“Delicious, Delicious Comparative Essays” The Comparative Essay “Delicious, Delicious Comparative Essays”

How Many Paragraphs Does an Essay Have? 5? NO As many as you need! Paragraphs separate thoughts and ideas We need to think about essay “chunks”, not paragraphs

How many points of argument do I need? As many as is required to prove your thesis is valid

Chunk #1: Introduction Hook me! Introduce the texts & authors Give a sentence or two about each work Clearly outline points of argument State thesis (ideally, LAST SENTENCE) Argument!

Chunk #2: Point of Argument 1 Clearly state the point to be proven (must unite both texts) Offer evidence from text A Analyze the evidence from text A – link it to your thesis (how does it prove your argument?) TRANSITION Offer evidence from text B Analyze the evidence from text B – link it to your thesis (how does it prove your argument?) Conclude by clearly linking the point just proven back to your thesis statement

Repeat chunk #2 as needed

Chunk #3: Conclusion Review thesis Review points of argument “Food for thought…”