Julius Caesar
Comparison/Contrast Essay prompt
Compare and contrast the motivations that lead Cassius and Brutus to conspire against Caesar.
You'll need
- to consult the Comparison/Contrast Essay handout for organizational structure decisions
- a graphic organizer that demonstrates how you plan to organize your argument
- a first draft for peer editing
- a final draft that clearly incorporates improvements
- a parent signature on the final draft
- 2 copies of the final draft, one for the portfolio and one with the organizer and early drafts attached
This paper will likely NOT be a standard five-paragraph essay. Yet, all the usual essay rules apply to this assignment:
Introductory Paragraph with
Attention-getting opening statement - preferably an idea from the play that "hooks" the reader
Necessary Information, including the author's name and title of the play; brief plot summary
Thesis statement -- remember your thesis is a statement or an idea that you have thought of and is important to you based on the requirements of the prompt. You will write the rest of the paper to "prove" the multi-leveled argument of the thesis.
Body Paragraphs that
begin withtopic sentences that make a single claim from the thesis (one idea per paragraph) and use hooks and transitions to achieve coherence and flow at the start of the paragraph and within each paragraph
Provide information to support the assertion of the topic without resorting to excessive plot summary
Use at least one embedded quotation, possibly with signal phrases, and in-text citations correctly in each body paragraph. Go to the handout on citing quotations from a play and also Son of Citation Machine -- both available under Hon. English II/Julius Caesar on my classroom page
Close in a way that wraps up the topic under discussion
Conclusion Paragraphthat
Introduces no new information.
Restates your thesis in different words
Circles around to the compelling ideas of the introduction to create a sense of completion.
Closes in a satisfying manner with an idea you now understand after reading, thinking, and
writing.
General cautions: do not use 1st or 2rd person, write in the present tense [notice the prompt is in the present tense] and remain consistent throughout, avoid intensifiers, refer to the author as Shakespeare, check for proper comma usage, and any other problems that seem particular to your essays. Make a real effort to demonstrate improvement over previous essay assignments in both conventions and argumentation.