman font, double spaced, and following the standards for citing and documenting all sources (including both in-text citations and a Works Cited page).

Due Date

On Wednesday, Week 15, bring to class your word processing device of choice and the most recent draft of your paper — we will be working on them in-class that day. Failure to bring something to work on will result in an absence.

Essay 3 will be due in electronic form at 11:59PM on Friday, Week 15.

Your second draft will be due at the end of the semester in your portfolio. You will receive further instructions on second drafts later in the semester.

Detailed Description

In this unit, we will practice the art of the comparative analysis, in which you make an argument that involves how two texts interact. No one writes in a vacuum, and authors occasionally directly respond to the ideas of other authors; however, even when authors do not make specific responses to each other, they are responding to ideas presented in other texts. It is this interaction and response that you will analyze, just as you have in your first and second essays.

In this paper, you might use one text as a way of rethinking another text; you might compare/contrast how two texts present differing arguments; you might compare/contrast how two texts treat a specific issue; or you might look at how an alphabetic text treats an issue and then how another visual or non-visual (auditory) text treats the same issue. These are not your only options: they are examples to jump-start your thought process. Importantly, you must argue an interpretation of the texts—how they interact or how you employ them comparatively is your choice. You must choose two texts of different mediums: you may choose an auditory text and an alphabetic text, or a visual text and an auditory text, but you may not choose two of the same.

Consider what we have learned in terms of cultural and historical arguments—the work you do in this paper may, and probably should, resemble the work of our previous one. This assignment may involve a bit of outside research, like our last paper, which you can incorporate (and CITE) into your writing, though this is not a specific requirement for this essay. Similarly, your reading of these two texts might also include some analysis of the cultural and/or historical moment, though this is not specific requirement for this essay.