The American Diet and the Mediterranean Diet

Compare & Contrast Essay Pre-Writing

Read

The first pre-writing step is reviewing the essay or writing requirements and reading the prompt. For our class essays, you may research and write about a topic in which you are interested, following the structure and elements of an Argumentative Essay.

Decide

Decide on the topic you want to compare and contrastyou can select any topic you want to research. For example, you may want to compare and contrast mindfulness and meditation and prescribed medicine, colleges or universities, public and home schooling, sports, diets, etc.

Prompt

Choose one of the topics below for an essay developed by comparison and contrast using three points of analysis. The topic you decide on should be something you care about so that the examples are a means of communicating an idea; not an end in themselves.

Health Topics

• The American Diet and the Mediterranean Diet
• Eating meals at home and eating meal at a restaurant/fast food
• Nature and health and modern medicine and health
• Community Gardens and Commercial Gardens
• Mindfulness/Meditation to reduce anxiety (or something else) and prescribed medication to reduce anxiety (or something else)

Experience

• Two jobs you have held
• A good and a bad job interview

People

• Your relationship with two friends
• Two relatives

Places and Things

• A place as it is now and as it was years ago
• Two towns or cities.
• Nature in the city and in the country

Education

• A state university and a private university

Your Choice

• If you have a specific topic that you would like to use, send a message through or to Dr. Ames to discuss

Brainstorming

Brainstorming allows you to quickly generate a large number of ideas. You can brainstorm with others or you can brainstorm by yourself, which sometimes turns into freewriting. To effectively brainstorm, write down whatever ideas come to mind. The key is to not place judgment on what you wrote. Dont worry about whether it sounds smart or if it directly connects to your topic. To brainstorm, let your thoughts about a specific topic flow, and list those thoughts without stopping or judging if what you are writing about is any good.

Sometimes it works better to write down each idea on a separate piece of paper. Some people like to type their ideas. The most important part of this process is to be curious about your topic.

It also helps to ask yourself some brainstorming questions:

• What am I interested in? What do I care about?
• What do I know that I could teach others?
• What would I like to change about this issue?

In order to capture more of your thoughts, you may want to brainstorm a few times until you have enough ideas to start writing.

Compare & Contrast Essay Research

Conduct Research

Responsible AI Use

An effective strategy for conducting researchalongside using the library databases and Google Scholaris responsibly utilizing AI to brainstorm topics and locate possible scholarly journal articles. When using AI, clearly specify your research topic and keywords.

For example, if you are comparing the American Diet and the Mediterranean Diet, you might ask AI to help locate scholarly journal articlesonly from library databases or Google Scholarthat address one or more of the following comparison topics:

• processed vs. whole foods
• red meat vs. fish or plant-based proteins
• saturated vs. unsaturated fats
• heart disease
• obesity rates
• family meals vs. social meals
• fiber intake
• cost of fresh vs. processed foods

Important: AI may help you locate sources, but you must verify each article and all quotations in the original source before adding them to your Research Matrix.

Note: Please select a topic of interest for your class essay. The example above is provided only as a model.

Watch the following video to conduct research using AI responsibly

Students may also use the WLAC Library databases and Google Scholar to locate scholarly sources.

Watch the videos below for instructions on how to use each site.

Research Articles

This week, locate 34 scholarly articles for each side of the comparison (approximately 68 total sources).

You may use AI to help identify potential direct quotes, but you must verify each journal article and quotation by opening the article and confirming the exact wording and page number.

Add all verified quotes to the Research Matrix.

Research Matrix

This week, you will begin your Research Matrix and submit your progress. The matrix is a working document that you will continue developing as you draft your essay, and you may revise and resubmit this Week 1 assignment next week if needed. For each entry, include the following:

• MLA citation
• Direct quote a quotation written by the article author(s)
• Indirect quote a quotation included in the article in which the article author quotes another author (add this to the Indirect Quote column in the Research Matrix)
• Page number
• Topic
• How the evidence will be used in the essay
• Your explanation of why the quote is important (explain how the evidence supports the paragraph claim)

Compare & Contrast Research Matrix

Research Matrix Spreadsheet

Before writing academically, thorough research is necessary to develop informed claims, support ideas with credible evidence, and understand multiple perspectives on a topic. The Research Matrix will help you organize sources, track important quotations, and prepare evidence for your body paragraphs.

After you decide on a topic, begin conducting research using only Google Scholar and/or the WLAC Library databases.

Add all scholarly sources to the Research Matrix:

or

Not sure how to begin conducting research? Join Dr. Ames during optional Zoom hours or

.

Instructions

• Select a topic for your Compare & Contrast Essay (review the prompt in Compare & Contrast Pre-Writing Strategies).
• Begin conducting research using Google Scholar and/or West Library databases only. You may also use AI responsibly to brainstorm topics and locate potential journal articles.
• Watch the instructional videos below for guidance on using the databases, Google Scholar, AI, and the Research Matrix.
• Add 34 scholarly sources for each side of the comparison (68 total sources) and multiple direct quotes from each source to the Research Matrix.
• Review the Research Matrix Rubric to understand the assignment criteria.
• After watching the instructional video below, submit the completed spreadsheet as a shareable hyperlink.

Rubric: Research Matrix

Rubric: Research Matrix

CriteriaRatingsPointsCompleted Research Matrix Spreadsheet

view longer description

Meeting

The research matrix spreadsheet meets all assignment requirements, including:

68 scholarly sources

sources from Google Scholar and/or library databases

MLA-formatted citations

direct and/or secondary-source quotes

topic or theme for each entry

page numbers when applicable

final column clearly explains how the evidence will be used in the essay

research represents both sides of the comparison

10 pts

Approaching

The research matrix spreadsheet meets most requirements, including:

46 scholarly sources

sources mostly from Google Scholar and/or library databases

citations mostly formatted using MLA

quotes included for most entries

topic or theme included for most entries

page numbers included when applicable

explanation column completed for some quotes

5 pts

Not Meeting

The research matrix spreadsheet does not meet assignment requirements, including:

fewer than 4 scholarly sources

sources not primarily from Google Scholar and/or library databases

MLA citation formatting missing or incorrect

few or no quotes included

topic or theme missing for entries

page numbers missing when applicable

explanation column mostly incomplete

0 pts

/10 pts