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Assignment (* Comparison/Contrast Essay*) Length: 750-1000 words Compare Thoreau’s view of the importance of nature to Chief Seattle’s. What are the similarities in what nature meant to each of these men? In what ways does nature fulfill a different role for each? This essay will involve a comparison using the Thoreau and Seattle’s 2 readings supplied to you. For all quotations or paraphrases from these texts, MLA documentation style should be used. Instructions are given below. Please read how directions for the essay. Further instructions for writing this essay: Note that you should avoid writing a very general thesis like: “The views of nature expressed by Seattle and Thoreau are both similar and different.” Instead, write a thesis that gives an overview of the exact similarities or differences that you will focus on in your essay. Bring the authors into a close comparison on topics that they each examined. For example, if you’re focusing on Seattle’s view of the spiritual significance of nature, look to see how Thoreau’s and/or Muir’s ideas about the spiritual significance of nature can be compared to Seattle’s view. Some other themes that appear across these texts and which you may want to compare are: –the role of human beings in protecting nature from exploitation –the impact of industrial development on nature –the value of nature for individual introspection –what human beings can learn from nature –“ownership” of nature and land There are many other possibilities, too, so feel free to take your own approach. Make sure to add a thesis All quotations must be identified in two ways: (a) The author’s words must appear inside quotation marks, even if you’ve borrowed just a few words; (b) The author’s name Works Cited page with the texts you’ve used listed in MLA documentation style. At the top of the list, center these words: Works Cited. To list an essay from the Norton Anthology, use the MLA format for a text collected in an anthology. Note that all texts are listed in alphabetical order: These are the only cite sources you need to use the Norton reader shorter 13th edition make sure mla format is done 1. Chief Seattle. “Letter to President Pierce, 1855.” The Norton Reader, Shorter 13th Edition. Ed. Linda Peterson, John Brereton, Joseph Bizup, Anne Fernald, Melissa Goldthwaite. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 299. Print. 2. Thoreau, Henry David. “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For.” The Norton Reader, Shorter 13th Edition. Ed. Linda Peterson, John Brereton, Joseph Bizup, Anne Fernald, Melissa Goldthwaite. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 635-643. Print. How Do I Write About an Essay? On several occasions in this course you will be asked to write about an essay from the Norton Reader. These assignments (Essay #2, the midterm, and the final) require you to organize and develop your ideas much as you did in Essay #1, except that instead of asking only for your own observations of your surroundings, the question asks you to “observe” an essay—to critically examine the author’s concepts or to link these concepts with your own ideas. Here are 4 important points to remember when writing this type of assignment: 1.The assignment is not asking you to summarize the text. Instead, you are trying to analyze it, to give your own insights about why this text might be linked to a certain issue, or about the techniques the author used to write this piece. Give only as much summary as your reader needs in order to identify which part of the text you’re discussing. Avoid entire paragraphs that are just summary. 2.Make sure that you are answering the exact question that is asked. Your thesis should be a direct answer to the question/assignment, so make sure you’ve read it carefully and have a good understanding of what it’s asking. 3.Since the essay is about the text itself, it isn’t sufficient just to mention the text in your first paragraph and then wander away from it to discuss associated issues. You must return to the text again and again throughout your essay, making sure to link your own ideas with the piece of writing you’re discussing. 4.Including a direct reference to a specific idea or detail in the text for each of your main points is a good idea. This reference can be a paraphrase (giving the author’s idea in your own words) or a quotation. Always be sure to indicate when you are quoting from the author, even if it’s just a few words, by placing the author’s words in quotation marks. Be sure to copy quotations precisely. If you are paraphrasing, make sure the sentences are really your own.