Is Google Making Us Stupid?” and “How Computers Change the Way We Think

Comments from Customer

Your basically comparing and contrasting quotes from each article. total 12 quotes 6 quotes for each article. ) Don’t write two pages about one work, and then two pages about another. This isn’t a comparison because it doesn’t draw a connection between the two. At best, it would act as two mini-essays. Also Don’t simply summarize both works. Simply telling me what takes place in each doesn’t demonstrate any real understanding.
Discipline: English 111
The client needs 3 pages only.

Comparison Essay: A Literary Analysis

Final Draft Due 11:59 PM on 11/10

Your Assignment

You will be required to read two essays and explore a common theme that both pieces share in a 3-4 page paper. Your goal will be two-fold with this assignment: you are to compare the various ideas and statements that both works have in common, and then use that comparison to analyze both texts.

You may choose from the following suggestions:

• The influence of internet and communication technology in “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” by Nicholas Carr pg. 39 and “How Computers Change the Way We Think” by Sherry Turkle 309  – This is the topic I picked.

• The plight of the working class in “The Death of Horatio Alger” pg. 133 and “Nickel and Dimed” pg. 55

• How parents influence their children in “My Creature From the Black Lagoon” pg. 101 and “Once More To The Lake” pg. 327

Your final paper should offer a complete and detailed literary analysis focusing on how your chosen texts treat their connecting theme.  The second part of your task is to compare the different effects that theme has in each work.  In other words, you should not simply identify the similarities between your texts, but also explore the significance of these similarities.

“Four pages of literary analysis! We’ll never get that done, Mr. Bowden! You’ve doomed us all!”

Calm down. First, read and re-read the selected texts. Second, pay attention when we talk about them in class. I will explain how you should go about writing this paper, step by step. Here is a preview of coming attractions on that score:

What Not To Do:

1) Don’t write two pages about one work, and then two pages about another. This isn’t a comparison because it doesn’t draw a connection between the two. At best, it would act as two mini-essays.

2) Don’t simply summarize both works. Simply telling me what takes place in each doesn’t demonstrate any real understanding.

How to Proceed

Prewriting:

• Go through each essay chronologically, making note of places where you see evidence of similarities that regard your connecting theme.
• Create a Venn diagram (or another of the graphic organizers I’ve shown you) in which you examine these points of comparison
• Create an outline in which you organize these examples
• Use these examples in your paper, then explain their relevance in an attempt to analyze the ideas the authors are trying to impart.

Drafting:

Organize your paper by ideas, not by summary. Each paragraph of the paper’s body should contain the following:

1) A statement that points out a similarity or difference in both essays, and it must refer back to the connecting theme. This is the paragraph’s topic sentence. See the PPT “Creating Strong Paragraphs”.

2) Give evidence, quote or paraphrase, of the opening statement of the paragraph. These make up the paragraph’s supporting sentences. See the PPTs “Creating Strong Paragraphs” and “Integrating Quotations.”

3) The most important part: explaining how that evidence proves the opening statement of the paragraph. This constitutes the paragraph’s concluding sentence/sentences. See the PPTs “Creating Strong Paragraphs” and “Integrating Quotations.”

Why I Am Making You Do This

Because you need to know how to read something, understand the ideas it is trying to impart, and draw connections with other things you see and hear. What does one news story have to do with another? What does this moment in history have to do with that one? And how does everything you see and hear in our world apply to you and what you think or believe? This assignment should help you develop the skills needed to make those connections on paper, and in life.

Student Learning Outcomes

• Students will write an essay that uses direct textual support.
• Students will incorporate facts and ideas from these sources into the essay in the form of accurate quotations, paraphrases, and summaries.
• Students will use the skill of comparison/contrast to evaluate and analyze two texts
• Students will create a thesis that demonstrates an analytical understanding of two texts.
• Students will demonstrate the ability to create organized, three part paragraphs consisting of a topic sentence, supporting sentences, and a concluding sentence.
• Students will document the essay in MLA style

Requirements

Your final draft should:

• Begin with an interesting and informative title
• Use evidence from the texts of the two works to analyze their connecting theme
• Be carefully and clearly written
• Use diction and style appropriate to a formal essay
• Be written entirely in the third person
• Be free of grammatical and mechanical errors
• Be double spaced, 3-4 pages long, written in MLA format, and printed in Times New Roman, 12-pt. Font