(Note: comparison involves finding similarities and differences; an essay in comparison will

usually emphasize either similarities or differences.) Think carefully about the points on which

you will compare your two subjects; about the details you will need to include; about the method

of development that will be the most effective. Aim toward establishing a central, or overarching,

or essential point of comparison that accommodates or prepares for the several, other smaller

points of comparison (i.e. draw a conclusion).

Question: Compare living alone (or with roommates) to living with one's family.

Evaluation Writing Guide

1. (a) Your first sentence of the introduction should be a general topic sentence that clearly

relates the essay back to the essay question and or topic you have chosen to argue. You should

give the name of the author(s) and the name of the text(s) you will be analyzing in your paper.

(b) Your introduction should contain the main argument of your essay i.e. what you will

prove in your paper - your thesis. In addition to your thesis statement, you need to give a

breakdown of the main examples you will use to prove your argument. Thus, your thesis will end

up being a road map for your entire paper and will be several sentences long.

(c) Use the last sentence of the introduction to foreshadow your paper's conclusion. Try to

have this last sentence be an observation of something interesting or even a secondary argument

that you will prove in your paper through your analysis.

2. Your thesis statement is the central message of an essay. Your thesis should be several

sentences as the thesis needs to do the following:

(a) states the essay's subject - the topic that you are discussing

(b) includes a focus - your assertion (the point you want to make) that conveys your

point of view

(c) uses specific language - avoid vague words or undefined terms

(d) breaks down the major subdivisions of the essay's topic re: touches on how you will prove

what you want to prove

3. (a) Paragraphs need to be a minimum of three sentences. The sentence that contains the main

idea of the paragraph is called the topic sentence. All the other sentences in the paragraph should

help support the main idea. The writer must move from generalizations, to specific, concrete,

supporting details. Always show how the examples develop the main idea of the paragraph.

Make connections for the reader. Do not expect the reader to do the analysis for you.

(b) The first sentence of the paragraph sets out the idea of what you will prove in the paragraph.

You need to be as analytical as possible in your phrasing. The second sentence of the paragraph

paraphrases an example from the text that you are using to prove your point. The third sentence

of the paragraph explicitly explains to the reader how the example proves the first sentence re:

what you will prove in the paragraph. You must always explain how your example proves the

point you are trying to make.

(c) Although the minimum sentences for a paragraph is three, paragraphs usually need five-seven sentences

to explain an idea fully. Once you start writing longer paragraphs, you need to be careful not to

lose control of your paragraph through trying to prove more than one main idea per paragraph.

Just as a sentence talks about one main idea, so should a paragraph.

(d) The LAST sentence of your paragraph MUST connect back either to your topic sentence of

the paragraph or the thesis statement. Do NOT have your paragraph just trail off. You need to

have an integrated argument in your paper.

4. Concluding Paragraph - ends the essay smoothly, flowing logically from the rest of the essay.

Your conclusion often mirrors your introduction. Your introduction sets out what you will prove

in your essay and your conclusion explains what you have proven. You may not bring up

anything in your conclusion which you have not previously discussed in your paper. The one

exception to this rule is that a conclusion may sometimes have a forward looking statement. An

example of a forward looking statement might be as follows: "based on what has been shown

about the more marginalized role of female detectives in Agatha Christie's works, readers might

be interested in examining the evolution of the female detective in modern television adaptations of Christie's novels."

5. The goal of writing is to create an integrated argument. That means you try to make

connections in each paragraph back to the thesis statement, to the preceding paragraph, or to the

following paragraph. If you are continually trying to connect your ideas back to what you have

proven, you are creating an integrated argument. You are doing the analysis and not expecting

your reader to make the connections for him or herself.

6. (a) Write English essays in present tense and in third person.