Comparative Essay Writing

1. What do you know about comparative essay writing?

Let's go through some basics.

2. The Basics Continued

A text response essay requires a comparison of central ideas in both texts.

Some of the things you will need to discuss and compare are:

1. Big Ideas

2. Genre

3.Setting

4. Characters

5. Symbols and Techniques

You will need a thorough understanding of both as well as their similarities and differences?

3. Big Ideas

Here are some questions to consider about your two texts.

1. Do the texts reveal anything about the life experiences of their creators?

2. What is the purpose of both texts?

3.What do the texts reveal about the society, time and place that they explore?

4. Despite being set in different countries and different times what is similar about the societies they portray? What does the creator of each text say about life and human relationships?

5. What messages and values are coming through to us?

6. What kind of actions are praised and condemned? How can you tell?

7.What kind of expectations are placed on the characters but he society around them?

8. Which of the texts' shared themes interest you? Why?

4. Setting

Both texts will feature different settings.

They might be set in different countries, times and the type of world the characters inhabit.

1. Make a list of all the facts about the setting for text one.

2.How does the setting (the world of the play) affect the characters?

3. Make a list that describes the world of text two.

4. How does this setting affect the lives of the characters?

5. How are each of the protagonists affected by the setting?

Now fill in this table regarding the setting of your texts.

5. Before You Start Writing!

Some questions to consider before you start:

1. Have you explored the two texts in a variety of ways?

2. Do you understand all elements: themes, characters, settings and historical context?

3. How will you best analyse these components? Where do the similarities and differences lie?

6. How to Structure A Comparative Paragraph

One way to strucuture a comparative paragraph is to choose a key idea/theme (e.g. the pain of growing up) that links to both texts.

Use the sentence starters below to compare your two texts.

Topic Sentence: Explain the idea that you will be discussing in the paragraph, with reference to both Catcher in the Rye and your supplementary text.

Explain: Explain how this idea is represented in both texts.

Evidence #1: Use a quote from one of your texts first.

Evaluate #1: Explain the relevance and significance of the quote.

Evidence #2: Use a quote from your second text- remember to explicitly state how these two pieces of evidence are related.

Evaluate #2: Explain the meaning and significance of the second piece of evidence.

Comparison: How are these two texts similar and different?

Link to topic: Your final sentence should draw a link between the ideas and evidence you have discussed in your paragraph and the prompt or question you are responding to in your essay.

7. How To Structure The Whole Essay

Let's go through together the way you can strucutre a comparative essay.

The process will be similar to a text analysis essay but will incorporate a few more elements.

Check out my presentation here.

8. Comparative Essay Template

A template can be helpful for developing the initial structure to your piece. Use this to guide your planning before you write out the real thing.

However, you don't have to follow this down to the wire but should be more used as a guide.

You can download the template here.

9. Essay Check

Have a read over this guideline to ensure your essay is meeting the guidelines.

Homework:

Comparative Essay Structure Revision