WEEK 12
Lester: Chapter 13 (Revising, Proofreading, and Formatting the Rough Draft), p. 195-223
Your next writing assignment will be a compare & contrast essay. This should be easy for most of you simply because we do a lot of this is our everyday lives. For instance, when we shop for groceries, we compare products and their prices. We make decisions about entertainment--which movie will we see and why. When we talk about our relatives and friends, we make comparisons (come on, admit it). How did you choose your car? Your school? Your major? Your spouse/significant other? How do you decide who to vote for?
In addition to the required readings, I would urge you to explore the internet for ideas and examples.
Kirszner pages 363-383
Answer the questions on pages 369-70 ("Revision Checklist: Comparison and
Contrast) as they relate to your written essay.
pages 407-413
Answer the questions on page 412, #1, 3 & 4.
For your essay: page 413, Writing Workshop, numbers one, two or three.
Strategies for preparing your paper:
Compare/Contrast
Tornadoes and Hurricanes
Material: Reference books/materials on tornadoes and hurricanes.
Choose storms of "comparable severity", for example, a C3 hurricane and an F3 tornado. (Of course you cannot really say that a tornado and hurricane are of "comparable severity" because they are so different.) The following information gives a sense of some of the differences between these two types of storms.
COMPARE/CONTRAST: HURRICANES AND TORNADOES
Hurricanes |
Item being compared |
Tornadoes |
74mph minimum |
wind speed |
40mph weakest tornadoes |
155-200mph |
wind speed of the most severe storms |
about 250-300mph |
Saffir-Simpson C1 to C5 |
classification scale |
Fujita F0 to F5 |
1 week average |
duration (how long does it last?) |
most last only a few minutes, one lasted 7 hrs. |
300 miles |
average width of storm |
100-600 meters; largest may be 1 mile wide |
100 worldwide |
average # per year |
1000 in U.S. alone |
2-3 days for a wide area but can usually predict more exactly where hurricane will hit 6-10 hours beforehand |
how long in advance can weather forecasters predict a storm? |
20 minutes or less |
source:
http://www.wind.ttu.edu/education/compare.htm
COMPARISON-CONTRAST ORGANIZERS
Comparison-contrast organizers are used to graphically illustrate or summarize how two or more concepts are similar and different. They are very useful for encoding information for essay exams.
Compare and contrast organizers are set up in one of three ways: column, matrix, and Venn diagram. Each of these is described and illustrated below.
COLUMN COMPARE-CONTRAST ORGANIZER
This format allows one to compare and contrast two or more aspects of a general topic. The information is arranged into divided columns for noting similarities and differences between the items.
The general format of a column organizer is illustrated below.
An example of a completed column organizer for earth science is shown below.
MATRIX COMPARE-CONTRAST ORGANIZER
The compare-contrast matrix is similar to the column organizer in function but not in format. With this strategy, simple columns are used to record the similarities and differences of two or more things (e.g. people, events, places, ideas). Matrices are also discussed elsewhere in this page.
The format of a comparison-contrast matrix is illustrated below.
A completed comparison-contrast matrix for history or archaeology is provided below.
VENN COMPARE-CONTRAST ORGANIZER
The Venn diagram graphic organizer allows one to compare and contrast only two aspects of a general topic. Information is arranged in two large intersecting circles, each of which is labeled with the name of the concept. Characteristics unique to each concept are written in those parts of the circles that do not intersect the other. Characteristics shared by both concepts are written in the intersecting part of the circles. Compared to column organizers and matrixes, similarities and differences are more clearly delineated in the Venn diagram.
Venn organizers are set up in the following format.
source:
http://www.muskingum.edu/~cal/database/organization.html#Comparison