Purpose

The grade you receive for the rough draft is a small portion of your overall class grade, and you will not be graded on the quality of your writing. Your grade will be based only on whether you meet the minimum requirements specified on the grading rubric below.

The purpose of the rough draft, then, is to give you a chance to get your thoughts on paper so I can offer comments. One of your classmates will also review your rough draft. Then you will be prepared to revise the draft into your best possible final paper.

Instructions

Complete the rough draft as a Word document and submit it to Canvas by the due date.

You are required to include 2-4 in-text citations of outside sources. At the end of the draft, include the correct website URLs that link to each of the in-text citations. If you already know how to format a reference page, according to any citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago, etc.) then feel free to do so.  If you don’t know how to format a reference page that’s okay—just give me the website URLs.

As you write the rough draft, it is preferable (but not required) that you use both the new elements introduced in Lessons 4-6 as well as the older elements introduced in Lessons 1-3. Doing so will give me a chance to comment on your technique. If you give me more to comment on, you will get more guidance for the final paper.

Viewing my comments

When I return your draft with my comments, I highly recommend viewing the comments on a full-size screen, not on a phone or a tablet. Some of my comments will be in the right margin, and these may or may not be visible on a phone or tablet. If you view them on a laptop or desktop computer, you will be sure to see everything.

Elements to consider: Lessons 1-3

Paragraphs: Write paragraphs which are unified by a main idea. See the page entitled

Developing Paragraphs – Main Ideas, Unity, and Topic Sentences

from Lesson 3.

Introduction: Introductions should be 1-2 paragraphs long, should catch the reader’s attention, and let the reader know the purpose of the essay. Do not refer to the process of writing the essay itself. See the page entitled

Writing Introductions

from Lesson 3.

Rhetorical techniques: Consider incorporating any rhetorical techniques you used in the Extended Definition Paper to help you to express yourself and make your meaning clear. You may find that illustration and analogy are particularly useful when comparing and contrasting. See the page entitled

Techniques to Develop the Rough Draft

from Lesson 2.  You are NOT required to use any particular rhetorical techniques in the rough draft nor in the final paper.

Conclusion:  It is fine to summarize in the conclusion, but the conclusion should also go beyond just a summary of main points. See the page entitled

Writing Conclusions

from Lesson 3.

Elements to consider: Lessons 4-6

Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to compare the similarities between two subjects and to contrast the differences between the same two subjects. See the page entitled

The Compare & Contrast Paper

from Lesson 4.

Insights: When you choose points to compare or contrast—go beyond the obvious. Offer the reader your insights. See the page entitled

Going Beyond the Obvious

from Lesson 4.

Thesis: Develop a thesis statement which will control the direction of your essay. Required in the rough draft:  Underline the thesis statement.  See the page entitled

Writing a Thesis Statement

from Lesson 5.

Organization: Use block organization, point organization, or a combination of both to structure your essay. Use an outline to help you visualize the structure of your essay. See the pages entitled

Essay Organization: Block Organization

and

Essay Organization: Point Organization

from Lesson 6.

APA in-text citations: Use APA in-text citations to indicate information in your essay that comes from an outside source. Also, at the end of your essay, include the website URL for each article you cite in-text See the page entitled

APA In-text Citations—Show Who is “Talking”

from Lesson 6.

Formatting Guidelines

The formatting guidelines specify how your paper should look. I will not deduct points from the rough draft for formatting errors. However, it is preferable to follow the formatting guidelines, anyway, so that I can point out any errors and you can correct them for the final paper.

The formatting guidelines for the Compare & Contrast Paper are the same as for the Extended Definition Paper.

• Margins — All four margins should be set at 1 inch (2.54 cm).
• Font — Use Times New Roman, 12-point font.
• Line spacing — Use double spacing throughout the paper. Do not add extra space between paragraphs.
• Indentation — Indent the first line of each paragraph about 5 spaces.

Grading rubric

Your grade for the rough draft will be based ONLY on the following rubric.

ELEMENTEXPLANATIONVALUEName & assignmentThe student’s full name and the assignment should appear at the top of the first page. This assignment is called “Rough Draft of the Compare & Contrast Paper.”Worth 3%.Due dateThe draft must be submitted by the due date.See the syllabus for the late submission policy.Word countThe draft must be between 400 and 800 words long, not counting the heading or reference page.

Points are deducted as a percentage under the minimum word count. For example, if a rough draft is turned in with only 300 words, that is 25% under the minimum, so 25% would be deducted from the grade.

No points will be deducted for exceeding the maximum word count.

Purpose of the assignmentThe draft must compare and contrast two subjects.If a reasonable attempt is made to compare and contrast two subjects, then no points will be deducted.APA citation

Include information from 2-4 outside sources. Cite each source in-text. At the end of the paper, add the website URLs that link to each article. No more than 20% of the information and ideas in the paper may come from outside sources.

If you use a direct quotation, the copy/pasted text must be enclosed in quotation marks and then given an in-text citation.  See the page

APA in-text citations – Show Who’s “Talking”

At least two different sources are required.

If only one source is cited in-text, 10% will be deducted from the grade.

If no sources are cited, 15% will be deducted from the grade.

10% will be deducted for each missing website URL.

