"English Composition" Compare in Claremont, CA
I'm a student at Mt Sac, an older student. I'm taking English Comp 1A. This is the most difficult class I have ever taken, as writing essays that focus on rhetorical devices and recognizing them, is not something I have experience with. I've managed to get through the semester thus far, barely. Our professor has now deviated from rhetorical devices, at least for this assignment, as we are now given a research paper to complete, using contrast and comparison, with a due date by the first week in Dec. - which is why I'm looking for tutorinG.
We are to select two "great works" from our book "A World of Ideas - Essential Readings for College Writers" (which btw, is available online, free, easy to access) and do a comparison/contrast paper of the two.
The book is essentially a compilation of select passages/portions of literary pieces of work, by great philosophers, educators, government officials, etc., broken down by their genres. We are to select one that we have already read thus far in the semester (i.e. "The Prince" by Machiavelli), then make another selection from our book, of which we have not yet read, and use those two works to do a contrast and comparison paper on. Of course, they should be two selections within the same genre. We are also to use two primary sources and at least three secondary sources for our research, that must be collegiate level, and non-biographical in nature.
My Weak points; How to structure this type of paragraph, as I have no experience comparing things in such a manner. Although I'm aware of the "block" and "alternate" methods, other than being aware that they exist, I have no experience using either one. Formulating an outline in which to use as a guide (I am so bad at outlines, I've never really done one). How to select things that are "comparable." I never focused on English in school - avoided "essays" in general, or wrote with no concept of what I was doing - therefore my ability to recognize "points" that may lend themselves to any type of comparison, are Greek to me. Researching secondary sources - no real experience, although our instructor has showed us how to access the mtsac library resources online, from home.
Writing is not my strong point. I stink at it for the most part. I can barely put proper sentences together - mostly improperly.
PS; The majority of our class is focused on the identification of "rhetorical devices," within great pieces of literature. Although this contrast/comparison assignment sets aside the need to focus on rhetorical devices, as far as I know, our final will go right back to focusing on rhetorical devices - so if you happen to have experience identifying rhetorical devices, that would be very helpful as well - although not critical.
Sent by Dan on 11/8/14
