Harvey Mudd College
Claremont Colleges: Writing an Argument
Brief handout describing different forms of argument for writing.
Polk Brothers Foundation Center for Urban Education at DePaul University
De Paul University: Center for Urban Education: New Leadership [Pdf]
"New Leadership" is Harold Washington's Acceptance Speech as Mayor of Chicago on April 12, 1983. It is followed by an assignment which requires students to provide evidence from the text; it includes comparing Washington's election as...
Writing Fix
Writing Fix: Responding to Comparison/contrast: 3 Voice Storyboard: Feeling [Pdf]
In this PDF lesson, students study topics on which people might have differing feelings; they then create three dialogue bubbles that represent three different viewpoints: one that loves the topic, one that dislikes it, and one with a...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Holt, Rinehart and Winston: Professional Writer's Models: Grade 9: Compare Play to Film
This PDF file presents a professional viewpoint on the play/film versions of "The Fantasticks" in a compare/contrast sense. Also includes questions for comprehension and understanding for students. Requires Adobe Reader. [PDF]
Michigan State University
Michigan State University: Introduction to Synthesis
Learn what synthesis is, why you might write a synthesis essay, and techniques for developing several types of synthesis essays. While this site is written for a college writing course, it is both useful and accessible for high school...
Lumen Learning
Lumen: Critical Reading: Logic and Structure
This lesson focuses on structure and logic including types and purposes of essays, organizational patterns, argumentative writing, and logic and fallacies.
Cengage Learning
Houghton Mifflin: Rudolfo Anaya, Analysis of His Work
Great research site! Includes his themes, perspectives, form, style, audience, comparison and contrast in writing.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Contemporary Literature: Contemporary Nonfiction
This lesson is an introduction to contemporary nonfiction including the definition, types of nonfiction: biographies, autobiographies, memoirs, essays, speeches, and diaries, examples of authors and types, key terms, essential questions,...
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Holt, Rinehart and Winston: Elements of Literature: Grade 10: Comparing Play and Film [Pdf]
An excellent student model for tenth-graders of the comparison between a play and a film, this one for "A Streetcar Named Desire." Provides good writing style and structure, and also includes notations and helpful student aids for...
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Is Romance Dead?
As an introduction to the medieval romances, students compare and contrast the medieval rules of courtly love to the modern "rules" of courtship and romance. Students write a compare/contrast essay after group work and class discussion.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Earth and Moon
Students are asked to compare and contrast the earth and the moon.
Cengage Learning
Paul Laurence Dunbar: Classroom Issues and Strategies
Provides lesson ideas for investigating the poet Paul Laurence Dunbar. It includes ideas on form, style, artistic appeal, comparison and contrast. There are also questions about the text provided.
Other
English Companion: Reading Expository Text
Taken from "Reading Reminders: Tools, Tips, and Techmiques," the information on this website provides advice on how to read, understand, analyze, and write expository texts.
Other
Kim's Korner: Patterns of Organization
Here is a run-down of several basic patterns of organization to use when writing. An example is given for each pattern, as well as an explanation.
Sophia Learning
Sophia: Parallel Structure in Pairs: Lesson 2
This lesson discusses the importance of parallel construction in pairs. Parallel sentences with comparisons or contrasts are included in the lesson. It is 2 of 4 in the series titled "Parallel Structure in Pairs." L.9-10.1a Parallelism
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Common Sense,independence
Discussion of comparison and contrast of Declaration of Independence and Common Sense. If you click the "documents" link in the sidebar, you can also access the text of Common Sense.
Library of Congress
Loc: Teachers: The Grapes of Wrath
A Library of Congress lesson plan on "The Grapes of Wrath," through which students discover how cultural artifacts from the book support its themes and see connections "between the social, cultural, and literary contexts of literature."
Other
Kim's Korner: Patterns of Organization
This resource from Kim's Korner for Teacher Talk defines various patterns of text organization and provides a brief essay example of each pattern.
Other
Reading Quest: Making Sense of Social Studies
Teaching students to read well in areas other than language arts requires teaching and reinforcing the kinds of reading strategies taught here. There are 27 strategies, ranging from brainstorming to word mapping. The site includes PDF...
PBS
Pbs: The Roman Empire of the 1st Century: The Violence of Ancient Rome
This lesson focuses on the extreme violence that permeated Roman society and how that violence may have attributed to the downfall of the Roman Empire. Students will make comparisons between the violence in ancient Rome and the violence...
Cengage Learning
Heath Online Instructor's Guide: James Wright (1927 1980)
Contains useful information for teaching the Ohio poet James Wright. Includes sections called "Classroom Issues and Strategies," "Major Themes, Historical Perspectives, and Personal Issues," "Significant Form, Style, or Artistic...