Expository Writing, Comparative Essay, Argumentative Essay

(where the author is simply reporting facts or details that cannot be contested or challenged the way an argument can) Make sure to establish a clear topic sentence for each paragraph, identifying the main idea that you want to communicate in that paragraph. This will help keep your ideas organized, and will safeguard against repetition Limit yourself to 2 lines of necessary summary/context to set up a quote (assume your reader knows nothing about either text or author) Analyze the quotes you use and relate them back to your main idea for that paragraph, and to your thesis as a whole Use this formula to construct your body paragraphs: TOPIC SENTENCE, SET UP QUOTE, QUOTE (AUTHOR 1), EXPLAIN HOW QUOTE SUPPORTS YOUR ARGUMENT, CONNECT TO SECOND AUTHOR, QUOTE (AUTHOR 2), EXPLAIN HOW QUOTE CONNECTS TO AUTHOR 1, ANALYZE THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE TWO QUOTES, REAFFIRM YOUR TOPIC SENTENCE AND YOUR OVERALL THESIS STATEMENT Compose a clearly identifiable conclusion, in which you echo the main ideas you set forth in your introduction and thesis Compose 4 FULL PAGES OF TEXT, NOT INCLUDING YOUR WORKS CITED PAGE (or roughly 1300 words). Papers that do not clearly adhere to the guidelines set forth in your syllabus will generally not receive a passing grade.Dont: Provide a general thesis statement, which simply states that you are going to compare Davidson and Turkle. BE SPECIFIC. Do a simple compare/contrast of the authors via summaries of their main arguments (for most of the paper) Detour from the main ideas you set forth in your thesis. Remember, if you provide your reader with a road map of your paper, and note the specific stops you will be making, and then skip a stop or forget to make one, your reader will become confused Refer to the authors by their last names until you have provided their full names at least once (usually in the introduction); similarly, NEVER refer to the authors by only their first names Overuse generalized words like society, learning, history, culture, people, etc. Be specific with your language and dont leave room for misinterpretation. Forget to practice proper in-text citation to keep your authors ideas straight (i.e. (Davidson 44); (Turkle 128)).