below you will find two items:
1. the sample c/c essay that I distributed and discussed in class on Monday of this week
2. a written version of the assignment due next week, on Wednesday.
Oh! and enjoy the Monday holiday. Take a moment during Monday to silently thank all the men and women who serve our country presently as well as all of those who have served in the past, many who have died in our country's defense.
SAMPLE COMPARE CONTRAST ESSAY WRITTEN IN THE BLOCK FORMAT
(of course, on the handout, each paragraph is on a separate sheet of paper. Remember that when you work on your essay, you can certainly have all the paragraphs organized one after the other. But when you are ready to edit and revise, place each paragraph on a separate sheet of paper.)
During my senior year of high
school, I was bombarded with well meaning people who constantly supplied me
with information about what to expect once I began college. High school
counselors warned me about staying focused during my first semester and waiting
to join campus organizations until at least my second semester. My parents
reminded me that eating in the dorm’s cafeteria and not spending money at
campus eateries would help me budget my monthly spending allowance. Even my
older sister, who has only one more year of college to complete, informed me
that if I did not learn how to use the library’s online databases, no one else
would provide the instruction. However, it was not until I actually began my
freshman year at the university that I discovered significant differences
between high school classes and college level classes. High school classes
and college classes share very few similarities.
In
the majority of high schools across America, classes are designed to meet five
days a week. This often leaves little to no time to actually digest the
material before the class meets the next day. Regardless, high school teachers
assign daily homework that usually must be completed by the next class session,
which means the next day! This would not be a huge inconvenience if every other
class did not also meet every day of the week. It is not unusual for high
school students, then, to have four or five hours of homework per night. I have heard from other friends who
attended other high schools that sometimes instructors are flexible and will
actually adjust their test dates to accommodate students who might have several
tests on one day. This accommodation is always welcomed!
Although
homework assignments can overlap and cause some stressful moments, it is a
relief that most high school instructors do not assign research papers. Of
course, students are usually expected to conduct a certain amount of research
on the Internet in some of their classes, but rarely are they expected to
document it formally with in text citations and a Works Cited page. Obviously,
papers that require students to do hours of extra reading in order to write an
essay would just add to the long list of daily homework.
Even
though high school instructors rarely require tedious research assignments,
they do expect students to pay close attention in class. Unfortunately, this was a lot more
difficult for me to do than one can imagine. It is not that I tend to drift off
or even fall sleep, like a few of my friends. The reason it was difficult to
stay alert is because teachers often stopped mid-lecture to remind students to
stop talking amongst themselves. Students also tried to hide behind the student
in front of them as they sent texts on their phone. This sort of rude behavior
occurred in nearly every class, which meant that teachers interrupted class
constantly to keep students on track. Every time this happened, I found it
difficult to stay focused.
Once
I graduated high school and began my college classes, one of the first
differences I noticed and embraced happily was I did not have any classes that
met every single day of the week. Immediately, I noticed how I was able to
manage my study time so much better. I did not feel the stress of having to
complete an assignment overnight. In fact, most professors assign long term
assignments; often I have over two weeks to complete an assignment. College
requires a lot more reading, so long term assignments allow for extra time to
read as well.
Along
with long term assignments, college professors expect students to include a lot
of research in their essays and reports. And unlike high school assignments,
these college essays must follow a very prescribed research documentation
format. Professors also expect that students will peruse and utilize several
different academic sources and search engines to locate information.
Even
with the almost daunting expectations from college professors regarding
research, it is quite refreshing to be able to attend classes where there is no
discipline issues. Professors do not need to interrupt their lectures or class
discussions to ask students to behave like adults. In fact, there seems to be
no tolerance for misbehavior. In my World History class just last week, the
professor quietly asked a student to leave the class because, as he stated,
“Texting is a priority for you.”
However, this has been an exception; my classes are full of focused and
fairly serious students who seem to understand the importance of paying for
their seat time.
As
a former high school student, I admit there were advantages. Teachers seemed
more willing to understand that I had other classes besides for theirs and
sometimes time management was a little challenging. Regardless, when I compare
high school classes with college classes, I prefer feeling more in charge of my
study time and I actually enjoy being treated as a more responsible student.
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FOR WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14TH
DUE: a revised version of your compare/contrast essay. Please be sure to attach the first rough draft with my comments to the back of the revised version before submitting.
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