What Is Resistance?
The goal of a comparative essay is to support an original argument by making connections across multiple sources. Doing so requires what we have referred to as synthesis. The writer of a comparative essay does not just regurgitate what others have said, but uses the similarities and differences in previous arguments made across multiple texts to give a new perspective to a question or area of research. The question you will answer in your comparative essay is: What is resistance? In the opening paragraph of your essay, you must present a thesis: a statement that concisely and explicitly conveys what your answer to the question will be for this essay. Note: there are an infinite number of ways to answer this question. But, you must stay focused on the ONE way that you want to answer the question for the purposes of this essay. Throughout the rest of the essay, you will need to build a strong argument for this answer that pulls from at least three of the sources weve read this semester. One of your sources to answer the question must be Binti. The other two sources can be any of the following: Amicae Aeternum, My Dungeon Shook (Baldwin), Letter from Representative John Lewis, Resilience/Mindset by Yeager & Dweck (2012), Types of Intolerance by Verkuyten et al. (2020), Black Angel, Kafkas Last Laugh, Civil Wars (Jordan), Poem about Police Violence (Jordan), Politics of Emotion by Shields (2005) The use of quotes from the sources you use should be limited as I want to see your original reflection on the ideas from those sources. When you do use a quote, make sure to present it using advice from chapter 3 They Say/I Say. And, a quote should always have a page number. You should also take advantage of the templates from They Say/I Say to appropriately summarize, synthesize, and connect the parts of your argument. Chapters 1, 2, 4, 5, and 8 would be particularly helpful. Finally, the writing style of a comparative essay will be more formal than the writing style you used for your resistance letters. However, the reader should still be able to get a sense of your voice and creativity. The essay should be approximately 4-5 pages, double spaced, Times New Roman, 12 point font, with one inch margins. References Binti book (by Nnedi Okorafor) and at least two other sources we have discussed from the list above
