Section 32: Using Comparison to Bring Difference into Focus

Skills Focus: Purpose Establish a motive for your essay by noting how the work you’re discussing both raises expectations and departs from them

HW, part 1 Write a ¶ to introduce the film, TV episode or short story you plan to write about
  1. State the title and author or director/creator, and very briefly summarize the plot
    • Describe the setting and principal character(s)
    • Note how the story begins and ends, and note what changes over the course of the story
  2. Identify what’s distinctive about the piece and what it seems to say about technology and identity by comparing the work with similar fictions (e.g. other Black Mirror episodes or other robot stories or other coming-of-age stories, etc.)
    • First, explain how the work you’re writing about resembles other visual or written texts you’ve watched or read—how its structure or preoccupations overlap with those of similar fictions
    • Then identify a distinctive feature of the work you’re writing about—a way in which it departs from expectations or shifts focus, and offers an insight or perspective on identity and technology that differentiates this fiction from similar fictions
  3. Post your ¶ to the student writing section of the course website

HW, part 2 Come to class prepared to give an informal oral report on your ideas for essay 4