10% will be deducted for each direct quotation missing quotation marks.

No points will be deducted for citation formatting errors. Any reasonable effort to cite the sources will be given full credit.

Points will not be deducted for unintentional plagiarism. See the syllabus for the policy on intentional plagiarism. Some points will be deducted from papers which exceed the maximum use of outside sources.

49

3

Two Ways of Seeing a River

■ Mark Twain

Samuel L. Clemens (1835–1910), who wrote
under the pen name of Mark Twain, was born
in Florida, Missouri, and raised in Hannibal,
Missouri. He wrote the novels Tom Sawyer
(1876), The Prince and the Pauper (1882),
Huckleberry Finn (1884), and A Connecticut
Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889), as well
as many other works of fiction and nonfiction.
One of America’s most popular writers, Twain
is generally regarded as the most important practitioner of the realis-
tic school of writing, a style that emphasizes observable details.

The following passage is taken from Life on the Mississippi
(1883), Twain’s study of the great river and his account of his
early experiences learning to be a river steamboat pilot. As you
read the passage, notice how Twain makes use of figurative lan-
guage in describing two very different ways of seeing the
Mississippi River.

Reflecting on What You Know

As we age and gain experience, our interpretation of the same
memory — or how we view the same scene — can change. For
example, the way we view our own appearance changes all the
time, and photos from our childhood or teenage years may sur-
prise us in the decades that follow. Perhaps something we found
amusing in our younger days may make us feel uncomfortable or
embarrassed now, or perhaps the house we grew up in later seems
smaller or less appealing than it used to. Write about a memory
that has changed for you over the years. How does your interpre-
tation of it now contrast with how you experienced it earlier?

Now when I had mastered the language of this water and had come to know every trifling feature that bordered the great river as
familiarly as I knew the letters of the alphabet, I had made a valuable
acquisition. But I had lost something, too. I had lost something which

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Reading 6

494 CHAPTER 19 – COMPARISON AND CONTRAST

could never be restored to me while I lived. All the grace, the beauty,
the poetry, had gone out of the majestic river! I still kept in mind a
certain wonderful sunset which I witnessed when steamboating was
new to me. A broad expanse of the river was turned to blood; in the
middle distance the red hue brightened into gold, through which a soli-
tary log came floating, black and conspicuous; in one place a long,
slanting mark lay sparkling upon the water; in another the surface was
broken by boiling, tumbling rings that were as many tinted as an opal;1
where the ruddy flush was faintest was a smooth spot that was covered
with graceful circles and radiating lines, ever so delicately traced; the
shore on our left was densely wooded, and the somber shadow that fell
from this forest was broken in one place by a long, ruffled trail that
shone like silver; and high above the forest wall a clean-stemmed dead
tree waved a single leafy bough that glowed like a flame in the unob-
structed splendor that was flowing from the sun. There were graceful
curves, reflected images, woody heights, soft distances, and over the
whole scene, far and near, the dissolving lights drifted steadily, enrich-
ing it every passing moment with new marvels of coloring.

I stood like one bewitched. I drank it in, in a speechless rapture. The
world was new to me and I had never seen anything like this at home.
But as I have said, a day came when I began to cease from noting the
glories and the charms which the moon and the sun and the twilight
wrought upon the river’s face; another day came when I ceased alto-
gether to note them. Then, if that sunset scene had been repeated, I
should have looked upon it without rapture and should have com-
mented upon it inwardly after this fashion: “This sun means that we are
going to have wind tomorrow; that floating log means that the river
is rising, small thanks to it; that slanting mark on the water refers to a
bluff reef which is going to kill somebody’s steamboat one of these
nights, if it keeps on stretching out like that; those tumbling ‘boils’
show a dissolving bar and a changing channel there; the lines and cir-
cles in the slick water over yonder are a warning that that troublesome
place is shoaling up dangerously; that silver streak in the shadow of
the forest is the ‘break’ from a new snag and he has located himself in
the very best place he could have found to fish for steamboats; that tall
dead tree, with a single living branch, is not going to last long, and then
how is a body ever going to get through this blind place at night with-
out the friendly old landmark?”

2

1opal: a multicolored, iridescent gemstone.

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No, the romance and beauty were all gone from the river. All the
value any feature of it had for me now was the amount of usefulness
it could furnish toward compassing the safe piloting of a steamboat.
Since those days, I have pitied doctors from my heart. What does the
lovely flush in a beauty’s cheek mean to a doctor but a “break” that
ripples above some deadly disease? Are not all her visible charms
sown thick with what are to him the signs and symbols of hidden
decay? Does he ever see her beauty at all, or doesn’t he simply view
her professionally and comment upon her unwholesome condition all
to himself? And doesn’t he sometimes wonder whether he has gained
most or lost most by learning his trade?

Thinking Critically about This Reading

In the opening paragraph, Twain exclaims, “All the grace, the
beauty, the poetry, had gone out of the majestic river!” What is “the
poetry,” and why was it lost for him.

This reading comes from

Rosa, A. and Eschholz, P. (2015). Models for writers: Short essays for
composition [12th edition] (pp. 493-495). Bedford/St. Martin’s.

3

Twain / Two Ways of Seeing a River 495

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