Assignment
Choose a play and discuss the overriding theme or themes. Address it (or them) in your thesis sentence without using the word, “theme.”
Focus your essay on evidence of a theme found on the checklist on p. 1762. You can also compare and contrast your play with another that exhibits similar thematic traits.
Your text has a number of them.
There is a 500 word count requirement.
Suggested Plays
All My Sons by Arthur Miller
Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen
Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose
Thematic Analysis
A thematic analysis is a literature critique.
The use of thematic analysis requires that you determine the frequency of appearance of a theme.
To write a thematic analysis, you should have gathered all your data and be familiar with it, or you should have read the literature that you’ll be analyzing.
Comparing/Contrasting
Comparisons look at the similarities among concepts, events, places, individuals, or any other items that are related in some way.
Contrasts look at differences among related items. A writer who wants to make a point about superiority or inferiority will employ comparison and contrast to highlight the components that led to this conclusion.
Creating a grid can be useful toward this end—by detailing the main components of two or more items, similarities and differences emerge.
Have you chosen two subjects that have significant similarities?
Does your thesis statement identify the two subjects you are comparing and tell why they are alike (and perhaps also briefly acknowledge their differences)?
Does your paper’s structure follow either a point–by–point or a subject–by–subject pattern?
Does each of your topic sentences identify the subject you are discussing and the point you are focusing on in the paragraph?
Do transitional words and phrases clearly lead readers from subject to subject and from point to point?
Have you followed your instructor’s format and documentation guidelines?
How to compare/contrast
1. Brainstorm ideas related to the similarities and differences of your subject.
List all the ideas that come to mind about the topic.
Think about information required to answer potential reader questions. Organize information in an outline.
2. Sketch out an introduction that gives background information about your topic. Let the reader know the two things you are comparing and contrasting and your reason for doing so.
3. Analyze and review your notes to decide your thesis statement. Consider your thoughts about what you are comparing/contrasting.
Your well–defined thesis statement reflects what you are comparing/contrasting.
4. Discuss the comparisons or similarities of your topic in the first body paragraph.
5. Point out the differences or contrasts of your essay’s subject in the second body paragraph
6. Link your ideas from paragraph to paragraph with transitional phrases to establish paragraph flow.
Connect ideas from one paragraph to the next.
Abstain from using overused general terms and abstract phrases.
7. Go back and inspect your introduction to discover a connection to link with the opening of your conclusion.
Restate the statement in your paper’s closing paragraph. Reemphasize your block essay paper’s similarities and differences in a short summary.
8. Reread, edit and rewrite the final draft of your block essay. Revise your paper a day or two later when you have a fresh perspective.
