The Comparative Essay

Instructions

Selecting from the following topics and readings, create a research essay of 900 to 1,000 words. Note: While a research essay normally involves conducting your own research, for this assignment, the research sources are provided (i.e., the readings listed are the research sources to be used). Include appropriate elements of the research essay, including summary, paraphrase and quotation, and integration and documentation of source material. Parenthetical citation and a works cited page in MLA style are required. The assignment will be completed in three stages: Summarizing and note taking Writing a draft essay Writing a completed essay All three products will be submitted to the Open Learning Faculty Member. The assignment will not be marked unless the summaries and first draft are attached. Make sure that your thesis signals both your purpose in comparing the two essays and the basis for comparison that you have chosen. You may find that the Discussion Questions that follow each essay are useful in helping you identify the thesis, main ideas, rhetorical strategies, and supporting details used in the essays. Topics: Choose a basis for comparison and write a comparison of the approaches to the relationship between youth employment and the economy presented in “Can Generation Xers Be Trained?” (page 509) and “The Sweet Bird of Youth Is Showing Signs of Age” (page 520). Compare the way in which the authors use detail to explore the importance of one of the following: family, work, cultural practice, or cultural identity in the two essays “Memories of Montreal—and Richness” (page 150) and “Lend Me Your Light” (page 153 ).