ccattack.html

School House Books, Inc.
Collection of English AP* Language and Composition
Teacher-Written Lesson Plans:

"How to Write the Comparison and Contrast Paper"

1. Read and understand the prompt. Each AP analysis essay will be accompanied by a prompt. Be sure to answer the question. Here is the prompt for this assignment:

Click on the highlighted portion to read the "First Reactions" written in the
Talk of the Town Section of the New Yorker
by authors of literary merit who were eye witnesses to the Attack on America.

After reading all the essays, select three or four that seem to share some similar concerns. Then write a well organized paper that compares and contrasts the views expressed by the writers chosen. Be sure to analyze how each writer uses the language effectively to convey the view expressed.

Use the following ìTEIî organization to complete each middle paragraph:
T: Topic Sentence

2. Organize this paper around topics shared by these writers. For instance:
            Roger Angell and Susan Sontag are both concerned about
            the propaganda connected with the aftermath of the "Attack."
            Susan Sontag calls it "(the) self-righteous drivel and outright
            deceptions peddled by public figures and TV commentators;"
            Roger Angell calls it "Tom Brokawís goo," but each handle this
            similar topic in a slightly different way.
Notice how these embedded quotes show how these two writers share the same concern and hint at how they are different.

E: The use of Embedded quotes as Evidence

3. Within each paragraph include embedded quotes to show each writerís attitude. Be sure to address how the writersí language choices illustrate that attitude. For instance:
             Susan Sontag seems disconnected by the disparity between reality
             and the propaganda, choosing to call her reaction ìstartling,
             depressing;î whereas Roger Angellís choice of words indicates
             quite a softer reaction. He finds himself merely ìlaughing a littleî or
             "groaning" but allowing himself a moment of "dumb pride."
Notice how these sentences do three things: they name the device chosen by each author (diction), they illustrate the difference between each writerís attitude, and they embed quotes to prove that difference exists.

4. Finish the evidence for the paragraph by embedding quotes to show the entire progression of each writerís attitude toward this topic, continually alternating between the attitudes of each writer.

I: Interpretation

5. End each paragraph with an Interpretation of the evidence selected. For instance:
            Susan Sontag makes us think about reality, feeling challenged
            to act maturely, but Roger Angell assures us that we do not have
            to be ashamed of our occasional moments of ìdumb pride.î

6. Continue to find three to five concerns shared by at least two of the writers. Each of those concerns need to be named in separate topic sentences. Other topics to consider:
ïthe description of the New York landscape and its people--then and now
ïthe American spirit
ïcourage
ïsecurity
ïthe flood of what canít be done

Use the following organization to write the introduction and conclusion:

The Introduction and Conclusion:
Write the Introduction and the Conclusion together,
after the body paragraphs are completed.

1. Use the first sentence or two to begin to define the meaning of the prompt. For instance:
            Leonard Pitts, Jr., a columnist for the Miami Herald, wrote in
            connection with the "Attack on America" that its his job to "tease
            shades of meaning from social and cultural issues. . . to provide
            words that makes sense of that which troubles the American soul."
            Susan Sontag, John Updike, Rebecca Mead, and Roger Angell, all writers
            of literary merit, in writing their first reactions to the "Attack on America,"
            all attempt to give their version of meaning to our country's "monstrous
            dose of reality" (Sontag).

2. In the third or fourth sentence, list some of the language choices made effectively by each writer. For instance:
            Using just the right words, each writer creates memorable images,
            shares specific anecdotes, makes effective logical and emotional
            appeals, and uses a host of other rhetorical and stylistic devices to
            describe the "flood of what can't be undone."

3. End the introduction with a thesis sentence that includes a real subject, an inference, and a list of causations that imply the organization that your essay will have. For instance:
            Topics in this flood that are addressed effectively by the writers chosen
            include: the need for propaganda, the description of the New York
            landscape and its people--then and now, the American spirit, and
            the fight "not to reduce it to our own smallness."

4. Be sure to analyze each of the four reactions, including concerns that are only addressed by one writer.

5. In your conclusion, determine which writer is most effective.

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