English 102-24: Introduction to College Writing
Instructor: Leslie Harper
Formal Assignment 3: Compare/Contrast Essay
Overview:
Over the course of the semester, you have been researching an immigrant community of your choice. For this essay, you
must compare and contrast some aspect of the discourse surrounding your immigrant community. Your driving question
should still be “What rhetorical strategies are used to discuss the community, and what is the purpose of such strategies?”
You have a couple of options for the compare/contrast:
Option 1: Discuss the opposing views of different groups regarding the immigrant community.
Option 2: Discuss how the discourse surrounding the immigrant community has changed over time.
Goals:
This assignment is designed to help you
 Stimulate critical thinking.
 Identify, summarize, and evaluate sources.
 Identify rhetorical strategies within sources.
 Place sources in context with other research.
 Represent and respond to multiple points of view.
 Use research sources to discover and focus a thesis.
 Use evidence from sources to support your argument.
Sources:
Because you are analyzing how an immigrant community is talked about, at least two popular sources dating from the
same time period as the community that you are studying are required. Multiple articles in the same newspaper or
magazine are acceptable, but these sources should reflect opposing points of view about the immigrant community. In
addition, at least one academic secondary source is required.
Formatting and Other Requirements:
You research essay should be a 5 page double-spaced paper written in Times New Roman 12 pt. font. It should include
 Page numbers (in Word, go to the Insert menu and select Page Numbers)
 A title
 Your name
 A Works Cited in MLA format
Evaluation Criteria:
Your analysis will be evaluated using the following criteria
Criteria
Goal
Analysis/Argument The essay makes a clear argument that compares and contrasts some aspect of the
discourse surrounding an immigrant community. The author exhibits a strong understanding
of the persuasive appeals and the intended audiences of the primary sources. Arguments are
persuasively supported with detailed descriptions, paraphrases and quotes. The essay
provides enough background information to understand and contextualize discussions of the
primary sources. The thesis is argued clearly and consistently throughout the paper.
Organization
The essay has clear, argumentative topic sentences. Each paragraph contains one main
idea, and the paragraphs flow in a logical order. Appropriate transitions are used to connect
main ideas.
Introduction and The introduction provides sufficient context for understanding the chosen immigrant
Conclusion
community, the primary sources used in the paper, and the intended audiences of these
sources. The conclusion branches off of the main analysis by providing new insights about
the topic and suggesting possible areas for future research.
Completeness & The paper was turned in on time and formatted correctly. It contains no grammatical errors,
Mechanics
and the style is efficient and clear.
Important Dates:
Drafts and presentations due March 22nd-26th
Revisions due April 2nd